Rating: 
Summary: Tommy Boy Goes For the Gold
Review: I like Tom Cruise. But lately, he's kicked into movie overdrive.
"Vanilla Sky," an entertaining, somewhat clunky drama, offers Tom Terrific the chance to play a vain, super-rich New Yorker who emerges from a near-fatal car crash with a hideously disfigured face. Poor, poor Tom.
The film does manage to hold your interest (Tom loves to ACT for all of us) but only because it is part Hitchcockian allegory, part sc-fi, part psychodrama and part let's see if Tom Terrific could snag an Oscar nomination. Halfway through, it falls apart, but picks itself once once the filmmakers tells what's real, possibly isn't. Dozens of other actors could have played this role, but Tom managed to get it first. That's not a bad thing, but not a good thing either.
Rating: 
Summary: Great film
Review: I know many people did not "get it", but I loved this film!
Rating:
Summary: Open Your Eyes . . .
Review: When I first saw the trailor to Vanilla Sky I really wanted to see it, but at the time I was to busy so I missed seeing it in theathers. Now when I rented it I couldn't wait to pop it into my DVD player and watch it. About 10 minutes into the movie I was like, "This is sssoooo dumb!". Then at about 20 mins into the film I was hooked! This film is fantastic. I have never seen a film by Cameron Crowe and I'm glad I did.Tom Cruise gives a great performance as David Ames. Penelope Cruz, Cameron Diaz, Kurt Russell, and Jason Lee all also give fantastic performances. Cameron Crowe did a great job with putting the film together. This film is in the top 10 best films of the year. Its simply amazing. The DVD is also great. The picture quality is one of the best I have seen and the sound is unbeliveibly clear and crisp. I haven't watched the special features yet but they look really good. Vanilla Sky is about a young wealthy magazine owner(Cruise) whos life is going great. Cameron Diaz plays the woman who loves him beyond belief and follows him everywhere. When David Ames meets Sophia(Cruz) he falls for her and spends the night with her. When he leaves Diaz is there asks him if he wants to take a ride. He goes and everything is fine until she starts questioning him on why he spent the night with her. She starts speeding at 80 mph and flys off a bridge. Diaz killed herself but Ames lives but is horribly disfigured. Will Ames ever come back to normal???? Will he ever have a life??? I know the answers but I wont tell becuase you dont want to know the end before you see it. This film is fantastic. Make sure you rent the film first though becuase many people liked it and many didn't. Thanks
Rating: 
Summary: totally mindblowing (spoiler!)
Review: this is seriously one of the best movies i have ever seen in my entire life, by far cameron crowe's greatest in my opinion. first of all i can understand how some people may feel that the ending is a "cop-out" & that crowe spoon feeds the audience the entire resolution at the very end all at once. but if you really think about it, it all fits together perfectly. david (cruise) is supposed to be just as confused as the audience & his sudden acquisition of the whole truth goes hand in hand w/ his "final awakening." so i think the strategy here is to make david more believable & to help the audience sympathize w/ him in the midst of all the bewildering chaos. some people don't like how the film has a choppy, frantic, urgent feel to it. but his perception of his life is a nightmare & nightmares usually are that way. it's amazing how profound this movie is, how many levels it has. it speculates on the future well-being of mankind b/c of new developments in technology & questions the scientific ethics of "playing God" by bringing people back from the dead, which is a very real situation that is being thoroughly researched today. it tells us to appreciate the little things in life, everything, even the bad b/c suffering allows us to appreciate our blessings. it tells us to appreciate these things b/c we never know when the consequences of the decisions we make will turn our whole life around in a matter of moments & possibly face us w/ our own mortality, the mortality that makes us human. david wasn't happy w/ the events of his real life, so he decides to sculpt a "perfect" dream, but it goes horribly wrong b/c nothing about life is perfect. you can't live in a dream. he realizes this in the end & that's why he chooses to wake up from his dream. he wants to be "real" again. i love this movie so much b/c it's so philosophical; it's got something to say to its audience. it says to "open our eyes" & see things for how they really are. sorry for all the rambling, but i guess i'm a hippie at heart. much applause to alexander amenabar & cameron crowe.
