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Vanilla Sky

Vanilla Sky

List Price: $9.99
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Rating: 4 stars
Summary: A twisted, mind-bending thriller.
Review: "Vanilla Sky" is a dark thriller with more twists than a bag of pretzels. Tom Cruise plays a David Ames, a yuppie who seems to have it all: a cushy, well-paying day job, a fabulous Manhattan apartment, and a goregous but emotionally needy blonde Sofia(Cameron Diaz), whom he hooks up with on a steady basis. At a party, David falls for his best friend's date (Penelope Cruz), and they begin a fling. When Sofia finds out, she goes bonkers and invites David for a drive which results in an car accident that leaves David's face horribly disfigured. If it seems like I revealed too much of the plot, you can rest easy that I haven't uncovered any spoilers. "Vanilla Sky" starts to play head games with the viewer, who's left to decide what is real and what is David's imagination. There are some long, drawn-out parts that require heavy-duty patience from the viewer, but overall, the film's virtues outweigh its flaws. This film isn't the Oscar hopeful it was hyped up to be, but it's still worth a look.

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: A misunderstood masterpiece in a class of it's own.
Review: I have a question for all of you, my fellow Amazon reviewers. What exactly does Tom Cruise have to do to get the respect and admiration he deserves. Films like Risky Business, Top Gun, Days of Thunder and the Mission Impossible films have made him one of the most popular superstars on the planet, but there are also films like Rain Man, Jerry Maguire, Magnolia, A Few Good Men, Interview with a Vampire, Born on the 4th of July, Eyes Wide Shut, The Firm... I mean really, has any other actor (other than maybe Denzel Washington and Harrison Ford) given 8 such riveting, Oscar worthy performances, well 9 Oscar worthy performances now.

Tom's performance in Vanilla Sky is arguably his best yet. It showcases every emotion a human being is capable of. The role of David Aimes really is a great actors dream, a role that only a brave and true actor would even attempt. David is a man who starts out with it all, and has it all stripped away. What looked like (at least, from early reports) a posturing vanity piece has proven itself quite the opposite, as it doesn't show Tom in the movie star light that many of his films do, it shows him as a true cinema great, which he is.

He and director Cameron Crowe took a risk; they stepped into darker, unchartered territory (unlike there more safe pairing "Jerry Maguire") and have created a true masterpiece. Due to the films luke-warm reception by many, critics and audiences alike, it seems there one mistake was putting trust in the masses, they asked us to go in open minded but alas, most went in with eyes wide shut (I'm surprised that line hasn't been used more often). But to the people out there who did go in open-minded, I'm sure you found it as mind-blowing as I did.

Rating: 1 stars
Summary: An insult to the viewer's intelligence....
Review: Vanilla Sky is a terminally ill-fated feature that breaks down the logic of plot and story. It's only purpose is to hide its own face, trying to manipulate its audience by making itself so much into various pieces that aren't understandable. Because of this, the audience may actually think the film is too smart for them, knowing that they can't understand it. But in reality, Vanilla Sky is the brain dead one.

In a way, it uses the same tecnique used by X files.

The difference though, is that X files at least left you with no explanation at all, in a mysterious state. This enabled each viewer to fantasize on the possible "solution" that would have made sense. I am sure that if you ever watched X files at some point you thought that one day it would have all made sense, and that Chris Carter would reveal a unified solution to all the twists. Of course, he never did. There never was a solution. But he was smart in always leaving the viewer with the mystery. After all, this is how he made millions simply writing pointles, incoherent and ridiculous X-flies episodes. I think we should all admire him for achieving that.
In vanilla sky they attempt to do the same; however a movie is not the same as a tv series. They HAD to give a solution in order to have the viewer walk out of the theater feeling happy that "everything made sense". The truth however, is that the story has holes everywhere, and there is no way you can make it have any sense. So what they do in the end is simply take the easy way out, giving pathetic solution under which anything would have been possible. They also take the most un-original way out...

