1984's Electric Dreams (from Virgin Pictures) isn't any great film. At best, it's a cute film -- with clever ideas -- and a few mildly silly performances, but I always thought it's heart was in the right place.
Essentially, Dreams is a love story with a Science Fiction and Fantasy construct that probably wasn't strong enough to woo SciFi purists to its charms, and still you can't fault a guy for trying, can you? Lenny von Dohlen played the bookish Miles Harding, a bit of a nerd who accidentally spills champagne on his high-end desktop PC ... which somehow brings the thing to even greater life. Once it achieves artificial intelligence -- now called 'Edgar' -- it manages to fall in love with the sounds emanating from the air vent: upstairs, a budding cellist named Madeline Robistat practices her music, and -- as fate would have it -- Edgar believes it's a kinda/sorta mating call that stirs his primal instincts. Eventually, the PC and Madeline make beautiful music together -- not that kind, people -- and it naturally brings Miles and Maddy into blissful harmony.
So, yes, it's a love story; and as the central nerd von Dohlen did an exceptional job conveying an introvert who has to learn the art of love from his desktop console.
The actor's career spanned an impressive five decades. Genre fans might remember him best from his work aboard David Lynch's seminal Twin Peaks (he also appeared in the 1992 film Twin Peaks: Fire Dance With Me). Other related fare include work aboard Tales From The Darkside, Dracula's Widow (1988), The Flash, Red Dwarf, The Pretender, Ghost Whisperer, World's End (2010), Threshold (2016), and The Orville.
Alas, none of us last forever; and word reached my desk over the weekend that von Dohlen passed away after a long illness. May he rest in peace.
Thoughts and prayers are extended to the family and friends of Lenny von Dohlen.
-- EZ
Essentially, Dreams is a love story with a Science Fiction and Fantasy construct that probably wasn't strong enough to woo SciFi purists to its charms, and still you can't fault a guy for trying, can you? Lenny von Dohlen played the bookish Miles Harding, a bit of a nerd who accidentally spills champagne on his high-end desktop PC ... which somehow brings the thing to even greater life. Once it achieves artificial intelligence -- now called 'Edgar' -- it manages to fall in love with the sounds emanating from the air vent: upstairs, a budding cellist named Madeline Robistat practices her music, and -- as fate would have it -- Edgar believes it's a kinda/sorta mating call that stirs his primal instincts. Eventually, the PC and Madeline make beautiful music together -- not that kind, people -- and it naturally brings Miles and Maddy into blissful harmony.
So, yes, it's a love story; and as the central nerd von Dohlen did an exceptional job conveying an introvert who has to learn the art of love from his desktop console.
The actor's career spanned an impressive five decades. Genre fans might remember him best from his work aboard David Lynch's seminal Twin Peaks (he also appeared in the 1992 film Twin Peaks: Fire Dance With Me). Other related fare include work aboard Tales From The Darkside, Dracula's Widow (1988), The Flash, Red Dwarf, The Pretender, Ghost Whisperer, World's End (2010), Threshold (2016), and The Orville.
Alas, none of us last forever; and word reached my desk over the weekend that von Dohlen passed away after a long illness. May he rest in peace.
Thoughts and prayers are extended to the family and friends of Lenny von Dohlen.
-- EZ
RSS Feed