Electric Dreams Film Review

For some odd reason in the eighties it was a thing to have a computer either fall for or be made to give it's owners love. With both Weird Science and the film that i'm going to be talking to you all about today doing it and heck going back even further there's an episode of the original The Twilight Zone that did it and while the film that i'm going to be talking to you all about today does something different one can't deny the fact that it is an odd set up to have for a film and so then join me as I review the film that is more known for the song "Together In Electric Dreams" by Giorgio Moroder and Philip Oakey with the film in question being called simply just "Electric Dreams" enjoy.

The plot of this film is when a new neighbour moves in and he accidentally spills a drink on his new computer architect Miles Harding finds himself in a love triangle for his neighbors affections with his computer. Now then interms of what I personally thought / felt about the actual plot that's actually featured / presented to us in this very film well then in all honesty I in all honesty personally thought / felt that the actual plot that's actually featured / presented to us in this very film was in all honesty not that bad. This films plot is one that does have a good enough idea to make you forget the fact that there is a severe lack of plot in this film but in saying this tho there is a severe lack of plot going on in this films. With it feeling like for a large of the film we are just stuck watching these two characters live there day to day lives and while that's great for a good few minuets of the film there still needs to be a hook to watch the rest of the film and that's sadly what the plot of this film is missing as there's nothing interesting in this films plot when the very idea of a man having to fight for a woman's affections with his own computer is something that does lend itself to having something literally anything interesting happen in the film from a plot point of view and yet this doesn't seem to be the case when it comes to this film and it's plot with the films plot to be frank feeling more like an afterthought to it's own central idea and while the idea of the film is good enough you still need a good plot to make the film worth while with this films plot not really being really rather entertaining and nor is it really rather engaging either in my freaking opinions anyways / at least.

Starring in this film is Lenny Von Dohlen as Miles Harding , Virginia Madsen as Madeline Robistat and Maxwell Caulfield as Bill. Also starring in this films is Bud Cort as the voice of Edgar , Don Fellows as Mr. Ryley , Miriam Margolyes as The Ticket Girl , Mac McDonald as A Removal Man , Preston Lockwood as A Man At Concert , Koo Stark as The Girl In Soap Opera and Giorgio Moroder as A Radio Producer.

Now then interms of what I personally thought / felt about the actual acting that's actually featured / presented to us in this very film well then in all honesty I in all honesty personally thought / felt that the actual acting that's actually featured / presented to us in this very film was in all honesty not that bad. With all of this films actors minus Lenny Von Dohlen trying to put in a good performance but with Lenny Von Dohlen he just doesn't even try to act with his performance being bland and wooden with every line delivery choice he made being the wrong one and going by what else he has been both in film and in TV this does seem like it was the truest height for him and this was only his second ever feature film. With the best actor in this film being Virginia Madsen as Madeline Robistat due to the fact that unlike with Lenny she is actually trying to act and to put in a good performance in this film and while it is debatable on if she succeeds or not as that does come down to the fact that this is the first film made by future Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles director  Steve Barron and while that film which was his second feature film had some really good acting in it here in this film the acting wasn't that good with even Virginia struggling alot of the time and yet when she does give you a good performance it is something that does stand out and while she and Lenny have exactly zero romantic chemistry together you do end up slightly buying them as friends with Virginia's own natural charm really coming through in this film. With the acting that's in this film not really being helped by the fact that this films script is just so bad as it gives none of this films actors anything to work with interms of what it is that there actual characters personalities are even meant to be in the first place which is something that really does help to lower the overall quality of the acting that's in this very film.

