Rating: 
Summary: One Of The Best Adoptations Of His Horror Novels
Review: Hey, I know most people have been bashing this, but me and my 2 friends both thought that this was a well done film (2 of us had read the novel). The casting was done perfectly, the 4 friends were just as how I had pictured them and the first half of the film followed the book almost to the letter. The scene of Jonsey getting hit by the car was intense, as were the eel-worms hatching from the eggs scenes.
The key to enjoying this film is, have fun with it. Don't be expecting a green mile or shawshank production, rather enjoy the gore, the stenches, the aliens, beavers foul mouth, kurtz's craziness and the beautiful yet eerie maine setting.Reading the book first is a good idea, cuz there is some weird stuff going on, but the book will get you ready for all the telepathic communication biz. Overall this is one of the better adaptations of his horror, check it out.
Rating: 
Summary: Oh, boy...
Review: I wasn't expecting this to be nearly as good as the book, but even so, I was surprised. Yes, change the entire ending of the book, no one will care...riiiiight. I don't see how all the people here who have read the book can actually like the movie. Sure, the first half of the movie stays moderately true to the book, but the rest is almost completely different, with the ending, as previously stated, being COMPLETELY changed, and NOT for the better. Even the ending in the book was more well-thought out and believable than the piece of [junk] the movie presented. In addition, Kurtz wasn't crazy enough in the movie--he didn't feel like Kurtz at all. Owen wasn't really that great, either. The movie only merits the one star because it did a fine job with the byrus and the sh^t weasels. Read the book: it's great. Skip the movie.
Rating:
Summary: Very Bad "Dream"
Review: "Dreamcatcher" is, without a doubt, the worst film so far this year. I was completely disappointed with this...I went expecting a thriller and I got a comedy instead because I couldn't stop laughing at how bad this film was (mostly due to a [poor] script by William Goldman and Kasdan and over the top acting from Morgan Freeman and Damian Lewis). It is a real shame too because with the talent involved with this project including Stephen King, Lawrence Kasdan, William Goldman, Morgan Freeman, Tom Sizemore, Jason Lee (He rocks) and even more great people, it should and could have been a whole lot better. All I keep thinking about is how the two and a half hours and six dollars I wasted on this movie will never be seen again. At the beginning of this film there seemed to be an interesting story involving the four main characters in the film and how they all have mysterious abilities which seemed to be going somewhere, but they didn't and were not developed enough throughout the story and after a while I didn't care what happened to any of these people. Also, this film feels like a whole bunch of different movies in one. It's a drama, then a horror film and a sci-fi thriller then an action film. The crew should have made up their minds before shooting began on what kind of film they were making because it turned out to be a nonsense filled mess. I hope the next Stephen King film will be a lot better than this.
Rating: 
Summary: I enjoyed it but could have been better
Review: After reading the book 2 years ago,I was looking forward to seeing Dreamcatcher alot.And it was very much a let down.I love aliens,horror and Stephen Kings books but I fear that they might go all downhill after this big mess.Don't get me wrong,I enjoyed the movie but Stand By Me,The Green Mile,Pet Sematary,The Shawshank Redemption and Chirstine are way better then then this big mess.Take my advice,wait till it comes out on video.
Rating: 
Summary: Lots of potential little payoff
Review: I've noticed in about 70-80% of a film there's trouble in how to end it. The momentum of the set-up is so intoxicating that tehre's very little thought to the resolution. This is particularly troublesome in converting books to movies. I could see the King formula of kids with gifts dealing with the bogeyman, a formula I wonder might be running a little thin by now but I've only read a couple of King's books so I don't know what the milieu is now.
Four friends with a mental gift passed through them by a retarded boy have to deal with aliens. Aliens that it seems regularly vsiit here and appear cute to try and suck us in, that was a nice twist. That the grey cute aliens we all think of are actually ruses unto themselves and the gov't has been tracking and exterminating their constant landings on Earth for 3 decades now.
