Rating: 
Summary: Hugely Disappointing
Review: Believe me, I was not one of those people going into this movie expecting an erotic drama with big stars like Tom Cruise and Cameron Diaz. No, I wanted to see an avant garde film with clever twists and turns (as promised by Roger Ebert), and for that and overall enjoyment, this film fails. I really did want to like it and for awhile after I saw the movie I was convincing myself that it wasn't that bad, but truthfully I was only humoring myself. While watching the film, I kept saying to myself, "Okay, this must all be leading to something. It may not be great now, but it's going to get better." And then when the denouement finally occured, I sank in my seat. This "twist" ending was simply ridiculous. Instead of getting that great feeling of "Oh, I see! That's clever!," I got a feeling of, "Well of course all that could happen if you go and pull an ending like this." The ending leaves you with a bad taste in your mouth and almost lets you forget the film's few virtues (Tom Cruise's performance and the nice editing). But even looking back on those tiny good points, this movie doesn't work on any level. I understand writer and director Cameron Crowe must be trying to branch out, but this is not the way to do it. Better luck next time.
Rating: 
Summary: A Total Insult to the Viewer's Intelligence!!!
Review: I went to see this movie with the highest of expectations. After all, how can a Tom Cruise movie be too bad. I can honestly say that after the first thirty minutes I was squiming and looking at my watch wondering how much more of this movie I could take. Not only was the movie totally not entertaining- it was downright exhausting trying to keep up with the totally implausible plot twists. It appeared as if the writer was trying to use every idea and every trick he could think of in one movie. Worse than this though, I thought it was an insult to anyone's intelligence. First, why would the Cruise character even get in the car with the stalking nightmare played by Diaz. As for the disfigurement, with his money and modern medicine, I found it implausible that his face could not be fixed. However, the time Cruise spent behind the mask was perhaps the most interesting part of the movie. Here Tom Cruise showed his immense talent, being able to demonstrate such emotion just through body language and a muffled voice. That was the only saving grace of the movie, and that perhaps, would be enough to earn this movie one lone star. My advice, stay away from this one. If you have to, rent the video, or better yet, borrow it from a friend. Someone you know will surely have made the mistake of buying it and you can save the cost of rental. That is the only way you will get you money's worth!!!
Rating:
Summary: A total waste of time and money
Review: This movie makes very little, if any, "sense". I can find no reason to recommend this to anyone - the positives noted by other reviewers (soundtrack etc.) don't even start to make up for the utterly implausible, "story". I'd give this "zero" stars if that were possible.
Do yourself a big favor and avoid this one.
Rating:
Summary: An Absolute Waste of Money
Review: This has to be the dumbest movie I have seen in my entire life. I find it shocking that a great actor like Tom Cruise can actually read the script and agree to act in such a dumb movie. This is the first movie in which Tom is actually beginning to show that he is ageing. His wrinkles are showing. This movie is a far cry from Jerry Macguire. Cameron Crowe should be ashamed of himself.
Rating: 
Summary: What the...?
Review: Similar to previous reviews of this movie, I will agree and say it is a poorly made movie. It seems the plot just drags on and on until it runs out of gas. This movie tried too hard to be too many things at once - (...) Bottomline, the movie is too long. It couldn't make up its mind. However, I give it three stars because the relationship between Cruise, Cruz, and Diaz are somewhat similar to a relationship I have with two women I know. It made me think too much of them, which is good and bad. Anyhow, the 'love' between Cruise and Cruz was cheesey and predictable but plausible, hence myself being able to relate to this crap. It is kind of sad to think of my life resembling a bad movie!
Rating:
Summary: convoluted bullcrap
Review: I had come in with the title for this post already in mind, and was stunned when I saw how many other reviewers had already settled upon the term "convoluted" before me. I'll take that as validation. Somebody really, truly needs to pull Cameron Crowe aside at a cocktail party and drop the bombshell that he is just plain NOT the World's Greatest Screenwriter (...)Cameron Diaz is pretty, and does a competent job playing the derangedly clingy girlfriend. Problem is, her totally irrational response - turning homicidal / suicidal within seconds of professing her love for, uh, whatsisname - was yet another example of Crowe's trademark "convoluted bullcrap" style of fiction. A competent writer would have had Diaz's character, oh, I don't know, maybe start crying while driving, and maybe it's a little rainy out, and maybe she gets bleary eyed and ends up skidding into a head-on with a truck. But no, nothing's mundane or remotely believable in Crowe's universe - and nobody in his circle apparently has the sack to call him on his convoluted bullcrap - so instead she floors her muscle car and veers towards the closest bridge. Sure. Penelope Cruz is supremely overrated. She would barely EXIST in the U.S. market if Tom Cruise were not in need of another public "love interest." She barely exists in this movie as well, spending most of her time hovering about and cooing in Cruise's direction. Cruise himself chews the scenery, trying WAY too hard on a script that doesn't warrant the effort. He's just acting his li'l brains out the whole time, but because his character spends the entire film essentially drowning in a sea of convoluted bullcrap, it never comes across as anything BUT acting. This is the fault of the script, but it is also the fault of the actor with the lack of discernment as to the QUALITY of the script. (...). In closing, the only way "Vanilla Sky" could have redeemed itself in the end would have been to have Cruise's character wake up inside the pink goo of a Matrix pod, gagging on the feeding / breathing tubes, like Neo. THEN, and only then, I would have given it FIVE stars. As is, less than one.
