Dreamcatcher
Dreamcatcher… I walked out of this one not hating the movie, but severely unimpressed and I think I’ve finally figured out what’s bothered me about the film. The problem isn’t that the plot doesn’t tie the disparate elements in the movie together—it does. But the real problem is that they simply shouldn’t be in the same movie. You’ve got the Stand By Me kids flashbacks, evil alien invasions (a la Independence Day), Alien-style chest busters (that blow out of your ass—more on that later), out of control military type (think Outbreak) and his noble foil, psychic powers and the annual aren’t-we-a-goofy-buncha-guys getaway all going on in the same movie (those last two courtesy of countless Stephen King stories). It’s like the producers took a bunch of treatments, threw them in a blender and then made a movie out of the elements that stuck together. (“The All New Script-O-Matic! Get Yours Now!” I need to patent this idea right away!)
And it’s not like Jason Lee was in a different movie than Morgan Freeman (think Alan Rickman in Costner’s Robin Hood)—he just should have been.
However… The Animatrix short “Final Flight of the Osiris” was almost worth sitting through Dreamcatcher for. A fabulous looking piece of digital animation that did a great job of setting up the upcoming Matrix films. And they managed, in a 5 minute short film, to do what last year’s big budget Final Fantasy pic never managed to do—make me care about a pair of digitally created humans. (All things considered—this being the Matrix we’re talking about here—that’s either really appropriate, or completely freaky. I’m not sure which.) It’s also kind of ironic that the team that put together the aforementioned Final Fantasy film are the ones that did Osiris.
Dreamcatcher… I walked out of this one not hating the movie, but severely unimpressed and I think I’ve finally figured out what’s bothered me about the film. The problem isn’t that the plot doesn’t tie the disparate elements in the movie together—it does. But the real problem is that they simply shouldn’t be in the same movie. You’ve got the Stand By Me kids flashbacks, evil alien invasions (a la Independence Day), Alien-style chest busters (that blow out of your ass—more on that later), out of control military type (think Outbreak) and his noble foil, psychic powers and the annual aren’t-we-a-goofy-buncha-guys getaway all going on in the same movie (those last two courtesy of countless Stephen King stories). It’s like the producers took a bunch of treatments, threw them in a blender and then made a movie out of the elements that stuck together. (“The All New Script-O-Matic! Get Yours Now!” I need to patent this idea right away!)
And it’s not like Jason Lee was in a different movie than Morgan Freeman (think Alan Rickman in Costner’s Robin Hood)—he just should have been.
However… The Animatrix short “Final Flight of the Osiris” was almost worth sitting through Dreamcatcher for. A fabulous looking piece of digital animation that did a great job of setting up the upcoming Matrix films. And they managed, in a 5 minute short film, to do what last year’s big budget Final Fantasy pic never managed to do—make me care about a pair of digitally created humans. (All things considered—this being the Matrix we’re talking about here—that’s either really appropriate, or completely freaky. I’m not sure which.) It’s also kind of ironic that the team that put together the aforementioned Final Fantasy film are the ones that did Osiris.
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