#Hollywoodland Review | Explore Tumblr Posts and Blogs

criticalbennifer · 2 years

Text

The Unbearable Sadness Of Ben Affleck

The Ben Affleck of the late ‘90s was a charm machine: goofy, self-effacing, and deep in a highly public bromance with the equally winning Matt Damon. Within five years, he was a punchline. It took a decade for his career to recover. Today, he's once again at war with his image. So what's Affleck so ashamed of?

By: Anne Helen Petersen

March 28, 2016

The year after Daredevil, Ben Affleck told People magazine that “I can’t imagine doing another action movie.” In 2002, he called his earlier desire to do blockbusters “an adolescent aspiration.” In 2003, he described his “fundamental code” as “being honest, doing things with which I can live, rather than be ashamed of — doing estimable things.” In 2006, he told USA Today that “I’ve been in movies that earned a lot of money that ... I wish I wasn’t in, honestly.” Later that year, in an interview for his “comeback” role in Hollywoodland, he was relieved because “I don’t have to feel, like, embarrassed anymore.”

Affleck has an issue with shame. Over the last 20 years of stardom, he’s voiced that shame about the roles that he’s taken, the relationships he’s made public, his lack of education, his drinking habits, and, most recently, his tattoo, which, after a swift and public backlash, he quickly (and rather dubiously) claimed to be “fake.” He has not, it should be noted, been ashamed of his gambling habits or his extramarital affair — allegations of which, at least publicly, he still denies.

During his career renaissance in the late 2000s, the shame receded: He was directing, which is much less embarrassing than acting in bad movies, and in 2013, he won a Best Picture Oscar for Argo. But recently, Affleck has returned to the source of his embarrassment: In signing up for the role of Batman, he’s wed himself to a decade of action movies. Reviews for Batman v Superman are so bad that fans of the film have conjured a conspiracy theory that they were paid for by (DC Comics rival) Marvel. And in videos like this one, currently meme-ing its way across the internet, you can watch, in real time, as that old shame creeps in:

It’s the same look he sported at the Gigli premiere in 2004, laden with the realization that he’d done something horribly, irrevocably wrong. It's a look that shows up so often there's an entire deliriously well-stocked Tumblr of “Ben Affleck Looking Sad.” But the Sadfleck look doesn't inspire pity. Instead, there's a palpable desire to punch him in the face.

Stars, the understanding goes, should be grateful for what our fandom has given them. They should be gracious when we award them their fame, and when reviews are bad, they should smile and keep spinning, as Henry Cavill gamefully does in the Sadfleck Interview. And they should do all of this because they are getting paid mountains of money.

Affleck breaks that implicit pact. It’s one thing to make fun of your past, but it’s quite another to resent your present. Especially, in the case of Batman v Superman, because Affleck has been through it all before: He hates action movies. He especially hates superhero movies. His self-flagellation is off-putting because it’s tinged with resentment — toward the very filmmakers who would hire him again and, by extension, the millions of fans who’ve paid to see him.

It wasn’t always this way. Before the slew of genre films that made him seem like a paint-by-numbers leading man, Affleck had something like charisma. Early on, he played beefhead bullies in supporting roles — see Dazed and Confused (1993) and Mallrats (1995) — in part because, at 6’2”, he towers over most actors. “I had some producer try to talk me out of casting Ben in Chasing Amy,” director Kevin Smith told People magazine. “Because he was ‘too big’ to be a romantic leading man.”

In Chasing Amy (1997), Affleck was finally in the lead role, but he was still no leading man: just a New Jersey schmoe who, like the movie itself, doesn’t really understand lesbians. The moment when Amy (Joey Lauren Adams) takes the stage and begins singing to someone in the crowd, and Holden (Affleck) thinks that someone is him — it's a sublime moment of oblivious doofery. Not slapstick, just complete ego annihilation. As Holden, Affleck is all goatee and bad cardigans, but you have to trust me when I say it was hot for the time. It also helped launch his career: As Amy hit theaters, Good Will Hunting, Dogma, and Armageddon were all in production.

Good Will Hunting was a ready-made Oscar campaign, elevated to even more epic levels with the help of the Weinsteins — who, in 1997, were at the very top of their promotional game. According to the well-recited narrative, Affleck and Damon had met as kids in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Damon went to Harvard; Affleck went to the University of Vermont where, after two months, he dropped out and went to Hollywood, chasing the dream of acting after he’d appeared in a few bit roles as a teen. Damon, by contrast, wrote a screenplay, which sat in wait until he dropped out of school and moved to Hollywood, where he and Affleck started to act out scenes, rewrite, expand, and refine the script, anchoring it in big, meaty moments where one of them (or the psychologist character, played by Robin Williams) could give tour-de-force performances.

Which helps explain why the movie endures as a collection of scenes: the “Dem Apples” moment at the bar, Williams talking about his wife, Affleck telling Damon that he’ll kill him if he decides to squander his talent. The image of Damon and Affleck as a pair of hometown-boys-made-good was at the center of the publicity campaign, but Damon was clearly the star — and given most of the credit for the screenplay (at least, that is, when others weren’t floating conspiracy theories that the script had been written, or at least heavily doctored, by someone else).

“I took the whole writer thing very seriously,” Affleck told Talk magazine in 2000. “In retrospect, if I’d known then what I know now, I would have expanded the part that I played. Matt had a bigger part in School Ties and he had been a lead in Geronimo. Both movies totally bombed, and nobody was offering him any parts, but you could make the case that he was the actor. I’d only had supporting roles, and there wasn’t a lot of room [in the script] for us both to star, especially because we needed to have a big name [Robin Williams] in order to get it made. So I felt like, well, okay, we’ll cut my scenes out.”

When the pair won the Oscar for Best Screenplay, they were scrappy favorites — wearing gifted tuxes and bringing their moms as dates — that fit, in many ways, with their onscreen images as working-class Massholes. They remained self-deprecating (Damon: “If you put us together, you might actually make a whole, creative, interesting individual”) and graciously accepted the next step in their Hollywood wunderkind path: blockbuster stardom: Damon, with Spielberg, in Saving Private Ryan; Affleck, with Michael Bay, in Armageddon.

Still, Affleck managed to avoid insufferability. He still wasn’t the lead lead — that was reserved for Bruce Willis — instead, he gamely played with animal crackers on Liv Tyler’s stomach. But in his first big cover story forVanity Fair in 1999, hints of his macho self-consciousness started to become visible. “He may not be Bike Guy or Adrenaline-Junkie Guy, but spend a few minutes with Affleck, who’s usually seen around town in baggy army pants, a t-shirt, and a leather jacket, and one thing becomes clear: he sure as hell is a guy.” “He longs for the time when models looked like Christie Brinkley,” the profile declared. “He thinks Tom Cruise is a god. He stands behind Hootie. He has been known to forgo sex for video games.”

And as a guy, a guy’s guy, still friends with all his friends from home, Entourage style, Affleck was terrified of the feminizing effects of publicity. “His favorite words seem to be ‘chump,’ ‘weak,’ and especially ‘jackass,’” the profile continues. “‘Jackass,’ to Affleck, is the worst of insults. A jackass is what he fears he sounds like in profiles like this one.” Later in the interview, Affleck admits that the media version of his friendship with Damon was “so gay.” “If I had gone by the tabloid stories of it,” he elaborated, “I would have been like ‘Look at these fuckin’ chumps. I just want to smack these people.' And I kind of wanted to smack myself.”