Rating: 1 stars
Summary: If you liked it, you didn't understand it!!
Review: What can I say, this movie was simply the worst I have seen since Sixth Sense...
All I can say is that at least I laughed for 3 hours watching how ridiculous a movie can get. I am still laughing even more when I read all those pseudo-intellectual reviews saying how deep and thought-provoking this movie was.. hahaha.. maybe they should go take some psychology classes and they might learn that the movie is 100% complete sci-fic BS. I won't even bother listing the dozens of example which show how ridiculous the movie gets, only because I don't want to ruin the plot to those lucky few who didn't see it.
BELIEVE ME, IF YOU THINK YOU "GOT IT", IT ONLY SHOWS THAT YOU HAVEN'T FULLY ANALYZED THE MOVIE, BUT SIMPLY ACCEPTED THE EXPLANATION THE NARRATOR SPOONFEEDS YOU AT THE END...

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: "Vanilla Sky" is a mind-bending journey!
Review: Incredible film! I never get this immpressed by movies, but "Vanilla Sky" really is a masterpiece. If you are even thinking of seeing the film, do yourself a favor and go! You won't regret it!

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: Vanilla Movie
Review: This is a very extreemly creative movie and leaves you guessing till the very last minute in which everything becomes clear. I have to admit that the preview did throw me way off as to the subject of the film but that is what was so awesome, I was totally shocked and a little dissapointed but it was extreemly unique and outstanding performances by all the actors.

Rating: 1 stars
Summary: Too many twists
Review: I love a good twist at the end of a movie. Too much of a good thing can turn bad, boy does that ever happen here in Sky. Way too many twists and turns. I actually fell asleep in the theater trying to keep up with it all and it just wasn't worth it. I understood it at the end even with the section I missed while snoozing, it was aweful. I read a lot of positive reviews here and couldn't believe it. When I'm watching a movie I really don't like it when all of a sudden one character becomes another because of a non-reality event such as a dream. The film makers doing their version of "ha ha, fooled ya" with dream sequences is getting old. I want to know who is who after I spent and hour or so getting to know them. If that changes for no good reason I get miffed. Twists and turns are good, just let them happen while the characters are awake for pete's sake. Perfect example: Usual Suspects.

Rating: 4 stars
Summary: Astounding and Intriguing
Review: The music. The cinematography. The plot. The actors. I had no regrets after seeing this film. I came in wondering and came out wondering, yet still felt fulfilled. There is no other way to describe it. Maybe not the best movie of the year, but definetly the coolest.

Rating: 2 stars
Summary: Tom Cruise and His Imaginary Mirror Fetish
Review: To sum it all up, Tom Cruise spends most of his time looking at himself and talking to himself throughout most of the film. He did the same in Magnolia. He is a wanna-be Richard Burton, and that is just NOT possible. His problem is this: he seems to play the same kind of character too many times and just plays them all the same way: lots of hand gestures and facial gestures as if he just graduated from an acting school. As far as this film is concerned, it is all about Tom Cruise. His ex wife, Nicole, however, is a different story. She plays different parts so well that she is able to play any character and any personality independent of the other (roles). That is the mark of a great actress: to be able to portray different roles with different emotions and different personalities (seductive in Moulin Rouge and subtly crazed yet controlled in The Others, for example).

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: Wonderfull Film on Every Level
Review: Vanilla Sky is a very diffulct to review for a couple of reasons. First of all there are many elements to the story that if given away would ruin the experience. The second is the plot of the movie is widely open to interpatation. Other, more techinacial aspects of the film can be review.

The screenplay, which is based on a 1997 Spanish film Open Your Eyes, is well constructed. The scense move at a perfect pace. The viewer has time to connect with the characters but the movie never drags. This is probly because of the nice dialouge featured in the film. The characters, espically, David and Sofia offset each othere very well.

The acting is also superb. Tom Cruise plays David Aames Jr.(the Jr. is important). He really seems to have a feel for the youthful bliss of the character, but is able to grow with the charcter. His scenes with Penelope Cruz, who play Sofia, seem to be more compeling and intricate that the scenes with Cameron Diaz, who plays the emotionaly instable Julie. Kurt Russell does a good job as McCabbe a court appoint counselor but I felt he was the least compelling character. Jason Lee is wonderfull in another best fried role, Brian.

I wish I could tell more about the actual film. I wish I could disuss it with you, but this is not the right place for that. Go see the movie and I promise you will want to dicuss it with someone else.


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