Cassandra's Dream News

Two movies come out on DVD today. One was an unexpected addition to a classic franchise, while the other was a disappointing film from Woody Allen. Here's a rundown of each...

Rambo
Stars: Sylvester Stallone
Why you should rent it: Because if we don't support Stallone's revisiting of ancient heroes, what will become of his career?

Cassandra's Dream
Stars: Ewan McGregor, Colin Farrell
Why you should rent it: To make other Woody Allen movies even better by comparison.

Cassandra's Dream certainly wasn't one of Woody Allen's highest grossing movies of all-time. But is it worth a rental?

With the movie coming out on DVD tomorrow, we posed that question to a number of film critics. Their answers are below...

- Cassandra's Dream lacks energy and spark. Monotonous and simplistic, it is definitely not worthy of Woody Allen... -- Journal and Courier (Lafayette, IN)

- Allen, who stays behind the camera, brings too little wit and too much contrivance to material that quickly dissolves into warmed-over Dostoevski... -- Rolling Stone

- Cassandra's Dream is second-rate Allen, but it's still compelling thanks to its magnetic co-stars... -- The Washington Times

- Farrell and McGregor deliver remarkably nuanced performances in and through their mundane one-dimensionality, taking average Joes and give them average strengths and weaknesses... -- Christianity Today

Considering it's directed by Woody Allen, Cassandra's Dream has gone surprisingly under the radar during this movie season.

Does that mean the Colin Farrell/Ewan McGregor vehicle stinks? Not completely, according to various film critics...

- An exceedingly well acted and sporadically electrifying little thriller. -- Reel Film

- This is archly contrived nail-biter territory and an almost giddy strain on our nerves as Allen moves his hapless heroes from bad to far worse. -- Cinema Signals

- What the hell was Woody Allen thinking? -- New York Magazine

- Like a tragic overture played at the wrong tempo and slightly off-key, Woody Allen's London-set Cassandra's Dream sends out more mixed signals than an inebriated telegraphist. -- Variety