Vanity Fair goes on to declare that Affleck, in his self-awareness, is the opposite of a jackass, but that fear — of the way that publicity will effectively castrate him — was merited. Male and female stars have always required publicity (posing for photo shoots, sitting for interviews) in order to maintain their status in the public eye and promote their newest product. But there’s a type of publicity that’s masculine (profiles in men’s magazines, photos in classy suits, interviews in established newspapers) and another that’s feminizing (gossip magazines, tabloids, photo shoots that signal a willingness to believe that you’re hot). The cover of Vanity Fair isn’t feminizing. Being named People’s Sexiest Man Alive — and posing for a mildly embarrassing photo shoot — is.

It’s a counterintuitive process: that becoming a heartthrob can de-masculinize you. Attractiveness to women should up a male star’s virility quotient, but in truth, or, at least, in media, it makes him subject to the gaze — a passive pin-up. It’s what happened to Rudolph Valentino back in the ‘20s; it’s what nearly happened to Burt Reynolds in the ‘70s, when he posed nude for a Cosmopolitan centerfold that he’s recently admitted he regrets. (Leonardo DiCaprio has fought the impulse by getting as ugly as possible in every other film.)

Whether Affleck was conscious of that process or not, publicity clearly inflamed his anxiety — which, judging from his own comments, sprung from an acute case of class consciousness. Affleck described his upbringing as “working class” — his mother was an elementary school teacher, his father was, among other things, a mechanic, a bookie, a construction worker, a bartender, and a drunk, who left the family when Affleck was a boy, leaving his mother to raise him and his brother Casey on a single income. Affleck’s mother, Chris, was raised on the Upper East Side and attended Harvard; her father (Affleck’s grandfather) had been a Democratic activist — an inclination that was passed down to Affleck, who has been active, in some capacity, in Democratic politics his entire adult life.

Which is all to say that Affleck, living in Cambridge, surrounded by schools like MIT and Harvard, and living with a Harvard-educated mother, was incredibly attuned to class differences. “I’ve always been insecure because I only had a little bit of college and knew a lot of people from fancy schools,” Affleck told Rolling Stone. “All that sort of resentment in Good Will Hunting about people who went to college came from me feeling on the fringe.”

He hated being called “fratty” because it pointed to a class level that he also never achieved. “The idea that I’m this frat guy is odd, because I only went to college for one semester,” he told Talk. “I was never in fraternity. It speaks to a kind of upper-class upbringing that I didn’t have.”

Which isn’t to say that he didn’t dress and act like a different style of frat boy: His idea of the good life, according to longtime friend and producer Chris Moore, was “eating at Subway and playing video games”; when Bay cast him in Armageddon, his first order was that Affleck get his teeth, one of the ultimate signifiers of class, fixed.

At the same time, Affleck had affixed himself to Gwyneth Paltrow — arguably the most high-class star of the last 25 years. Paltrow, who, pre-Goop, was still the woman who’d attended the most exclusive New York private school, who’d grown up surrounded by Hollywood, and who'd, according to writer-director Don Roose, offered Affleck “lots of unsolicited advice” about his decor. “To hear her talk you’d think there were mattresses on the floor and Led Zeppelin posters on the wall.”

In truth, it was more like a keg of Guinness and a rotating set of friends in his Hollywood home, but Paltrow, according to People, “wanted to show that there’s a real man inside him, a thinker and a sensitive guy. She doesn’t let him skate by on that frat-boy thing.” Put differently, she was trying to reform — re-class — him.

Anxiety over the public perception of his intelligence, apparently fueled by his own girlfriend, might have been part of why Affleck so eagerly stumped for Al Gore, embraced plans to adapt Howard Zinn’s People’s History of the United States, or spoke publicly at Harvard with Damon and Zinn about raising wages for the university’s service employees. “They spoke very passionately,” Zinn said. “Ben talked about how his father had worked at Harvard at a menial job and how he understood what it was like to work for an enormously rich corporation and get a pittance.”

Affleck’s affiliation with Zinn, whose work also made an appearance in Good Will Hunting, crystallized his ambivalent relationship with his own class: He wanted to be a populist — someone who’s not ashamed of his working-class roots — but everything around him, including his own girlfriend, wanted him to disaffiliate with that same past in order to be famous.

Affleck and Paltrow broke up in 1999, but his subsequent roles suggest an oscillating desire to align himself with the (high-class) art house film and the (not-so-high-class) genre film — there’s his wan straight man opposite Sandra Bullock in rom-com Forces of Nature, a return to Smith in Dogma, classic indie ensemble work in 200 Cigarettes, and what was intended as a prestige role alongside Paltrow in the unremarkable Bounce: “If you don’t like my performance in this movie,” Affleck proclaimed, “then you will never like me or believe me in any movie, and probably should never go see another movie I do.”

He agreed to make Reindeer Games because its director, John Frankenheimer, was responsible for The Manchurian Candidate; he said yes to Daddy and Them because it was Armageddon co-star Billy Bob Thornton’s first directorial project since Slingblade. He did Boiler Room, one can assume, because he wanted to have a juicy Glengarry Glen Ross-type speech, though it did not transform him into a serious actor — or at least the sort of actor that wouldn’t have to do the kind of PR that would make his class an issue.

And so Affleck leaned into handsome-leading-man roles, even though, as he was quick to admit, he felt alienated from them. He was unmemorable in Pearl Harbor, fell flat taking over for Harrison Ford as Jack Ryan in The Sum of All Fears, was just fine opposite Samuel L. Jackson in Changing Lanes, and had every scene stolen from him by Jennifer Garner in Daredevil.

And then there was J.Lo.

Consider Affleck’s mindset at the time. He’d spent time in rehab (brought to the Promises Center in 2001 by Charlie Sheen after an all-night bender; just think about that for a second) as a “pre-emptive strike” to counter what he viewed as a family inclination toward alcoholism. After the disappointments of the late ‘90s and early 2000s, he’d become a major and successful movie star. But not a respected one — especially when compared, as he always was, with Damon, who’d given a tour de force performance in The Talented Mr. Ripley and attached himself to much less flashy (and better) franchises with Bourne and Ocean’s Eleven. If Damon’s career choices were Whole Foods, Affleck’s were increasingly Costco.

When Affleck began working with Lopez on Gigli in 2002, she was married to dancer Cris Judd, and enormously successful, but, at heart, a celebrity, not a star. The two became close on set, but according to Affleck, only as friends.

It was during this friendship that Affleck decided to publicly assert the extent of Lopez’s talents. In March 2002, he took out $20,000 in ads in Variety and The Hollywood Reporter declaring how much he loved working with her — and how impressed he was with her acting skills. “In a lot of ways it was in contrast to what some of my preconceptions were about Jennifer,” he wrote. “I thought I’d write a paragraph saying what a professional, decent person she is and how kind she is.” (Note: the Hollywood trade magazines have a long history of congratulatory ads, but this particular ad “raised eyebrows.”)

They were "just friends," but Affleck was nevertheless concerned with the public perception — which goes unnamed here, but can be insinuated as “low class” — of his co-star. To be sure, Affleck did actually find Lopez impressive, professional, decent, and kind. But to take out an ad proclaiming as much says more about how he’d like to be perceived for working with her and less about his actual concern for her image. Put differently, she wasn’t ashamed; he was.

In June 2002, Lopez announced her separation from Judd; a month later, she and Affleck announced their relationship, as one does, via public appearance, dining with Lopez’s manager and producer Babyface at “New York’s see-and-be-seen” sushi restaurant Nobu. “They were cuddling at the table,” an employee told Us Weekly, adding that Lopez had worn beige-and-white sweatpants with her name embroidered across the back.

Thus launched one of the most high-profile — and heavily degraded — relationships in the modern celebrity era. They were the first couple to win a celebrity moniker, “Bennifer,” which pointed to the ways in which their relationship became the central commodity, exploited and expanded by the burgeoning rivalry between People magazine and the newly rejuvenated Us Weekly.