Rating:
Summary: Crowe is one of the best
Review: For those of you saying that this movie wasn't realistic, let me remind you that movies aren't always suppose to be realistic. Crowe filled this movie with everything, flashy scenery, a ridiculous plot, and most importantly... one of the best soundtracks every put together. I'll admit it, one of the reasons this movie works is because of the music. Crowe knows the exact song that needs to be put in a scene for it to work, and he does this throughout the entire movie. I was blown away by this movie, and why are some people blaming this movie on Cruise? He didn't make it.
Rating:
Summary: Vanilla Sky - a challenging, but rewarding film!
Review: Why does virtually every review of this movie confine itself to discussing whether they "got it" or "didn't get it"??... This movie has a philosophical dimension - it's a work of art, and like all works of art, it's not about "getting it", it's about...opening your eyes, your minds, being challenged! This movie tackles issues like the search for truth, like the ever increasing uncertainty in today's world of virtual reality of what 'reality' actually means, it tackles issues like loneliness, like man's obsession with beauty, with eternal youth, an ever prolonged life... - in other words, man's hybris of immortality, his wish, in an increasingly non-religious age, of proclaiming himself God! Of course, if it is pure brainless entertainment you're after, join the vast majority of reviewers of this film and hire Top Gun for some real fun...
Rating: 
Summary: Waste of time
Review: This truly is one of the worst movies I have ever seen. I admit the special effects were remarkable but the plot is horrendous. The surprise, twist ending has to be the biggest "cop-out" in movie history. I expected much, much more from Tom Cruise.
Rating:
Summary: Crowe's first complete misfire.
Review: After his career-high achievement Almost Famous, it boggles the mind how Cameron Crowe managed to plunge into the abyss that is Vanilla Sky. Without a shred of coherence or a single believable major performance in sight, Vanilla Sky is a vain, pretentious, schizophrenic descent into narrative chaos. Tom Cruise's lead performance is bereft even of his usual boyish charisma; Penelope Cruz discards her dramatic ability (shown mostly in her Spanish films); and Cameron Diaz looks and acts miserably, possibly sensing a bad career move. The plot makes no sense and the middle drags horrendously; there comes a point where the "story" -- whatever there is of it -- stops completely and we're stuck with Tom Cruise struggling to convey psychological horror. But unlike, say, Dario Argento or David Fincher, Cameron Crowe is not a visually based filmmaker. His calling card is his usually sharp writing, and Vanilla Sky abandons that for a vague series of visuals without any guiding force. There is never any sense of danger, mystique or malaise in the film, just endless scenes of characters brooding and self-pitying -- hardly the stuff of good movies. The only redeeming factor is the gorgeous photography, courtesy of Oscar-nominated cinematographer John Toll (Almost Famous, The Thin Red Line). It's a pity Crowe doesn't come up with anything emotionally or intellectually worthy of the imagery, so it all remains lovely eye candy that provides only blank calories. Oh, and underrated actress Alicia Witt (Fun) makes a cameo, if that matters at all. When not even the magnificent Tilda Swinton can save your film, you're really in trouble. A baffling fumble from a usually reliable, sensible writer and director.
Rating:
Summary: Love it or hate it
Review: Interesting idea, nice look and an uncomfortable feel make this movie what it is.
Rating: 
Summary: Better than Vanilla Coke
Review: This is one of those movies that I kept passing up at the video store. The trailers to this film did not give enough information about the movie and left too much to the imagination. Tom Cruise being the main star is not enough in my opinion to warrant seeing this. Finally, after starring at it for weeks on my cousins shelf, I borrowed it. I now know why they could not show much in the previews. This movie will have you questioning what is going on from the very beginning all the way till the end. The timeline in the movie is not very realistic. Can't say too much about the movie or it will give it away. Both Tom and Cameron give good performances and I recommend seeing this film. I do however, think the ending could have been a little better.
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