Hollywoodland (HD DVD) - Drama DVD + HD DVD Combo (2006) Starring Adrien Brody & Ben Affleck; Universal Studios : OLDIES.com

DVD Features:

Note: This is a HD-DVD/DVD hybrid, playable on HD-DVD and standard DVD players.
Package Type: Snap Case

Additional Release Material:

Alternate Scenes - Deleted Scenes
Audio Commentaries - Allen Coulter - Director
Behind the Scenes - "Re-Creating Old Hollywood"
Documentaries - 1. "Behind the Headlines"
2. "Hollywood Then & Now"

Disc 1/Side A: HD DVD

Aspect Ratio:

Audio:

Dolby Digital Plus 5.1 Surround - English, French
Subtitles - English (SDH), French - Optional

Disc 1/Side B: Standard Definition

Aspect Ratio:

Audio:

Dolby Digital 5.1 Surround - English, French
Subtitles - English (SDH), French, Spanish - Optional

Entertainment Reviews:

Premiere - 09/01/2006

3 stars out of 4 -- "Affleck is superb....Lane, as always, excels with both sexiness and scournfulness..."

Rolling Stone - 09/21/2006

3 stars out of 4 -- "[A] steadily engrossing movie that sees Reeves as human and treats his life and death with intelligence and compassion."

Entertainment Weekly - 09/15/2006

"[N]o false refinement obscures the gusto with which the cast chomp down on their tasty roles: Brody slithering and prowling, Diane Lane willing her sensual beauty to weariness...[and] Bob Hoskins snarling and potent as her husband..." -- Grade: B+

New York Times - 09/08/2006

"[The filmmakers] want to bend Mr. Reeve's biography as an actor-cum-gigolo into a tragedy, and Mr. Affleck is more than up to the task."

Movieline's Hollywood Life - 09/01/2006

"Affleck must intuitively understand Reeves' hunger for respect, and he is moving in the role. Bob Hoskins brings raffish charm as well as vulgarity to his portrait of MGM kingpin Eddie Mannix."

Box Office - 10/01/2006

3 stars out of 5 -- "HOLLYWOODLAND looks great....A cold look at the entertainment industry's obsession with youth..."

Total Film - 12/01/2006

3 stars out of 5 -- "It's the plot strand which features Hoskins that provides Affleck's biggest competition in the thesping stakes. It comes in the form of the fabulous Diane Lane..."

Sight and Sound - 12/01/2006

"To the extent that HOLLYWOODLAND captures the last years of this showbiz dinosaur, without condescension or sentimentality, it succeeds wonderfully."

Uncut - 01/01/2007

3 stars out of 5 -- "It's an interesting transition that's being made here, as though it's not just Reeves dying but old Hollywood itself."

Ultimate DVD - 03/01/2007

4 stars out of 5 -- "Affleck gives a career best performance as the troubled Reeves, and all involved beautifully immerse themselves in the period."

Product Description:

Playing Superman on TV brought aspiring film actor George Reeves stardom, but it also held him back as far as more serious acting roles went. When a 45-year-old Reeves was found dead in his home in 1959, his death was ruled a suicide, and attributed to this B-level frustration. The result of a single bullet wound, Reeves's death caused controversy in and around Hollywood, where popular theories related his death to either his starlet fiancé, Leonore Lemmon (Robin Tunney), or his famously ongoing and unique relationship with Toni Mannix (a fabulous Diane Lane), the wife of mob-connected MGM head Eddie Mannix (Bob Hoskins).

HOLLYWOODLAND explores Reeves's life and tragic end from the perspective of Louis Simo (Adrien Brody), a private investigator hired by Reeves's mother shortly after his death. Cutting back and forth between scenes of Reeves’s life and Simo's detective work, the film draws parallels between two men kept from appreciating the present by dreams of future grandeur. Ben Affleck returns to form as Reeves, a man whose hindering celebrity status may have reminded the actor of his own: despite breaking onto the scene with an Academy Award for writing GOOD WILL HUNTING in 1997, Affleck's career was at one point overshadowed by a romance as familiar to the public as Superman's cape. With close attention to detail, first-time director Allen Coulter creates two distinct worlds specific to their time, Simo's noir-ish and seedy L.A. forming a bleak contrast to the glamorous, formal Tinseltown Reeves so longed to be embraced by. An accomplished act for a first time director, HOLLYWOODLAND offers viewers a believable look into Hollywood's most glamorous bygone era. Strong performances and stylish filmmaking help fuel a mystery without a solution.

Plot Keywords:

Hollywood | Mystery / Suspense

Production Notes:

Theatrical Release: September 8, 2006

Cast and Crew:

Starring		Adrien Brody & Ben Affleck
Produced by		Glenn Williamson
Cinematography by		Jonathan Freeman
Music by		Marcelo Zarvos
Screenwriting by		Paul Bernbaum
Costume Designer by		Julie Weiss
Performer		Diane Lane, Bob Hoskins, Robin Tunney, Molly Parker & Kathleen Robertson