Vanilla Sky 10/10

[Gangsternumber1]

This is one of the most challenging films i have ever seen next to Memento it is one of my favourite films.

(MINOR SPOILERS)
During the week he turns 33, NYC magazine publisher David Aames, a playboy who has strange dreams, spends a night of passion with Julie, "a friend he sometimes sleeps with," and a night with Sofia, a witty, knowing dancer with a Spanish accent - a night with intimations of love. David is charming, rich (his mother's Monet, "Vanilla Sky" is in his bedroom), and feckless: he inherited the magazines and his minority partners want him out. Jump ahead: he's in jail, wearing a prosthetic mask, talking to a sympathetic psychologist to get at the truth behind a death.

This film is a visual masterpiece and has an amazing film which has many strong performanceas and many memorably scenes although its an acquired taste its not for everyone for it is a very confusing film soem parts confused me but if you have patience you will find out all the answers in an all is revealed ending.The Trailers and previews would have you think of this movie as a Thriller but its not really like that i cannot class it really under anything either but whatever it is its the kinnda movie i like.

This film borderlines on many genres Romance, Drama and very lightly Sci Fi.

Tom Cruise pulls of the one the performances of his career as David Aames he is really believable during some of his scenes.

Penelope Cruz is beautiful and plasy the part of Sofia really well i almost fell in love with her yes i am sad.

Cameron Diaz is very effective in some scences but dont expect this to be her show she is only in it for a couple scenes.

Jason Lee cannot do no wrong i will watch anything with him in it he is the shit.


My favourite scene involves Tom Cruise standing in the elevator as the camera pans aroundh im while a soft suddel song is played in the backround as we see flashbacks it is truly my favourite scene.

[Danreiter]

It was good until the filmmakers took a twenty minute timeout towards the end of the film to explain every god damned thing. They should've just left the movie unexplained and ambiguous.

[The Professional]

it was good until i relized that i have Open Your Eyes, which is the same, but better film. it is more ambigous and darker. 6/10

[Dehydrator]

I really liked VANILLA SKY. I was sort of reminded of David Lynch sometimes, that opening scene with the Radiohead song is classic. But yes, the ending sucked and Penelope Cruz...I just can't dig her in anything I've ever seen her doing. She played that slut-on-coke in BLOW way too "slut-on-coke-isch" and that cutie-girl in VANILLA SKY way too cutie-girlish. The visuals in the movie are amazing, I'd give it that but the script (especially the end) could have used a polish. The acting by Tom Cruise suprised me, who knew what this guy had in him? I couldn't help but saw Cameron Diaz play Cameron Diaz once again, but that's just me and not a negative thing for sure.

After all, I'd give VANILLA SKY a 6/10, there was definitely some cool stuff in there, but I still can't get over the damm ending. Couldn't it just have been Vanilla-smoking Aliens????

[belphegor]

nice try but no match for the original: open your eyes

[mathew]

Fuck vanilla sky,watch open your eyes,it's far superior.Fuckin' cruise was too smug for my likin'

[Deckard]

Found Vanilla Sky (6/10) to
be a braindead remake of OPEN YOUR EYES (8.5/10).

Instead of the audience having to think about it Vanilla Sky spells everything out. It felt to me like it does when they release two different versions of a book (one for adult and one for kids)- Open Your Eyes is the adult version and Vanilla Sky is the Young Readers edition with huge print and no big words.

[Kurtz' Killer]

I thought that "Vanilla Sky" was incredible.
THAT is what I want in a "good movie". Bravo Mr. Crowe.

[Moviefreek]

Vanilla Sky
-----------

Let me start by saying this, another one of those films, where the less you know the better of a viewing it will be. When i first saw the trailers for this movie, for some odd reason it came off as some kind of romantic drama, but it is much more than that my friends.

The acting was superb. Tom Cruise was great, Cameron Diez was great, Penelope Cruz was great, the entire cast was great. Whats a movie without good acting? Let me answer that for you, absolutly jack!

