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So that's what you were really after... a busboy job!

You must have filmed this yesterday. I DID see that shirt twice yesterday. Must have been a busy day.

Anyway, good installment.

But then - I totally disagree with your opinion of Hollywoodland. The movie works just fine. To say it "doesn't work," I mean - that makes no sense. There are films that get the job done and there are films that just don't work. Hollywoodland is not one of those.

If the job was making a TV movie about a subject no one cares about and failing to execute an interesting metaphor or to offer any reason why the film should ever have been made (but with nice costumes and reasonably good performances that are nowhere close to exceptional), yes, it really does the job.

It always seems to me that 'does it work' is the most basic component of any critical opinion, and the one most impossible to argue for or against. Either you feel it in your gut or you don't, and all other critical observations after that point are merely elaboration.

Jeff is right. It can be incredibly hard to articulate that gut feeling, especially when discussing something as unquantifiable as, say, acting. So often an opinion comes down to "I just didn't believe it."

David, how can you speak to what everyone thinks? "A subject no one cares about"? Well, pretty much any positive review the film receives will dispel that notion. Not to mention it's rather odd to say no one cares about a subject that has been written about consistently and maintained an aura of mystery for fifty years.

Tell Jim Beaver "no one cares about" the subject of George Reeves's death.

I'm with Kris... I was very much interested in the life and death of George Reeves and that part of the movie... yes... the parts with Ben Affleck... were my favorite part of the movie. I didn't LOVE it, but I did get something out of it.

Obviously - and I think you know this, Kris - "no one" is not meant to describe all people on the planet.

What percentage of people you know on this planet care about George Reeves' death? If it's as high as 30%, you have an argument. If it's not, you don't.

Reality - single digits, at best.

I never watched the Superman TV show. I didn't even know who George Reeves was before Jeff Wells reviewed the screenplay. But I loved Hollywoodland. I found it to be a very good modern noir as well as a tragic depiction of the dark side of Hollywood. It's not a homerun like L.A. Confidential, but it's a solid double. Certainly better than all but 5-6 of the summer films.

Does DP mean 'single digits' to refer to actual numbers or percentages? If 1% of the world's population, as he references, went to buy tickets of Hollywoodland at $10 a ticket, it would gross more than Titanic. If he means less than 10 people are interested in the George Reeves story, he's probably underestimating things.

Lunch with David always good and getting better.

If anyone's interested, here's a feature article in which Jack Larson speaks at the end quite a bit (by John Anderson for Newsday). There's also a priceless quote by Brody that sounds like something he memorized.

http://www.newsday.com/entertainment/movies/ny-ffmov4871455sep03,0,4602674.story?coll=ny-moviereview-headlines

Thanks for pointing out the quality of movies has always been a rollercoaster, Mr. Poland.

jeffmcm: If 1% of the world's population, as he references, went to buy tickets of Hollywoodland at $10 a ticket, it would gross more than Titanic.

Well, at least in domestic numbers, by about $45 million more. However, the entire world population isn't the movie going public. And movie tickets aren't $10 on average. $6.40+ in this nation and much lower in many others (Japan goes for around $13!).

Mr. Poland was referring to people you know. Could you say 30% of all the people you know would be interested in the story?

"People you know" makes sense. Am I the only one who thinks DP's writing is less clear lately? Perhaps he needs a copy editor.

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