To be frank here the films characters are just as bland and boring as the films acting as there's really nothing to any of this films characters. With there being nothing this films characters that makes them interesting with the only thing about Miles is the fact that he's an architect with every one pronouncing his name wrong and that's it and while that a good starting off point for a character this film presents that as being the whole character when there really needed to be more to him then that as he's the male lead of the film yet he's as bland as a piece of wood due to the fact that no thought an no effort went into any of this films characters as to call them stock characters would be an insult to stock characters rather these characters feel like the characters that you'd expect to find in a low budget direct to DVD cheaply made horror film. Heck the same thing is true for Madeline as the only thing about her i the fact that she's a musician in an orchestra and that's it which if she was a side character wouldn't be a bad thing as then you could make the case that the main character would be better handled but nope she's the main female character and yet there's nothing to her character with her character being just as bland and boing as Miles was and while it is a fairly common thing or the characters in a romantic comedy to be very one dimensional as the main female audience has to picture themselves in one of the lead roles that doesn't mean that they have to be bland and boring characters with neither characters job playing a role in this film they literally just have those jobs for no reason which makes you wonder why the makers of this film gave the characters those jobs as they could have had Miles be a computer programmer as a way for him to get his hands on the computer and have Madeline be a Chef or something like that and nothing would need to be changed about there characters.

Out of the man thing that the film gets really wrong the films romance isn't for the most part one of them. As while the romance in the film is hindered by the fact that the two lead actors don't have any romantic chemistry with each other at all the romance on the whole was rather sweet with the two of these people who are essentially outcasts in there own way with Miles being adverse to technology and Madeline being the new girl in town they do end up finding a kinship with each other which is something that was sweet to to see in the film and while neither of them bring out something in the other that helps them to grow as people one could argue that this isn't the film for that as this is the the of the film that is meant to be the stereotypical romantic comedy only now it's got more of a science fiction feel to it. However tho there really still need to be effort put into making this films romance feel more believable and alot of that does come to the fact that the two lead actors don't have romantic chemistry with each other rather they come off as people who are just good friends whereas for this film you did need to find people who could make for a believable couple as this is something that is key to hep making he film work as if you don't buy them s a couple then the whole film just starts to fall inwards with the only way that this could have worked with these actors being if they realized that they were better off as friends and that's it which yes for a romantic comedy would have been a bleak ending to have but it also would have been a more realistic one to have as sometimes the guy doesn't get the girl, heck they don't even feel right for each other as neither of them put in any effort to make the romance work and just do the bare minimum which is something that help to hurt even more this relationship which if it was done right could have worked.

There's one thing that this film is known for and that's for having a new wave soundtrack to it and yeah you can tell right away that the makers of this film were proud of their soundtrack. Due to the fact that they either have a song play every couple of minuets or have a new wave type instrumental play every couple of minuets all of this does make it feel like that the film is just an advert for the soundtrack which in this case isn't so much a bad thing as the rest of the film is bland as heck but at the same time tho alot of the films songs outside of "Together In Electric Dreams" and one other which I can't find the name but it's the improved love song that Edgar writes for Miles to give to Madeline and that's it which is something that does make you wonder why the makers of this film bothered to spend alot of time in putting in the soundtracks songs when only to them or good in the first place. Heck out of those two songs "Together In Electric Dreams" is still being played today on radios and heck given the fact that this film failed to make back it's whopping $5.5 million dollar budget with it only earning $2.5 million the film has more then likely over time earned more money back from that one song alone then it has the entire film as that's how well know that the song is and yet if the film jus spaced out where it put the songs a bit more and actually put in good songs that fit the film then odds are alot more of this films songs would be alot more remembered and yet due to the fact that that didn't happen it does mean that alot of them just fall flat on there feet as there not given the time that they need to leave a lasting impact on us the audience as when one song finishes the film is already gearing up to play the next one which is just an off putting thing to do and it makes it obvious that the makers of this film know full well that thy didn't have a good film on there hands.

Edgar is perhaps the second best thing in the film outside of Madeline who is just miles better then Miles. With Edgar being this computer that after Miles accidentally drops a drink on hm causes him to be able to talk and to have these complex feelings and it's when the film focuses of Edgar and these feelings that it actually gets to be good as it dares to ask questions like if a machine can lone and when is love in the first place these are things that don't really get discussed as they get brushed of as that's what makes us human well this film dares to ask if a machine can feel this complex feeling of love is he now considered a human and the truth is no as he is afterall still a machine and one that hasn't had the chance to expirence things like kindness or hatred and other complex feelings that we humans get to expirence every single day heck go on X and you'll expirence both of those within five minuets of logging on to that app. Edgar is also just a fun character as he is this sassy thing who is willing to fight for what he thinks he wants even tho he doesn't quite understand that emotion and when he doesn't get we see that he is prone to bouts anger as he does does cause Miles alot of pain due to the fact that he gets all of his credit cards cancelled and causing his life to be an utter misery for a new minuets these are things that do let us know that perhaps he could be human as he expirences jealously another deeply human emotion with him even committing suicide by sending a large electrical current round the world ending up at his own systems with this film actually making us care for a computer, with Edgar getting alot more of the films comedic scenes as well which is something that does play to his actors skills as a comedic actor.