The story was an easy to follow story, but seems to become all the more odd as it makes its way toward the end. These are the kind of movies i enjoy, the kind of movie that takes your head for a turn and a half. For example, Memento, 12 monkeys, and Donnie Darko. Can't say anything about the story cause i don't want to give anything away.

Cameron Crowe did a wonderful job directing this film. My eyes were glued to the telivision screen the whole time, and to tell you the truth, I don't even remember moving.

If you want to take a crazy, wacked out ride, watch this movie. If you want to see cruise, watch this movie. If the guys want to see cruz and diaz, watch this movie. If you want to see a good movie, watch this movie.

9/10

[Constipated_Pig]

Well SORRY guys maybe the audience wants the movie to explain just a TAD BIT of what the fuck was going on in the movie.

Anyway, I really liked the movie, and I never expected it to end like it did. One of the best endings ever. 9/10

[Phoenix]

10/10, just awesome.
Second best movie of 2001, behind Memento. Everyone's performance was good, didnt mind Penelope Cruz like some people. For some reason, though, Tom Cruise always annoys me (in some scenes here too) but not as much in Vanilla Sky mainly because at least half the time his face is disfigured or has a mask on. Man, this movie is so awesome. There is only one clue in the movie (which is shown a couple times) where you can guess what happened but it still doesnt answer why things are happening the way they are. That's what makes this movie is so great.

On to the plot....SPOILERS

The clue that I mentioned above was the commercials with Benny the dog advertising LE and during the prison scenes Tom Cruise was yelling out LE in his sleep that one night. But, like I said, it doesnt explain what is happening because we didnt know about the Luccid Dreams option. Another clue which I did pick up on was how Penelope Cruz talked Tom right after the nightclub scene she said "soon" just like Tom said to Cameron Diaz earlier in the movie meaning she really didnt care for him anymore.

End of SPOILERS

The only thing I was disappointed by was at the end where the guy explained every thing to us and left nothing to be interpreted. I was able to figure out what happened just before it was fully explained. The story wasnt very hard to figure out. If the story wasnt "over-explained" you could have quite a good (and time consuming) discussion on the plot.

[The UserName]

i actually liked it till that sucky ending. I HATED that ending. so i guess im going to have to give this movie a 7/10.

[Favourite end]

Very well-made, almost good cast (except for Penelope Cruz), one of the best soundtracks, good cinematographer. As a whole almost a perfect movie, 7.9/10.

[Fergus]

Cameron Crowe's near masterpiece was one of the best experiences I had in theaters last year. I waited months to see this flick, and I was not let down by Crowe and company. Just so you know, I have not seen the original Abre Los Ojos, I don't go to the video stores to rent often. It offered a strange, mind twisting story. It was second to Memento in terms of my brain getting a workout. I wonder how hard this was to put into a screenplay. Crowe must've been in worse shape when he finished it, than most of the moviegoers that walked out of the film. I wished the film had more of those images that create that sense of awe and wonder. One of the dream sequences was like that, when Cruise was talking to Cruz in the park, though it was mostly silent. My favorite scene is near the end, when Tom is realizing what has been going on, while riding up an elevator, as things are explained to him, and he realizes in flashback. The thing that set that scene up so high was the music, though I don't think I ever found out what it was. One of the very best films of 2001.

(****1/2) of five or (9/10)

[K4W4P4S4L4S]

I don't know, I guess I can see how people could enjoy this movie if they haven't seen the original, but the American version is pathetic compared to the Spanish one. Not only because it's so boring if you already know what's going on, but all three lead actors are terrible in this film. Penelope Cruz is always pretty bad when it comes to acting (I couldn't believe she was nominated for an MTV Movie award for her role in Blow, she was the worst thing about an otherwise good movie), Tom Cruise goes way over the top for the millionth time, and Cameron Diaz, who I normally enjoy watching, is laughably, ridiculously bad. So, if you haven't seen the first one, you might enjoy the second one, but do yourself a favor and just try and deal with the subtitles, their really not THAT bad. Oh yeah, the absolute worst scene is the one in the club when Tom Cruise shows up with the mask on, when Jason Lee tells him to take it off and he flips out it was so bad, It seemed like it could actually be a seen from one of the Scary Movies because it was so over the top and laughale.

