Confessions of a Superhero

R 7.1
2007 1 hr 32 min Documentary

CONFESSIONS OF A SUPERHERO is a feature length documentary chronicling the lives of three mortal men and one woman who make their living working as superhero characters on the sidewalks of Hollywood Boulevard. This deeply personal view into their daily routines reveals their hardships, and triumphs, as they pursue and achieve their own kind of fame. The Hulk sold his Super Nintendo for a bus ticket to LA; Wonder Woman was a mid-western homecoming queen; Batman struggles with his anger, while Superman’s psyche is consumed by the Man of Steel. Although the Walk of Fame is right beneath their feet, their own paths to stardom prove to be a long, hard climbs.

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Reviews

Cubussoli
2007/11/02

Very very predictable, including the post credit scene !!!

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Ensofter
2007/11/03

Overrated and overhyped

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Tedfoldol
2007/11/04

everything you have heard about this movie is true.

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FuzzyTagz
2007/11/05

If the ambition is to provide two hours of instantly forgettable, popcorn-munching escapism, it succeeds.

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st-shot
2007/11/06

Confessions of a Super Hero is a rather glum documentary with very little wiggle room to expand beyond its original premise of four misfits costuming themselves in super hero to make a living on Hollywood Boulevard. Talk about your boulevard of broken dreams. Confessions follows four (Superman, Batman, Wonder Woman and Hulk) comic book hero impersonators as they make their daily appearances and delude themselves into thinking they have a future in the movie industry. Three of the four seem to be in serious denial (is this a prerequisite to going' Hollywood) as they hope to catapult to success with the flimsiest of chances by working for tips by posing with tourists on Vicki Lester's corner. It's a hopeless situation from the outset and the doc just kind of gloomily lies around reaffirming things for the last hour with our heroes and their faithful spouses fighting the heat, anger issues and union workers over a port a john before fading into the wallpaper. Director Matthew Ogens needlessly stretches out Super Hero by flogging it with jump cut filler and scenes in need of trim. It doesn't help that Superman and Batman may well be living in a parallel universe and seem less than forthright about their pasts which make for moments of uncomfortable, embarrassment. But Ogens does himself no favor by filming the fully costumed Batman in therapy admitting to murdering someone. It reeks along with much of Confessions of a Super Hero of false declaration that Ogens not only depends on but showcases resulting in it being more exploitive than revealing.

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Kenneth Anderson
2007/11/07

Just Fascinating! Like watching a train wreck…I couldn't take my eyes off the screen. This documentary put me through at least seven levels of humiliation and shame on behalf of the four profiled "subjects." Not since "The Day of The Locust" have I seen such a painful exploration of the dark underside of pursuing the Hollywood Dream."Confessions of a Superhero" profiles four struggling, wannabe Hollywood actors who work as costumed street performers while they wait for their big break. As an indictment of America's obsession with fame over talent, this documentary should be required viewing for everyone raised in the post-"American Idol" era where it matters less if you study, train, or even have respect for your craft; all that matters is that you have a "dream." First we have Superman. A nice guy to be sure, but creepily delusional, obsessive and downright odd. What charm he may possess as an obviously psychologically and drug damaged soul is mitigated by his living in a virtual fantasy world 24 / 7. This is no judgment, because Lord knows, he should be applauded for channeling his mental illness into such a harmless outlet. But a fleeting resemblance to Christopher Reeve has been blown up out of all proportion to the extent that the film is actually wince-inducing whenever we see him interacting with real people (that is, anyone who exists outside of the world he inhabits inside his head) or hear of his hopes of making it as leading man. Were this fellow working in something like an office, someone certainly would have suggested psychiatric help long ago (don't even get me started on his inamorata). Unfortunately, the allure of the Hollywood dream machine is such that wacko fantasies and actual, I-want-to-work hard-to-be-a-good-actor-not-necessarily-a-star, ambitions all look the same.Next there is Wonder Woman, a small town girl of average beauty and a straight-to-video level of acting talent, whose life reads like a cautionary blueprint for every dreamy-eyed teen who ever starred in a high-school play. She seems sweet and sane (one of the few) but is wholly unremarkable and more than a little ordinary. Your heart aches when, as she describes her youth, it becomes painfully obvious why she clung to dreams to survive.Equally touching is The Hulk, an average type of guy who really seems like he "gets it" and doesn't think his sidewalk panhandling is a way of being discovered by producers and directors. But he too is following a dream attached to making it big rather than a dream of actually being good at something first. It's a recurring motif in this film that everybody is married to the idea of luck and chance catapulting them to fame. No one seems too interested in the avant-garde notion that fame may be the result of excelling at their craft and distinguishing themselves through the development of their talent. No, these folks (like many) think that just wanting to be famous is enough of a dream and should be respected. God forbid someone should ask them if they even DESERVE fame. Narcissisism makes its own rules.Lastly, and most entertainingly, is Batman, a character you couldn't make up. A scary, overaged wannabe actor with real anger issues, and signs of being a pathological liar and probable mental case. He is everything that is wrong with wanting to be famous yet not being particularly good at anything. To listen to him INSIST that he looks like George Clooney (if Clooney was a debauched, crazy eyed nutcase) while recounting his dubious history of mob violence is to really dance with the devil by the pale moonlight. "Confessions of a Superhero" is not a deep documentary, but I think, in this age of reality shows and the current public mania to be seen, noticed, appreciated...FAMOUS at any cost, it at least poses the question: Is a dream unsupported by intelligence, aptitude and study, anything but fantasy?

