Wordiezett
So much average
Fluentiama
Perfect cast and a good story
GarnettTeenage
The film was still a fun one that will make you laugh and have you leaving the theater feeling like you just stole something valuable and got away with it.
Keeley Coleman
The thing I enjoyed most about the film is the fact that it doesn't shy away from being a super-sized-cliche;
redeaglela
No spoiler here. Actually not much about the movie at all accept that what ever you do don't pass it up. Everyone does great jobs with their roles and what can you say about first love. We have all had them, they are special and seem to mean everything, life and death, the world. We older folks forget that is what our young people are going through today just as we did once.... we hard on them, most of the time pushing them away. Yea, I am guilty too lol... Remember that...But mostly watch this movie for good old bill. for my money one of the most consistent, brilliant method actors ever. He took a role and lived it, made it his own. He did this for every role and was putting on a fantastic television show. I can't even get up the energy to watch it now that he is gone, it won't be the same and not sure what they will do with it. He was making a great character there that had some great depth and he seemed to be enjoying that. Bill was not your normal mammy whiny Hollywood type, he was a good man that might say what was on his mind but He always knew where his money came from, us.....will miss you bill
Dave McClain
The American-Canadian thriller "Mean Dreams" (R, 1:48) is one of two posthumous film releases for Bill Paxton (in addition to 2017's "The Circle", in which he has a small role). When Paxton died suddenly of complications from heart surgery at the age of 61 early in 2017, celebrity expressions of sorrow struck one consistent chord, well represented by Arnold Schwarzenegger's tweet that Paxton "could play any role, but he was best at being Bill – a great human being with a huge heart." In Paxton's most famous roles, he was an ordinary, basically decent guy caught up in extraordinary circumstances (as he was in "Apollo 13", "Twister", "Titanic" and "U-571"). He was also very good at playing tough and/or morally ambiguous characters (as he did in "Aliens", "A Simple Plan", "Edge of Tomorrow" and his award-winning HBO series "Big Love"), and some of his best work was as a basically bad person (as in "Weird Science", "True Lies", "Frailty" (which he also directed) and "Training Day", the TV series he was acting in when he died). "Mean Dreams" is another great example of Paxton playing against his true personality.In this film, Paxton plays Wayne Caraway, a rural Michigan police officer and single dad, who is pretty bad at both roles – and a pretty bad person in general. When local boy Jonas Ford (Josh Wiggins, the star of 2015's "Max") starts seeing Wayne's teenage daughter, Casey (Sophie Nélisse, who played the title role in 2013's "The Book Thief"), Wayne is pretty… mean about shattering Jonas' dreams of getting closer to Casey. Mostly it's because Jonas isn't shy about trying to protect Casey from Wayne's abuse, and because Wayne doesn't want Jonas nosing around and discovering any of his other... activities.After Jonas fails to get his father (Joe Cobden) or Wayne's boss (Colm Feore) to intervene on Casey's behalf, he takes matters into his own hands. When he witnesses an example of just how bad a man that Wayne is, Jonas steals some money, grabs Casey and hits the road. Of course, Wayne comes after his daughter – with a (literal) vengeance. As Jonas and Casey struggle to get away from Casey's dad for good, they confront the harsh realities of life on the run (especially as it pertains to two teenagers in the middle of nowhere), break some laws and put their safety and the safety of others at risk along the way."Mean Dreams" is a small, but entertaining coming-of-age movie. The two teen protagonists aren't quite Bonnie and Clyde, but their saga is engaging and their love story is affecting. Nélisse and Wiggins are two rising young stars whose emerging talents shine through in sympathetic roles and Paxton does his usual expert work as one really bad dude. The script (by Kevin Coughlin and Ryan Grassby) and the direction (by Nathan Morlando) keep the action and dialog both unusually grounded and fairly unpredictable, especially for this kind of film. The score and the cinematography (filmed creatively and beautifully in northern Ontario and Sault Ste. Marie) are also very good, especially for a movie made on a small budget. The film is a bit lacking in gravitas, but it's worth a look – to see Paxton in his last major role – and for the overall quality of the film itself. "B+"
me-589-145643
On the whole, this is a very good movie all round. The four main cast members are superb, and the story is heavily character-driven, with no ridiculous stunts and special effects present to drown the characters out at any stage. The lean score and graceful cinematography allow the story to be told at an ideal pace, and aren't used to lift the intensity as one would expect with this genre because the story is good enough to take care of this on its own. I never felt as if things were dragging or being rushed, and things were largely unpredictable aside from the ending, which was satisfying nonetheless.For a good vs bad theme, the story favors neither side over the other in terms of skill and resources. So often the bad guys are made to look like fools but this isn't the case here, which I found to be quite refreshing. The teen romance side of things is handled better than almost any other examples I've seen. There aren't any cringe-worthy moments at all.In all, Mean Dreams was much better than I expected, and well worth the time I spent watching it. If you're after a low budget thriller which is well made, character-driven, and intelligently written, you could settle for much worse than this one.
djangozelf-12351
I really liked this thriller/drama and kept being surprised by it thru and thru.The set up just felt superb and every aspect of film making is so well handled it all just seem to fall in place in this movie.It's got a good story ,well directed,beautifully shot and a cast of natural feeling actors and with dialogue that felt very fresh to me and really added to the movie and made me laugh and even cry thru out.The violence and sex is very moderate and was very reality based but handled well enough to keep the tension going.The 2 young actors had a nice chemistry and I especially liked the quite moments between them in which they still seem to have a connection.Some backstory on the girl was given by herself during dialogue in the middle of the film and it show cased well that this girl has acting chops.Bill Paxton played the father of this girl and also a corrupt cop and I think it's one of his best roles and it was sad that he died with still so much greatness in him.In this movie he's a bad guy and a bad father but there is still something in him that you sympathize with and that is hard to do.This is a great movie,I highly recommend it.Enjoy!.