Electric Dreams

If you really LIVED the 1980's, "Electric Dreams" will probably bring back endless memories for you. For everyone else, this little bit of film magic is a quintessential period piece from the decade of decadence. It's worth seeing for anyone who appreciates movies that perfectly represent the time in which they were made (a la "Saturday Night Fever" to the late 70's, or "Singles" to the early 90's) San Francisco residents take note of the special cameos from old KJY DJs at the end of the film. The soundtrack is just as poppy and fun as the movie, including rare new wave gems from Culture Club, Human League, Jeff Lynne, Heaven 17 and more. The "dream sequence" in the middle of the film is still suprisingly moving to me. In spite of the hokey plot and computer animation that is downright archaic by todays standards, they don't really make em like this anymore. Catch it while you can.

Electric Dreams (1984) is a good fun film about a geeky office worker Miles Harding who has problems with his organisation skills and buys a computer to help him out.

Meanwhile Miles has a new neighbour in the form of Madeline (Madsen), Miles soon falls in love with Madeline and the pair start dating.

Everything seems to be going OK for Miles but there is a problem, his COMPUTER!!!! The Computer called Edgar is alive and jealous of the relationship, he too has fallen in love with Madeline and will do anything to wreck the relationship, he wants Madeline all to himself, funny stuff!!! The film has a really good 80's feel about it and has a brilliant soundtrack, the film itself would be average but it's a lot better than average thanks to the computer. Edgar the computer makes this movie a winner and a guilty pleasure!!! Highly recommended for fans of 80's movies, 7/10 for Electric Dreams.

When I first saw 'Being John Malkovich', I didn't really know much about - it was a while since I'd been to the cinema because of work and I went to see it on the strength of John Cusack. As I sat in that cinema full of bored teenagers, watching the story unfold, I was amazed at how similar an experience it actually was to the first film I really fell in love with, 'Electric Dreams'.

I've never been completely sure what I especially liked about the film. Virginia Madsen certainly has a big sister / first crush quality, with her woolly jumpers and body wrapped around a cello. Lenny Van Dollen is certainly as good an actor as anyone whose worked in this kind of film and offers work of quite subtle range. And the computer is heartbreaking. And the music is lovely. This is perhaps a film which is uncriticisable because it captures a time in life so beautifully.

Made in 1984, 'Dreams' has a plot similar in scope to 'Malkovich'. Miles subordinating of the newly sentient computer parallel's Craig Schwartz control of the film actor. As the computer operator uses Edger to woo the love of both their lives, so the puppeteer controls Malkovich to get into the panties of his 'business partner'.

There is no doubt the film has dated, although in its own way it uses visual techniques which at the time must have seemed as extreme as the flourishes of the latter film. Its use of pop video, in the sequences of high emotion, especially in the scene of where Miles is chased around the house, are at least echoed in the chase sequence at the heart of 'Malkovich'.

With all this in mind, its perhaps a time to re-assess this film as more than the fluff its previously been thought of as being.

Steve Barron's "Electric Dreams" will almost certainly be one of the hardest movies to find, but if you can you should definitely check it out. It got released around the time when computers were starting to become part of everyone's lives, and it seems to be predicting just how much these devices would come to dominate our lives. Lenny Von Dohlen (never heard of him until I saw this movie) plays an architect who buys a computer to get better organized, but an unexpected event turns the thing into a sillier version of HAL...especially after the owner falls for his musician neighbor (a young Virginia Madsen).

At once piece of light entertainment and a look at relationships, this movie does it just right. Some scenes are probably just comic relief, like the concert, but the computer does teach the man a good lesson about life. You're bound to love what the computer does in the movie's last scene.

All in all, a really fun movie. I can't believe that it's out of print while tons of boring movies get special edition DVDs. Definitely check it out if you can. Watch for a young Miriam Margolyes as a ticket taker.

This movie is rather funny and like some of the other viewers, the main song has stuck with me since the movie was first released. One point this movie tried to make is that there can never be enough montages. Without all the musical montages in this movie, the film would have lasted only thirty-minutes or so. Anyway, if your in the mood for a movie with a strange love triangle that doesn't involve questioning a characters sexuality, watch this.