12 of 14 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
An absolute knockout, May 8, 2004
This review is from: The Dream Catcher (DVD)
In the past week, I have seen "Man on Fire," "The Punisher," "Mean Girls," "Laws of Attraction" and "The Godsend"
in the theaters. I then caught the totally unknown independent feature "The Dream Catcher" on DVD, after I picked it up at the local Fry's without knowing anything about it, except the description on the box. Who would have thought the best movie I have seen this week, and probably since "Mystic River," would be this thoroughly entertaining and profoundly moving road movie featuring two young, unknown actors and a no-name director. In short, "The Dream Catcher" (not to be confused with the awful Lawrence Kasdan-Stephen King horror film of the same name) is one of the best films I have seen in a long, long time.
The plot is simple: two teens, one running from a pregnant girlfriend and one from juvenile authorities, meet on the road and forge a tentative and gradually deeper friendship while they travel to Reno in search of a better life. They couldn't be more different: Freddy (Maurice Compte) is a quiet introvert and the much younger Albert (Paddy Connor) is a loud, hyperactive motormouth who obviously suffers from ADD. They hop trains, they steal cars, they hitch rides, but mostly they fight and irritate each other until they fall into a predictable and comfortable rhythm with each other. I won't give anything else away except to say it is all incredibly moving and at times funny--all the way up to the rather predictable, though appropriate, ending.
This is an absolute triumph for director Ed Radtke, who, based on the great visual look of the film and the excellent use of locations between Philadelphia and Reno, deserves a chance at a big budget studio project. And the acting is uniformly excellent, including every well-cast supporting role, and especially the leads: Compte, who is touching and compelling, and the incredible Connor, who is absolutely sensational as a boy whose hyperactive manner masks a deep and profound inner sadness that at the end just may break your heart.
The best thing about DVD (aside from introducing the widescreen format to mass audiences) is that hard-to-distribute festival winners like "The Dream Catcher" can find an audience and quite possibly gain the respect that they deserve. And hopefully we'll be seeing much more of these actors and this director in the future. They certainly deserve it.
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8 of 11 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Desolation On The Run, December 21, 2003
The Dream Catcher, directed by Edward A. Radtke, tells the story of two young men (boys really) who feel a pressing need to stay on the move. Freddy (Maurice Compte) is running from his pregnant girlfriend in Philadelphia with a vague hope of connecting up with an until recently incarcerated father he has not seen in a decade. Albert (Paddy Connor), an escapee from a juvenile home in Ohio, is heading toward Reno where his estranged mother supposedly owns a restaurant in which he believes he can get work and come in out from the cold. Neither has any money, nor any real family to speak of, and both are living by their wits as they cross America's vast midlands by whatever means they can manage. Although they hitchhike, jump aboard freight trains, and steal a ride or two, at times it almost seems as if they propel themselves forward by dint of highly elaborated fantasy about the future and a desperate desire to be rescued from the gnawing alienation they experience in relation to just about everything except each other. Freddy gets through the days on the road by assuaging his limitless reservoir of emptiness and rage with the help of a good deal of marijuana while Albert relies on a manic defense against his intolerable feelings of worthlessness and despair. He is also an inveterate kleptomaniac. Thus the pair provide an interesting counterbalance to the river of desolation which flows through them and which is mirrored relentlessly by the disconnected physical and human landscape through which they travel. After a number of entertaining, at times devastating, adventures en route to the 'promised land' of the American West, the boys finally reach Utah which Albert describes as being like another planet. But rather than having reached their collectively desired destination of longed for parental protection and love, another fate awaits them entirely. The only fate they could have actually expected to encounter given the emotional undertow established early on in lives characterized by severe trauma, loss and deprivation. I had the opportunity to screen The Dream Catcher as part of Sundance Channel's New Voices series which showcases first time film makers of exceptional promise. As with all the other entries in this splendid set of psychological dramas, I was thoroughly engaged by Radtke's disturbing, utterly revealing film from its auspicious beginning right through to its sad, poignant close.
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1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:
1.0 out of 5 stars
What a waste of film!, October 11, 2010
This review is from: The Dream Catcher (DVD)
Putting it simply ... I was BORED STIFF by this movie. I had trouble staying awake. I had to keep rewinding it to view the scenes I missed. It was stupid, pointless, and the end just did not justify the means. The younger dude had no redeeming qualities and the older one --- well, he had none either. All they did for the entire movie was TAKE and RUN. Literally!
They took advantage of nice people; I especially felt sorry for the (possibly) mentally impaired guy whom they forced their way into his car. He was on his way to a peaceful day of fishing. He was very nice to them. These idiots pushed their way into his car and the nice man drove them to his fishing spot. Then they stole the man's car and left him standing alone at the fishing spot wondering what just happened. I was hurt for him.
Also, the older convict dude is obviously too old to play a juvenile delinquent.
I hated this movie and I'm kicking myself for watching it.
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