Now then this film has / had an exact grand total running time of exactly one hour and thirty five minuets an fifty nine seconds. Which to be fair to this film is a pretty decent running tome for this film as romantic comedies don't usually have long running times and to expect this film to be anywhere two hours which it very easily could have been was just foolish with alot of the films running time being spend on thing like showing of the films soundtrack for quite literally no reason or having this pretty cool camera moves which admittedly were pretty cool to see the film but it would have been alot more better if more time was spent on the films plot as the film does have more then enough plot there to really cover that amount of running time in the first place. With this film not really using its running time all tat widely due to the fact that this film really doesn't take the fully develop it's plot as the film oddly enough spends more time focusing on the films soundtrack and forcing those songs down your throat which is great for the soundtrack but bad for the film as the film should have spend more time on developing the films plot rather then shoving the soundtrack down our throats with the makers of this film putting alot more thought and effort into the film soundtrack then the did into the films plot development. The same thing is also true for the films character development as none of this films character learn anything or grow as characters and heck we get to find out nothing about them as characters with all of the films characters ending up in the exact same place as they started at the start of the film and yet if the makers of this film had devoted even just something as little as five minuets of the films running time to it's characters then we would have more well developed characters with it being made clear that the makers of this film put alot more thought and effort into the films camera angels then they did the characters character development but i really will admit that this film really does gave some really good pacing to it tho.

So now then as this is a comedy that really does mean that I have to actually talk abut the actual comedy that's actually featured / presented to us in this very film well then in all honesty I in all honesty personally thought / felt that the actual comedy that's actually featured / presented to is in this very film was in all honesty OK at best. This films comedy is mainly a mixed bag of affairs as for every good or passable joke that the film tells it'll quickly follow that one up with two or three really bad ones and yet when it does tell a good joke it is something that does stand and it is something that does let you know that the makers of this film can tell a good joke if they really wanted and all it does is make you wonder why the film has alot of bad jokes in it. With the best joke in the whole entire film not even being that funny of a joke as it's more of a cute joke and that's the fact that when Edgar is trying to go to sleep he has virtual sheep jumping over a fence with him possibly counting them which is a cute little gag and is the top of the iceberg of the jokes that the makers of this film do get away with with Edgar as they have him do all of these crazy things and nine times out of ten it works because of the fact that they tell jokes with Edgar that you could only get away with if he was a computer with the sheep counting joke only working because of the fact that it does feel right for his character as he doesn't know all that much about being human he only knows the basics and one of the things that we get told is that couning sheep will help you fall asleep therefor it would make sense for him to do that as that is something that he'd know about with the rest of the films jokes being just as good as well in my freaking opinions anyways / at least.

Overall it really does go without saying but this film isn't that good and heck it doesn't even earn it's cult status as there's nothing in this film that screams in being a cult film with Weird Science doing everything that this film does but better and with more love and effort in my freaking opinions anyways / at least. Now then i've talked about all of the good and as well as all of the bad things that are in this very film in this very review and as such that really does mean that this very film really does earn itself a grand old score of exactly a 5 out of 10 from me.

Now then as for where I personally got all of the images that I personally used in this very review well then boys and girls and as well as ladies and gentlemen I personally got all of the images that I personally used in this very review from IMP Awards . Com and Google Images. With my personally preferred website to use to get images really from this very film being the really great Google Images this is really because of the fact that really all of the images that I really indeed got and really used from Google Images are all really high quality really with all of the images that really are all and of course really currently up and on the really great and the really solid Google Images really are all being really fairly high in quality and as well as them all really being fairly high in definition.