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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: 12A [See Full Rating] for thematic elements, some sexual material and brief violence.

Runtime: 1 hr 48 mins

Genre: Dramas

Theatrical Release:23-05-2008

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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Reviews for Cassandra's Dream

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1 - 20 (sorted by source; UK critics are listed first)
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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
Top Critic Icon Top Critic

Woody Allen still insists on making movies at the rate of one a year, but he clearly needs to slow down. A lot.

Full Review Source: Guardian [UK] | comment Comment
10/18/08
Steve Rose
Steve Rose
Guardian [UK]
Top Critic Icon Top Critic

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

The film stumbles in its convenient, obvious plot turns, even if much of this is meaningfully thought-provoking.

Full Review Source: Shadows on the Wall | comment Comment
05/22/08
Rich Cline
Rich Cline
Shadows on the Wall

Disappointing, badly overwritten drama from Woody Allen, rendered almost unwatchable by dreadful Cockney accents from McGregor and Farrell.

Full Review Source: ViewLondon | comment Comment
10/18/08
Matthew Turner
Matthew Turner
ViewLondon

A clutch of disturbingly weak performances stumbling over uncharacteristically terrible dialogue.

Full Review Source: Antagony & Ecstasy | comment Comment
01/26/08
Tim Brayton
Tim Brayton
Antagony & Ecstasy

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

Every Woody Allen movie becomes an occasion to discuss what went wrong with Woody Allen movies. My own theory is that Allen simply became too efficient at getting his movies made %u2014 he works quickly and cheaply and he never has to convince his backers

Full Review Source: Arkansas Democrat-Gazette | comment Comment
08/25/08
Philip Martin
Philip Martin
Arkansas Democrat-Gazette
N/R

Click to read the article

Full Review Source: Atlanta Journal-Constitution | comment Comment
10/18/08
Atlanta Journal-Constitution

At this point, I guess we should just applaud Allen for his work ethic.

Full Review Source: Austin Chronicle | comment Comment
10/18/08
Josh Rosenblatt
Josh Rosenblatt
Austin Chronicle

Cassandra's Dream feels rote and inauthentic. Like so many late-period Allens, it leaves behind the feeling that he's made this movie before, but better.

Full Review Source: AV Club | comment Comment
01/17/08
Scott Tobias
Scott Tobias
AV Club

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

The latest London-based Woody Allen movie is marked by Colin Farrell's best performance in years, and a sluggish, predictable script that covers some familiar crimes and misdemeanors.

Full Review Source: Big Picture Big Sound | comment Comment
01/17/08
Joe Lozito
Joe Lozito
Big Picture Big Sound

Allen's storytelling is crisper here than it has been all decade, even if he's making shadow puppets out of the forewarnings.

Full Review Source: Boston Globe | comment Comment
01/18/08
Wesley Morris
Wesley Morris
Boston Globe
N/R

Click to read the article

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

Did Woody Allen kill somebody once? Could somebody check and make sure Tony Roberts is OK?

Full Review Source: Capital Times (Madison, WI) | comment Comment
01/18/08
Rob Thomas
Rob Thomas
Capital Times (Madison, WI)

After making his best and smoothest drama (Match Point) in England, Woody Allen returns there for one of his most clueless and awkward.

Full Review Source: Chicago Reader | comment Comment
01/31/08
Jonathan Rosenbaum
Jonathan Rosenbaum
Chicago Reader

The identical premise is used in Sidney Lumet's Before the Devil Knows You're Dead, which is like a master class in how Allen goes wrong.

Full Review Source: Chicago Sun-Times | comment Comment
01/18/08
Roger Ebert
Roger Ebert
Chicago Sun-Times
Top Critic Icon Top Critic

The problem is, you don’t feel the human sweat and strain in Cassandra’s Dream, despite game work from Farrell and McGregor. There are plenty of ideas and themes and no people of distinctive interest to enliven them.

Full Review Source: Chicago Tribune | comment Comment
10/18/08
Michael Phillips
Michael Phillips
Chicago Tribune

Allen has often been intrigued by the convolutions an ordinary person undergoes when faced with becoming a murderer.

Full Review Source: Christian Science Monitor | comment Comment
01/18/08
Peter Rainer
Peter Rainer
Christian Science Monitor
 
 
1 - 20 (sorted by source; UK critics are listed first)
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