Hey, everyone. "Moriarty" here with some Rumblings From The Lab.
The headline says it all. Take it away, man.
Howdy,
It's been a while since I wrote in with a review; it may be too late, but I thought I might remedy my absence with a scabrous review of this week's new release...
Dreamcatcher
I love going to the movies and seeing things I haven't seen before; with that sentiment in mind, I guess I have to give 'Dreamcatcher' a handful of points. I've never seen something so insanely ridiculous, incredulous, frivoulous, and possibly several other adjectives ending in 'ous.'
The movie is based on a Stephen King novel, which itself seems to have based on various parts of 'Invasion Of The Body Snatchers,' 'Independence Day,' 'The Eyes Of Laura Mars,' 'Outbreak,' 'Evil Dead,' and other Stephen King novels. The film is directed by Lawrence Kasdan, whose genre resume includes the screenplays for the second two installments of the original 'Star Wars' trilogy and 'Raiders Of The Lost Ark,' and who has since directed many a fine dramatic film. He cowrote the screenplay for this film with William Goldman. Goldman can be a great writer, but I have a feeling that this effort won't help him regain any of the respect he lost after publishing the astute but mean-spirited criticism of Scorsese in 'Variety.'
On to the plot; let me close my eyes and think for a minute and actually try to remember what the movie is about. Let's see, there are four guys who grew up together, a la 'Stand By Me.' They all have psychic powers, which somehow were bestowed on them by a kid with Downs Syndrome. They reconvene every year in a cabin in the woods of Maine to celebrate their masculine bond; but this year...something goes wrong.
If you haven't seen the trailers for the film, you might intially be misdirected into thinking the film concerns ghosts or psychic happenings (or even a dreamcatcher), and as long the actual intent of the story remains unclear, the movie has an eerie sort of intrigue. Then, following an nice explosion of blood, we learn that the film is, in fact, about an alien invasion. And about the government's attempts to stop it. And about a seasoned military commander's growing insanity. And about the bonds of friendship.
There's more. You want an aerial helicopter battle? You got it. New age histrionics? Check. Fart jokes? Look no further. ILM effects? Plenty to go around. The only thing that's not here is a love interest for any of the characters, and thank God for that, because the movie already balances on the thin line of entertainingly bad and deadly dull. Another subplot would have been killer.
Morgan Freeman plays against type as the completely unnecessary villain (providing yet another plot element that can be filed under 'laughable'). His character, auspiciously named Col. Kurtz, gets top billing, but the stars of the film are the four guys played by Thomas Jane, Timothy Olyphant, Jason Lee and Damian Lewis. If there is one reason to see the film other than to marvel at its absurdity, it is Lewis. His character becomes a host to an alien, but his mind is strong enough to prevent total occupation, which results in witty nice one-man conversations, a la Gollum in 'The Two Towers.' Lewis' performance is strong enought to make the internal struggle convincing - he's the only thing about the film that that adjective is apt to describe.
There's also a certain visual conceit about his character that I enjoyed; his mind is physically realized as a massive library of old files, through which he strolls and locks up certain memories. The technique is out of place, but amusing, and it made me start wishing Charlie Kaufman had taken a go at the script.
I'm sorry if I ruined any of the film for you. Alternately, I'm also sorry if I'm not going into enough detail. I really just don't know where to start. I wonder how talented filmmakers get caught up in projects like this one, which defy any sort of intelligent thought process. The movie looks like it was too much work to blow off as 'having fun.' It also takes itself too seriously, which is a lot more than it can ask of anyone who watches it. It's nice to know that the spirit of 'MST3K' will live on in films like this.
On the other hand, the Animatrix short, 'The Final Flight Of The Osiris,' is awesome. Being a fan of the 'Final Fantasy' film, I really enjoyed getting to see another cinematic effort from the Squaresoft team. Being a fan of 'The Matrix,' I could barely contain my excitement at re-entering this instantly familiar universe. I won't say anything about the plot of the film, but its exciting and surprisingly nihilistic, and also contains a rather arousing sword fight. Gorgeous stuff, especially on the big screen. I suggest sneaking in to see it.
That's it for now. Tune in next time when...well, whenever I see a movie worth making some advance noise about. Have fun and support indie film...
I'm outta here...
Ghostboy
John Robie called me earlier tonight and described this as “the SHOWGIRLS of science-fiction.” That’s not encouraging, is it?
"Moriarty" out.