Dozens of couples had been tracked with similar ferocity before, and dozens would be in the decade to come. But the sentiment that hovered around Bennifer was one of distaste. The press was filled with reports of their lavish gifts to one another — a $100,000 toilet seat encrusted with jewels, a 6.1-carat pink solitaire ring, a six-figure Aston Martin sports car. While modern celebrity is distinguished, in no small part, through displays of conspicuous consumption, Bennifer’s tipped into new-money gaudiness — too conspicuous, especially when paired with equally conspicuous displays of affection.

Usually, we love when celebrities kiss or hold hands for the cameras, but Bennifer exceeded the unspoken limits of good taste, especially when Affleck appeared in the video for Lopez’s “Jenny from the Block” — cuddling, kissing, cupping her ass on the back of a yacht. “The reason I did the video was as a commentary on the crazy tabloid paparazzi attention,” Affleck explained. “But it was covered without any irony whatsoever.” Instead of satirizing paparazzi surveillance, it seemed like Lopez and Affleck were celebrating, or at least catering, to it.

In the press, Lopez was figured as a “bad fit” for Affleck: She was "ravenously ambitious” (Vanity Fair), “the Zsa Zsa Gabor of our generation” (Rolling Stone) who wore velour J.Lo jumpsuits and loved Deuce Bigalow. “The problem, of course, is that J.Lo is no Julia,” an editorial for The Hollywood Reporter explained, comparing her to Roberts, whose love life had also been in the press. “You never saw Roberts show up at the Oscars dressed in Saran Wrap, for instance. No one gushes about Roberts’ rear end as being intrinsic to her success.”

The unspoken connotation of all this rhetoric? Lopez was trashy. She wasn’t talented like other Hollywood stars — she was an OK singer, a forgettable actor. Instead, her celebrity was rooted in her raced, classed body: in her dancing ability, but also in her body’s beauty, which she exploited without shame. She had been arrested, along with ex-boyfriend Sean “Puffy” Combs, in connection to a Manhattan shooting. She was the opposite of Paltrow.

And even though Affleck attempted to emphasize the similarities between him and Lopez — "We are both from working-class families in culturally diverse neighborhoods in east coast cities,” he told The Mirror — the rhetoric around their relationship remained that of a mismatch. When Vanity Fair asserted that Lopez was “perhaps the last woman on earth Affleck should have chosen if he really wanted to maintain a lower profile,” he responded: “That occurred to me. Why did I fall in love with this person? What does that say about me? Maybe I am conflicted, but I also have a contrary streak.”

Which might explain Affleck’s conflicting impulse to both defend Lopez and transform her. He corrected those who called her “J.Lo” instead of Jennifer, a move that presaged Tom Cruise’s attempt to turn Katie Holmes into “Kate.” He toned down her sexuality: “Jen has had fewer boyfriends than your average high-school junior,” he said. “In the physical sense, she’s extremely chaste. She’s had a much simpler, more easily explainable, more clean romantic history than I have.” He encouraged Lopez to fire her longtime manager, who’d help craft the tabloid-friendly strategy that made her famous. The “popular theory,” according to Newsweek, was that Affleck wanted to “sophisticate his wife-to-be’s image in case his long-rumored aspirations of a political life as a congressman from Massachusetts become a reality.”

The pair went on Dateline in late July to promote Gigli, which was set to premiere August 1, 2003. The interview itself was overkill (Entertainment Weekly charted its progress with a “Pain-o-Meter”), but the distaste was further amplified when, the night that it aired, Affleck was “caught” at a strip club in Vancouver with Christian Slater and Tara Reid — where, depending on the report, he either drank water all night and touched no one, or hooked up with a dancer, went back to Slater’s house, and had sex with her.

Affleck and Lopez issued statements maintaining that Affleck had attended the club with Lopez’s permission, but it mattered little — he was still at a strip club. If anything, her “approval” simply reinforced her lack of class. When the pair showed up to Gigli, the looks on their faces as they posed on the red carpet were overly bronzed and pained.

Gigli became a legendary flop, immediately likened to ur-flop Ishtar; studio head Joe Roth called its $7 million international gross, on a budget of $54 million, “humiliating.” A month later, Affleck and Lopez called off their $2 million wedding, purportedly due to too much media scrutiny. By January 2004, the pair officially ended their relationship. But they still had a second collaboration — Jersey Girl — to promote, and Affleck was back on the publicity circuit in March, making fun of Gigli and his own overexposure, owning the shame and sporting a hideous goatee and tatted-up arms on the cover of Rolling Stone.

He’d also been thinking about why, exactly, his relationship had incited such vitriol. He suspected it “had something to do with race and class,” he told Vanity Fair. “That pushed a button. This is a country that flew into a gigantic uproar about Janet Jackson’s breast. There’s still a heavy-duty puritan influence going on, and we still hold ourselves to a pretty chaste ideal, which includes, buried within it, the tradition of people being with people like them. We were thought of as two different kinds of people, not just racially but culturally.”

The explanation didn’t feel credible at the time, but in hindsight, race and class anxieties were redolent, if coded, in the rhetoric used to describe their relationship. Affleck himself seemed to have internalized that anxiety. He turned away from publicity, at least until, a year later, he began dating Jennifer Garner — a woman who, in addition to her burgeoning role as avatar of the middle-class femininity, upholds, as Affleck had put it, “the tradition of people being with people like them.”

It was literally Bennifer 2.0, but Affleck kept the relationship as low-key — as classy — as possible: They married yet rarely appeared together in public, Garner’s career receded, and the only images of their three children were playing, as a family, in the park. Garner didn’t offer him the class elevation that Paltrow would’ve, but she also didn’t inflame his own working-class connotations the way J.Lo had. She was wonderfully, soothingly safe, roundly respectable — an image that slowly, by extension, became Affleck’s as well.

As Affleck’s halo of shame receded, his likability increased. He was humble and tragic in Hollywoodland, was easy to root for as the director of Gone Baby Gone, and gave a completely unflashy performance in Argo. He’d found his low-key niche — the one, back in the early 2000s, he’d dreamed of. But something happened in the aftermath — as if he’d forgotten the lessons of a decade before. He seemed cocksure, arrogant; he was gambling and fighting constant rumors of infidelity, specifically with Gone Girl co-star Emily Ratajkowski. He’s great in Gone Girl not because he’d returned to the gleeful doofiness of Chasing Amy and Shakespeare in Love, but because the doof had grown up, soured, turned on itself. “He’s perfect in Gone Girl,” a friend told me, “because that movie knows he’s trash.”

When Affleck and Garner announced their divorce, it was against a backdrop of continued gambling problems (in October 2014, Affleck was thrown out of a casino for counting cards) and an alleged affair with the family’s nanny — perhaps the trashiest in the tabloid hierarchy of affairs. Yet it came as no surprise: We’d seen this cycle play out once before. Now that Batman v Superman has been pummeled in the press, his reaction feels not just like sadness in the wake of bad reviews, but a deep shame stemming from a series of disappointing decisions.

Class and race are the primary ways that we decide a person’s worth in this country, and while the history of Hollywood stardom is filled with men and women who transcended their original class, any anxiety, regret, or shame about their current or past class is carefully scrubbed from their images. That sort of insecurity isn’t read as sympathetic or relatable — instead, it’s a sign of image instability.

Even though we encourage the people who surround us to grow, change, and deliberate, there’s an expectation that stars, and the ideologies their images come to represent, remain static. Affleck’s oscillation between class anxiety and class capitulation — in his actions, his facial expressions, his interviews — makes him seem like a man who refuses to own himself or his decisions.

