Dead Awake

Rating:
Summary: Not worth it.
Review: I thought this movie was very poor overall. Very predictable. I thought it looked intriguing, but I was sorely disapointed. There is actually a short independent film by the same name (I found it when googling "Dead Awake" when I was trying to find info about this movie) that is frankly much more impressive. Check it out - and then realize how sad it is that a short independent film is much more entertaining than this multi-million dollar wannabe thriller.

Rating:
Summary: PERCHANCE TO DREAM
Review: WHAT A DIFFERENT AND ORIGINAL MOVIE! Stephen Baldwin, known for his lowkey often somnabmulent performances, perfectly plays a man who cannot sleep at night, and sleeps with his eyes open during the day..all the while managing to be a top executive at a dishy firm. During one of his nightly jaunts, he witnesses a murder and finds himself a suspect. May sound old hat, but the body of the movie is filled with some pleasant surprises, unorthodox characters, and twists and turns....and a large dose of comic relief. For example:
*Michael Ironside plays a brain-damaged ex-orderly from a mental institution who offers his own sexual interpretation of Bible lore; his scene where he asks Baldwin to touch where his brains were smashed is chilling and tragic.
*The waitress at the Snow White Diner where Baldwin ends up every night is legally blind, yet tends a cash register and wields a powerful gun;
*Not once, but twice, a toughie's guard dog is wasted, in what can only be considered as ironic justice;
*A dead man's foot is placed inside someone's shoe to see if it fits;
*Baldwin's attorney is only interested in getting the rights to his story for a movie;
*A cop is always taking time during investigations to play the lottery, and lo and behold, he wins---off of the address of the supposed dead person;
*Baldwin is pushed off a skyscraper, miraculously lands on a window-washers station, and the window washer chides Baldwin for attempting suicide while he was on duty;

*Baldwin's first assistant is killed when she offers to help a wheelchair-bound man retrieve his briefcase which is in the middle of a railroad track---while she's out there, he drops several jars of spaghetti sauce on the tracks, and zappo...
These are only some of the unique moments that make this movie such a delightful change of pace.
It's off the wall, but it's extremely entertaining!