Dreamcatcher

As Stephen King fans should probably know, there are a lot of things in Stephen Kings books that make sense only where they are - that is, in Stephen King books. Translating them to film is usually a bad idea, as many filmmakers who had adapted King's books before probably figured out. But along comes Lawrence Kasdan, a talented and acclaimed veteran director, who, with the aid of a no less acclaimed screenwriter William Goldman, decides while writing a script for Dreamcathcer that it would be better to bring along all the trademark King's weird goings-on - and voila! We have a movie filled with telepathy, butt-ripping aliens, crazy military types keen on killing everyone, telephone-guns, indian symbols and even a lot of CGI thrown in for a good measure. Of course, it all fails - but oh how gloriously! I'll go as far as to state that Dreamcatcher is absolutely the best unintentional B-movie trashfest in years! It was totally amusing that such a bunch of undoubtedly talented people (Morgan Freeman, Tom Sizemore, Thomas Jane, besides aforementioned Kasdan & Goldman) were able to make this film without a single smirk - while the material is pure trash'n'cheese. That was the whole beauty of it, for me, at least - the level of money, work and talent that went into creating this film. I would like to personally thank all the people involved with Dreamcathcer - they made my year! Thank you, Lawrence Kasdan! Thank you, William Goldman! Thank you, Morgan Freeman - your eyebrows rocked! And most of all, thank you, Jason Lee - the bathroom scene involving Beaver and an alien worm under the toilet lid is pure classic!

When John Grisham or Stephen King writes a book, everyone can expect it to be turned into some sort of movie that's not as good (the only one that hasn't had that happen to it is the latter's Insomnia-and it really deserves to be made into something great) as the book was. Of course, there's exceptions (such as The Shining and Carrie-both of which were poorly remade), but one that makes the book look like string cheese is Dreamcatcher. The book was 1000 pages of hit-or-miss horror, and the movie condenses it into two and a quarter hours that takes most of the best parts from the book. Having doubted William Goldman's ability since Marathon Man and the partial butchering of Misery, but since he's writing here with director Lawrence Kasdan, he can't foul up that badly.

The hardest part of having the arduous task of adapting a King book is taking 1000+ pages and putting it into a reasonable amount of time for the viewer. That's why the miniseries are always hot to trot, because they can stretch things out to the length of the book. Trouble is, eventually, it gets boring and too true to the book. That's how the aforementioned remakes failed. Filmmakers need to be able to have creative licenses, and that's what Kasdan does. He knows how to work with the material that he and Goldman wrote, and it turns out to be something much better than the source material.

Four childhood friends, Beaver (Jason Lee), Henry (Thomas Jane), Jonesy (Damian Lewis) and Pete (Timothy Olyphant), go to some woods in Maine for their annual hunting trip. In their childhood, they had been united by a mentally retarded friend, Duddits (Donnie Wahlberg), which linked all of them with some sort of telepathy that they usually don't talk about. During their twentieth year of going out there, aliens land nearby and alter the course of their lives forever. Meanwhile, Col. Abraham Curtis (Morgan Freeman, with the named changed from the original Kurtz, a reference to Apocalypse Now, because I guess hearing a name will automatically trigger the "plagiarism" sensor in viewer's minds more than reading it) is in charge of the governmental side of the aliens, while he supposedly goes crazy. For those who thought Jack Nicholson's transformation in The Shining happened too quickly, they obviously haven't seen Dreamcatcher.

I think the reason most people didn't like Dreamcatcher is that they didn't know what the hell was going on. I can understand it, since some of the most important stuff is just referenced in passing (such as most things relating to Mr. Gray). I thought that all of the Curtis subplot seemed to drag everything down, because everything that's done there could have been brought about some other way. But much of the movie is pretty scary, despite the absurdity of not only some of the aliens and the CGI, but the ending. I didn't have that many qualms with it, but those who did probably also complained with the oddity of the ending of The Hulk (understandably). The plot held up through all of the reductions, and makes an effectual, creepy film.

The acting, however, could have been better. Although Jason Lee is always good, all of his catchphrases that his character had in the book seemed scripted and stilted. The actor who played Beaver as a child also seemed to just be reading his lines. The other actors don't really bring any personality to their roles, although Lewis's "dual role" was pretty cool. There seems to be an overwhelming amount of material in this film, but when you think about it, it all flows together pretty well. And considering you're taking 1000 pages into a 135 page script, that's pretty good to have everything flow together. My respect for William Goldman has come back, as for good horror films. Dreamcatcher is not the best King adaptation, or the best King book, but it's entertaining and creepy, and that's all we ask for from Mr. King.