Back in 2000, still in the first act of his career, Affleck turned philosophical: “Being in the position that I’m in now, I tend to look at lot of these older actors and say, ‘Well, where are their lives now? Who do you want to be in life?’ So many of them seem so unhappy and so fucked up: confused or lost or bitter or hateful or venomous or in agony. None of them are happy. And you think, God, I don’t want that life.”

It seems, at least publicly, that Affleck has found in that vortex of stardom, still at war with his image, his career choices, and what he’s come to represent. That’s the realization that seems to descend upon Affleck in the clip: the dark understanding that even an Oscar can’t rescue him from the specter of his past shame — compounded by time and regret and failed relationships and superhero carapaces and the everlasting comparison to Damon — returning for him.

#ben affleck #press/article #buzzfeed #2016

0 notes

adamwatchesmovies · 4 years

Text

Hollywoodland (2006)

My initial interest in Hollywoodland came from its ties to George Reeves, star of the old Superman serials. I used to collect every single superhero and comic book movie I could get my hands on (films like “The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen” made me realize I needed to be more selective). I didn't come looking for a noir detective story but the longer it's sat with me, the more I enjoyed this tale.

Based on a true story, George Reeves (Ben Affleck) is a struggling actor who wins the titular role on TV’s Adventures of Superman. This break sparks a complicated relationship with fame and depression. His alleged suicide and the media buzz around it summons, a private investigator named Louis Simo (Adrian Brody). This investigation is nothing but a way to get his name in the paper until he unearths strange details about Reeves' death.

Hollywoodland starts slowly, but stick with it. It's the story of Reeves’ supposed suicide, of what exactly happened that night, of who was really responsible. It’s about the investigator piecing together the events that led to the gunshot but what it's really about is stardom. Both Reeves and Simo want to be big and have a love/hate relationship with fame. It’s like Reeves had his wish granted by an evil genie. Thanks to The Adventures of Superman, he's famous but only children admire him. No one can get over this one part he's played. Today, Reeves might've embraced this recognition. He'd go to conventions and make cameos until the day he died. In 1958? not a chance. If only he'd looked at his situation with a glass-half-full attitude. He probably could've been a star by putting himself in child-oriented roles and eventually making it to the big leagues, or at least earning a steady paycheck as his fans grew into adults. His cynicism will make you unsure how to feel about him but thanks to Affleck's performance, you sympathize and understand the man.

Emotionally, a lot is happening. The two stories are so engaging you're likely to forget all about Simo... until you get to his part, fall in love with it and then have the cycle repeat itself. The complex characters are what keep you invested. Simo is a jerk, chasing fame at the expense of a tragedy. He’s also a regular guy just trying to make ends meet. Redemption can be found in this case he's been assigned to. You want to know what happened, which makes the threats he faces seem even greater. It’s that evil genie wish thing once again. He's gotten the big case that will guarantee credibility but big cases tend to upset people. The trash he's sifting through belongs to some very powerful inhabitants of Hollywood.

Though initially I didn't feel involved by Hollywoodland, by the end I had forgotten about the world outside of it. There are so many complex relationships and so many different emotions being juggled. The performances are superb. I loved this glimpse at an old Hollywood where things worked very differently. Whether you know details about the real-life case or not, the mystery is presented in a way that fascinates you. For the most, director Allen Coulter and writer Pal Bernbaum allow you to make your own conclusions without leaving you hanging. Is this all factual? it doesn't matter. Not when the results are this engrossing. It's one you'll want to watch with others so you can discuss the implications afterward. (On DVD, March 11, 2015)

#Hollywoodland #movies #films #reviews #movieReviews #FilmReviews #FilmCriticism #AllenCoulter #PaulBernbaum #AdrienBrody #DianeLane #BenAffleck #BobHoskins #2006Movies #2006Films

1 note · View note

impendingfascination · 7 years

Text

Hollywoodland Leaves Timeless With A Predictable Outcome

I spent the second half of this episode wondering why ‘Timeless’ decided to answer the ‘will-they-or-won’t-they’ question so early in its history. Were the producers worried after the temporary cancellation last season that they might not get another chance? Did it just make good storytelling sense at this moment? Unfortunately, the answer was to give the introduction of Wyatt’s previously deceased wife more impact. I don’t know, I’ve never really cared much about the Lucy/Wyatt relationship. It seemed somewhat bound to happen during the course of the show so there really wasn’t much to invest in it. Letting Jessica exist again doesn’t really change that either. It just takes away plot time to no end at this point. Maybe if this ‘twist had been introduced earlier, but here it just feels pointless.

Things do otherwise happen in this episode, with the main event being Flynn’s ‘escape’ from prison and him ending up working with the team. Does this mean that Rufus will be staying behind more often now? Because over the course of this episode it is made abundantly clear that more than 3 people in the time capsule could be a really dangerous thing (though why is never really explained). Either the show is a character extra or a time capsule short, but having Flynn with the team doesn’t really seem to work just yet.

Jiya’s affliction from being the 4th person in the clearly labeled 3-person limited time capsule gets some work in the episode tonight, but it probably the most frustratingly under-explored plot point of the season so far. There is something more than Rittenhouse going on here, and yet really all we are given are some brief flashes and the occasional seizure. Producers, if you are listening, more time on this and less on needless romantic complications.

#timeless #timeless hollywoodland #hollywoodland #timeless review

19 notes · View notes

maikahq · 5 years

Text

Okay, but was anyone aware that there is an entire community of youtubers who just review candles? I’m not even joking, I’ve been glued to this screen in awe of this fourteen year old boy reviewing Yankee candles. This has been my entire evening. There’s so many random communities on this website that I was NOT aware of - have you ever fallen into a weird youtube hole?

@hollywoodland-hqs

#hwlstart #hi friends! <3

67 notes · View notes

andsoshespins · 4 years

Text

Consumed in 2020

Since this was a year I am already tired of describing as or hearing described as “like no other,” I’ve decided to compile a list of media I have consumed for a different take on the “year in review” idea, roughly in chronological order.

Most of these--in any category--I ADORED and raved for weeks and months about. Others were just a time-passer, I would never revisit or even recommend. I have probably forgotten a few movies here and there.

I think cataloguing in this way helps me to reflect on just how much I consumed and the variety (or maybe lack thereof in some places), contemplate what I was feeling at the time of consumption, what the state of the world was at that moment, why I was drawn to certain storylines and not others, what some of these books, movies, and shows remind me about myself.

Books

The Power by Naomi Alderman

Anne of Green Gables by L. M. Montgomery (reread)

Anne of Avonlea by L. M. Montgomery

Anne of the Island by L. M. Montgomery

One Hundred Years of Solitude by Gabriel Garcia Marquez

Circe by Madeline Miller

The Woman in Cabin 10 by Ruth Ware

Outlander by Diana Gabaldon

Their Eyes Were Watching God by Zora Neale Hurston

An American Marriage by Tayari Jones

City of Girls by Elizabeth Gilbert

Sweetbitter by Stephanie Danler

This Side of Paradise by F. Scott Fitzgerald

A Head Full of Ghosts by Paul Tremblay

Is Everyone Hanging Out Without Me? by Mindy Kaling

The Book of Longings by Sue Monk Kidd

Harry Potter series (currently rereading)

Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen (currently)

New-to-Me TV

Anne with an “E” (season 3)

Soundtrack

GLOW (season 3)

Locke and Key

Never Have I Ever

Hollywoodland

Gilmore Girls

Medici: Il Magnifico (season 3)

Outlander

The Magicians (ongoing/hiatus)

Merlin (ongoing/hiatus)

The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel

The West Wing

Fleabag

The Mindy Project (This was mostly new-to-me.)

Emily in Paris

Grace and Frankie (ongoing)

Girl Meets World (ongoing)

Bunheads (ongoing)

Rewatched TV Series

New Girl (This was half-watched and half-new-to-me.)

