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Open Your Eyes

Open Your Eyes

List Price: $14.98
Your Price: $11.98
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Rating: 5 stars
Summary: BUY IT NOW!!!
Review: If you're the type of person that goes for big names with poor acting, then this is not the movie for you! This movie includes a great cast of Spanish actors taht portray the parts perfectly; it could not be better. Sure a lot of people will og out and see Vanilla Sky instead but I personally think this version is better. It feels more raw, more real, and more personal! Of course if you don't speak spanish then make sure you put on the language captions but overall it is incredible! All the actors did a tremendous job even though many are new-comers ( to the English speaking audience).

Rating: 1 stars
Summary: Nice try, bad film.
Review: This movie is too ambitious, tries to say too much but with lack of real substance. The script seems to have been written by a teenager, raised by MTV culture. Certainly, Amenabar was very amused by his abilities as a writer, but only people with very little intelligence may find this film amusing.

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: Abre los Ojos or Vanilla Sky?
Review: "Open Your Eyes" or "Abre Los Ojos," as it is titled in its native tongue, is a beautiful, enrapturing and cerebral story. Most of you know the story, as it was redone by Cameron Crowe and called "Vanilla Sky." In many ways, Cameron Crowe improved on this movie. But this is the original. If you liked Vanilla Sky, it is well worth a look. Yes, Penélope Cruz is absolutely stunning and beautiful and amazing. But it's a really fascinating plot, once you realize everything. There is nudity, language and some sexual content.
If you loved Vanilla Sky, or if you're a Spanish student and would like the practice, Open Your Eyes will be a pleasant movie for you.

Rating: 4 stars
Summary: VANILLA SKY WAS BETTER...
Review: UNFORTUNATELY, I SAW VANILLA SKY FIRST THEN THIS ONE SO TO ME, THE REMAKE WAS MORE EXCITING. I WOULD WAIT FOR VSKY AND BUT THAT ONE.

Rating: 2 stars
Summary: Total confusion.
Review: I didn't like this film. It started out with a rich handsome playboy/ladies man getting horribly disfigured in an automobile accident (actually a suicide by a mentally imbalanced woman friend). I thought the film would deal with his post-disfigurement adjustment and life experiences. I suppose this would have been like countless other films dealing with a person's adjustment after terrible disfigurement. However, this film heads in an entirely different direction. This is where it drops the ball and becomes too confusing. It was a nice try, but no cigar. Apparently, the character has been frozen for 150 years by using cryogenics, and he has very confusing dreams. One never knows what is real and what is a dream. This could have been a good film because it has basically a good sci-fi premise. But the film seems to get lost and does not carry through cohesively. Much too confusing to be enjoyable. Apparently, Vanilla Sky is a good remake. I haven't seen that film yet. Hopefully it is more masterfully handled than this one.

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: Another terrific psychological thriller from Amenabar
Review: Cesar is a handsome man who can have any woman he wants. His current relationship is with a woman named Nuria. But his best friend Pelayo comes to Cesar's birthday party with Sofia on his arm. Cesar notices Sofia immediately and they hit it off. He thinks he may even be in love. In fact, he spends the evening at her apartment, doing nothing sexual by choice. When he leaves in the morning, he finds Nuria waiting outside. After coercion from her, he rides away with her. She drives him and herself off the road, killing herself and severely mangling his face.

Then the fun starts.

Is Cesar really mangled? His psychiatrist seems to think not. (The story is told by Cesar to his psychiatrist in a mental hospital where he is staying because he was blamed for Nuria's death.) But when he looks in the mirror, that's all he sees. Is Nuria really dead? Does Sofia even exist? These are all questions you will be asking yourself, and that are sufficiently answered, but not until your mind has been taken on a rollercoaster ride of suspense and confusion. I was only able to predict one plot turn in advance, and I have seen several movies of this ilk.

Just sit back and enjoy the ride.