The problem with this film is that one, the friendships seem forced and then the picking off of the friends becomes a game. Teh logic of these children having these gifts is to confrnt these aliens and we never see them using their gifts to do so. In fact one ends up aiding them and the other is trapped in his own body with one. THe use of the Mental Warehouse and an alien presence inside could've been used to better effect. Mental images and memories being destroyed and used would've been nice and we're never quite sure why the psychiatrist is a step away from suicide.
Then the Duddits character is rather......a dud. Hes built up and in the end reveals himself to be an alien I guess but by then I'm not sure that it matters. Also the fact that these aliens can't infect the world and yet they've been attacking so long is a little redundant.
The picture plays more as gross than scary and the plot more as expected than surprising.
The saddest part of the whole thing was how many peopel in the theater had trouble following it. Which is REALLY sad. More than 2 characters to remember within the span of 2 hours and a packed American theater is left befuddled.
Then there was the Matrix Short, Flight of the Osiris, which some people just came to see for 10 bucks then left when it was over. Another scary concept.
The Osiris animation was really good. But it basically covers the same ground as the Matrix. There was nothing new or startling that ties into the film. When these are all released as nien shorts on tape, it wil have a stronger concept then. Right now the nice part was looking at animation and seeing how detailed it is. You can actually see the character's pores. The storyline wasn't that strong but it was only 9 minutes, so what can you expect?
It is technically beautiful to watch but not exactly a mental challenge either. Gee, thats' really saying something about science fiction and imagination films, huh? The Core is coming out-----gee, I wonder if they save the Earth at the end? lol
Rating: 
Summary: "Dreamcatcher" is thrilling and frightening in every way!!
Review: I finally managed to check out "Dreamcatcher" about a couple of days ago when it came to the theater, and man, I just have to say that this is a film that will keep you on the edge of your seat from pulse-pounding start to heart-stopping, unforgettable finish! The direction of Lawrence Kasdan ("The Big Chill", "Silverado") was outstanding! Kasdan's best work to date! The performances from Morgan Freeman ("Along Came A Spider", "Deep Impact"), Thomas Jane ("Deep Blue Sea", Freeman's co-star in "Under Suspicion"), Jason Lee ("A Guy Thing", "Big Trouble"), Damian Lewis (HBO's "Band of Brothers"), Timothy Olyphant ("Gone in 60 Seconds", "Scream 2"), Tom Sizemore ("Big Trouble", "Heat"), and Donnie Wahlberg ("Ransom", TV's "Boomtown") were top-notch and powerful! This film version of Stephen King's chilling novel focuses on four friends, Henry Devlin (Jane), Gary "Jonesy" Jones (Lewis), Pete Moore (Olyphant), and Joe "Beaver" Clarendon (Lee). Twenty years ago, they were just kids in a small town in Maine -- kids who found the courage to respond heroically to childhood cruelty. In saving a strange boy named Douglas "Duddits" Cavell (Wahlberg's character all grown up), they unexpectedly gained a fifth friend at the center of their circle. Even more unexpected were the uncanny powers he conveyed to them, bonding them all beyond ordinary friendship. Now the four are men with separate lives and separate problems (Henry is a psychologist, Jonesy is a history professor, Pete is a car salesman, and Beaver is just a distraught person), haunted by the memory of heroism, with powers that are more of a burden than a gift. When a shocking accident almost claims one of them, they don't at first recognize the return of the eeriness that is somehow linked to Duddits. But when they reunite for their annual visit to a hunting cabin in the north woods, anticipating only the warmth and humor that nourishes them, they are overtaken by a gathering doom. First comes a stranger, a lost hunter unaware of the terrible contagion he bears. On his heels is a blizzard, a vicious storm in which something much more ominous moves -- a deadly alien force that will consume some of the foursome and force those who make it to the end of the road to once again summon their forgotten strength...and confront an unparalled horror. In the process, the friends must also prevent the slaughter of contagious, innocent civilians by an alien hunter named Colonel Abraham Curtis (Freeman), commander of an elite, top-secret military task force known as the Blue Unit, whose purpose is the eradication of all alien invaders and the containment of the contagion that they spread. A vigilante who works both independently of the regular Armed Forces and with his second-in-command, Captain Owen Underhill (Sizemore), Curtis is more than a little crazy after twenty-five years of obsessive pursuit of extraterrestrials. In conclusion, "Dreamcatcher" is, without a doubt, one of the most scariest and most challenging film ever made since "The Ring" and "The Sixth Sense"! As far as Morgan Freeman's dark performance in "Dreamcatcher" goes, it automatically reminded me of Marlon Brando's performance in Francis Ford Coppola's "Apocalypse Now", in which his character was equally insane and his methods were unsound, etc. But anyway, like I said, "Dreamcatcher", like the book, is thrilling, yet frightening and suspenseful in every way possible! A great DVD addition when released!