Boy Meets World

Lizzie McGuire

Movies

Someone Great

The Danish Girl

Love Wedding Repeat

The Stranger (with Orson Welles to disambiguate)

Sleepless in Seattle

Hamilton (I guess this counts, right?)

Iron Man (1, 2, and 3)

Thor: Thor and The Dark World

Captain America: The First Avenger; The Winter Soldier; and Civil War

The Avengers: The Avengers and Age of Ultron

Ant-Man

Doctor Strange

Guardians of the Galaxy (1 and 2)

an unremarkable handful of Hallmark Christmas-themed movies

#movies #books #tv #2020 #year in review #media #reflection

1 note · View note

hollywoodland-hqs · 4 years

Text

Thank you for applying and welcome to Hollywoodland Ana, you have been accepted to play Zoë Kravitz. Please send in your account within 24 hours and make sure your askbox/submits are open for any further questions (no sideblogs please).

Name / Pronoun / Age: Ana, she/her, 23

Time Zone: GMT+1

Preferred FC: Zoë Kravitz

Backup FC: Olivia Munn

FC Gender: Female

FC Pronoun: She/her

Shipping and Wanted Connections:

Chemistry only!

Para Sample:

Do you want your muse included in the gossip/confession blogs?:

Requested trigger warnings:

Rules Phrase:

Anything Else?

I’m gonna bring Zoë as divorced, if it’s alright! Also, thank you for reviewing this app <3

#hollywood rp #hollywood rpg #celeb rp #celeb rpg #submission #accepted #zoe kravitz #zoë kravitz

1 note · View note

yochriswood-blog · 6 years

Text

Year In Review - Chris Wood

@hwlandhqgossip

001. What is your proudest accomplishment of this year?

I think it definitely has to becoming a dad. Fatherhood has changed my life for the better and I’m so thankful for the chance to be a father and have a family with Mel.

002. What is the biggest life lesson you learned this year?

To never give up and to keep pushing, even when things get tough. To make sure you’re open to sharing how you feel and to not get lost in the darkness, because there’s always light out there even if you don’t see it right away.

003. What is one relationship (can be friendship) that has helped you survive this year?

Definitely Mel. She’s always there for me despite my career struggles and how that takes a toll on me emotionally and mentally. I don’t know where I’d be without her right now and she’s always supporting me and helping me with positive vibes to get me through it. @melissabenoistiisms

004. Who or what do you need to let go of in order to make next year even better than this year?

I need to let go of the idea that not finding a job means that I’ve failed, because I feel that way often when I don’t hear back from certain roles that I think I would’ve gotten.

005. What did you do this year that you’ve never done before?

Well, I became a dad for the first time so I’ve never done that before. I also directed a short film that will be out in January so that was fun.

006. What are three resolutions or goals you want to make happen next year?

1. Travel more with Mel and bring Ollie to some of those special places to experience as a family.

2. Not to give up career wise and to keep auditioning despite not having the best of luck lately.

3. Keep writing and directing and see where that gets me.

007. Where did most of your money go this year?

Yankee tickets. Kidding, probably towards Ollie. Babies are expensive but totally worth it.

008. What song will always remind you of this year?

Meant To Be - Bebe Rehxa, Florida Georgia Line

009. How will you be spending the last day of this year?

Definitely with Mel, most likely in LA. We haven’t decided yet.

010. Who is the best new person you’ve met this year?

I have to put two people here, Nat and Maika. They’ve both been great friends and I’m so glad I met them this year! @itsnataliadyr @xmaikamonroe

–

001. What relationship (can be friendship) has been the most fun to write for your muse/s this year?

I love writing anything Benwood because they’re precious angels. But I’ve also really enjoyed writing out Chris’ friendship with Nat and also his interactions with Dove! Two unexpected friendships that I absolutely adore now. @melissabenoistiisms @itsnataliadyr @dcvescameron

002. In what ways do you connect to your muse/s?

I connect with Chris’ soft and sensitive side. He’s sweet and does anything he can to make his loved ones happy and I’m pretty much the same way.

003. What’s your favorite category to write for your muse/s? (angst, fluff, smut, etc.)

I answered this on Grant’s and it’s pretty much the same, an angst plot can be a lot of fun but also fluff and smut is great too.

004. If you could give your muse/s one gift, what would you give them?

I would give Chris a main role on a successful TV show on a good network because he deserves that right now.

005. What was your favorite event/moment/memory in HollywoodlandHQ this year?

The Greece trip and Halloween event were a lot of fun, especially since it created more friendships with Chris.

006. What muse/s have you enjoyed most seeing on this dash this year?

It’s hard to pick just certain ones, there’s always great muses on the dash whenever I’m on!

007. What is your favorite thing your muse/s have done this year in the group? (can be in the real world or what you made up)

Chris proposing to Mel in the rp is definitely a highlight. And also them being together in real life. ;)

008. What would you like to see in HollywoodlandHQ in 2019?

More events for sure and also some more opportunities to do AU things, maybe for a longer period of time than just a few days so that it gives some time to develop stuff that you wouldn’t normally get to do.

009. What is a plot you would love to do with your muse/s?

Something angsty with Chris, probably due to the fact that he’s not doing much professionally right now and how that is affecting him.

010. Tag somebody in the RP and say something nice about them. It’s the season of giving.

To all the admins, thank you for the hard work you put into this roleplay, it definitely pays off! @hollywoodland-hqs

@melissabenoistiisms - Thank you for being a great ship partner, I adore our Benwood so much.

@elizajanetc - No brotp will have my heart like Grolton but I love all our brotps and we need to do more with them in the new year!

@hyfdanielle - You’re the best and I’m lucky to have you in my life, not only as a ship partner but as a great friend. Thank you for all the encouragement and support.

@liliisms - Thank you for being such a great friend over the years. We’ve been through a lot and our friendship has only gotten stronger. You’re one of the sweetest, most genuine and caring people I know and anyone who has you in their life should consider themselves lucky.

@xmaikamonroe - fam for life ;)

@itstbellisario - i love your Troian and your Haley and I’m so glad you’re here and we have interactions on both Grant and Chris with both of them because it’s been a pleasure writing with you!

@itsnataliadyr & @dcvescameron - I don’t know you guys well OOC but I want you to know that I’ve loved the interactions I’ve had with you IC and appreciate the friendship you guys have given Chris! I enjoy writing with you both a lot.

#hwlandendofyear

12 notes · View notes

mockingjayne12 · 6 years

Text

Darkness Will Lead My Way

(Lyatt / Timeless Fic)

Lucy can’t sleep, and finds herself wandering into someone else’s bed. Takes place after The Darlington 500 and before Hollywoodland.

Fingers tapping against knuckles, as if waiting for something to happen, is how Lucy finds herself once again. Silence rings out throughout the small room of the bunker. Her roommate Jiya having long since fallen asleep.

Darkness envelops her, metal clanging through the building every once in a while doing nothing to settle her mind, and she finds herself staring up at the ceiling into nothing. She moves her head towards the direction of the sleeping form across from her, but she sees nothing, just a soft rustling from her as she flips sides. Moving her sight back to the ceiling, she continues the drum of her fingers.

A small frown comes to her face, as she sits up, swinging her legs to hang over the edge of the bed, her shoulders hunched, as she pushes her weight into a standing position.

She doesn’t bother grabbing a robe, instead opting to leave in just her baggy white t-shirt and sweatpants. Her hair piled atop her head, she wipes at her eyes with her hand, trying to create some sort of focused vision before heading out into the hall.

