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Boy, it's been ages since I liked a horror sci fi film it seems and man, Dreamcatcher is pretty damned good! I think it really gets a huge help from some good direction by Kasdan and really great acting from everybody involved. I deliberately didn't read the book when I saw who was gonna be in the cast, so I have no idea how it was. Anyone else see it? Let's rip it up / laud it!!
Seven
I had wanted to see Dreamcatcher, the trailers looked excellent, but with the rush of movies, I postponed seeing it until all the interest faded away. Your review inspires me to make a final attempt at looking to see if I can catch it - I can't imagine that it could have been so terrible.
All I can say about Dreamcatcher is as far as horror / sci fi flicks go, this one is seriously underrated. The actors act plausably (most of the time--there are a few weak bits at the end) and there are a couple of good startles in it. I have to admit I also liked "Jeepers Creepers" and plan to see the sequel so be forewarned I can tolerate a lot of suspension of disbelief and cornball scripting in my horror diet. Thankfully for most viewers, though, the storyline here is cool enough and kept buried enough so that it's really pretty enjoyable--or it was for me--throughout. Way to go Kasdan, I say. Also way kudos to Thomas Jane and Damian Lewis. Can't remember the guys name who played Russell Stillwater in Almost famous who's in it, too, but he, too is really great. Of COURSE Morgan Freeman and Tom Sizemore are great...but you'd expect that...look forward to ranting back and forth about it with someone!!
Seven
Went to see "Holes" really good over the weekend. But how to convince my wife to see "Dreamcatcher? Now that's going to be a bit tricky I think.
When I saw "Dreamcatcher," I was entertained, I got a few jumps out of my seat, and I was left a little uneasy for a few hours after seeing it. It quickly wore off though, so it by no means gives me the same chill I get when I see "The Exorcist" or "The Shining." Those two are the only horror movies that continue to frighten me no matter how often I see them. That's more of a psychological effect for me. I'm not scared at what I'm seeing, so much as the thought of what those movies are about, and how those thoughts affect me. But back to "Dreamcatcher."
It's a good film, and it has its moments. I will however say that I think Stephen King is a little overrated. I was with a group of my friends when I saw the film, and I'm the only one of them who is NOT a Stephen King afficionado...but even then, I was still able to laugh with them at noticing the many similarities to other King works. Four kids in the woods...walking along the train tracks, looking for a dead friend's body in "Stand By Me." Not too dissimilar from the image of the four friends as kids helping Douglas (Duditz) and then following him along the train tracks. Familiar image? Definitely. The overall plot...a combination of "The Regulators," "The Tommyknockers," and even "The Stand." The scenes where the soldiers are rounding up the people who are supposedly infected was very similar to some of those scenes from "The Stand" when they were...well, doing the same thing. Hell, even the aliens looked like elongated versions of "The Langoliers," at least the way they looked in the TV mini-series.
As a movie, "Dreamcatcher" is pretty good. It's not the scariest movie ever made, and it's certainly not the most original, but it is entertaining, and certainly something I wouldn't mind watching again. But for people who think Stephen King is god...well, I could say some things, but I'll just say this...he's not.
...and by that I mean John Carpenter, a guy who can REALLY scare the bejesus out of you! The Thing looks like it is always going to be my fave horror / sci fi film at this point. No one seems to make films of its caliber anymore. However, Dreamcatcher I still say was a great effort, and had much homage to The Thing in it, too, I might add. Kasdan knows what he's up against, apparently!!
Ebert and Roeper has a list of the worst films so far this year on last night's "At The Movies".
Richard thought "Dreamcatcher" was the worst one & Roger felt "The Life of David Gale" was the worst.
I think the worst so far is Daddy Day Care. "Pluto Nash" Eddie should have packed it in LONG ago. His ego is so gigantic I cringe whenever I see his face. I didn't like his "Donkey", I didn't like "Dr. Dolittle" or "The Klumps". How did he get mistaken for a wholesome entertainer?
And how did he continue to get work after "Party all the time"?
"Delirious" was his one and only shining moment after his stint on SNL.
