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Movies / On DVD / Cassandra's Dream
Cassandra's Dream

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Cassandra's Dream (2008)

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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.

Rated: PG-13 [See Full Rating] for thematic elements, some sexual material and brief violence.

Runtime: 1 hr 48 mins

Genre: Dramas

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... 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 respective mechanic and restaurant jobs. Hard-drinking Terry (Farrell) has a weakness for gambling, while brother Ian (McGregor) hankers for the finer things when he starts dating a very ambitious actress (Hayley Atwell). Fate deals a hand when their rich American uncle (Tom Wilkinson) slinks into London with a murderous proposition. Named for the boat the lads buy during a rare flush moment--a symbol of the morally compromising power of money and the inevitability, perhaps, of fate--CASSANDRA'S DREAM is another of Allen's loving looks at moneyed urbanites and their penchant for living out Greek tragedy, a la MATCH POINT and CRIMES AND MISDEMEANORS. This time around, it's a bit darker, but with Farrell and McGregor in the leads, there's plenty of star power. The lads are clearly having a ball acting under Allen's direction, and they're allowed to develop a charming, rapid-fire fraternal rapport that carries the film--along with Wilkinson's old-school gravitas and Atwell's luminous charisma. Phillip Glass composed the score. [More]

Starring: Ewan McGregor, Colin Farrell, Tom Wilkinson, Sally Hawkins

Starring: Ewan McGregor, Colin Farrell, Tom Wilkinson, Sally Hawkins, Hayley Atwell

Director: Woody Allen

Director: Woody Allen
Screenwriter: Woody Allen
Producer: Letty Aronson, Stephen Tenenbaum, Gareth Wiley
Composer: Philip Glass
Studio: Weinstein Company

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Release:

May 27, 2008

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Reviews for Cassandra's Dream

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1 - 20 (sorted by rotten rating)
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Full Review Source: Atlanta Journal-Constitution | comment Comment
10/18/08
Atlanta Journal-Constitution
N/R

Click to read the article

Full Review Source: St. Louis Post-Dispatch | comment Comment
10/18/08
St. Louis Post-Dispatch
N/R

Click to read the article

Full Review Source: Boston Phoenix | comment Comment
04/23/09
Mark Bazer
Mark Bazer
Boston Phoenix

While Allen's Match Point was an interesting switching of gears ... his new mantle of Patricia Highsmith-esque crime chronicler is wearing thin as well.

Full Review Source: MSNBC | comment Comment
05/01/08
Alonso Duralde
Alonso Duralde
MSNBC

It’s wearying to watch Allen’s murder obsession when he doesn’t know how to dramatize morality.

Full Review Source: New York Press | comment Comment
01/16/08
Armond White
Armond White
New York Press

Trying to balance the demands of his well-meaning motives with the requirements of the genre leaves Allen unsettled and ineffective, two words that encompass the creative drought evident in Cassandra's Dream.

Full Review Source: PopMatters | comment Comment
01/17/08
Bill Gibron
Bill Gibron
PopMatters

If you must see only one film about a family's downward spiral into despair, it probably should be Before the Devil Knows You're Dead, not Cassandra's Dream.

Full Review Source: Arizona Republic | comment Comment
01/17/08
Bill Goodykoontz
Bill Goodykoontz
Arizona Republic

Cassandra's Dream lacks energy and spark. Monotonous and simplistic, it is definitely not worthy of Woody Allen.

Full Review Source: Journal and Courier (Lafayette, IN) | comment Comment
01/30/08
Bob Bloom
Bob Bloom
Journal and Courier (Lafayette, IN)

Allen's writing here is so lacking in vigor and purpose that much of the film seems to be on nothing more than autopilot, a faded and tissue-paper-thin retread from a filmmaker who should know better.

Full Review Source: Film Journal International | comment Comment
12/31/07
Chris Barsanti
Chris Barsanti
Film Journal International

Allen's latest, his 42nd effort as a director, is the work of an artist devoid of ideas and energy. Perfunctorily staged and lazily written, it comes to life in only the briefest of spurts, usually when the ever-reliable Tom Wilkinson is on-screen.

Full Review Source: Baltimore Sun | comment Comment
01/18/08
Chris Kaltenbach
Chris Kaltenbach
Baltimore Sun

Funny thing about tragedy: It loses its heft when it has to keep reminding us how tragic it is. It's hard to cozy up to a script that feels the need to toss in casual references to fate and Aristotle. Yo, we get it already. They're doomed.

Full Review Source: Dallas Morning News | comment Comment
01/18/08
Chris Vognar
Chris Vognar
Dallas Morning News
Top Critic Icon Top Critic

Nearing the end of his career, Woody Allen has become a hit-or-miss director with considerably more misses.

Full Review Source: ColeSmithey.com | comment Comment
01/21/08
Cole Smithey
Cole Smithey
ColeSmithey.com

A clumsy, clichéd morality play that may actually represent the lowest point of Allen’s recently chequered career.

Full Review Source: Empire Magazine | comment Comment
10/18/08
Damon Wise
Damon Wise
Empire Magazine

If there is a black comedy hiding deep within the folds of this tragic tale, it is so subtly dissimulated that very few will ever manage to unveil it.

Full Review Source: Screen International | comment Comment
09/15/07
Dan Fainaru
Dan Fainaru
Screen International

These characters not only don't talk like working-class Londoners, they don't talk like anyone.

Full Review Source: Slate | comment Comment
10/18/08
Dana Stevens
Dana Stevens
Slate

For those who remember [his Allen's classic films] Cassandra's Dream seems like the work of an imposter.

Full Review Source: Worcester Telegram & Gazette | comment Comment
02/08/08
Daniel M. Kimmel
Daniel M. Kimmel
Worcester Telegram & Gazette

It’s admittedly better than some of Allen’s DOA comedies of the past decade. To think that his weak attempt at a morality play represents some return to form, however, is a pipe dream.

Full Review Source: Time Out New York | comment Comment
01/17/08
David Fear
David Fear
Time Out New York

Are we supposed to be charmed, or shocked, by this? Allen doesn't seem to know.

Full Review Source: rec.arts.movies.reviews | comment Comment
01/15/08
David N. Butterworth
David N. Butterworth
rec.arts.movies.reviews

Like a tragic overture played at the wrong tempo and slightly off-key, Woody Allen's London-set Cassandra's Dream sends out more mixed signals than an inebriated telegraphist.

Full Review Source: Variety | comment Comment
09/08/07
Derek Elley
Derek Elley
Variety

Although McGregor and Farrell produce some occasionally spirited moments, particularly in the earlier scenes, they are little more than walking and talking schemes, their choices based entirely on socioeconomic impulses.

Full Review Source: Washington Post | comment Comment
07/16/08
Desson Thomson
Desson Thomson
Washington Post
Top Critic Icon Top Critic
 
 
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