The dim lights always give off an eery vibe to the bunker, but especially at night. Being wildly claustrophobic, the thought of being underground, essentially in one giant tomb does little to soothe her mind, but rather shrouds her in anxiety, still unaccustomed and uncomfortable in their living situation.

She’s not sure where she’s going until she ends up with her hand on the handle of a door that looks exactly like her own.

The noise of the latch opening echoes through the hall, and her face scrunches up in that awkward way that always has Wyatt referring to her as an open book, one in which she writes her emotions in it as plain as day.

“Lucy?” She hears, as she moves to close the door, blocking out the light, and hoping not to have woken up Rufus too.

“I’m sorry,” she says, tiptoeing in her socked feet to the bed to her right, tripping over a pair of shoes at the foot of the bed frame.

She can’t quite make out his features, but she can see his silhouette moving in the way of silent laughter as she hobbles over to him.

“What are you doing here?” He asks, and she swears a hint of a smile ghosts across his lips now that she’s standing closer and can make out his face.

“I umm…couldn’t sleep,” she confesses, a defeated tone to her voice, having admitted to what he’d confronted her with just a day ago.

Lucy’s just about to suggest they leave go to the kitchen, not wanting to wake the sleeping man across from them, but she’s cut off, when Wyatt scoots over to the wall, pulling the sheet up, offering her a space next to him.

She’s grateful the darkness covers her heated cheeks that are surely a shade of red right now, at the suggestion of the two of them sharing a tight space. Again. She’d barely made it out of that trunk without his lips on her’s, and if she’s honest, she can still feel the wisp of his breath against her, the pressure of his hips leaning into her’s, as he hovered above her.

“You gonna get in or not?” He teases, and she narrows her eyes at him, before climbing into the bed.

He rests against his hand, propped up so he’s able to look down at her. She’s positioned on her side, and only shivers a little when her sweatpants ride up just a bit, making contact with the bare skin of his leg, glancing down to find that he’s also bare chested. A fact she hadn’t been able to see until now.

The heat radiating off his skin has her burying her head in the one pillow resting on the bed. Only furthering her assault against herself, the scent of his shampoo lingering on the material, her eyes closing as she takes in the scent of him enveloping her in its grasp.

His hand reaches out, hesitating a second, before landing on her hip, pulling her closer, the edge of the small bed threatening to toss her onto the floor.

She lets out a small cough, and she can feel the stubble of his smile as he lowers his head to rest on the pillow with her. His hand coming to find the small of her back, securely wrapping her up in his embrace. His fingers having pulled up her t-shirt just slightly, his thumb making small circles against her bare skin, eliciting a sigh from her lips before she can catch it, and a trail of goosebumps to crawl up her back.

“Not helping,” she whispers, but it comes out as more of a tease than anything.

“Right, sleep,” he teases back, his cheeks hollowing out to the dimples that only appear when he’s smiling, and she’s found it’s usually aimed at her lately, not unlike right now.

He scoots closer, moving one of his legs to rest in between her own, as her hand wanders up to his face. Her fingertips trailing the line of his jaw, the stubble pricking her skin, until she’s all but cradling his face in her hand, her thumb moving over the bridge of his nose, mapping his features with her touch, as if memorizing every line, hoping to find her way back again, landing on his lips.

“Hmm,” she hums, her brown eyes finding his blue in the dark, like a beacon beckoning her home. The same gaze she’d found earlier in that car trunk. Her name soft on his usually rough voice, but his hand steadying, comforting, wrapping her safely in his embrace. A feeling she only seems to find when he’s around. The quiet comfort of his distraction, brooding into something of kindness, spilling over when he finds her nervous, tangling their emotions. Darkness having led them both to each other.

“Lucy,” he breathes against her finger.

“Shh,” she says with a laugh, motioning towards the direction of their sleeping roommate. “You’ll wake him up.”

“Too late,” Rufus responds back, and Lucy’s cheeks heat up again, burying her head in Wyatt’s bare chest, sinking further under the sheet.

Wyatt’s lips rest on top of her head, muffling his laughter in her hair.

“Uhh, sorry,” he gets out, his hand pulling Lucy impossibly close.

“Is this happening?” Their friend asks, enthusiasm suggesting that he’d likely been awake since the opening of the door.

“No,” Wyatt says with groan, no longer whispering “Just trying to sleep.”

“Sure,” Rufus says, all too unbelieving in their statement, before silence engulfs them all.

Lucy tucks her arms to where they’re resting on Wyatt’s chest along with her cheek, the warmth and steady beat of his heart lulling her into a state of exhaustion, causing a yawn to escape her.

“Sleep, Lucy,” he sighs, his lips moving against the crown of her forehead.

“Wyatt,” she incoherently murmurs into him, her eyelashes fluttering against his chest, causing an involuntary shiver to rattle against her cheek. “Don’t leave,” she sleepily pleads. The underlying fear eating away at her, keeping her up every night, staring into darkness. One by one, everyone she had cared about had disappeared from her life, time threatening to take him from her as well.

His fingers play against her back, warm pads tranquilly soothing her mind, until she finds herself safely falling into unconsciousness, only stirred awake briefly by the press of his lips against her forehead. Soft, gentle, a silent promise of his presence, unwilling to leave.

“I’m not going anywhere.”

xxxxx

hello! as i wait for news about a season three (and the season two finale), i couldn't help but think of a happier time for these two. i'm not really sure what this is, just a thought that hit me as i was rewatching the darlington 500 at like three in the morning. i hope you enjoy, and please review!

#lyatt #timeless #lucy preston #wyatt logan #lyatt fanfic

146 notes · View notes

esonetwork · 7 months

Text

Heartfelt Cinema | Tales From Hollywoodland

New Post has been published on https://esonetwork.com/heartfelt-cinema-tales-from-hollywoodland/

Heartfelt Cinema | Tales From Hollywoodland

Since it’s the season for Valentine’s, Arthur, Julian, and Steve examine the most romantic movies of all time, from “Casablanca” to “Titanic,” “When Harry Met Sally,” “Dirty Dancing,” “Three Coins in the Fountain” and much more. Grab a partner and tune in for a fun time when romance was not only a popular movie genre, but a staple.

Links

Tales From Hollywoodland on Facebook https://www.facebook.com/talesfromhollywoodland

Tales From Hollywoodland on Instagram https://www.instagram.com/talesfromhollywoodland/

Tales From Hollywoodland on YouTube https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCdLX2kbwHqdn47FNN6vVN7Q

We want to hear from you! Feedback is always welcome. Please write to us at [email protected] and why not subscribe and rate the show on Apple Podcast, Spotify, iHeartRadio, PlayerFM, YouTube, Pandora, Amazon Music, Audible, and wherever fine podcasts are found.

#RomanticHollywoodfilms #Classicromancemovies #Hollywoodlovestories #Romanticcinemahistory #Iconiclovefilms #Legendaryromanticmovies #Hollywoodromanceclassics #Famouslovestoriesinfilm #Bestromanticepics #Timelessromancemovies #Romanticmoviereviews #Hollywoodromanceretrospectives #Romanticfilmanalysis #Loveincinema #Hollywoodsgreatestromances #StevenJayRubin #TalesFromHollywoodland #ArthurFriedman #JulianSchlossberg

0 notes

therealmrpositive · 2 years

Text

Hollywoodland (2006)

In today's review, I try to find truth, justice and the American way. As I attempt a #positive review of the 2006 drama Hollywoodland #AdrienBrody #DianeLane #BenAffleck #BobHoskins #RobinTunney #KathleenRobertson #LoisSmith #LarryCedar #CarolineDhavernas

We think of Superhero worship as a recent trend, with Marvel’s Cinematic Universe, and D.C.’s filmography building upon the walks of Sam Rami and Tim Burton. Yet almost half a century earlier, the televised adventures of Superman were catapulting struggling actor George Reeves into a household name. Until that all ended with the star’s tragic, and mysterious death, in 1959. In 2006, A film set…

View On WordPress

1 note · View note

myhauntedsalem · 6 years

Photo

The Haunted Hollywood Sign

This famous Hollywood landmark perched atop Mount Lee overlooking the Hollywood hills was originally built in 1923 at a cost of $21,000. It was placed at this location to advertise a real estate development in Beachwood Canyon. Each original letter stood 50 feet high and 30 feet wide. The sign was illuminated by thousands of light bulbs. It was made out of wood and originally read “Hollywoodland”. The sign was meant to be temporary.

