::READERS REVIEWS::

Amazing, unsettling, upsetting... - Cameron Crowe was known for sweet natured films, so seeing "Vanilla Sky" was a refreshing escape from his norm. Strange and compelling, it's about a guy who's privileged and set in his ways. Suddenly, things change and he doesn't know what's going on. I didn't really know what was going on either, but it was too compelling to take my eyes away. The catharsis at the end was worth the wait. Fine acting from all, especially Cruise and Jason Lee. Cameron Diaz was deservedly nominated for many awards (SAG, etc), and I take issue with Penelope Cruz' nom from the Razzies. She was charming and totally in touch with the material.The DVD has loads of extras; the story makes sense if you can make it through the middle section, which goes off in many directions. This is an American remake of an Almodovar film, in which Ms Cruz appeared. Critics are wrong, on so many levels. It's definitely worth a look.

Formula and predictable - 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.

Very `vanilla'... - 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.

Vanilla Sky - 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.

I just don't see it... - 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.

I'll tell you in another life, when we are both cats - David Aames (Tom Cruise) is the head of a vast publishing empire that he inherited from his father. Besides being at the epicenter of all that is hip in Art, Music, and Literature, he also has good looks, youth, and last but not least, lots and lots of money. He is Citizen Kane, or perhaps Citizen something else--the less than flattering nickname his underlings call him behind his back (See comment). He has a 'friends with benefits' arrangement with Julie Gianni (Cameran Diaz) but when he sees Sofia Serrano (Penélope Cruz) at his birthday party, he jokes about Julie as a twisted pick up line for Sofia:

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David Aames: See, I've got this little problem. I've got a stalker.
Sofía: It doesn't sound life threatening.
David Aames: But I need a cover. I need for you to pretend we're having a scintillating conversation, and you are wildly entertained.
[Both laugh]
David Aames: I know it's tough.
Sofía: I'll improvise.
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Whoa! This ploy actually works, but the joke backfires on David Aames. The joke turns out to be the truth.

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Sofía: I think she's the saddest girl to ever hold a martini.
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There are 428 pop culture references in Vanilla Sky, according to writer/director Cameron Crowe. 429 if you count one that was made accidentally. One that was made on purpose was when David Aames (Tom Cruise) walked down the street with Sofia Serrano (Penélope Cruz) and it looked just like Robert Zimmerman and Suze Rotolo on The Freewheelin' Bob Dylan album cover. Pay attention. This is a clue. There will be a test.

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David Aames: My dreams are a cruel joke. They taunt me. Even in my dreams I'm an idiot... who knows he's about to wake up to reality. If I could only avoid sleep. But I can't. I try to tell myself what to dream. I try to dream that I am flying. Something free. It never works...
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Cameron Crowe really knows his cultural references, as he was a child prodigy rock critic who began writing for Rolling Stone while still in High School. He made Almost Famous in 2000, which was a fictionalized autobiography based on his experience, and in 2001 he followed it up with Vanilla Sky. Based on Alejandro Amenábar's 1997 film "Abre Los Ojos" that also starred Penélope Cruz; Vanilla Sky was Crowe's Magnum Opus. His Magnolia. His Citizen Kane, or rather Citizen Blank (see comment). Along with the 429 cultural references he also crammed in Citizen Kane, Magnolia, Mask with Cher, The Mask with Cameran Diaz and Jim Carrey, François Truffaut's Jules et Jim, La Belle et la bête by the poet Jean Cocteau, Johnny Handsome with Mickey Rourke, The Matrix, and The Phantom of the Opera. It seems like he put everything but the kitchen sink into Vanilla Sky and it must have broken his heart when he was crucified by the press and the film didn't do so well at the box office, either.

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David Aames: I wanna wake up! Tech support! It's a nightmare! Tech support! Tech support!
===========================

Perhaps this is just a Minority Report, but I really enjoyed Vanilla Sky. I think it was very ambitious but Crowe was able to pull it off after all. He bit off a lot, but it was NOT--as some critics have suggested--more than he could chew. Some people might have been confused, and others might have thought that it explained itself too much in the end (or did it?), but I thought Cameron Crowe balanced himself on the high wire between those extremes, while simultaneously juggling the 429 cultural references and the multiple levels of reality. Where most directors would just take on one story arc, Crowe goes for about 4. Boy meets his reflection in the mirror, boy loses his reflection, boy tries to get his perfect reflection back, boy gets his reflection back--or does he? And it all unravels (or does it?).

Tom Cruise and Penélope Cruz had all the chemistry that Cruise lacked with his then real life wife Nicole Kidman in Eyes Wide Shut. Cruz was magical and Cruise gave a stellar performance. He almost jumps on the couch on Oprah, but dials it back just enough. It was a bold performance, as in the first part he is kind of a jerk, but semi likeable, considering he has had the world handed to him on a silver platter. In the next part he has to adjust to life without his movie star smile. His face is hideously disfigured. He doesn't take it well, and is an even bigger jerk. I think this was brave and one of Tom Cruise's boldest roles. He is forced to actually act here, and not just smile and let the audience bask in his smile. He is not just cruising on auto pilot. Though Penélope Cruz obviously makes his job so much easier.

Cameran Diaz did well as the F W/ B, or the FB for short (See Comment). She seems like she is content with the friendship with benefits, but then she lowers the boom! Big Time. Rumor has it that the character called Kelly from Lost in Translation was based on Miss Diaz. Writer/director Sofia Copolla's husband Spike Jonze directed Cameran in Being John Malkovich (again, see comment). Sofia/Sofia, Cameron/Cameran, Cruise/Cruz? I don't know what any of that means, but there's something about Diaz, "the saddest girl to ever hold a martini."

