Most Helpful Customer Reviews
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1 of 2 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
A Real Life Movie, September 17, 2008
I first heard about this movie a year ago and was so pleased that I could get my hands on it (thanks Amazon)! I enjoyed the movie tremendously, sometimes laughing and crying at the same time. Pope Dreams touched me and I highly recommend it to everyone. It's not a high budget action film, but a film that satisfies the viewer from the beginning, and most importantly, to the end.
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0 of 1 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
Deserves to be seen, February 23, 2009
People in the film industry will tell you that every once in a while a film just deserves to be made. No matter that there is no money, no budget, no all-star cast. It simply deserves to be made.
And when the stars align just right, reviewers will tell you that same film simply deserves to be seen.
Pope Dreams is just that sort of film.
Made on a shoestring budget with only a handful of sets, an indie sound track, and a combination of young unknowns and seasoned vets working for scale or less, this film is a gem.
Combination boy-meets-girl and coming of age story, Pope Dreams weaves several subplots together to form a tapestry as rich as life itself. In fact, it is the interweaving of these subplots, so like the messy, cluttered, unplanned, and usually out-of-control reality most of us live, that gives this film its engaging attraction.
Andy (Phillip Vaden) is a going-nowhere 19 year-old. He plays the drums in a noisy alt band, works in the back of the stereo store his father manages, and seems mostly aimless. His one goal when we meet him is to fulfill what he believes to be his mother's dying wish.
He gets sidetracked when a local Valley Girl (Marnette Patterson), in an inane, unfeeling, and completely selfish attempt to con her father into something she wants, picks Andy virtually out of a hat to be her father's worst nightmare. The wrinkle in all this is that Andy is not only the sort of guy her father would like, but he is also the kind she might fall for.
The boy-meets girl parts are predictable enough...but the twist is that the clever script takes an unexpected left turn and delivers to Andy not only something he could never have foreseen, but something better than the girl. Andy DOES come of age, in more ways than one. We greet a boy at the beginning of the film, but say farewell to a man at then end.
This one come from the heart, and lodges there long after the credits have rolled.
Honest, earnest performances, a great score, and a compelling story that is largely believable move this film along.....and ought to move it off the video store shelf and into your hand. You won't be disappointed.
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0 of 1 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
one of best movies of 2009, January 24, 2009
If you enjoyed "Juno," "The Prizewinner of Defiance, Ohio," and "Waitress," you will love this movie! Well paced screenplay with sincere, realistic dialogue. You know it is great acting when they don't even look like they are acting. Teenagers are not the only people who experience angst. Will make my list of best movies I've seen in 2009.
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