recent netflixes include "death in gaza" and "hollywoodland", two very different movies.

"death in gaza" didn't intrigue me much at first when i read the description. the reason pepole watch it i think is because the filmmaker died while working on the project. the project naturally changed because of it. the focus shifted a bit towards telling the story of the filmmaker and his death. but still, it was a good film. he wanted to tell the story of the israel-palestine conflict through documenting children. he was at the end of his stay in palestine when he was killed. he had not yet filmed children in israel. that doesn't bother me, that the film is incomplete or was altered by his death because it was still a very good film. i think the viewer also feels that he didn't die in vain because part of the film at the end gives an update on the children he had been filming and how the filmmaker touched their lives. the idea of filming children to tell such a complicated political story may seem a bit corny but it was well done. i think the film is well worth watching by anyone.

i knew nothing about "hollywoodland". i saw a couple film posters or billboards now and then. i liked the way it looked. the female character really reflected the past, those classic hollywood days. i thought that i must see it in theaters. next thing you know, it's on dvd. right before i watched it, i read the little synopsis. it's about the death of superman? oh fuck man, 50s shit. i was sooooo hoping for 30s! the film was a bit long and i could never buy ben afflec as george reeves but otherwise it was ok. adrien brody wasn't too annoying. the female on the poster, diane lane, was quite good, she really did have that old hollywood feel even though she wasn't playing a particular actress of the past, merely an executive's wife. hhmm, i don't think this film deserves much more thought. it's seems forgettable.