Rating: 4 stars
Summary: one helluva movie!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Review: actually,its borderline brilliant.when this was 1st released,i didnt pay it any mind because im not a penelopy fan.then came vinella sky.as im writing this review,i have not gone to see it.now having seen this,i wont.as much as i like cam crowe and tom cruise,i cant see them improving this gem.i certainly dont want to see a rehash like that mockery of a remake''psycho''.this had me guessing all the way through and i was never bored.talk about a great premise.even when the secret is revealed,you are still waiting for another mindscrew.this is what movie making is(or should be)about.great idea/solid acting/NO RAPPERS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!/and no gratuitous use of music/special effects.leaving out rappers increases movies sucess by a trillion.lets hope this trend carries over to the USA!

Rating: 4 stars
Summary: Thrilling, yet ultimately perplexing
Review: I have just watched this film in the theatre, and am now planning to purchase the DVD in order to watch the it again. I found myself rather perplexed at the end of the film, and wondering which parts were real and which were part of his dreaming. I have to admit to having been transfixed by a truly thrilling story line while watching the film and did not prepare myself to watch for the crossovers between his dreams and reality, which I shall have to do on second or third viewing. I highly recommend the film, in fact, better to have the DVD and be able to watch it over and over.

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: An Essay on The Dark Haired Girl (here - Najwa Nimri.)
Review: Amenabar (and his associate Medem) are clearly erudite fans of literate SF and there can be little question that Abre tus Ojos was heavily influenced by Philip Kendred Dick's UBIK. (Avail. in the book area - go buy it.) The confusion over life and death and the brilliant incarnation of PKDs Dark Haired Girl by Najwa Nimri seem to seal it. Of course in Vanilla Sky, the same character is blonde Cameron Diaz (who finally demonstrated in John Malkovitch that she could act.) In Blade Runner, Pris, PKD's clearest written incarnation of this symbol, was played by blonde Darryl Hannah, and in Total Recall (blech) by blonde Sharon Stone.

This won't matter to the 99.9% of the viewers unfamiliar with PKDs brilliant literature, but the symbol of The Dark Haired Girl is so central to PKDs fiction and outlook on life that they are missing out on a whole alternative layer of meaning.

The Dark Haired Girl was only portrayed once by a dark haired actress in a full on adaptation, by Anne Brochet in (Confessions d'un) Barjo the film version of Confessions of a Crap Artist (available under books - go buy it.) (ATT: Image Video since you seem to be the only people really trying, please put this out on DVD.)

I can think offhand of two other films with avatars of Pris. Medem's Tierra (buy it, and excuse me, but WHY isn't Los Amantes del Circulo Polar on DVD???) has a wonderful performance by Silke Klein as Mari.

This is more of a stretch (besides crossing both the Atlantic and the Equator) but since Argentinian Eliseo Subiela's Hombre Mirando al Sudeste (DVD, please) was very PKD in tone and had a character named Beatriz Dick, the character of Death, played by raven haired Nacha Guevara, in his Lado Oscuro del Corazon (DVD PLEASE)is a good candidate. I just found that a part 2 version of the last was released. Not only will it never come out on video (ANY video) I'm sure I will never see it in the theatre.

On that depressing note......

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: Cruz shines as does Eduardo Noriega in Open Your Eyes
Review: Anyone who saw Cameron Crowe's Vanilla Sky and loved it should really seek out this film, the original, "Open Your Eyes." Although less technically savvy and a lot quieter than Vanilla Sky (I actually missed Crowe's use of music), this Spanish language version is definetely worth seeing. Alejandro Amenabar's story is a highly complex psychological thriller, and the main leads couldn't be more watchable. Eduardo Noriega gives Tom Cruise a run for his money in this role (and vice versa, I thought the acting in Vanilla Sky was excellent). It was nice to see the original version of what is arguably one of the most interesting films to come out in the last couple of years. This film is destined to become a classic, like Vanilla Sky in its own right.

The DVD has a small, four page commentary on the film and its meaning, or at least the meaning that Amenabar intended. I found that interesting, as well as the short cast biographies/filmographies. I was very impressed with Cruz(again) and Noriega, and plan to see more films starring them.

Cruz fans should check out the wonderful romantic comedy Twice Upon a Yesterday and the delightful Woman on Top as well.

I highly recommended this film. In Spanish with English subtitles.


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