Rating: 
Summary: Sometimes deep, sometimes boring but always easy to watch...
Review: ...is this movie about two yuppies Cole and Peterson searching for the sense of life. The story is quickly told: Jeff and Marty leave their families behind to go on a trip to a beautiful island where they fall in love with the same woman who is played by the amazingly sexy Sheryl Lee. Although "Kiss The Sky" goes on for too long itÂ's never really hard to watch since there are beautiful locations and a nice supporting cast which includes Terence Stamp ("Bliss"), Patricia Charbonneau ("CallMe") and Season Hubley ("Hardcore"). The three leading actors are great, too - although I wasnÂ't completely convinced by PetersonÂ's performance (but maybe thatÂ's my fault since I just know him as a tough cop in "Manhunter" and "To Live and Die in L.A.").Another positive aspect of "Kiss The Sky" is the nice soundtrack by Leonard Cohen (I especially like "Dance Me To The End Of Love"). Not everyoneÂ's taste, but if you like the actors you might also like "Kiss The Sky
Rating:
Summary: Kiss the sky is an interesting movie
Review: A movie like this stands on its own as a rare, once-in-a-while gamble. It's always surprising that such movies are made because they are not the typical Hollywood ilk; they take genuine risks and do not play to the least common denominator. I was shocked to read some very negative reviews concerning this film. Yes, the film's tone and feeling are awkward and jumbled but I interpret this optimistically as an existential statement about these two mens' lives. It is as if--awoken from a decades' long, Los Angeles coma--they recall what it was to have been truly alive and full of hope for the future. They have fallen and they know it. From young adulthood in Northern California to a waning middle age in Southern California, they have made a journey downwards. To remedy the fall, they escape... by going far to the side, neither East nor West. Once there, they realize what has happened with their lives; in the words of Gary Cole's character: "That's what I thought, this is all just a mistake." Their interpretation of life as delusion and suffering feels true, though the stumbling attempt to address this realization leaves one reeling. The epiphany recalls Kafka's frightening story, In the Penal Colony. The comprehension of your `crime' always comes too late, but just in time for you to recognize its meaning and truly understand the horror of it all. The characters are sympathetic but not necessarily likable. They are self-indulgent. Just as their forgetfulness of the important things led them into a life of quiet misery, so their practiced art allows them to forget the sacred duties that they have haplessly committed themselves to: marriage and parenthood. In contrast to other reviewers, I found the characters well-cast. Terrence Stamp steals the show as an itinerant Dutch monk who shows an artful degree of compassion for his American friends. His insights are neither cliché nor pretentious but always pithy and well-timed. The true highlight of this film is its haunting music. Rarely has a movie been so nicely accompanied. The Leonard Cohen lyrics are sung by a deep, lingering voice that seems to echo the tired spirits of these washed-up men.
Rating: 
Summary: Believable
Review: A movie like this stands on its own as a rare, once-in-a-while gamble. It's always surprising that such movies are made because they are not the typical Hollywood ilk; they take genuine risks and do not play to the least common denominator. I was shocked to read some very negative reviews concerning this film. Yes, the film's tone and feeling are awkward and jumbled but I interpret this optimistically as an existential statement about these two mens' lives. It is as if--awoken from a decades' long, Los Angeles coma--they recall what it was to have been truly alive and full of hope for the future. They have fallen and they know it. From young adulthood in Northern California to a waning middle age in Southern California, they have made a journey downwards. To remedy the fall, they escape... by going far to the side, neither East nor West. Once there, they realize what has happened with their lives; in the words of Gary Cole's character: "That's what I thought, this is all just a mistake." Their interpretation of life as delusion and suffering feels true, though the stumbling attempt to address this realization leaves one reeling. The epiphany recalls Kafka's frightening story, In the Penal Colony. The comprehension of your 'crime' always comes too late, but just in time for you to recognize its meaning and truly understand the horror of it all. The characters are sympathetic but not necessarily likable. They are self-indulgent. Just as their forgetfulness of the important things led them into a life of quiet misery, so their practiced art allows them to forget the sacred duties that they have haplessly committed themselves to: marriage and parenthood. In contrast to other reviewers, I found the characters well-cast. Terrence Stamp steals the show as an itinerant Dutch monk who shows an artful degree of compassion for his American friends. His insights are neither cliché nor pretentious but always pithy and well-timed. The true highlight of this film is its haunting music. Rarely has a movie been so nicely accompanied. The Leonard Cohen lyrics are sung by a deep, lingering voice that seems to echo the tired spirits of these washed-up men.
Rating:
Summary: interesting, excellant dialogue
Review: an interesting movie, very good dialogue, very good acting, it also moves along at a fairly quick pace.
Rating:
Summary: Three and a half stars --- Flawed, but
Review: Flawed, but much better than "American Beauty." An interesting meditation on suburban affluent male mid-life crisis and the search for meaning. Petersen's character here is a variation on his CSI persona --- cerebral, but more of a searcher, more plagued by doubt, more Eastern in his thinking, and more sexual. I disliked "American Beauty" -- I found it to be a grossly insincere and overly simplistic parody of its subject matter. This film, however, even in spite of its (several) miscues, left me wanting to know more about the characters and their lives. It resonates with much more complex dialogue and thought-processes behind the writing. A worthy alternative (and to my mind, a much better alternative) to American Beauty ---- but with more explicit sex themes and scenes.
