It's truly ironic that Tim Burton was able to make such a great masterpiece out of the life story of Edward D. Wood Jr. The least you can say is that his life wasn't. What makes this film so great is that Burton never makes fun of Ed Wood. His way of film-making, his lifestyle and his vision of things are always shown with respect. It's obvious that Burton didn't intend to make a comedy about Hollywood, but a drama about a man with a dream to make films. And he won't give up that dream, no matter what. I'm a great fan of Tim Burton. Especially when he casts Johnny Depp in the leading role. Edward Sciccorhands, Sleepy Hollow and this Ed Wood can easily make the top 50 films of ALL TIME. There's chemistry on the screen, when those 2 work together. And Johnny is not alone this time. The Oscar that Martin Landau received for his role of Bela Lugosi is perhaps one of the most deserved ones in the history of the Academy Awards. He's very creepy as the washed up actor, but very pathetic at the same time. It really is an outstanding performance. Patricia Arquette is just adorable as Kathy, the woman who stays with Edward in good and bad days. She's always giving him support, believes in him, accepts him as he is ( his confession to her in the spook house is really heartbreaking ) Lisa Marie is really sexy as Vampire. People can think she receives all her roles because she sleeps with the director, but she really can act. Very well as the matter a fact. One little disappointment maybe, I was hoping the role of Orson Welles ( played by Vincent D'Onofrio - one genius plays another one ) would have been a little bigger. "Ed Wood" is one of the best films of the 90's... what am I saying ? One of the best films EVER !!!

It's appropriate that Tim Burton would direct this and even more appropriate that Johnny Depp would play the lead character as this story profiles an unusual subject: the worst director of films, perhaps, in Hollywood history....and one of its strangest characters.

As interesting as the story is, I found the black-and-white photography to be the best aspect of the film, but that's no surprise since Burton usually excels in making great visual films. Depp was hilarious as "Ed Wood." The eternal optimistic attitude and silly smile on his face in this film always makes me laugh and actually is inspiring in parts. You can't help but like poor Ed.

The most dramatic figure is Bela Lugosi, played memorably by Martin Landau, who deservedly won many awards for this performance. What a tragic figure.

To no surprise, there is a cheap shot against Baptists, who are made to look like meddling fools, something Hollywood loves to portray when it comes to any Christian character. Other than that, it's a fascinating film and portrait of a weirdo that only real-life weirdo Johnny Depp could do justice!

This is probably my favorite Tim Burton film because I love the incredibly wretched films of Ed Wood and appreciate a bio-pic of this king of dreck! Having seen BRIDE OF THE MONSTER, GLEN OR GLENDA, PLAN 9, NIGHT OF THE GHOULS AND JAIL BAIT, I was absolutely thrilled that the stories behind these films was finally brought to the screen. Plus, it was a great thrill to see the behind the scenes work that crazy of Ed did to get his horrible films made. It also helped that Johnny Depp played the character with so much energy and sincerity. It helped even more that the producers took such great pains to replicate the weird group of stock characters from the Wood films. Of course Martin Landau got a lot of attention (and an Oscar) for his portrayal of Bela Lugosi, but the rest of the characters were so close it was spooky. Plus, I admired that even the clothing and sets were dead on as well. Instead of simply making fun of Wood's horrible career, the film is more of a loving homage to a man who made rotten films that were still somehow very appealing--leading his films to be regarded as trash film cult classics. Perfect and enjoyable throughout and a truly wonderful time capsule.