One of Hollywood's great mysteries gets the big screen treatment this week with the release of HOLLYWOODLAND. It's the story of the death of TV's original Superman, George Reeves. The cast of the movie features Ben Affleck as George Reeves not yet sure about how that'll work out), along with Adrien Brody, Diane Lane and Bob Hoskins.
I have to admit that SUPERMAN RETURNS wasn't as good as I had been hoping--- when the best action in a super-hero movie occurs in the first 30 minutes of a two and half hour feature, that's probably a movie that didn't quite live up to expectations. Be that as it may, I'm hoping HOLLYWOODLAND fares a lot better.
Yes, it's a different kind of movie---but it does deal with the super-hero genre in that George Reeves as Superman in the 1950s was as close to a real hero as many kids had. His death, officially ruled a suicide, but never conclusively, left millions of kids sad, if not totally disillusioned and confused.
Maybe this movie will answer some questions and then ask others. I'm looking forward to it.
HOLLYWOODLAND opens September 8.
Yet another graphic novel makes its way to the big screen, when COVENANT, originally from IMAGE's TOP COW Studio, opens later this week. I don't remember much about the comic, but we'll have it in stock for those who want to check the source material against the movie version. Labor Day pushes New Releases this week to Thursday, so we'll see you soon!
Peace!
FlyCoJoe
I'm really looking forward to Hollywoodland. But, I disagree about Superman Returns. I absolutely LOVED that film. Sure, it had flaws, but, I got goosebumps in all the right places. I cried with joy when Superman returned to Metropolis after saving the plane. To me, in this post-911 world, it showed me that Superman IS the symbol of hope.
ReplyDeleteHi Loren---
ReplyDeleteI did like SUPERMAN RETURNS, but I think it could have been miles better.
I, too, think the scene where Supes lands the plane in the baseball park (how much more American can you get?) was inspired and breath-taking. I was less enthusiastic about that being the peak of action in the movie.
I also hear that bryan Singer arranged this movie to clear a lot of the cobwebs, so the sequel will be able to do a lot more--- more action, depth and peril. We'll see in 2009!
It's a good time to be a SUPERMAN fan!