Alright, this is where Johann and I will have a difference of opinion. I think Eddie Murphy stopped being funny after 1990. I think his "Donkey" in "Shrek" was pretty funny though, and so far it's the only worthwhile thing he's done since "Coming to America." After that, it went downhill. I didn't think "Pluto Nash" was bad, but it certainly wasn't all that good either. "I Spy" was okay...I got a coupla laughs, though a good portion of them came to me from Owen Wilson, and I find it funny that the movie is based on a show in which the black character was played by Bill Cosby...who is famous for his anti-Eddie Murphy stance on comedy...vice versa applies, if you've ever seen SNL or "Eddie Murphy Raw" you know he pokes quite a bit of fun at Bill Cosby for being TOO wholesome. That's just me though...I'm also someone who thinks Bill Cosby's funny, and yet I laugh everytime somebody makes fun of him...comedy is subjective...some people find something funny that others don't...the whole tomato/tom-ah-to argument. You say pornography, I say comedy. S'all good. But yeah...I certainly wouldn't say "Daddy Day Care" was among the best this past year...even not having seen it, it seems like it might be among the worst.
Let me start by saying that I don't mind when others have different opinions of a movie than I do. But I hated this movie and have it rated as the
Worst movie of the year so far (I've seen about 30 2003 movies).
Here's what I wrote after seeing it:
Dreamcatcher (2003) - * (Out of 4 Stars)
Lawrence Kasdan brought this Stephen King novel to the big screen. It started off like a Stand by Me later in life with Four buddies in Boston. It becomes obvious that there has been some dark events in their past. They take a hunting trip and next thing you know they are battling shit weasels. Initially this movie seemed like it had potential, but by the end I couldn't wait for the movie to be over. I didn't care what happened at that point. Morgan Freeman's talent was wasted on this horrible movie.
I still don't think it was that bad of a movie, but I will agree it was not Morgan Freeman's best performance. It wasn't really even the kind of role I'd want to see him in. I'll agree he wasted his time and his talent on this movie. But as a whole, the movie has some strong points...the case of it starting off like "Stand By Me," only older...read my earlier post about King's lack of originality. That's the author's fault, not the director's.
Call me crazy, but I find it next to impossible to equate the likes of Pluto Nash and I Spy to Dreamcatcher. Without having seen either of those ghastly looking turkeys, I can safely bet that at least for me, Dreamcatcher would rate far and above either. At least Dreamcatcher's trailer made it look like watching, I sure can't say that for Pluto "Leonard Part 8" Nash and I Spy...and I didn't watch 'em, thank god!! Shao Lin Soccer has better trailers than either of those two for christ's sake!
So now we're talking about trailers? Hehe...at this point, I've said my piece. "Pluto Nash" and "I Spy" were decent if you actually watch them. At least with those movies Eddie Murphy didn't stoop to the toilet humor of "The Klumps." But even those movies I'll admit are nowhere near how good he was in his heyday of the '80's. That said, let's talk about trailers.
I barely saw any trailers for "Dreamcatcher." In fact, before being taken to see it by my friends, I'd only seen one trailer, and it didn't particularly interest me. I didn't bore me, I just thought, "Oh...another movie from a Stephen King book. Fascinating." Yes, the movie was far better than some of the other stuff out there, and I'll agree "Dreamcatcher"'s trailer was a little more interesting than "Pluto Nash" and "I Spy."
Ha ha! I love your response! I've often maintained that if they can't dredge anything out of the movie to make a decent trailer, there's something really icky with the movie. However there are many exceptions to this rule, and I'm sure many more to come. Some in the past I can think of right off the bat:
THE THING -- Trailer wasn't close to the movie's high standards.
THE GATE -- Trailer encompassed every CGI special effects shot used in the film, thereby making seeing the actual (awful) film pointless.
FINAL FANTASY -- Trailer showed only a teeny bit of the awesome animation in this groundbreaking film, was cut weird, and appeared far more childlike than the actual movie.
Those are just some fun trailer takes for your amusement. Just for the record, one of the scariest and best trailers ever in my experience: Alien. Wow, did THAT trailer blow me away. And that tagline "In space, no one can hear you scream". Great.
Now those trailer taglines are running through my head and I can't remember where the tagline "Be afraid. Be very afraid." came from!! Help me out, here guys...gals...Aliens? What?! Arrrrghh!!