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MrGKB
2007/11/08

...and probably not the majority of IMDb denizens, "Confessions of a Superhero" is nonetheless remarkably entertaining for what it is: a peek into the lives of four earnest souls struggling to find their place in the grand scheme of things. The hook? They're all glorified panhandlers on Hollywood Boulevard, earning a living (and apparently viable ones) by dressing up as various well-known comic book characters and soliciting tips for posing with starry-eyed tourists with cameras. Only in America, Constant Reader, and only in Hollywood...The film's quartet of subjects--an impulsive, naive homecoming queen from a backwater Tennessee town ("Wonder Woman"), an earnest young black man scraping his way out from the bottom of society's barrel ("The Incredible Hulk"), a self-absorbed borderline sociopath with anger management issues ("Batman"), and an equally narcissistic but utterly harmless obsessive ("Superman")--serve to illustrate documentarian Matthew Ogens' non-judgmental look at some of the seamier aspects of the uniquely American cult of personality and the attendant pursuit of that ever-elusive Warholian fifteen minutes of fame. Each are endearing in their own way, with the possible exception of "Batman," and even he provides an opportunity for empathy and understanding, thanks to Ogens' reasonably evenhanded impartiality. All of them are people who will remind the viewer of "characters" they know in his or her own life.This is not a "great" documentary by any means, but it's still more than watchable (read: entertaining), and offers up no small slice of insight into the human condition. We're all deeply flawed creatures, and by and large all yearn to transcend our imperfections. Some succeed, and many fail, and none of us ought feel superior to others for having tried and fallen short. I finished this film wishing all of its participants well, even "Batman." As the saying goes, there but for the grace of God go I.Definitely worth a watch, though not really a keeper, "Confessions of a Superhero" reminds all of us that feet of clay cannot truly prevent any of us from aspiring to soar among the clouds.

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Ian Bourne
2007/11/09

They came, dreaming to be stars - never feeling they'd end up living nightmares as sexless prostitutes.Homeless Hulk, reduced to celebrating earning a part as a villain's sidekick in a film that few will see and less will remember; venerating where he slept in an alley-way and yet in a quest for the almighty dollar blacks out in 130 degree heat...Batman - more of a joke, a villain in his own mind? Claims to have Steven Segal-like capabilities yet when in in a real martial arts class his inadequacies are magnified to a humiliating extent; angry at no tips one day he finally gets the fame he wants but not in the way he expected and reduced to security work hoping to get recognised for auditioning a role...Wonder Woman - she leaves a small town in Tennessee from a father who's a preacher only to attend a Baptist church in Hollywood with her soon-to-be estranged husband; wanting to be accepted for serious roles and earning only bimbo parts she keeps the wolf from the door posing as the mighty Amazon for cheap Asians while in the background Hispanic hot-dog vendors drool over her...Superman - the most noble yet most tragic of them all... Is he really the son of Sandy Dennis? He says yes, but her family is unsure. Christopher Dennis' fixation on Kal-El: Last Son Of Krypton is more than obsession it is tunnel-vision as opposed to Heat rays or X-ray vision.He is the real story of this documentary that is a real life drama, eventually falling for a psychology student who observes him, he uses his tips to make his tiny dwelling a Fortress of Devotion to all that is Superman.On the streets, he strives ceaselessly to be the hero he yearns to emulate - no smoking, avoid cussing, etc. Even the Hollywood police admire how Christopher not only upholds the rules but makes sure others follow the correct path. But at home he is a chain-smoking, drink milk from the bottle, average horny devil! (On the DVD you can see him get aroused over his wife in the extra features, he shows it off by sprawling his legs - no less) These are but a few of the many intriguing characters who butt and abound the world-famous Grauman's Chinese Theatre, all hoping the begging they do is merely a sideline to the big ticket for Glory and not a permanent "job" in obscurity - after all as Stan Lee says in the same flick... How can you be famous if you're wearing a mask?

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