I plan to watch 365 movies this year because it’s good to have pointless goals. And even better than them simply being pointless, are goals with stipulations. At least two movies a week should be something I’ve never seen before and it doesn’t have to be “one movie per day” as long as I hit 365.
THE MOVIE: Dream Scenario
Seen it before? No.
Thoughts: I was really looking forward to watching this one after seeing the trailer a few weeks ago and hearing some of the early praise. As I watched, I started to worry that this was a really cool premise that was going to be hard to bring to a satisfying conclusion and it’s just that. It starts strong but runs out of ideas in the third act. Nicolas Cage is fantastic throughout in dorky, schlub mode. He nails the awkward interactions and half-formed sentences of someone who, great aspirations aside, is not good in social situations where he is the focus. As he starts to inexplicably appear in people’s dreams all over the world, he never really knows who to live up to this literal fantasy version of himself that he has no control over. The movie cycles through the stages of viral fame from slow build to massive attention to the inevitable backlash (once his dream avatar suddenly turns incredibly violent) to being abandoned. I’m okay that the movie outright admits that “we have no idea how or why this happened, why it changed and why it stopped” and I’m okay with that. The problem isn’t that they didn’t have an explanation in-movie for why, but didn’t really know what to do with the premise. Also the weird half-explored sub plot with Cage’s wife and her coworker never quite takes shape believably (the Halloween visit and accompanying her to the play is at odds with what we see of them breifly interacting on screen). It kind of winds down quietly (and at times contradictorily) after a climactic moment. Since there are so many dream sequences, I did like that it kept you off balance at times not knowing whether you were watching dream or reality. Hey there Michael Cera! Nice to see him popping up in som many things this year.
Artists Pay Back (The Blog) 