Dreamland

I am surprised in this day and age that Dreamland has been picked up by a distribution service like Hulu. I found this film to be a nearly unwatchable low-end indie production with very little for casual viewers to enjoy. If anything - its value is for students as a case-study in problems shooting under-financed - covering both the technical AND creative side of film-making.

I won't focus on the problems that others have nailed, but the major lesson for students is that no matter what your budget (or credit card limits) - you need a strong script, a cast that gels and all of the support details needed to make them look good or at least interesting (they are supposed to be "stars" right?).

As far as looking for that "break-out" indie film, unless I am at a festival, I always use IMDb and scan reviews before buying a ticket. If there are a small number reviews and they are mostly 10's - those are likely family and friends so beware (it is very hard to get a general audience to shill for a bad film). More honest reviews will usually have lower ratings with solid reasons for those numbers.

As far as Mr. Lay and his team - it is a minor miracle when ANY film actually gets made and distributed so a major tip of the hat. Hope his next film is over the top!

This film is touted as being low budget and short in length. However, the fact is that only had one small theme and was trying to be too artsy.

To down and out youths Megan (Jackie Kreisler) and Dylan (Shane Elliott) are on their way to visit foster relatives and a possible job. Everything is plodding along fairly normal until they stop off at an eatery near area 51. Then things turn bazaar for Megan as she needs many strange characters including Rachel, but why Rachel?

Being a short film, I am hesitant about going into details more than to say that several times this was a "stay in the car" film. It requires repeated viewing to put everything in place. However, I am not sure it is worth repeated viewing. What little is held together for any, continuity is well acted by Jonathan Breck as Blake, the man behind the counter?

Meghan (Jackie Kreisler) and Dylan (Shane Elliott) are crossing the Nevada desert in an old car to visit her foster parents, and Meghan sees a little girl alone in the desert. They stop at the "Little A'Le'Inn" diner, a weird place decorated with alien motive, to eat a hamburger with milkshake and they have a conversation with the bartender Blake, who tells stories about UFOs. They leave the diner and they have to stop in the middle of nowhere due a car problem. Dylan faints and Meghan sees the little girl and ghost that tell her that they know who she is. Is Meghan losing her mind or are the weird events for real?

"Dreamland" is a promising and intriguing low-budget movie with a messy conclusion and fake reviews. I read a couple of explanations in IMDb that help to understand some points but the result is very confused. In my point of view, any movie that you need to watch several times to try to understand is not a good film unless when it is a cult-movie that is not the case of "Dreamland". My vote is five.

Title (Brazil): "Área 51 - Zona Mortal" ("Area 51 – Mortal Zone")

It was intriguing. It would have been better with a Pink Floyd score. It wasn't so much a movie as a Twilight Zone without Rod Serling to make it seeem important. I think I would have understood it better if I'd watched it again, but I somehow feel that understanding it is missing the point. This movie is dada revivalism. Also, why would I want to sit through it a second time? It was hard enough to sit through it once.

I'm giving this movie three stars, because I've seen movies that are much, muich worse, and more than two because the bartender was quirky, but really, some movies invite speculation and others invite somnabulism.

This is seriously the worst movie I have ever seen, right from the start the movie goes straight down hill with its cheesy music score, poor acting, and total lack or real story or plot. Even for a B movie this is down right awful. After reading some of the good reviews i thought i'd keep an open mind and watch it. But all the bad reviews were so right. I totally can't understand how anyone could have enjoyed it. I'm a huge Sci-fi fan and this was way more than i could swallow. Definlty do yourself a favor a move on to a different movie. They are many other better movies that deal with this subject matter. YOU HAVE BEEN WARNED.