Not a great film in the same vein as Badlands and Pretty Poison, but a very good one that is well worth seeing.

| Original Score: 3/4 | Mar 20, 2017

One of those sparse projects where you wonder what excited the filmmakers through each stage of the production process, and why the answer to that question isn't more obvious.

| Original Score: 1.5/4 | Mar 17, 2017

Son Lux's percussive and atonal score combined with the kids constantly looking over their shoulders lend their escapes a sense of immediacy and danger.

| Mar 16, 2017

While the plot often travels familiar paths and even the impressive camerawork is evocative of other films, "Mean Dreams" has a few story tricks up its sleeve.

| Original Score: 3.5/4 | Mar 16, 2017

Nathan Morlando's "Mean Dreams" may use a time-honored premise - young lovers on the lam (see: "Badlands") - but it does so with such quiet, gently appealing assurance that it makes the template seem fresh again.

| Mar 16, 2017

A beautiful, dangerous picture of rural America with echoes of Terrence Malick.

| Mar 16, 2017

Worth recommending entirely on its own merits.

| Mar 15, 2017

The pervasive elegance makes up for a largely derivate plot.

| Original Score: B | Feb 7, 2017

Morlando draws great performances out of his two young leads.

| Original Score: 3/4 | Nov 2, 2016

Spiritual questions and thoughts on the importance of flesh-and-blood relationships are raised, but the strength of the you-can-run-but-you-can't-hide drama is the dewy charisma of the two young co-stars. T

| Original Score: 3/4 | Oct 21, 2016

Mean Dreams is a coming-of-age drama that evolves into a crime thriller. There's too much going on here, and the story eventually falls apart under its own weight, but there's still a lot to like about this engaging film.

| Original Score: 3.5/5 | Oct 20, 2016

And as the stakes are heightened, the filmmakers too often short-change dramatic verisimilitude with movie-ish cliché, implausible plotting and cumbersome dialogue.

| May 15, 2016

The shadow of 'Badlands' falls a little too long over Nathan Morlando's initially promising but fatally derivative teens-on-the-run thriller.

| May 15, 2016