Rating:
Summary: Three and a half stars --- Flawed, but
Review: Flawed, but much better than "American Beauty." An interesting meditation on suburban affluent male mid-life crisis and the search for meaning. Petersen's character here is a variation on his CSI persona --- cerebral, but more of a searcher, more plagued by doubt, more Eastern in his thinking, and more sexual. I disliked "American Beauty" -- I found it to be a grossly insincere and overly simplistic parody of its subject matter. This film, however, even in spite of its (several) miscues, left me wanting to know more about the characters and their lives. It resonates with much more complex dialogue and thought-processes behind the writing. A worthy alternative (and to my mind, a much better alternative) to American Beauty ---- but with more explicit sex themes and scenes.
Rating:
Summary: A Great Way to Revisit A Southeast Asia Trek
Review: I spent 6 months traveling Southeast Asia after college with a school chum. This film captures the beauty and mystery of the area, as well as a VHS possibly could. This film has an interesting, though eccentric, story line -- overall a very entertaining film for a regular-guy movie buff. Rekindles the right-of-passage trek feeling and enjoyably addresses the question; Who are we? & What should we do about it? Just sent a copy to the guy I did the trip with.
Rating:
Summary: That Movie that Oppressed Over 40 guys have been waiting for
Review: I've been in the video biz for 20 years because I love movies--especially those amazing auteur classics Hollywood somehow let slide for so long in the 70s-- and I'm now 48, comfortable, guilty, confused, and feeling totally misunderstood, misjudged, and about to give up. Then I run across "Kiss the Sky", this incredible movie that actually tries to honestly describe the emptiness inherent in being a successful upper middle class (probably white) American Male. How many buddy movies have you seen like "City Slickers" or "Very Bad Things" that almost get that ineffable feeling of loss and despair right only to cop out with lowest common denominator humor or cheap sentiment? "Kiss the Sky", given the times and given the state of the movie industry is the closest we'll ever get. Deftly sidestepping cliches and easy answers, this tale of 2 middle aged guys who are smart enough to know that their material success doesn't mean that much and isn't really their doing anyway goes bravely if imperfectly where no movie that I have ever seen has gone before. ("Leaving Las Vegas" has some resonance but it's ultimately a one man story, not a generational statement.) I don't know where this movie came from or how it got made or who was nuts enough to think it had any commercial viability (it doesn't except if it's hawked as a hard R straight-to-video cheapie, and the person who wants that will be disappointed by this.) Anyway, if I'm speaking to you, watch this movie!
Rating: 
Summary: Puerile and embarassing
Review: It can't be the worst movie I have ever seen, because I have seen so many bad ones. But it's close. Pompous, ridiculous, self important dialogue that goes on and on and makes no sense. Phony, insincere performances that make the phrase "stilted" a compliment. Everyone is painfully miscast. I suspect that participation in this flick by cast and crew was obtained because everybody got a neat, free trip to the beautiful Phillipines, although that being said, the cinematography is weak and doesn't do it justice. The worst stuff is the "erotic' material, i.e., a couple of pg-rated sex scenes, including a three way between the two men and Sheryl Lee (the prime reason my husband rented it I guess), which was so awkward that it performs the odd, moraliistic job of making kinky sex look BORING. And the actors look painfully embarassed all during. I felt sorry for them. If I were in this mess, my goal would be the make enough money to buy up all the copies and the master print and have it destroyed.
Rating:
Summary: Flawed but Deeeeeeep! If not too endearing
Review: It's pretty hard to really like or admire either of the two main characters. And the same can be said for the lead female role. But the truths that they collectively utter are often so profound and insightful that it's hard not to be totally taken with this film despite its obvious shortcomings. It very much reminded me of the tv series Thirtysomething. That show had (to me) the most annoying, winey, and pathetic characters imaginable. Most of which I really hated individually. But collectively they dealt with more sincerity, reality, and honesty than any other show of it's type i've ever seen. The two male characters are both so lost and clueless that it's hard to have any sympathy for either of them. And the lead actress' character is in such a state of denial about her true self and feelings that she engenders no sympathetic feelings either. William Petersen's character (at least) comes to some sort of maturity by the end of the film. But throughout his life he's simply been a follower of the status quo which in and of itself is not necessarily a bad thing. But he initially rejects his life (the status quo) because he realizes that he hasn't followed his own voice. So he endeavors to do so. Ultimately he realizes that there is virtue, truth, contentment, and honesty in the status quo but he needed to go on his own individual journey to come to that point. It's an exploration of what makes us tick as men, women, husbands, wives, lovers, providers, friends, adventurers, and spirits. Could it have been better... certainly. But the real question is how many other films even have dared to touch some of the subject matter that Kiss the Sky embraces. Very few in my experience. For that the film is worthy of 5 stars alone. But the execution, story development or lack thereof, and shallowness of the characters detracts from the overall quality of the film and is probably only worthy of 3 stars. An ambitious effort with imperfect results. But not to be missed.
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