Rate this Movie 
How does the Tomatometer work
Reviews Counted:113
Fresh:52
Rotten:61
Average Rating:5.7/10
Consensus: Colin Farrell and Tom Wilkinson act up a storm in Cassandra's Dream, but Woody Allen's heavy-handed symbolism and foreshadowing drains the plot of all tension.
Theatrical Release:Jan 18, 2008 Limited
Box Office: $871,646
Synopsis: Woody Allen wrote and directed this London-set feature, a modern noir with black comic trimmings. Colin Farrell and Ewan McGregor play working class brothers who dream of better things than their... [More]
Starring: Ewan McGregor, Colin Farrell, Tom Wilkinson, Sally Hawkins
Director: Woody Allen
Woody Allen's style here is expressly Hitchcockian. The tensions mounted and the ability of the narrative to focus on particular elements that end up meaning nothing put this film in league with the master of suspense.
If Frida Kahlo can paint 55 self-portraits, Woody Allen can make several versions of the same movie. It's only fair.
McGregor and Farrell deepen this slight thriller into a film that feels almost grandly philosophical, even though you know that when the lights come on, the spell will break
written with an archly intellectual perspective, but brought to poignant life by the actors
Like Match Point, [it] seems very sharp and focused; for better or worse, it lacks the tangents that both lightened up and diffused the tone in Scoop. That also means that there's not a moment of humor in it.
CASSANDRA'S DREAM is a slow moving character thriller, that isn't always surprising, but for me was very involving. Woody has done it again!
A fair but far from brilliant Woody Allen effort.
Allen comes to the nature of God's omnipresence so often, without varying on either his question or his answers, that his films have increasingly become copies of earlier works, degrading in quality further and further from the original with each successi
Farrell and McGregor deliver remarkably nuanced performances in and through their mundane one-dimensionality, taking average Joes and give them average strengths and weaknesses.
There is an effortless artistry in this film that may have deceived many. It looks like a trifle but it packs a punch.
Allen doesn't breeze through this biblical tale of wicked brothers without exploring all possibilities of guilt, and while it can make the whisky-soaked picture feel three days long, it does nothing to dilute the essential dread that Allen writes so well.
It's nowhere near as good as Match Point, even if it does feel like a sequel to that brilliant film, but it's also not nearly as bad as the more-recent Scoop or a dozen other Allen films.
Cassandra's Dream is second-rate Allen, but it's still compelling thanks to its magnetic co-stars.
Allen's austere, carefully plotted story is the opposite of a whodunit. It's a why- and how-dunit.
[Farrell] has done his best work with this performance, and he may have a triumphant career before him as a character actor in difficult roles.
Top CriticWoody Allen has a history of hits and misses in his directing career. His latest effort falls somewhere in between, although the film is actually a lot closer to his better work.
An exceedingly well acted and sporadically electrifying little thriller.
The slow but steady pace is cumulatively compelling, like the tightening of a noose.
It's alive with energy and ideas, not to mention good old-fashioned suspense and tragedy.
If Cassandra's Dream doesn't have the heft of Match Point, mostly due to an ending that tries too hard, I'd argue that it's a much more human film.
November 07, 2008:
UK Critics Consensus: Was W. Wicked? Is Pride & Glory Proud and Glorious?
This week in the UK cinemas we have Oliver Stones latest presidential dissection, the George W. Bush biopic W. with Josh Brolin in the title role. Also out is Pride & Glory, a... More...
January 17, 2008:
Critics' Consensus: Cloverfield is Monstrously Fun, 27 Dresses Fails to Impress, Mad Money Not Worth Much
This week at the movies, we've got monster mayhem (Cloverfield, starring Michael Stahl-David), marital mishaps (27 Dresses, starring Katherine Heigl), and heist hilarity (Mad... More...
November 23, 2007:
Trailer & Poster review 
More...
November 06, 2007:
Preview, posters, and images.
More...
MSN Movies offers a little background on the success of Disney Animation.
TIME takes a look back at the history of vampires on film.
Techland examines the visual splendor of Peter Jackson's upcoming film.
AOL put together a list of 10 recent news items that would be perfect as TV Movies.
Get the latest Tomatometer updates on upcoming movies!
IGN.com |
GameSpy |
Comrade |
Arena |
FilePlanet |
GameSpy Technology
TeamXbox |
Planets |
Vaults |
VE3D |
CheatsCodesGuides |
GameStats |
GamerMetrics
AskMen.com |
Rotten Tomatoes |
Direct2Drive |
Green Pixels
IGN RSS Feeds
1 Comment
