http://www.apple.com/trailers/lions_...onderland.html

I can't wait for this film. The trailer makes it look extremely interesting. I read somewhere that the crew didn't go into much detail about John Holmes' porno career which, IMO, is a plus.

I cannot wait for this movie also. Kilmer is one of my all-time favorite actors. People will still insist on making the Boodie Nights comparisons but the movie doesn't look anything like BN.

Looks great. I'm glad Josh Lucas gets to be in a GOOD movie this year. Excellent use of Dobie Gray's " Drift Away " in the trailer too.

Yeah, this movie is supposed to focus on Holmes' drug/crime/legal problems, not his porn career. Looking forward to seeing it.

Oh man, looks good.

When's it coming out?

Why couldn't they do both? I was really looking forward to seeing Kilmar in some sleazy gay-porno sequences.

So did Boogie Nights.

Excellent, this looks great, I love the look of it. I love Val Kilmer.

Can't wait for it .

Remember Boogie Nights is not a full fledged biography of John Holmes.

According to IMDB:

September 26 - Limited

October 17 - Wide

Yea. I remember that in the PT Anderson commentary, Paul wasn't even fully aware of what happened during the Wonderland Murders. He just put the scene together with what he could remember from an article that he read (and I don't think that he even thoroughly read it).

Not to start the comparisons...but... If Wonderland is *5%* of what Boogie Nights is, I can't wait!

Saw wonderland recently. Was shocked at how uncomfortable I felt during the film. Not in the sense that the film was so disturbing it gave me that reaction, but in the sense that the film was so annoying and misconcieved that I felt, for the first time in a long time, that I needed to bolt out of the theater.
I stuck around till the end, as soon as the credits rolled I was out the door, free of the mess this movie was. The air was fresh and a smile drew to my face as I shook of the memory of the film.

The film is directed as if the camera operator was coked up.
Many of the shots are basically edited to cause a reaction as if someone was on that drug. But not in a clever way, in a cheap way to provoke reaction out of the audience. Boo.

Storytelling wise the film goes the rashomon route. It hands us three versions of the same story and then offers its own take on what happened.

Val kilmer's performance was OK, but clearly he's either being uncercut by the directors MTV musings or he's simply just miscast.
The other actors are ok, but they too seem to be short handed.
Only Lisa Kudrow of all people seems to have gotten away from these proceedings with dignity and a fully realized performance.

The music is probably the only interesting thing about the film, but never serves the story as that other john holmes-like film did, boogie nights.

Which leads me to the advertising and poster for wonderland.
Clearly they are trying to attract fans of the boogie nights by offering up a similiar vibe, but the film is a different beast.
It's trailer is misleading as the film is not an ode to 70's style of filmmaking, but uses more of the technology popular in music videos that has been "pioneered" in recent years.

Pretty dissapointing.

Hmmm. Disappointing to hear this. A co-worker who saw this at the Toronto Festival said pretty much the same thing. I was really looking forward to seeing this movie. Not that it'll deter me. It can't be any worse than that Mitchel Brothers movie Rated-X.

I saw the trailer and was thinking how Kilmer looks NOTHING like Holmes.

Well, his hair and makeup looked very similar to Holmes. The difference is Holmes is very skinny and is ugly as hell. Val Kilmer is neither. Maybe F. Murray Abraham could have played Holmes.

I saw Wonderland today, wasn't terribly impressed. It was ok, when the film dragged a bit , I was tempted to walk in to the next room and see Bubb Ho-Tep.

Ebert's 2-star review here.

Just for the record, has Lisa Kudrow ever been in a good movie?

Opposite of Sex has Kudrow and it is excellent.

I second that.

Yeah, I was looking forward to seeing to for quite a while but the reviews are so bad i'll probably wait til video.

I just watched it on DVD having very little to go on except maybe an article or two in old Entertainment Weekl's, but what a great little flick.
The performances were so engrossing, especially Val Kilmer and the movie just zips along and makes you so interested. I recommend highly and the extras especially the Court TV and LAPD video piece is really fascinating. I am glad Blockbuster didn't yank it as another post boasted.

I so wanted to see this one in the theaters, but was turned off by all the negative reviews. I'm a big Val Kilmer fan so maybe I will give this one a shot next time I hit the video store. Thanks.

I wished the movie delved deeper into John Holmes' porn career and his tortured childhood. These aspects of Holmes life would've provided some good explanation as to why he became involved with drugs and murder.

In other words, Wonderland is exactly half the film Boogie Nights is.

Also, Willem Dafoe looks more like Holmes than Val Kilmer. Kilmer is too chubby; Holmes is a tall, gangly fellow.

I've watched it twice and the Wadd doc...great stuff love the movie and the doc.