My rating: 7/10

Rated R for violence, gore and language.

This Stephen King adaptation is underrated, sure it has it's flaws, it's a mishmash of many things in some sense it fails to find it's bearings. But that is only in the surface, in all it's weirdness these is a sense. Hard to grasp and see at first, I revisited this movie almost a decade later.

I didn't recall this movie to be anything impressive or mind-blowing. Yep upon a recent viewing I find my self pleasantly surprise by this flick. Dreamcatcher isn't Stephen King's best book by a long shot. The four main actors gave stellar performances, John Seale's cinematography is simply perfect for this. Damian Lewis is simply genius in his role.

Do your self a favor, watch this movie, ignore the low rating.

I have read Dreamcatcher and think it is one of King's most under-appreciated books. In an interview, King said his wife didn't care for it. King wrote it out on a yellow legal pad while he was recovering from getting hit by that van.

I have also listened to the audio version of Dreamcatcher, so all that remained for me was to see this movie. While I knew there were things in the book that probably wouldn't make it to the screen, I was pleasantly surprised by how many did. However some scenes were so brief they were little more than tributes.

The cinematography was beautiful from start to finish, but where the first half of the film felt paced to perfection, the last half felt rushed. The ending was different than the book, so be prepared for a shocker.

The acting was good, I particularly enjoyed Jason Lee as Joe 'Beaver' Clarenden and Damian Lewis as Gary 'Jonesy' Jones.

A real disappointment was Thomas Jane as Dr. Henry Devlin. Pretty woody acting there.

Before seeing this movie, I would not have believed that Morgan Freeman could play Kurtz. I was wrong. That guy can play anything. Unfortunately, He didn't get enough chances to flesh out this crazy S.O.B.

Jonsey's dual nature was handled differently in the movie than it was in the book. Too bad. It was just right in the book, and was given a more "Hollywood" treatment in the movie.

Note to the director: This movie failed because not enough time was spent introducing these characters and making us care about them. The notable exceptions to this where Jonesy and the Beav.

Remember: SSDD.

No Bounce, No Play.

Friends on a camping trip , they meet for a weekend at their remote cabin in the forests and discover that the town they're vacationing in, is being plagued in an unusual fashion by parasitic aliens from outer space . Four friends : Thomas Jane as Henry , Jason Lee as Beaver , Damian Lewis as Jonesy and Timothy Olyphant as Pete share extrasensory powers and hung a dreamcatcher in their cabin. It's about to catch something it cannot stop and the things are definitely going awry . Meanwhile , military officers (Morgan Freeman , Tom Sizemore) attempt to stop them and we reach the final highlight with the future of mankind at danger.

This Sci-Fi movie contains , thrills , suspense , intrigue , strange events and is pretty entertaining . The film is a blend of genres as a yucky monsters movie , a military paranoia picture and drama about childhood with influence on adult life ; all of them squashed into one . Being difficult to muster these diverse elements and director fails partially in its union . It's a rendition of a Stephen King novel , King sold the movie rights for $1 . There were many references to other Stephen King projects, such as: Misery (car wreck in the snow); Stand by Me (boyhood friends walking on railroad tracks , a typical Stephen King nostalgia vignette); It (flashbacks showing growing friendships), etc. And of course the story taking place in Maine - Stephen King's state of birth. This was the story that Stephen wrote while he recovered from his near fatal accident , it is reflected in the story, especially in a graphic scene in which a major character in run down by a vehicle and he wrote the novel in longhand. This marks the third film that William Goldman has adapted from a Stephen King novel , the others were Hearts in Atlantis (2001) and Misery (1990).

Rousing musical score by the successful composer James Newton Howard . Colorful though dark cinematography by John Seale . This moving Sci-fi , as long as spectacular, has become a nice film , being finely written and directed by Lawrence Kasdan who also directed other genres as Western as ¨Wyatt Earp¨ and ¨Silverado¨. Furthermore , he made other good movies as ¨Body heat¨, ¨The big chill¨ , ¨Grand Canyon¨ . Rating : 6 , acceptable and passable but overlong as the runtime is approx two hours and some . Even those who don't usually like Science Fiction or monster movies are sure to enjoy it . Worthwhile watching .