[Bud_Fox]

Whooooaa Hold the fuckin' phone.
Abre los ojos (open your eyes),1997, is the original film, and Penelope Cruz is in that movie, as well, and her characters name is Sophia. Tech Support!!! tech Suppport
*...goood-gooood-gooood, Good Virbratiooons...."

[This message has been edited by Bud_Fox (edited 06-13-2002).]

[Mike]

It was ok up until the horrible ending. What a disappointment! I hated how they felt they had to explain everything to the audience, which actually left me more confused with more questions. Overall, VANILLA SKY was a pretty disappointing experience.

Grade: 5/10 or C

[SLAW]

Originally posted by Mike
It was ok up until the horrible ending. What a disappointment! I hated how they felt they had to explain everything to the audience, which actually left me more confused with more questions. Overall, VANILLA SKY was a pretty disappointing experience.

Grade: 5/10 or C

I've decided that I can't take everyone's opinion on this movie seriously until they've seen it at least twice. It's one of those movies (like one of Kubrick's films).

PS: People have complained that the ending doesn't explain enough. It's almost a "no win" situation for the movie with some people.

[Mike]

Originally posted by SLAW
I've decided that I can't take everyone's opinion on this movie seriously until they've seen it at least twice. It's one of those movies (like one of Kubrick's films).

PS: People have complained that the ending doesn't explain enough. It's almost a "no win" situation for the movie with some people.

Well, I love mindfuck movies. So to me the ending felt like it was dumbed down for mainstream audiences. I definitely wouldn't be against watching it again someday. I actually have it sitting on my shelf collecting dust at the moment, but it's on VHS. Plus, before I gave it another chance I have a zillion other movies that I own but haven't seen yet, like Gosford Park, Texas Rangers, Max Keeble, Frauds, and more.

[SLAW]

*****SPOILERS*****

Originally posted by Mike
Well, I love mindfuck movies. So to me the ending felt like it was dumbed down for mainstream audiences. I definitely wouldn't be against watching it again someday. I actually have it sitting on my shelf collecting dust at the moment, but it's on VHS. Plus, before I gave it another chance I have a zillion other movies that I own but haven't seen yet, like Gosford Park, Texas Rangers, Max Keeble, Frauds, and more.

Well, I'm glad you'll be seing it again sometime. My sister liked it a lot better the second time she saw it. And just to tell you one more thing: everything tech support tells David at the end of the movie, probably isn't all true. That's the way I see it.

[Mike]

Yeah, a lot of times a person will like a movie better the second time around. It's not that it was a bad movie, but the ending just really disappointed me. I was expecting more. I'm really glad you enjoyed it so much though. This is a movie that I can see why people would like it and I can see why people wouldn't like it.

[Dude]

I viewed BOTH versions. They are decent companions to each other, but it's obvious that Vanilla Sky is the BETTER film. Why?

1. Better production values
2. Charactors better fleshed out
3. MUCH better acting... Cruise BLOWS his spanish counterpart out of the fucking water!

4. Because of the better acting and fleshed out storyline, I cared for what was happening to this guy. I felt like I was INVOLVED as opposed to Open Your Eyes in that I only felt like an OBESERVOR.
5. Crowe actually got a "performance" out of Penelope Cruz as opposed to her role in O.Y.E

Vanilla Sky: 9/10
Open Your Eyes: 7/10

Side Note:

The Others was directed by the guy who directed Open Your Eyes
The Others was produced by Tom Cruise.... neat little business connection all around.