Jason Lee plays David's wing man Brian, an aspiring writer. What is it with Jason Lee's movie career? He is the perennial 2nd banana (Heartbreakers being the exception that proves the rule). Lee was 2nd banana to Ben Affleck in Chasing Amy (who is himself the perennial 2nd banana to Matt Damon). 2nd banana to David Schwimmer in Kissing a Fool, even, where his character is also a writer, just like in Vanilla Sky. It's one thing to play 2nd banana to Tom Cruise, but once you have 2nd bananaed Schwimmer, you better take that offer to be on a sit com about karma called "My Name is Earl," because your movie career is in what is known in show biz as a rut.

Jason Lee was also a rock singer in Cameron Crowe's previous film, Almost Famous, but he was kind of a 2nd banana there, too. He was the Greg Almon to Billy Crudup's Duane Almon, so even though he was the lead singer, he was upstaged by the guitarist, and thus was also the 2nd banana, again. 3rd banana, if you count the kid who was supposed to be the young Cameron Crowe. Jason Lee was more than adequate as Cruise's 2nd banana here, but nothing to write home about.

The film also features the talents of Timothy Spall, Johnny Gallecki, Alicia Witt, Kurt Russell, Noah Taylor, and Tilda Swinton; and a great soundtrack, with well chosen tunes from Radiohead, The Rolling Stones, Todd Rundgren, The Beach Boys, a 3D hologram of John Coltrane, Creeper Lagoon, The Monkees, R.E.M., Elmer Bernstein, Jeff Buckley, Bob Dylan, Sinéad O'Connor, Björk; and Paul McCartney even recorded a song called Vanilla Sky especially for this film. The songs, an integral part of the 429 cultural references, are woven seamlessly into the tapestry of Vanilla Sky.

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Dr. Curtis McCabe: My favorite Beatle was once John. Now it's... Paul.
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The Sheltering Sky (1990) Timothy Spall was Eric Lyle
The Mask (New Line Platinum Series) (1994) Cameran Diaz was Tina Carlyle
Eyes Wide Shut (Unrated Edition) [HD DVD] (1999) Tom Cruise was Dr. William 'Bill' Harford
Magnolia (1999) Tom Cruise was Frank T.J. Mackey
Topsy-Turvy (1999) Timothy Spall was Richard Temple (The Mikado)
Being John Malkovich (1999) Cameran Diaz was Lotte Schwartz
Almost Famous (2000) Directed by Cameron Crowe; Jason Lee was Jeff Bebe; and Noah Taylor was Dick Roswell
Masked And Anonymous (2003) Penélope Cruz was Pagan Lace
Grindhouse Presents, Death Proof - Extended and Unrated (Two-Disc Special Edition) (2007) Kurt Russell was Stuntman Mike
Vicky Cristina Barcelona (2008) Penélope Cruz was Maria Elena

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Sofía: I'll tell you in another life, when we are both cats.
====================

Vanilla Sky DVD - This DVD Vanilla Sky came very fast in just a few days.It was used but even though it had been watched it did not have one scratch on it and I have watched it over a dozen times and it plays like a brand new DVD.I really wouldn't have known it was used if I had not been told it was and the outer,clear wrapper was gone.I bought this DVD cheaper than I could have rented it for one night.I can't remember exactly how much I paid for it but it was around $2 or $2.50 but no more plus around $3 shipping and handing.I remember what I was charged for the shipping and handling exactly what the amount the Post Office had stamped on the package.This was my first purchase and I was VERY HAPPY and SATISFIED with both Amazon.com and the shipper I bought the DVD from.I RECIEVED A GREAT DEAL!!!!!!

haiku - latina chicks: nice.
white chicks will mess your face up!
Jay Lee wrote a book.

what i particularly love about this film is the element to what is called 'lucid dreaming' - I must say that the reason i love this movie is not so much for the movie overall perphaps, but i think what i particularly love about this film is the element to what is calld 'lucid dreaming'. They make up the film for me, if that element wasn't present there i wouldn't bother buying or even seeing the film.Also this movie was the one who made me embark on my own 'Lucid dreaming journey'. For the rest, the movie is normal, take the science fiction out and the movie is just another movie. So i suggest you seeing this movie only if you like science fiction for it is the main theme besides love.
Anyway i won't give out anymore, or rather i don't want to give anything specific apart from what i said. So just try it, it might turn your mind upside down.

Amazing, unsettling, upsetting... - Cameron Crowe was known for sweet natured films, so seeing "Vanilla Sky" was a refreshing escape from his norm. Strange and compelling, it's about a guy who's privileged and set in his ways. Suddenly, things change and he doesn't know what's going on. I didn't really know what was going on either, but it was too compelling to take my eyes away. The catharsis at the end was worth the wait. Fine acting from all, especially Cruise and Jason Lee. Cameron Diaz was deservedly nominated for many awards (SAG, etc), and I take issue with Penelope Cruz' nom from the Razzies. She was charming and totally in touch with the material.The DVD has loads of extras; the story makes sense if you can make it through the middle section, which goes off in many directions. This is an American remake of an Amenabar film, in which Ms Cruz appeared. Critics are wrong, on so many levels. It's definitely worth a look.