Rating:
Summary: Stephen King's Monsters Should Never Come Out
Review: The best film adaptations of Stephen King's works (Carrie, The Shawshank Redemption, Misery, Stand By Me) are the ones that focus on the psychological demons within us, and avoid his physical monsters, which work their horror best in our imaginations as we read his books, but which usually translate into B-movie madness on screen. This film should never have been made, much less should it have featured the likes of Morgan Freeman wasting his considerable acting talent on embarrassingly inferior dialogue. The monster and its offspring looked like escapees from any number of forgettable horror films, and credibility at any level was simply not addressed. The movie was exceedingly -- and unnecessarily -- loud, explosive and over the top, as if attempting to mask its other, numerous flaws. Instead of wasting your time on this filmed fiasco, rent one of the aforementioned worthwhile movies that are based on King's writing. Or, just read Dreamcatcher and let your imagination do what the director of this disaster couldn't manage.
Rating:
Summary: A grade-A certified mess
Review: This movie shows some promise early on. However, the genuinely creepy moments are interspersed with far too many bodily emissions (Stephen King does bathroom humor...whodathunkit?)...and before long "Dreamcatcher" takes a sharp nosedive. It then becomes clear that this movie doesn't know what it's trying to be. Hey, it's "Aliens!" No, wait, it's "The Shining!" Look, "Independence Day!" No...it's "Stand by Me!" Despite the excellent cast, this convoluted mess isn't even worth the price of a stock movie rental at the video store. A viewing on Saturday afternoon network TV? Only if the cable's out and there's absolutely nothing else on.
Rating:
Summary: The Fungus Among Us
Review: "Dreamcatcher" is an appalling failure: frighteningly incoherent and poorly conceived and realized.
Lawrence Kasdan, the director of "Dreamcatcher" has been involved in some great movies as both screenwriter and director such as the terrific "Grand Canyon." But he's lost here with subject matter that, based on what is on the screen, seems to have no emotional or physical hold on him.
The less said about this turkey...the better
Rating:
Summary: Gastro-intestinal Goo
Review: All the belching and flatulence in this movie made me wonder if perhaps DREAMCATCHER was underwritten by Gas-X. Not that a healthy dose of the product would've helped: the subsequent lower intestine "birth" of a slimy alien creature makes the famous "out-of-the-stomach" scene in the movie "Alien" look like a pin prick by comparison. Unfortunately, director Lawrence Kasdan had to resort to shock value, to blood and gore galore. He didn't have much of a story to work with. Seeing this movie was a huge relief--relief that I had never bothered to read Stephen King's novel. DREAMCATCHER tells a story of four men--lifelong pals--who in their childhood befriend an autistic boy who gives each of them extraordinary mental powers. None of the four bothered to use their gifts for the betterment of their fellow man, mind you, yet they posess them. A planned weekend in a remote cabin for the fab four goes awry by a snowstorm, then by some pesky aliens bent on taking over the human race by incubating inside human bodies. Talk about a botched vacation. Throw on top of this an unstable special forces commander (Morgan Freeman) and an alien with an English accent, and you get a mix of cinematic goofiness that had me checking my watch repeatedly, wondering when I was going to get my life back. The ending is laughable, yet I was grateful to DREAMCATCHER for one thing: after watching this film, I didn't have much of an appetite. And I could stand to loose a few pounds.
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