Hey folks, Harry here... I was at the same screening as Quint here, but ultimately I enjoyed it more than him. You see... For me, this movie is Meteor Shit Stupid, and I love it. This is a Stephen King movie made by the guy that came up with that Meteor Shit story, the same guy that did that Lard Ass story. For me, this is juvenile dumb fun Stephen King. Shit Weasels rule... as does Mr Gray. The 4 principle friends were a lot of fun. Is it a great Stephen King movie... BY NO MEANS, but it is so much better than most of the horror that comes out. Kasdan deftly shoots the thing. My only real problems are the wildly divergent quality of effects, which range from the great Shit Weasels... to the terrible red mist crap. Also, the point where the film ceases to be about telling stories, and becomes a CHASE MOVIE, I was bored. And as for my thoughts on the big Matrix short... Frankly, it is a lot noise with zero substance. Not an ounce of character. The story ... well isn't a very good story. It's more like an incident. Feels like a sampler tray at a restaurant. Not enough of anything, but a couple of tasty bites... especially that CG ass... that's a tasty bite. Anyway, here's Quint...
Ahoy, squirts. Yes, it's the one and only resident seaman, Quint, back from my weeklong hiatus. I had a dispute to settle with a big bastard shark and decided to take on the task of hunting 'im down. I can't talk much about the ordeal, but I can say that the taxidermy man back home has got a lot of work to do. I apologize for my absence. Guess it's time to jump into a DREAMCATCHER review!
I'm a huge Stephen King nut and have been since before my balls dropped. I read CUJO in 6th Grade and didn't stop 'til I'd read everything he had written. The man got me through Junior High and High School. He has his ups (THE STAND, DARK TOWER BOOKS, IT, THE TALISMAN for some of my personal favorites) and his downs (TOMMYKNOCKERS). When I read DREAMCATCHER I thought it was one of his weaker efforts. It had some great set pieces, but the rest was kind of jumbled. So, I wasn't very excited when I first heard it was going to be adapted to screen.
Then I heard 2 names attached that completely turned me around: Lawrence Kasdan and screenwriter God William Goldman. I think Kasdan's THE BIG CHILL is as good as any yuppie drama can be, a film where he managed to pull out some career best performances from William Hurt, Tom Berenger and the rest of the cast. That and he fucking wrote THE EMPIRE STRIKES BACK. William Goldman is probably best known in geek circles as the writer of both the book and screenplay for THE PRINCESS BRIDE, but he's also put out some amazing work like ALL THE PRESIDENTS MEN, BUTCH CASSIDY AND THE SUNDANCE KID and THE GHOST AND THE DARKNESS (which I think is an amazingly overlooked kickass flick).
Goldman also had 2 Stephen King adaptations under his belt: MISERY and HEARTS IN ATLANTIS. The former is one of the best screen adaptations of King's work ever put to screen, only to be out done by THE SHAWSHANK REDEMPTION and STAND BY ME. HEARTS IN ATLANTIS on the other hand never really came together, despite a great performance by Anthony Hopkins. To be fair, HEARTS IN ATLANTIS in book form wasn't all that outstanding either.
So, how did Goldman's 3rd outing with King material turn out? He did a perfect literal translation in that the book is a jumbled mess with some great ideas and set pieces and so is the film. Smartass critic comments aside, the movie is all over the map. Kasdan makes the film beautiful, but hard to keep up with. We're following 4 friends who are connected by a childhood friend, Duddits. They have a strong bond that more than borders on the supernatural. Duddits prepared them for something as kids and that something hits while they are banded together on a hunting trip.
The adult acting is strong throughout (the kids they cast were terrible, with the exception of Andrew Robb as Duddits). It wasn't hard believing Thomas Jane, Jason Lee, Timothy Olyphant and Damian Lewis are good friends. What did distract was the pacing and set up. The way they cut back and forth between them as kids and adults was sloppy and heavy handed. Maybe it was just because the kids they cast weren't the best actors in the world. I don't know. Whatever the reason, it didn't work, which is a shame because that was the key to the film. We don't really feel for these guys, we aren't really given any reasoning behind their individual gifts or any deep understanding of Duddits and how he came into these guys' lives. It doesn't blend with the rest of the movie.
Alright, how about the Aliens? Some of the visual effects are magnificent. The Alien design is actually pretty damn cool (if not distractingly phallic). ILM does drop the ball quite a bit, though on some of the movement of the larger creatures.
Another part that was fumbled was the military stuff involving Tom Sizemore and Morgan Freeman, two great actors who do the best with what they've got. Freeman as Colonel Kurtz is way too sympathetic. For his character to work in the film he has to be a fucking nutball who totally abuses his authority to bend things into his twisted view of morality. They instead give him too much reason for what he's doing. Plus at the end his character feels pointless.
That's all bad news. Is this movie really a piece of shit? I don't think so. I did enjoy seeing it a bit, but will probably never watch it again. It's a mess, but it's got some great moments like Damian Lewis' inner struggle with the Aliens and Jason Lee's need for toothpicks. Plus it has the ANIMATRIX short attached, FINAL FLIGHT OF THE OSIRIS, animated by Square and written by the Wachowski's themselves. It's a wonder to behold on the big screen and whets the appetite like you wouldn't believe for the next MATRIX flick.
Would I recommend DREAMCATCHER? Maybe, but I'd definitely advise a matinee show. I think I'm going to cut this one short, squirts. I'm tired from all that shark huntin'. I'll be back with my SXSW coverage as well as my American Film Market wrap up. 'Til then, this Quint bidding you all a fond farewell and adieu.
-Quint
email: HE DIDN'T GET OUTTA THE COCKIE-DOODIE CAR! Don't you hate that? Email me here!!!
