Guess I'll be the first to review this...

An absolutely hilarious take on Hollywood of the '50s and the worst director of all-time. Though not for all tastes, this is a brilliant look at the life of the titular character, and his crazy antics, strange friends, and terrible movies. Filmed in black and white to recapture the look of films of that era, it successfully recreates the making of three of Ed Wood's bad movies, and the stories behind them, which seem almost too weird to be true. But truth is stranger than fiction, and the movie barely has to fictionalize anything to be interesting and entertaining. Truly bizarre and wildly unique, but still brilliant.

Johnny Depp is at his most insane here, combining a weird voice and deadly seriousness to make the character that much more effective. His performance is the centrepoint of the movie's bizarreness, and is quietly one of Depp's best. Martin Landau as the aged Bela Lugosi is nothing short of brilliant, whether it be a perfectly-recreated Hungarian accent spewing out profanity-laced barbs at Boris Karloff, or a depressing cry for help from his morphine addiction. Landau truly earned his Oscar for this one. Tim Burton directs what is perhaps his most visually stunted film, as he is restricted to California of the '50s, but he still manages to make it memorable and creative. The score (done not by Burton's usual collaborator, Danny Elfman, but Howard Shore) is fantastically strange - just like everything else in this film - and the supporting cast is as hilariously brilliant as the rest of the movie. A definite winner.

I like it, but I think it's one of Burton's flimsier works.

It's typically Burton-esque in that it accentuates eccentricities rather than delving into something deeper, but in this case, I think some of the latter would have been beneficial.

B

A cracking film. Depp captures the oblivious optimism of Wood perfectly and all the back up players display real character. One of Depps best.

A

Not Burton's best film. In fact, I'd say it is one of his weaker ones. Martin Landau is excellent, but it's very slow-paced and boring at times.

B

B+


It's not Burton's best, but certainly somewhere up there. It lacks Burton's usual eccentric directing style, but the story is good enough to make up for it. Johnny Depp is pretty good as the lead, but Martin Landau just steals the show in this one in his eternal performance as Bela Lugosi.

I actually think this Burton's best. It's definitely his tightest and deepest work, and features the best performance I've seen from Depp. This wasn't an easy role at all, yet Depp pulled off a perfect mix of naivete, passion, deludedness and likability. You know he's a terrible director, but he loves making movies so much that it becomes the most beizarre yet effective feel-good, inspirational movie ever. After half a dozen viewings it's still as fresh as when I watched it with almost no expectations. Probably in my all-time Top 10.

****/****

A/A-

An excellent and totally charming look at Ed Wood and the glories of B filmmaking. What I loved about this movie was that it never ever ridiculed Wood, his actors, or his movies. It celebrated them. Through the film's eyes the films are great accomplishments, Wood never bowed to expectations and made movies the way he wanted. A true auteur.

I actually think this is one of Burton's best directed films, if not his best. The visuals aren't there, but that was a wise decision. He doesn't need them here. Everything he shoots here is incredibly tight and spot-on. The 50s-60s feel is captured perfectly in his black and white shots and Depp's demeanour, Burton creates a specific and detailed setting and runs with it. The filming scenes are much better than I expected and maybe my favorite part of the film, just pure fun. Little stuff like Depp at the bar, the theatre reactions, Depp and Arquette in the haunted ride, are simply done with total expertise. There is hardly a shot in this movie that is not perfectly realized, every moment knows its place. Burton should've got his Best Director nomination for this.

The performances, what can I say about Martin Landeau. He gives one of those performances where the line is crossed, he doesn't just play Lugosi, he IS Lugosi. Maybe one of the best celebrity or senior citizens performances I have ever seen. Johnny Depp deserves his credit too of course, somehow he's subtly great enough that even with Landeau's extraordinary performance, I was still more interested in Wood and his career than the Lugosi subplot. The rest of the cast is pretty uniformly on. I especially loved Lisa Marie as Vampira and Vincent D'Onfrio doing his best Orson Welles. Bill Murray, Sarah Jessica Parker, Patricia Arquette, Jeffrey Jones, all excellent. The characters and film are quirky, but not over the line... It all fits and it's all very very enjoyable. As a group of misfits they're just so likeable and charming, you cheer them along on the ride.

A minor complaint I have is that the film makes it seem like he made Glen or Glenda, Bride of the Monster, and Plan 9 From Outer Space back to back to back. A quick look on imdb shows that isn't true, but... I can accept the movie jumped through projects without making it clear I suppose.

I loved this a lot.

Oh, and I loved the score in this movie too. Sometimes overwhelming, but in a good way.

far and away Burton's best film to date, even though it's his least-Burton film. The way this mixed 1920s-B-movie with modern brilliance is just mesmerizing, as is Burton's ability to capture the mood of an era yet make it interesting to modern audiences. At least, modern audiences who don't expect every film to be as made-for-ADD as Transformers.

A

Probably Burton's best. Martin Landau steals the show, despites one of Depp's best performances.
A-

Ed Wood's pretty great. Between this, Beetlejuice, and now Sweeney, Burton can be forgiven for most of his later crimes.

Ed Wood

A good little film. Until about half way through, I didn't know it was a biopic. I'd heard of Bela Lugosi before, but just thought they'd added in a real-life name for fun. Then the title Plan 9 from Outer Space was mentioned and a lightbulb went off in my head. It's quite the feat, and I had more of an appreciation for everything I had seen before when I realised it was based on truth. I loved the cinematography. I do really love movies about film-making. I also like Johnny Depp's performance, there were glimpses of a really good actor throughout. I like the voice he was putting on and his over ambitious/positive nature. This is probably Burton's second or third best film after Batman (#1) and Mars Attacks!. It's funny how Depp and Burton have worked together about 9 or 10 times, yet it's only worked out once or twice. Both of their best work has come at the start of their careers too. Depp has carved out a career as the quirky idiot type and Burton, well, he has too with his God awful films.

B-

Anyway, another Depp bites the dust. Now onto Finding Neverland.