Dreamland

This film was utterly horrible. Stupid premise, and horrible acting by all. Whoever wrote this trash should be hanged. Reminds me of a hack student film, BUT WORSE. Who ever produced this should give up now. I know opinions are subjective and all, and some may think this "fantastic" as some think "Dune (1984)" was fantastic, well get off your horse and watch some real films. OK, the acting was tolerable, and with better direction could have been far better, but it didn't so it suffers. I don't know how much more I can say about this waste of film, other than to totally trash it. Anyways it was horrible and I recommend to avoid it like the plague, if you come anywhere near "dreamland", rent the movie beside it instead.

This film is touted as being low budget and short in length. However, the fact is that only had one small theme and was trying to be too artsy.

To down and out youths Megan (Jackie Kreisler) and Dylan (Shane Elliott) are on their way to visit foster relatives and a possible job. Everything is plodding along fairly normal until they stop off at an eatery near area 51. Then things turn bazaar for Megan as she needs many strange characters including Rachel, but why Rachel?

Being a short film, I am hesitant about going into details more than to say that several times this was a "stay in the car" film. It requires repeated viewing to put everything in place. However, I am not sure it is worth repeated viewing. What little is held together for any, continuity is well acted by Jonathan Breck as Blake, the man behind the counter?

I watched this film last night and really liked the non traditional story. However If you looking for an simplistic film to understand I'd say look else where, this film is full of moments that offer insight into what is going on with the time travel aspect of the film but if you miss that, which as far as I can tell is only spoken about in the restaurant scene once, well you'll just be lost. I think this director might have trusted too much in the ability of people to stay tuned in by all the pretty frustrated and angry reviewers on here

For instance as I read in one of the internet reviews that was pasted in one of other user comments, I loved that the director used Patsy Cline's "Crazy" to indicate that all the experiences of the lead girl may or may not actually be happening, it was a bit of black comedy right in the middle of sci fi flick and it added a new layer of texture. I do see the Lynch comparisons as this director steps out into the ether with all the bizarre events giving the audience flashes of clues to what is going on. Not to give anything away and I hope no one marks this as a spoiler but there is the biggest clue to what the whole surprise is at the end of the film early on when the couple leave the restaurant and cross the paths of the three men coming in, if you look at the middle man carefully i think the director is giving the audience the chance to "get" the film in that moment alone. I did not see anyone of the reviews yet, especially the negative reviews, ever catch that. I am not trying to show you how smart I think I am but I think this is why the critics have given the film good reviews, I think they see so many films that when one comes along that you have to pay attention to they like the challenge, that's my opinion at least.

There are some moments of over acting but I still was drawn into the story and didn't feel that it was too bad, watch any Asylum film if you want to see some really horrible acting. I especially liked that they stayed away from blood and guts stuff and made an entertaining film more about thought than violence, sex or killing. great job.

I am surprised in this day and age that Dreamland has been picked up by a distribution service like Hulu. I found this film to be a nearly unwatchable low-end indie production with very little for casual viewers to enjoy. If anything - its value is for students as a case-study in problems shooting under-financed - covering both the technical AND creative side of film-making.

I won't focus on the problems that others have nailed, but the major lesson for students is that no matter what your budget (or credit card limits) - you need a strong script, a cast that gels and all of the support details needed to make them look good or at least interesting (they are supposed to be "stars" right?).

As far as looking for that "break-out" indie film, unless I am at a festival, I always use IMDb and scan reviews before buying a ticket. If there are a small number reviews and they are mostly 10's - those are likely family and friends so beware (it is very hard to get a general audience to shill for a bad film). More honest reviews will usually have lower ratings with solid reasons for those numbers.

As far as Mr. Lay and his team - it is a minor miracle when ANY film actually gets made and distributed so a major tip of the hat. Hope his next film is over the top!

This is seriously the worst movie I have ever seen, right from the start the movie goes straight down hill with its cheesy music score, poor acting, and total lack or real story or plot. Even for a B movie this is down right awful. After reading some of the good reviews i thought i'd keep an open mind and watch it. But all the bad reviews were so right. I totally can't understand how anyone could have enjoyed it. I'm a huge Sci-fi fan and this was way more than i could swallow. Definlty do yourself a favor a move on to a different movie. They are many other better movies that deal with this subject matter. YOU HAVE BEEN WARNED.