In 1939 maintenance on the sign was discontinued. In 1944 the original developers gave 455 acres to Los Angeles—this parcel included the sign. The Hollywood Chamber of Commerce rebuilt the sign but did not replace the light bulbs or the last four letters because “Hollywood” was now synonymous with the movie industry. The sign was once again left to deteriorate until the late 1970s when a group of concerned citizens held a fundraiser. The original wooden sign was demolished and a new sign with steel letters replaced it.

The Hollywood sign is considered haunted because of one specific ghost that has been seen many times.

Millicent Lillian (Peg) Entwistle was born in Port Talbot, Wales in 1908 to English parents. At an early age her mother died, her father moved her and her two brothers to New York. Peg had one goal–to become an actress. Tragically, her father was run over by a car and killed. Her two brothers went to live with their Uncle Harold in California. But Peg stayed in New York to pursue acting. At 17 she got her first job with a Boston repertory company. She then acted on Broadway and toured around the country. She became known as a comedienne.

In 1927 she married Rolland Keith Richey, a man who was ten years her senior. Shortly after their marriage she was surprised to find that Robert Keith—her husbands stage name—had a six year old son from a previous marriage. To Peg’s credit when she was in the process of divorcing Robert she paid the back alimony he owed to his ex-wife which kept him out of jail.

In 1932 she was offered a part in the production The Mad Hopes” in Los Angeles. She received rave reviews; in fact, she received more attention than Billie Burke and Humphrey Bogart who starred in the play. Peg settled in Los Angeles. Finding only sporadic work she eventually moved into her Uncle Harold’s bungalow in Beachwood Canyon for financial reasons.

Peg was overjoyed when RKO offered her the part of Hazel in the film “Thirteen Women” starring Irene Dunne. But the movie opened to poor reviews and when it was re-edited Peg’s part mostly landed on the cutting room floor. Upset by the critics’ reviews Peg went into a depression. Shortly after this RKO informed her that they were not going to renew her contract, which threw her into an even deeper depression.

In September of 1932 after a night of drinking she told her uncle that she was meeting friends at a local drug store. Instead she walked toward Mount Lee. She placed her coat and purse at the base of the letter “H” at the Hollywood sign and then climbed a maintenance ladder and jumped. She was only 24 years old.

Two days later a hiker discovered her coat and purse and then spotted her body. Wanting to remain anonymous he left her coat and purse plus a suicide note he found on the steps of the local Hollywood police station. He left his own note to tell them where her body was located. Peg’s suicide note:

“I am afraid I am a coward, I am sorry for everything. If I had done this a long time ago, it would have saved a lot of pain.”

In order to discover her identity the local police published a description of Peg and the contents of the note she left in the local papers and requested radio stations describe her and read the note on-air. Peg’s uncle came forward to claim her body.

Many witnesses have seen Peg’s ghost in the vicinity of the Hollywood sign. Park Rangers and hikers over the years have reported seeing a young attractive blonde haired women wearing 1930s style clothing in Griffith Park. All these witnesses note that this ghost appears to be very sad. They often state when they approach her she just disappears.

One evening as a couple walked their dog along the Beachwood Canyon trail they noticed their dog was acting strangely. Instead of romping around on the trail and in the brush like he normally did he began to whine and hang back by them. A women wearing old-fashioned clothing appeared in front of them.

This did not disturb the couple, because they were used to encountering weird dress in Hollywood. But they did take note the women appeared very dazed. Concerned she might be drunk or on drugs they turned to leave but as they did so they were shocked to see her just vanish. This couple had not heard about Peg’s ghost before this encounter.

One Park Ranger, John Arbogast, has seen Peg’s ghost several times. He states she appears late at night especially when it is foggy. Arbogast has reported that he often smells the scent of gardenias when she is around. He finds this odd because he always smells this scent in cold weather months never during the summer. Arbogast also has described how the motion sensor alarms, that are in place at the sign these days ironically to prevent more suicides, go off when no one is around. He even states these sensors have indicated that someone is only five feet away from him—when he is the only one near the sign.

#The Haunted Hollywood Sign #paranormal #ghost and hauntings

16 notes · View notes

hunterlabs236 · 3 years

Text

Hitman 2 Silent Assassin Download For Free

Have fun playing the amazing Hitman 2 Silent Assassin game for Nintendo GameCube. This is the USA version of the game and can be played using any of the GameCube emulators available on our website. Download the Hitman 2 Silent Assassin ROM now and enjoy playing this game on your computer or phone. This game was categorized as Action on our website. Download Setup File. Download gratis game Hitman 2 Silent Assassin 100% work untuk pc dan laptop windows full compressed. Hitman 2 Silent Assassin adalah video game aksi petualangan stealth tembakan seorang agent 47 Hitman dari Eidos Interactive. Hitman 2 secara alami adalah sekuel Hitman Codename 47. Hitman 2 Silent Assassin Free Download Click on the below button to start Hitman 2 Silent Assassin Free Download. It is full and complete game. Just download and start playing it. Download Hitman 2: Silent Assassin ROM for GameCube / GameCube. Hitman 2: Silent Assassin game is available to play online and download for free only at Romsget. Hitman 2: Silent Assassin ROM for GameCube download requires a emulator to play the game offline. Hitman 2: Silent Assassin is English (USA) varient and is the best copy available online. Hitman 2 Silent Assassin Pc download free. full Game Hitman 2 Silent Assassin Pc Download Free is the 2002 released action, adventure, fighting and stealth role playing game. The game is developed by I.O Interactive Entertainments and Eidos Interactive Ltd published the game world wide. It is the second main entry of the Hitman Games series.

George Clooney may blame himself for the demise of the Batman movie franchise, but the truth is the rot set in a long time before ER-boy got his buttocks into the moulded rubber suit. The problem began when someone in Hollywoodland fell under the assumption that vacant pretty boy Vai Kilmer was capable of producing the tortured emotional range that characterised the Keaton-era crimefighter. No one does pent-up violent mental instability as well as Keaton and Kilmer manages the demanding role about as well as a boiled potato on a damp piece of string. So, with one fell Schumacher-led coup (that’s Joel, not Michael), a character rich in eminently challenging twisted psychosis is rendered as shallow as the most banal of Schwarzenegger action 'heroes’.

That sage of our times, Steve Hill, made a very insightful point in last month’s review of the otherwise-forgettable Beach Life - about most forms of contemporary malaise being acceptable to today’s game producers, with the exception of drug references. It goes a bit deeper than just drugs though. Other forms of storytelling media are free to explore the darkest recesses of modern society, taking chances with convention and tapping a rich vein of commercial and critical success as they go. Which storyline do you remember and value more, Batman or Batman Forever?

There is simply no reason why modern games cannot treat their subject matters with as much depth and maturity as the rest of the media and not still reap the rewards. Instead we get publishers afraid to take chances and we end up with games like Hitman 2: Silent Assassin.

