Formula and predictable
Added 2/5/2010
Undisciplined son of a corporate magnet inherits the company and position. He struggles with the Board, manipulating women, and life it's self. An automobile accident forces him to reassess life and his friends.
The only positive value of the film is it passes time well there are several cuties in it among which are Penelope Cruz, and Cameron Diaz. Kurt Russell does some good acting on his part.
This movie is formula and predictable. Formula as many variations of this are overused such as in "The Matrix." There is no mask or detraction as to what they are trying to do.
The bulk of the movie is disjointed Sound Bites, and flashbacks (or forwards or whatever.)
Bottom line, it is a take it or leave it film that passes time.
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Very `vanilla'...
Added 1/12/2010
One of the first things you'll notice about `Vanilla Sky' is that it is a very visual piece. From the opening canvas of empty streets, `Vanilla Sky' is almost too beautifully crafted. It is within this visual mask that we are expected to completely fall, and thus we lose sight of the fact that this film really doesn't do much more.
Seriously, it's pretty but is there really anything else that can be said for it?
The film tells a very familiar tale (or at least `morally') about a man who has everything (or so it appears) because of his dashing good looks and his endless supply of wealth only to have it taken all away by a jealous lover who despises him because of his despicable personality. Sadly, this tragic intervention (his lover drives him, literally, into the hospital) comes at the precise moment when this devilishly self-absorbed creep falls madly in love with a mysterious woman who offers him the opportunity (and motivation) to become a better man.
If you feel the above paragraph is cliché ridden and rather generic, you'd be correct.
The best thing I can say about `Vanilla Sky' is that Crowe paints with such an expansive and stirring paintbrush that we never really realize how dense and contrived the film really is. We do get wrapped up in the splendor of his `vision' to the point where the films ridiculousness (and rather clumsy and chaotic plot twists) doesn't really hit us. Maybe that should be considered praise, since Cameron Crowe made something stupid appear poignant and `deep', but I don't know if I can praise it.
It's like putting lipstick on a pig; right?
That was rather harsh, I know, but further reflection on this film has really embittered me, because I was so duped by Crowe's directorial achievements (you can't really say this was a good directorial job either, when you consider some of the performances).
Tom Cruise is a generic and fictitious representation of what we all have probably come to consider his real self. He is flamboyant and self concerned and borderline insane. Penelope Cruz may have ended this decade on a very high note (her performances post 06 have been stellar) but she started this decade horrifically. Is it just me, or has she even gotten prettier over the decade? I really thought that she was a talentless and extremely unattractive woman until I saw `Volver'. She is bland and ineffective here. Jason Lee can't do drama well at all. It is apparent here. The whole `Kurt Russell plot point' is just the worst part of the film for me, even if his performance is effective and sound.
CAMERON DIAZ.
That is all I need to say here. I mean, she is the only reason to see this movie, and the only reason I will recommend this movie, beings that her performance is so stellar and so superb and so masterful and seriously one of the best supporting turns of the decade. The way she handles Julie's instability and ruthless jealousy (and bitter emotional devastation) is just so impressive I can't help but bow at just the thought of her flirtatious and manic threats.
YOU CANNOT STOP LOOKING AT HER.
Upon distanced reflection it becomes obvious that `Vanilla Sky' is just not the film it is pretending to be. You want to like it, love it even, because it is visually stirring, which gives the impression that there is something there to be seen. The prolific (or faux prolific) statements made with the delicately disguised sets are not enough to make this a good film.
Cameron Diaz is enough to make me recommend this very poor movie though.
1 out of 2 people found this helpful.
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Vanilla Sky
Added 1/5/2010
A young playboy is disfigured in a car accident. Ashamed, the man uses his money to reconstruct his face. Although the preocedure appears to be successful, he begins to have nightmares that hint that all in his world is not as it seems. A trip worth taking and highly entertaining.
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"Every Passing Minute is Another Chance to Turn it All Around"
Added 9/13/2009
VANILLA SKY is a polarizing film because it is a mainstream-Hollywood/avant-garde-art-house hybrid.
Mainstream moviegoers were largely disoriented and repulsed when Tom Cruise's latest romantic comedy blockbuster turned out to be a mind-twisting SF nightmare.
On the flip side, film-hipsters had trouble wrapping their heads around the fact that their friends-with-taste-in-movies were actually insisting that they see this incredible (but hard to describe) movie by the director of JERRY MAGUIRE. Huh??
So the lesson here? Hollywood zombies and film-snots lost out big-time because their minds and eyes were closed. Meanwhile, open-minded filmgoers around the world were treated to one of the single most surprising, affecting, and memorable movies of all time.
No hyperbole.
So, my advice to mainstream moviegoers: Go into this one knowing that it is not (just) a romantic comedy starring Tom Cruise and yet another set of (extremely) pretty faces. Expect the unexpected, take in what you can, and enjoy the ride.
Filmsnobs? Listen to your friends. Being snobs, you probably don't have many, but at least the ones you have exhibit good taste in movies.
It's something like ETERNAL SUNSHINE OF THE SPOTLESS MIND meets MULHOLLAND DR., meets eXistenZ meets DONNIE DARKO meets, well, JERRY MAGUIRE.
Um...
But what I like best about VANILLA SKY is the way it is simultaneously - and successfully - a Hollywood/anti-Hollywood film. The story exhalts our childish dreams of endless life, perfect beauty, and eternal love, even as it pounds home the ultimate futility of these grand delusions. It shows us the mindblowing beauty of living in our own perfect - and perfectly infantile - dreamworld, even as it reveals the wisdom and humanity in trading in our dreamworlds to experience the one and only real thing.
