Good story, Not enough for a whole film

I like movies that are aware of what they are selling... without [any] greater aspirations than to make people laugh and that's it.

Story: It's very simple but honestly that is fine.

what a terribly boring film. I'm sorry but this is absolutely not deserving of best picture and will be forgotten quickly. Entertaining and engaging cinema? No. Nothing performances with flat faces and mistaking silence for subtlety.

Alex Gardner (Dennis Quaid) has psychic abilities which he uses to win horse races. Bad guys are after him and he's had it with doctors prodding him. He left doctor Paul Novotny (Max von Sydow) years ago. Along with Dr. Jane DeVries (Kate Capshaw), they are researching entering other people's dreams. Brash Tommy Ray Glatman (David Patrick Kelly) is another psychic in the program. Bob Blair (Christopher Plummer) runs the program. The president (Eddie Albert) is having nightmares and he asks for Bob's help. Charlie Prince (George Wendt) is a horror writer, who is looking to write a book, tells him that Bob is the most powerful man in the US government.The part that is holding this movie back are the dreams. It has to be considered that this is before CG. I really like the kid's nightmare. It has a Twilight Zone and horror feel. The president's nightmare isn't quite as good. The battle could be more inventive. It is constrained by technology more than the imagination. Dennis Quaid has the cockiness and he's good as the lead.

Dennis Quaid plays Alex Gardner, a young man with psychic abilities who is on the run from gangsters who want him to work for them.(He can pick the winners from horse races). Alex is saved by the timely intervention by his former teacher(Max Von Sydow) who wants his help with the secret government project he had once been involved with, in order to help both a young boy traumatized by nightmares, and also the U.S. president(played by Eddie Albert) who is having horrible nightmares about WWIII, and so wants a treaty with the Russians, which forces in the government(led by Christopher Plummer) want to prevent...Exciting and highly entertaining film is well acted by its stars, and has imaginative and scary visuals(including the Snake man) that work quite well. Villains may be one-dimensional, but film still works, and has a good score and satisfying ending.

Dreams have always fascinated me because their always carry such a mystery, to how surreal they are as well as what content they hold; sometimes they mean something and sometimes nothing. This film is an under the radar 80's gem that I really enjoyed, because you never quite seen a film like it there really aren't that many that tackle the subject matter on dreams let alone really that many psychic suspense thrillers; this film was one of the first and one of the best examples in my book anyway. The plot is solid if not entirely unique, it's the typical conspiracy against the president plot that I've seen in dozens of suspense thrillers, but here their using the dream realm which I felt was a different spin on this plot and helps make it slightly interesting. The music in the film is good there are a few memorable tracks. The characters are solid, I like the protagonist Alex Gardner (Dennis Quaid) he's an expert psychic but a rookie in entering dreams. He's slightly arrogant but in a good way, has a little charisma, he's a bit sympathetic because he feels responsible for not saving his father despite the fact he only got the vision when he was a child, but he's willing to take the psychic hero gig whether he wants to or not because there's no one else. Kate Capshaw was good as Jane DeVries she was a good number two for Alex, whom is smart, slightly useful, can hold her own against danger. Both have decent chemistry together both platonic and romantic wise.And the antagonists I thought were good opponents. Christopher Plumber was decent, I don't have much to say for him since he's kinda a typical two dimensional head villain. But it's really David Patrick Kelly that stands out for the main villain, he has played villains before I thought was once again a good villain. He's basically an butt head psycho psychic for hire whom surprising turns out to be intimidating due to how well he utilizes the dream world, let alone a more experienced psychic which unfortunately gives him a slight advantage over Alex. He's also kinda funny from some of the charisma he delivers.But really were in this film for the Dreamscape sequences which are the highlight of the film and they don't disappoint, there something you just have to see to believe. It's true that there have been some TV episodes and movies that have utilizes dream sequences, but these dream sequences in this film still stand out because of how unique they are and how elaborate in detail and atmosphere.I really like how it's shot and certain effects and set pieces which successfully created a surreal landscape, and it felt accurate because that's basically what most of our dreams are they never really look or behave like our contemporary reality because anything could happen and does. Alex's reactions to them help because were in the same boat as him in the sequences, the Dreamscape is trippy, fascinating and even a little scary. One of the things that stand out no doubt is the Snake Man, I still think is a memorable monster. I really like the design of it, it sort of looks like Cobra Ka from "He-Man". The way it just behaves and looks is creepy, and personally I find snakes at times creepy anyway.My favorite Dreamscape was in the final conflict, I just really like the post apocalyptic setting, but also just the back and forth in the physical (or psychic) confrontation between Alex and Tommy. I just like how Tommy is just throwing different things against Alex, like having a ninja uniform and using nunchkus; as well as other things I don't want to give away.It's true this films journey isn't without it's bumps. Certain scenes where Alex isn't in the Dreamscape weren't that interesting and useless, like the gambling scene. One dream scape journey to a divorced couple was out of place and look like something out of a bad soap. And certain effects don't quite hold up.But there are all minor problems due to the just the pacing of the film and the pulp fun tone to it, so I can get past these things.Overall it's a solid film that deserves a look. In the world of dreams anything can happen.Rating: 3 stars

A sci-fi thriller that is a major forbearer of Christopher Nolan's Inception. It also deals with people who can enter the dreams of other people. Dennis Quaid is a man with psychic abilities. Max von Sydow is a scientist who studied Quaid when he was in college. Now he recruits Quaid to work with him in his dream studies. Kate Capshaw plays von Sydow's sexy assistant (and, no, she's actually pretty tolerable, despite having annoyed us all as Indiana Jones' love interest the same year). Christopher Plummer plays a government agent who wants to use these dream experiments to help the President (Eddie Albert) overcome his nightmare problems, and David Patrick Kelly (the guy who spoke the infamous line "Warriors, come out to play-ay!") is another psychic working on the project. There really aren't many sequences that take place in the dreams, but the few that do are pretty excellent. Most of the film has Quaid discovering the devious reasons Plummer has in bringing the President into these experiments. Not a great film, by any means, but an entertaining one.