Think Once, Think Twice

There is absolutely nothing wrong with Hitman 2 as a game, save for the fact that it’s as soulless a sequel as any number of summer blockbuster movies with numbers instead of titles. I still remember the thrill of playing the first Hitman, the breathless nerve with which developers IO Interactive threw traditional morals to the wind and forced you to explore an extrapolated, fanciful, but nevertheless gritty and realistic portrayal of life in an assassin’s shoes. OK, sci-fi elements abound, what with cloning, genetic engineering and whatnot, but it still remains the only game to date to make me question my motive for killing a hapless security guard, to make me pause and feel uneasy about my violent actions. A good thing.

There was a genuine sense of character development in the original story - something sorely lacking in this sequel. It doesn’t seem that way at first. You begin, as I’m sure you’ve read in the many previews published over the last few months, having turned your back on your past life, tending gardens in a Sicilian monastery, searching for repentance. We’re shown a shadowy pair reviewing your past exploits and trying to track you down, efforts that lead to your spiritual protector, Father Vittorio, being taken hostage. This is the trigger for you to return to your violent ways, attempting to secure his freedom. Indeed, the final sequence of the game does point towards a strong story of 47’s (that's you) inner search for self, for his true meaning, avoiding a conclusion filled with the expected cliche.

The problem is with just about everything in between these promising bookends. It should have been a potentially engrossing story, a psychological battle of wits as your new-found morals are probed and tested by this mysterious pair for their own ends, and as the character of 47 realises his true place in the world. This tale is unfortunately replaced by the most banal of modern techno-stolen nuclear warheads and government agencies trying to do right by the world.

Literary Review

Hitman 2 is almost devoid of the first game’s sense of real-world assassination motifs. Instead we have the sort of levels that could appear in any game from Project IGI to Rainbow Six. This is best illustrated by the game's adherence to openness, allowing you to complete most levels in any number of ways, including an all guns blazing shoot-out. It's hard to pull off (and there are bonus rewards to be had for being stealthy), but just the fact that you can complete any level by mowing down everything in your way is antipathetic to the very nature of 47's being.Again, it's a deceptive game in that the first three levels (starting with the one most of you will by now have played via the unofficially released Internet demo) don’t indicate this is the case at all. They suggest the glories of the first game have been kept intact, dubious morals and all. After that it rapidly goes downhill into the stereotyped dismantling of rogue terrorist groups, under the auspices of your so-called 'Agency' controller, Diana. Conceptually it's practically a carbon copy of Project IGI's relationship between David Jones and Anya, right down to the whole nuclear weapon hunt scenario. 47 has become little more than another Bond clone.

What’s most annoying about it all is that there is so obviously an exceptionally talented team of creative individuals at IO Interactive and this overall restriction of plot dynamics needn’t have been the case. The cut-scenes and dialogue throughout the game are of exceptional quality and not just from a technical standpoint. The opening and closing FMVs in particular contain some genuinely stunning writing regarding 47's relationship with his mentor priest. It’s maddening that this genius creativity wasn't allowed to guide the project design as a whole.

Bald In Japan

They would certainly have had the practical backup to support it. This revamped and retuned Hitman engine is nothing short of a marvel. Gone are all the stifling problems that affected the first game, replaced with breathtaking visuals, refined controls and perhaps the most authentic levels of Al seen in any game to date. That’s authentic as in the NPCs behave in realistic - ie flawed - ways, levels which vary from one person to another. The disguises are no longer absolute, with your barcoded, hairless head needing to be covered to ensure total anonymity.

An example would be one of the Japanese levels. You might kill a Yakuza guard (another cliche: all Japanese villains have to be either Yakuza or ninjas) and steal his pants and T-shirt, but the fact you don't a) look remotely Japanese or b) have a body covered in tattoos will be a dead giveaway. Run around a fire-alarmed office building in a full fireman’s uniform, complete with gas mask though, and no one will give you a second glance. Should said fireman be observed picking locks and peering through keyholes mind you, suspicions will be raised. A clever little touch, and again it's indicative of how much thought and talent 10 Interactive can be capable of if they let themselves try.

As I said near the beginning, there is nothing technically wrong with Hitman 2. It’s as solid a game as you’re likely to see for many a month. It’s just ironic that as the titular character’s signs of exploring the nature of his own soul are stifled, so the game stifles its own soul. The indication is that there will be a third in the series. If so, then I implore both 10 Interactive and Eidos to look towards the Godfather rather than the Batman model for how to approach a sequel. Take a risk. Treat us like adults.

Developer: Eidos

Genre: Arcade/Action

Originally on: Windows (2002)

Works on: PC, Windows

Editor Rating:

User Rating: 9.6/10 - 5 votes

Rate this game:

It is pretty crazy that as I write this Hitman 2 Silent Assassin is nearly 20 years old! I remember the time this game was released it was a huge deal in the gaming world. The first Hitman game came out of nowhere and was a massive hit, so gamers were very excited to see what antics Agent 47 would be getting up to this time.

Hitman 2 Silent Assassin Free Download For Windows 10

No Time To Rest Agent 47

The game is a direct sequel to the first Hitman game. Agent 47 is trying to live a quiet life and he wants to put his contract killing ways behind him. This all goes to hell when his friend is kidnapped and held for ransom. Agent 47 wants to help his friend, but also find out who is doing this, why and more about his strange existence. It is great stuff indeed and it worked wonders at fleshing out the lore the first game created.

Next-Gen Power

The leap from the first game to Hitman 2 Silent Assassin is pretty huge in terms of the game’s visuals. I know looking back not it might seem strange to fawn all over the visuals of the game. However, this was quite the looker for its time. The character models had a lot of detail to them, but it was the world that they created which was really impressive. From snow that actually looked like snow to rain bouncing off the floor. This was a very impressive looking game for its time and to be fair, it does not look all that bad now either.

As well as looking good, this game also sounds good too. Agent 47 sounds like a badass, but the whole game has some very stellar voice acting. As well as great voice acting. The sound design, in general, is awesome. This was a game when I played back on the original Xbox, I had connected to my surround sound as the bullet and gun sounds packed a real punch to them.

It Is Your Mission!

The gameplay on offer in Hitman 2 Silent Assassin is a really slow burn. It is the kind of game that will take a while for you to get into a groove with and if you try to play every mission, all guns blazing. You are going to die many, many times. Do not get me wrong, you will fail many times. However, each one can be a learning experience. You can use disguises, get into prime positions, and learn the behavior of characters in order to complete your mission.

There is a lot of variety to the missions and I found that even playing the game on the normal difficulty was one hell of a challenge. You can use many different guns which is cool, but I wish this game had some great hand to hand combat to go along with the shooting. I will admit that by today's standards the controls are a bit rough, but after a short while, you do get used to them.

I was all in with this game back when it was first released. I feel that if you played Hitman 2 Silent Assassin back in the day, you will find that the game has held up pretty well. Those going into this for the first time may have a bit of trouble getting to grips with the gameplay which I will admit is a tad dated by today's standards. Overall, I enjoyed playing through this again and it brought back a lot of fun memories of this game when it first was released.

Final Score

Hitman 2 Silent Assassin Download For Free Torrent

Pros:

The story is like something out of a movie

There is a lot of variety to the places you go

I feel that the visuals for the time were very impressive

Great voice acting and sound design in general

You have a lot of freedom in how you go about the missions

Cons:

The game is very dated in terms of the gameplay

Not sure you would play through it multiple times

Download Links

System Requirements

Processor: PC compatible, Processor: PIII 450 MHz, 128 MB RAM, Free hard drive space: 800 MB, DirectX-compliant Sound Card DirectX 8.1 3D Video Card 16MB

OS: Windows 9x, Windows 2000 Windows XP, Vista, Win 7, Win 8, Win 10.

Hitman 2 Silent Assassin Download For Free Full

Game Features:Single game mode

1 note · View note