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What Dreams May Come - DVD
Director: Vincent Ward
Writers: Ronald Bass, Richard Matheson (novel)
Producers: Barnet Bain
Studio: Polygram
Characters:
Robin Williams -- Chris Nielson
Annabella Sciorra -- Annie Nielson
Cuba Gooding, Jr. -- Albert
Features: Interactive Menus, Director's Commentary, About The Visual Effects, Making Of Featurette, Alternate Ending, Photo Gallery, Cast & Crew Biographies & Filmographies, Production Information, Theatrical Trailers, DVD-Rom Features Include: Wallpaper For Windows 95/98, Macintosh Desktop Images, Widescreen 2.35:1, ENGLISH: Dolby Digital 5.1 [CC], ENGLISH: Dolby Digital Surround [CC], SUBTITLES Spanish, French
Review:"What Dreams May Come" is not very good. Of course, there are very few that
actually are. There is, however, something about this movie that made me
walk
away with a much lower opinion of it than as merely a waste of time. Every
note of the score, every line of dialogue, every soft-focus flashback of
Annabella Sciorra -- every second of this film is designed to manipulate the
audience. Some might say I'm hard-hearted, but I find it difficult to
believe
that anyone could sincerely be affected by the heavy-handed and
poorly=articulated
"emotion" that pervades this movie.
Though "Deep Impact" was my favorite of the big summer asteroid movies, it
wasn't
a very good movie either -- mainly as a result of similarly repulsive
emotional
tricks (that and Téa). Walking out of "Deep Impact" I was groaning at the
Elijah
Wood romance, but at no time did I feel the need to take a breather from the
onslaught of offensive music and imagery. As you might have guessed, I
cannot
say the same for "What Dreams May Come".
The movie actually has quite a bit going for it -- all three of the stars
are
Oscar-caliber performers (I am usually quite fond of Robin Williams'
dramatic work), the 'painted world' special effects are quite good ('cool',
even), and there actually are a few really interesting images (all of which
are
in hell). Unfortunately for everyone, very little of this potential is put
to
any use. Cuba's intense dramatic performance, as always, involves bated
breath,
pursed lips, and wide eyes rapidly looking left to right. William's big
emotional
line (It's about NOT ... giving up!") is unconvincingly delivered. Almost
every
second of the painted world is shown in the previews.
I rented the film expecting little, and I was disappointed.
As for the DVD, it's a pretty good offering. It has an alternate ending
(which
is, in substance, more or less exactly the same as the ending used in the
film --
it's simply presented differently), a still gallery, a pretty short
documentary,
a pretty short FX documentary thingy, and a director's commentary.
Unfortunately
I honestly couldn't bring myself to watch the movie a second time, so I
can't really
say much about the commentary. According to
DVD File's review, most
of the
time is devoted to discussion of the "emotional subtext" (read: repugnant
and
insulting shit), so it's probably better that I didn't waste any more of my
time.
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