good back-story, and good acting

Am I Missing Something?

This movie was so-so. It had it's moments, but wasn't the greatest.

Let me be very fair here, this is not the best movie in my opinion. But, this movie is fun, it has purpose and is very enjoyable to watch.

'In Dreams' is one of those movies that feels spooky from the word go. I would have given this movie a miss if not for Downey's presence in it. I am currently reading his biography and this movie came at a time when he was at the lowest patch of his career. His screen time is far less but tries to make the most of it. 'In Dreams' is a story of interwoven minds of Vivian & Claire. Downey's best scene in the movie is the one right at the end of the movie. I wish there was more emphasis on building and leading the story than showing Annette's antics and psychotic behavior. I can't find fault with the premise but the story is sort of vague. It never answers Why Claire? Why after so long? How come she is in the same town? Answers to these is left to your imagination.

The housewife Claire Cooper (Annette Bening) is married with the pilot Paul Cooper (Aidan Quinn) and their little daughter Rebecca (Katie Sagona) is their pride and joy. When a stranger kidnaps a girl, Claire dreams about the man but Detective Jack Kay (Paul Guilfoyle) ignores her concerns. But when Rebecca disappears during a school play, Claire learns that her visions were actually premonitions and she is connected to the killer through her dreams. She has a nervous breakdown and tries to commit suicide. Her psychologist Dr. Silverman (Stephen Rea) sends her to a mental institution and soon she finds that her husband will be the next victim of the serial-killer. Further, the serial-killer was interned in the same cell in the hospital where she is. Will Claire be able to save Paul?"In Dreams" is a deceptive Neil Jordan's movie. The messy story is boring and Annette Bening is hysterical most of the time. There is no explanation for the connection between Claire Cooper and Vivian Thompson and the conclusion is terrible. My vote is four.Title (Brazil): "A Premonição" ("The Premonition")

In Dreams (1999): Dir: Neil Jordan / Cast: Annette Bening, Aiden Quinn, Robert Downey Jr., Katie Sagona, Paul Guilfoyle: Sometimes clever and sometimes confusing thriller about reality and fantasy within the mind. Annette Bening is having reoccurring dreams about a young girl being led into an apple orchard by a stranger. Another dream involves a boy tied to a bed while a Church is flooding. The girl turns out to be her daughter whose body is found in the lake. The boy in the flood is an escape mental patient whom Bening connects within her own cell when her husband has her committed. She is driven mad since these dreams seem to be coming from someone else. Intriguing and daring thriller about tortured minds effectively realized by director Neil Jordan who previously made The Crying Game and Michael Collins. Bening does a fine job as a woman who is haunted by images that she doesn't fully comprehend. Aiden Quinn as her husband seems to be there only to lose faith in her and see her as crazy. Robert Downey Jr. has a crucial role that is unlike anything he has done before and it works. Katie Sagona plays Bening's daughter. Paul Guilfoyle plays a detective but the role is not as interesting as the case he is out to crack. While the ending is somewhat hogwash, it is still an entertaining thriller that is visually stunning and mind boggling at best. Score: 6 / 10

This is a movie to be watched more than listened to. Let the visuals have their way with you and you are going to have an exciting, nail-biting two hours capped with a perfect-fit ending.If you look for meaning, logical connections and perfect continuity, don't bother. It's not going to work for you. It's not that kind of movie. This is not "Silence of the Lambs" or "Se7en." It's more like Nicholas Roeg's twisted little masterpiece, "Don't Look Now." In fact, I recommend that movie to anyone (the few, the proud, the brave) who can see what a terrific movie In Dreams is.Annette Bening, who is in 90 percent of In Dreams, turns in a bravura performance (if you're reading this, Annette, give us a kiss, you ravishing hunk of woman. Speaking of dreams ... well, uh, let's not go there. Let's just say I've about worn out my copy of The Grifters). The story is simple. Bening plays a mom being driven mad by dreams put in her head by the sicko who killed her daughter. These dreams are of events in the past, things happening now and things that haven't happened yet. A lot of the movie is Bening having nervous breakdowns, each one worse than the one before. The apple-throwing sequence is brilliantly acted and shot. Incredible tension. Major props, also, to the big car and truck crash scene. Jordan puts you right there.Aidan Quinn, as her husband, doesn't have much to do but act baffled, but he's good at that. Stephen Rea, as the psychiatrist, performs the same role as the psychiatrist at the end of Psycho, tying together events from years past to what's going on now. Robert Downey Jr. plays the nutcase very well.This movie looks gorgeous — small town Massachusetts in the fall. Vivid colors you could eat with a spoon. The scene with the little boy atop the church steeple poking out of the lake is really eerie.Again, the visuals in this movie are extraordinary. In Dreams is not about something that could actually happen to real people. It's a wonderfully made adult horror movie that, compared to other horror movies, is actually restrained. Check it out.BTW, the trailer of this movie, which I watched on the DVD, is just awful. It looks like a completely different movie, and a bad one, at that.