Dreamland

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2 out of 5 stars. Dreamland is a snoozefest drama. That tries to be something with its uneven drama. Trying to be a romantic love story mixed with bonnie and clyde which fails to do both. The direction is uneven. The acting is flat with Finn Cole and Margot Robbie. The story is dull. And it is one dull film.

Dreamland is about a teen bounty hunter that is torn between helping or capturing a seductive fugitive bank robber hiding in his small town during the Great Depression. The movie is a well made drama with an interesting direction. There are two great performances from Margot Robbie and Finn Cole. Dreamland isn't always gripping but it is still a good and entertaining ride. Rating: 6,9.

There are several important characters but the story really revolves around two of them. Finn Cole plays 17-yr-old Eugene Evans, his dad was an alcoholic and left when Eugene was a small boy. Eugene got one postcard from his dad, praising the beaches on the Mexico Gulf Coast. As Eugene grew up with a stepdad he never lost his dreams of finding dad. In his dreamland. Margot Robbie is the other as Allison Wells, on the run and wanted for a bank robbery and a shooting in Missouri. She ends up in Eugene's barn, he helps conceal her and nurse her gunshot wound. He was already enthralled with stories of bank robbers so meeting her was almost a natural for him. Eventually they needed to go on the run, much of the meat of the story involves that. The story is narrated 20 years later by Eugene's half sister in 1955. After the movie was over I went back and re-watched the first 5 minutes or so, there is a lot covered that is more meaningful after watching the whole movie. Shot entirely in New Mexico. My wife and I watched it at home on DVD from our public library. This is a good movie, it seems that the negative reviewers just could not get into the story.

Giving it a full 10 because others are exaggerating. It really wasn't thát bad.

Farms have been wiped out during the depression and the only local news of note is a female gangster / killer on the run (Margot Robbie) who hides out in a family barn where Finn Cole helps her and inevitably falls for her. This is a simple enough tale with obvious comparisons with Bonnie & Clyde, but focussed on how bad Margot Robbie actually is and whether or not she cares for Finn and may be using him. For the most part a character study with fine performances from both leads, but particularly Robbie who oozes screen presence. The whole thing builds to a satisfying and rather surprising climax and overall this is a well made, well acted but slight tale.

It seems most bad reviews complain about movie was not what was expected from it. Had been fortunate to watch it without being curios for the story, but to see how good Margot is as an actress. Yeah, she is fire, she is mesmerizing, she is crazy... but can she play? Movie has a certain charm, and is tight for sure. Acting is overall good, and director manages to send his message clearly and with a bit of soul. Probably this is where it falls a bit short, on engaging us in the story. Overall this is solid art work, and glad had the chance to watch it. If not expecting another bank robbery movie, this is recommended.

I am easy to please when it comes to movies but between the over acting and the ridiculous makeup and costumes in this movie I got lost. I'm still not sure what it was supposed to be about.

The period setting and attention to detail was very good. You could see the dustbowl dust coating their skin. Pretty cinematography and powerful acting performances. But overall, I wanted it to be better than it was, and the biggest problem was the way the story was told. There was so much narration from the sister character front-loaded that I wondered if the original cut ran too long and after the fact, the narration was added in order to cut scenes out. But the problem is that those scenes that were summarized in narration were imperative to making me care about the characters. I didn't feel truly invested into anyone until about 2/3 of the way through the movie, and even then, it wasn't as much as it should have been. And yet, it still felt overly slow and long. This had the potential to be GREAT, but in the end, it was still pretty good. A drama version of a Bonnie & Clyde story with a bit of suspense and action.