In Dreams (1999)

The housewife Claire Cooper (Annette Bening) is married with the pilot Paul Cooper (Aidan Quinn) and their little daughter Rebecca (Katie Sagona) is their pride and joy. When a stranger kidnaps a girl, Claire dreams about the man but Detective Jack Kay (Paul Guilfoyle) ignores her concerns. But when Rebecca disappears during a school play, Claire learns that her visions were actually premonitions and she is connected to the killer through her dreams. She has a nervous breakdown and tries to commit suicide. Her psychologist Dr. Silverman (Stephen Rea) sends her to a mental institution and soon she finds that her husband will be the next victim of the serial-killer. Further, the serial-killer was interned in the same cell in the hospital where she is. Will Claire be able to save Paul?"In Dreams" is a deceptive Neil Jordan's movie. The messy story is boring and Annette Bening is hysterical most of the time. There is no explanation for the connection between Claire Cooper and Vivian Thompson and the conclusion is terrible. My vote is four.Title (Brazil): "A Premonição" ("The Premonition")

Last week I invited two friends of mine to see this polemic picture. They kinda liked it, for some reason, but I really didn't. From the get go, we're given a confusing story involving Claire Cooper and her torture to try to convince people that she isn't crazy. If I was any of those people she got involved with, I would've also thought she was delirious, since nothing she said could make sense. There are some references to the Snow White story, but they are bad executed. The main reason why I found this movie so boring was the never ending flashbacks; I never knew what was happening now and what was just a vision, so the story got extremely confusing and boring for me. Freud's explanation about dreams is more interesting, in my opinion. Besides, the photography directing is poor and makes it impossible to understand what's going on. I'm just not giving it a lower rating because my friends were able to have some fun in it, but I sincerely wasn't. If I were you, I'd just pass it.

Why You Might Like It: If you like thrillers that don't necessarily have to be realistic, then you will likely enjoy this film. It also has a nice cast and some superb acting which includes Annette Bening and Robert Downey Jr. At the end of the day it is a solid fantasy thriller story that makes for a good product.Why You Might Not Like It: It certainly isn't the most realistic thriller and therefore some might not be interested. There are some slow spots that can lose the interest of the audience if you aren't the most dedicated movie watcher.Acting/Casting: 7.5* - Annette Bening does a great job in the lead role playing Claire Cooper and Robert Downey is solid as the protagonist, Vivian Thompson.Directing/Cinematography/Technical: 5.5* - Outside of a few slow spots, the directing is great and has some cool underwater scenery.Plot/Characters: 5* - It is fairly average story and might have been a little better if it were more realistic in nature.Entertainment Value: 5* - It is going to blow you away, but is your run of the mill thriller that has some great acting and a solid story.My Score: 7.5+5.5+5+5 = 23/4 = 5.75 Email your thoughts to [email protected]

Interesting that there are so many different interpretations when only one makes any sense. The whole thing is a view from inside a broken mind. The dreamer is who we have been calling Vivian. Not sure whether the character is a he or a she. For sure the entire thing is a combination of madness, possibly induced or deepened by long-term abuse, possibly not because the childhood could be a fantasy as well. Vivian, seen as Downey is the one who dreams while asleep and awake. Asylums don't look like this. The court scene is wrong and clearly imagined. Folks, there hasn't been a death penalty in the Commonwealth of Massachusetts in a long time. I don't think either child is real. All those apples = knowledge. Think about the clues. The security guard who dies, the one who doesn't. The police-like car used and the one sunk. The child drowned and the child saved. The husband dead and the husband alive. The whole thing is a nightmare. Don't you wonder why some psychotics do what they do? It is because they are in this kind of world. I would have rated higher and intended to do so before I saw how confused everyone seemed to be so apparently the message is not clear and I'm not sure if the plan was to make it so ambiguous. By the way, about the concern as to Downey's Vivian being weird but not serial killer-weird? We never do know if Vivian ever "did" anything or imagined it all. American Psycho anyone? Maybe it really does deserve that 9 I was toying with. I'll sleep on it.