Dreamworld

While watching this film I first thought, "this Director of Photography should never make another film again." Then the characters drew me in a bit. That only lasted so long before I thought, "the Director AND Editor both should never work in film again." At the end of the movie I laughed comically loud at the fact that all of those roles were the same man.

The story is one draft away from a really solid script. There are some overwritten writerly moments that took me out of the film. This tends to happen in most indie films because of filmmakers trying to be hip, or just generally trying to hard. Those moments were minimal enough that I could look past it and watch the film comfortably.

The performances, sans one detail, are all very credible and deserve credit. Mary Kate Wiles and Nora Kirkpatrick do an excellent job. Whit Hertford does a good job as well, but the director should have reigned in the twitchy/blinky actor thing. No one looks around that much except nervous shady folks and Hugh Grant. The movie is only watchable because of two factors. The actors and… The score for the film is one of its greatest strengths. The man knows when to queue his music and what tone it should have to support the scene. He makes the painful decisions by Darst just a bit more bearable when combined with the performances.

Another audio note, the audio mixer for this is absolutely terrible. There are peaks of overly loud music mixed with painfully low dialog. Overall there is no balance to the audio's levels.

Darst needs to understand that lighting, color grading and lower ISO settings are your friend. It looks like he made enemies with them all on this project.

The movie gets three stars; one for the script, one for the performances and one for the score. It deserves nothing else.

Dreamworld is an engaging movie that drops you right in to the life of Oliver, an undersized and under-appreciated guy trying to choose between staying down to earth and following his dreams. It should take all of about 2 minutes for you to start rooting for Oliver.

Enter energetic young redheaded girl -- his so called Magic Pixie -- and the journey begins. Lots of low key funny moments as these two get to know each other.

It's the little things in this movie that make it great to watch. Great transitions between dialog and soundtrack, intimate camera work showing off the actors' expressions, and unexpected moments where the supporting cast gets a chance to shine and make all the characters in the story pop out as three dimensional.

Keep an eye out for this movie, and for more from this team.

I was really impressed by this film. For me, the film evokes a rare sense of nostalgia. It's honest, sometimes joyful, sometimes painful story is shot and acted so purely that I could nearly feel the tires beneath me. As the couple's station wagon puts Los Angeles in the rear-view mirror, I was completely entangled in the exuberance of their budding romance. Their adventure was seamlessly woven against the backdrop of the California coastline.

Maybe, it was the emotional ride that Director - Ryan Darst takes us on? Maybe, it's the actual ride that Oliver and Lily take us on? Regardless, it inspired me and left me wanting more.

You wonder why this movie gets great reviews? OK, It tells you a story that could happen to any of us, not perfect people, any given day. Specially when you meet a new person that rocks your world. The music and lighting are sweet and real. The way the story is told makes you feel you are witnessing the whole thing. I liked the most the non stereotyped kind of cast, and that both of the very pretty woman show themselves as passionate persons. Oliver Rocks! He gives us hope we all deserve to be loved and pushed to the edge in order to grow. Specially when you have a talent that feels to yourself as average. The little guy teach us not to judge people from their bad sides as well. Great Job DREAMWORLD! Ryan Darst, it was great to see you in tiny town Quincy, Ca.

It is hard to understand such a high rating and raving reviews for Dreamworld. I can only assume that most of the contributors have either worked on it or are in some way related to the authors.

The production didn't annoy me, although the home video aesthetics pushed the limits of my patience. There are low budget movies that turned this into their advantage, yet Dreamworld is not one of them. The way i see it, it brought to life a world depicted in a cartoon presented by the main character in the beginning. We only see the excerpts, but i wouldn't waste a full length movie on the idea.

After a couple of minutes i simply lost interest in what was going on. The protagonists were deadbeat oddballs who didn't arouse any sympathy. Almost as if they deserved their fate.

As far as description is concerned, this was definitely not a comedy. This comes from a person that laughs at jokes even at those that leave the rest of the audience silent. Romance was there, although in a form that suits aforementioned oddballs. As far as drama is concerned, the most dramatic thing was trying not to fall asleep before the end of the movie.

Dreamworld is exactly what mainstream moviegoers have in mind when art-house cinema is mentioned. And you can't blame them they don't like it...