Amazon.com Essentials:
Edward D. Wood Jr. was an actor writer-director-producer,
occasionally in drag, who combined meager bursts of talent with an
undying optimism to create some of the most bizarrely memorable "B"
movies to ever come out of Tinseltown. Though Wood died in obscurity
as an alcoholic in 1978, his films have been considered cult classics
for years. He is consistently voted the worst director who ever
lived. You would think this an odd subject, but director Tim Burton
harnesses the undying hopefulness that made Wood such a
character. Shot in black and white, just like Wood's creations, this
stylized, witty production captures the poetic absurdity of Wood's
films and his unconventional life. Burton's recreation of Wood's
wonderfully awful Plan
9 from Outer Space looks much better than the original
low-budget quickie. Burton tackled an extremely strange subject matter
for a biopic, but Wood is presented as naive almost to the point of
delusion, so the story works. The pace sags in the middle, as the
weirdness starts to wear thin, but Depp proves himself an adroit
actor, even while wearing angora and a blonde wig. Wood's
unconventional repertoire company is faithfully reproduced, including
an Academy Award-winning Martin Landau as Bela Lugosi. Landau is
pathetic, droll, and charismatic as the elderly junkie who made his
last screen appearances in Wood's films. --Rochelle O'Gorman