Rating:
Summary: bad, bad movie
Review: This movie is a pathetic take of what an "oscar movie" should be. The problem is adding insane plot twists and odd new age (...) does not a good movie make. While the movie rambles about you wait for a deep meaningful ending, however in the end they offer only an implausible solution and hope you'll ignore all the holes and impossiblities in the plot. Do not see this movie. Yes it has good actors ( who do act well ) and a great director (Cameron Crow - Say Anying, Almost Famous etc ), but even they can't save this monstrosity of a movie.
I would like to say that Jason Lee is the one part of this movie I liked. Go see his other movies instead of wasting your money on this one.
Rating: 
Summary: Open your mind
Review: In some ways, I'm not too surprised to see all the negative attention surrounding this movie - too confusing, too convoluted, a total waste of time, etc. To put it frankly, I went to see this movie... , on a whim. I paid attention, it made sense. I went to see again, not... , to better understand it. Better movie. If you like it when a movie mindf-cks you, cough up the nine bucks and give it a try. It always cracks me up to hear people complain about how they wasted their money to watch a film that "made no sense." Take five minutes to read the reviews (most of them were negative anyway, and most of them explained it was a bit confusing as well).
later
Mikey
Rating:
Summary: When there is no point, it can't make sense.
Review: (*1/2 of 4) In the case of a film like this, one that follows an erotic Basic Instinct theme, I'd hope it had something other than just plain eroticness to keep the film at a natural flow. Cameron Crowe has mustered a formulative cast to go with a plot that combines a question of reality, mixed with a dirty late-night flick for mature audiences only. Vanilla Sky stars a rich man (Cruise) who is cheating on his "love" (Diaz) with another beauty (Cruz). When the worlds of knowledge combine, we are plunged into a new film that is meant more to pulverize our brains, rather than entertain our eyes. Vanilla Sky sounds like a corny family film that any goodie-goodie family would pick up for Friday night. Yet, this total mind-bending and serialistic nightmare film is a trick all in itself. Without giving anything away, I will say that it brings up questions and very interesting points that the film in itself won't answer, leaving us brain dead. I still don't understand how the Cruise/Crowe duel went from an outstanding Jerry Maguire to this. My figuring is that Crowe is shooting for something that will give rebirth to some of the brief "reality/alternate dimensional" thought provoker brilliance that made The Matrix so popular. His problem is that his doesn't make sense, especially with this genre and story that has been molted. All in all, this film really starts off well, and has a brilliant cast, but it is very much locked up in a tight nutshell that brings back the frustration of the first Mission: Impossible. The only difference is that this film is much worse in trying to comprehend. Maybe there is a point, but most audiences won't figure it out. I for one feel that Crowe should stick to his Jerry Maguire/Almost Famous streak, because those films are what made him into the excellent director he is today. If Cruz and Cruise keep making films life this together, I wonder how long they'll last with their relationship... QUOTE: "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 which there is no reality for."
Rating:
Summary: Good Acting, Good Idea, Bad Movie
Review: This movie was previously released in Spanish, and it was bad then, and worse now. Vanilla Sky is incredibly hard to follow, and the conclusion of it, (and explaination) at the end is so unrealistic, everyone in the theater is scratching their heads. I went to this movie, because I am a film nut, and heard, "Tom Cruise, genius movie" My friend saw it a weekend I wasn't in town, she told me she didn't get it at all, and wanted to go again and take me, so maybe i could explain it to her while we were watching. Let me tell ya, I was having a hard time dealing with his dreams vs. reality look of things, vs. his physcotic hallucinations everyonce in awhile. At least thats what they appear as. In the last five minutes of the movie they explain the last hour and half you were confused, and it doesn't even make that much sense. I wil give it props on the acting though, Penelope Cruz is absolutley capturing in the movie, she has such a cute witty charactor. Tom Cruise plays a facially deformed man for on and off parts of the movie, and is just brilliant, switching from crazy, to romantic, to cocky, and then depressed. He is all of the above, and does it all well. The idea for the movie was a genious one, but needed to be a little easier to follow and keep up with. Don't leave your audience COMPLETELY confused.
|
