Day: September 25, 2006

…and fixing all the comments and display problems. Should be all better now. And just so you know, going on vacation without my laptop wasn’t my idea.

John M. Ford (“Mike” to friends) passed away abruptly last night. An accomplished writer of fantasy, SF and RPGs, many fans will remember him for two of the best Trek novels ever, “How Much For Just the Planet” and “The Final Reflection.”

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Part 2 of the three parter involving the showdown with Singularity Investigations. Whad’ja think?

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Al Collins does a terrific series of books about a detective named Nate Heller. Sharing his memoirs of his greatest cases with us, Heller was an active participant in such famous cases as the kidnapping of the Lindbergh baby. Although he does nothing to change the historical facts or outcomes, Heller’s tales invariably provide solid resolutions and eye-opening perspectives.

Kathleen and I came out of “Hollywoodland” and all I could think was that the script desperately needed Al Collins to come in and do a rewrite. We witness two storylines: The struggle of George Reeves with his perception that his career had stalled while forces that could him harm gather round him, and a noirish detective, Louis Simo, hired to investigate. The acting is brilliant all around, and the direction is solid, but the vagueness of the script betrays all participants. An attempt to say something profound about the price of fame nibbles around the edges of the story, but really, it’s no point that hasn’t been made elsewhere and better. I don’t think it’s a spoiler to say that there’s no resolution: Not to the mystery of who killed Reeves and not to the resolution to Simo’s emotional journey.

The observation could be made that, since we don’t know what happened in real life, the movie is likewise hamstrung. Except, as noted, Al Collins tackles this kind of challenge all the time and routinely produces stories that hew to the truth while simultaneously coming up with satisfying conclusions all around. That’s because he takes a solid point of view, something very much lacking in the wishy-washy script of “Hollywoodland.”

I would love to see Al Collins tackle the Reeves murder (the book “Hollywood Kryptonite,” along with conversations I’ve had with Noel Neill, convinced me it wasn’t suicide). People might claim that “Hollywoodland” covered the same material; but at least Collins would cover it well.

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