Fianlly, VANILLA SKY asks David Ames (played by Cruise) and us, his esteemed panel of observers, the ultimate question: "What is happiness to you?" And if a panel of all-seeing observers could ask you the same question, and read your mind for the answer, I bet they'd probably find you answered the same basic way Dave did.
In short, this film gives you an staggering amount to feel, think, see, and talk about with your loved ones and friends (friendless films-nobs can even type about it on their blogs).
Haven't seen it yet yourself? Well, every passing minute is another chance...
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I just don't see it...
Added 9/9/2009
After reading the comparisons here in the reviews between the two movies "Vanilla Sky" and "Abre Los Ojos," I thought I'd see what the fuss was about from those suggesting/arguing that the latter was so much greater than the other. Perhaps opinion in this, as with most everyhting, will inevitably depend upon the person giving it, but still, I don't agree with this sentiment at all.
Sure, there are some idiosyncrosies in Crowe's style, but all in all, Vanilla Sky came across as a much more well pieced together story than Ojos, from character development (including Cruz's), scripting, the matter of piecing together the bits and pieces that comprise the timeline of the movie, and in the acting (I particularly felt Cruise did much better than his counterpart). I believe the real selling point for myself in choosing VS over Ojos is simply that it goes more deeply into the themes carrying the story to its closing, ie, some of the observations of the manner in how the actions/attitudes we carry on in our day to day lives can be so affecting (ironic, however, that Cruise's involvement with Cruz while creating this film led to the dissolution of his marriage).
It's just a pretty darn good flick. In my opinion.
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Formula and predictable
Added 2/5/2010
Undisciplined son of a corporate magnet inherits the company and position. He struggles with the Board, manipulating women, and life it's self. An automobile accident forces him to reassess life and his friends.
The only positive value of the film is it passes time well there are several cuties in it among which are Penelope Cruz, and Cameron Diaz. Kurt Russell does some good acting on his part.
This movie is formula and predictable. Formula as many variations of this are overused such as in "The Matrix." There is no mask or detraction as to what they are trying to do.
The bulk of the movie is disjointed Sound Bites, and flashbacks (or forwards or whatever.)
Bottom line, it is a take it or leave it film that passes time.
0 out of 0 people found this helpful.
|
Very `vanilla'...
Added 1/12/2010
One of the first things you'll notice about `Vanilla Sky' is that it is a very visual piece. From the opening canvas of empty streets, `Vanilla Sky' is almost too beautifully crafted. It is within this visual mask that we are expected to completely fall, and thus we lose sight of the fact that this film really doesn't do much more.
Seriously, it's pretty but is there really anything else that can be said for it?
The film tells a very familiar tale (or at least `morally') about a man who has everything (or so it appears) because of his dashing good looks and his endless supply of wealth only to have it taken all away by a jealous lover who despises him because of his despicable personality. Sadly, this tragic intervention (his lover drives him, literally, into the hospital) comes at the precise moment when this devilishly self-absorbed creep falls madly in love with a mysterious woman who offers him the opportunity (and motivation) to become a better man.
If you feel the above paragraph is cliché ridden and rather generic, you'd be correct.
The best thing I can say about `Vanilla Sky' is that Crowe paints with such an expansive and stirring paintbrush that we never really realize how dense and contrived the film really is. We do get wrapped up in the splendor of his `vision' to the point where the films ridiculousness (and rather clumsy and chaotic plot twists) doesn't really hit us. Maybe that should be considered praise, since Cameron Crowe made something stupid appear poignant and `deep', but I don't know if I can praise it.
It's like putting lipstick on a pig; right?
That was rather harsh, I know, but further reflection on this film has really embittered me, because I was so duped by Crowe's directorial achievements (you can't really say this was a good directorial job either, when you consider some of the performances).
Tom Cruise is a generic and fictitious representation of what we all have probably come to consider his real self. He is flamboyant and self concerned and borderline insane. Penelope Cruz may have ended this decade on a very high note (her performances post 06 have been stellar) but she started this decade horrifically. Is it just me, or has she even gotten prettier over the decade? I really thought that she was a talentless and extremely unattractive woman until I saw `Volver'. She is bland and ineffective here. Jason Lee can't do drama well at all. It is apparent here. The whole `Kurt Russell plot point' is just the worst part of the film for me, even if his performance is effective and sound.
CAMERON DIAZ.
That is all I need to say here. I mean, she is the only reason to see this movie, and the only reason I will recommend this movie, beings that her performance is so stellar and so superb and so masterful and seriously one of the best supporting turns of the decade. The way she handles Julie's instability and ruthless jealousy (and bitter emotional devastation) is just so impressive I can't help but bow at just the thought of her flirtatious and manic threats.
YOU CANNOT STOP LOOKING AT HER.
Upon distanced reflection it becomes obvious that `Vanilla Sky' is just not the film it is pretending to be. You want to like it, love it even, because it is visually stirring, which gives the impression that there is something there to be seen. The prolific (or faux prolific) statements made with the delicately disguised sets are not enough to make this a good film.
Cameron Diaz is enough to make me recommend this very poor movie though.
1 out of 2 people found this helpful.
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Vanilla Sky
Added 1/5/2010
A young playboy is disfigured in a car accident. Ashamed, the man uses his money to reconstruct his face. Although the preocedure appears to be successful, he begins to have nightmares that hint that all in his world is not as it seems. A trip worth taking and highly entertaining.
0 out of 0 people found this helpful.
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