Mind Bending Vanilla Sky

I saw this remake of the cult spanish film 'Abre Los Ojos' in my room a few nights ago and would like to say a few words.

First off I think this is TC's best work since 'Magnolia' (which I also rate highly) and proves once and for all that Cruise can indeed act. Cruise re-teams with Jerry Maguire Director, the talented Cameron Crowe to give us a mind bending, tantalizing film.

This moral story, makes the statement that for every action in our lives there is a reaction. The story centres on David Ames, a young irresponsible playboy, the only child of a publishing magnet who is left a business empire when he dies in a car crash.
Ames (Cruise) life involves endless 24 hour partys with plenty of sex thrown in for good measure. His good looks, together with a few billion dollars in the bank ensure the constant stream of babes throwing themselves at his feet.

Ames scary friend (also known as his sex buddy) played by the lovely Cameron Diaz is begining to get a little too clingy for his liking. In the meantime, during one of his partys, the playboys constantly roving eye picks out Sofia, the new girl friend of his best pal (Jason Lee).

Hitting it off perfectly with Sofia (Penelope Cruz) he finally finds his soul mate in life. Or so it would seem.

What happens next is the equivalent of climbing the worlds longest escalator, reaching the last step, then finding yourself at the bottom again. Suddenly, Ames is charged with murder and is constantly quizzed by his shrink (played superbly by Kurt Russel) while in custody. At the same time, the seven dwarfs (Ames nickname for the board members of his company) are on the verge of wrenching control (Ames was left 51%) of the company due to his mental state.

The major surprise of this movie is the acting ability of Cameron Diaz. The words scary, believable and spectacular come to mind.

I won't go further in case of spoilers, suffice to say that I can't recommend this movie enough.

Eric

Whoops, nearly forgot. Brilliant soundtrack as well.

Eric

[pointon]

This film strikes me as being along the same vein as AI... Totally mysterious right to the end, puzzling and disturbing. Unlike AI however, I loved this film.

Originally posted by pointon
This film strikes me as being along the same vein as AI... Totally mysterious right to the end, puzzling and disturbing. Unlike AI however, I loved this film.

I agree with the similarities though I have to say I loved AI. Its strange that Haley Joel Osment's character was also called David.

Regards
Eric

[groundy]

I thought Vanilla Sky and A.I. were two of the best films I've seen recently. Both made you think and were very original but I thought A.I. should have ended possible ** SPOILER ** below:
.
[spoiler removed by admin]

All that stuff in the future was ok but a tad too sentimental.

[Rob]

A very enjoyble movie. Very much like Magnolia (as has been said) and a little bit matrix-ey, IE is this real life or not ?? These would rate as two of my top movies so I was well pleased.

Only critisism would be that the continuation was a bit poor. A person would jump about a bit during scenes, which was a bit distracting. Don't know if this was intentional.

Also, Tom Cruises scars varied considerably at different times. One minuit they were quite scarey, the next, not as bad and then back to scarey again. Obvoiusly shot on different days.

Did anyone else notice this??

Rob.

Finally - a Magnolia fan. It's a shame that people opinions of Cruises acting abilities are usually scarred by the poor movies they've seen him in. He was fantastic in Magnolia, and almost as good in Vanilla Sky.

....However I wouldn't say it was very much like Magnolia at all apart from TC and some slick visuals, Magnolia was about family for a start. That, and about a billion other things actually - so its not hard perhaps to find likeness in a lot of films.

[Rob]

Originally posted by redlum

I wouldn't say it was very much like Magnolia at all apart from TC and some slick visuals, Magnolia was about family for a start. That, and about a billion other things actually - so its not hard perhaps to find likeness in a lot of films.

Not in the sense of what its about, more of a particular mood. Difficult to explain. The quality of acting in Magnolia never ceases to astound me, particularly Cruise and Julianne Moore, who gave arguably the best performances of thier career to date.

Rob.

[buns]

I was totally confused and mentally exhauseted by the time i had finished watching this! I didnt like it at all....

Admittedly though......I went in expecting something deeply romantic (gf present and all)......so that may be part of the reason i was disappointed.....given such good comments above.....maybe i'll get the dvd and see it again.

Ad

I saw this last night and thought it was brilliant. So was Cruise.

Chip

I watched Vanilla Sky for the first time last night and thought it was superb. I'm also a big fan of Magnolia.

Has anyone seen 'Abre Los Ojos'? If so, I'd be interested to hear how it compares.

I have seen Abre los ojos, but not the remake!!
I think the original was OK. I often find the American remakes of often brilliant french, spanish and italian movies to be .... mediocre. Maybe this is an exception.

[GearHead]

Good film, realy enjoyed it. However, I didn't particularly like the plot device which explained to the audience exactly what had happened. I felt the film contained enough clues in retrospect to piece together what was going on. Can you imagine a David Lynch movie where someone appears at the end of the film to explain it all !!

****** SPOILER ALERT ******

Here is how I think Vanilla Sky should have ended: Following the discussion about the Lucid Dream option at the LFE, Cruise should have ran, panicked and confused, as he did but ascend to the top of the building on his own. When he got there he could have been greeted and had brief conversations variously with his friend (Jason Lee), Penelope and the psychiatrist. Following these brief conversations he realises he must jump off the building. He does so, a nurse says: "Wake up Davd", he opens his eyes. The audience says "What the f***" then over the next few hours/days piece together for themselves what actually happend.

***************************

BTW, before I saw the film I'd picked up on the rumours about Cruise being heavilly disguised in this move and at first I thought he was playing the role of David AND the character who was actually played by Jason Lee. Did no one else see the similarity, Jason Lee looked just like Tom Cruise with a beard and slightly larger teeth. Oh, and taller.

Allan

Originally posted by Noman
I have seen Abre los ojos, but not the remake!!
I think the original was OK. I often find the American remakes of often brilliant french, spanish and italian movies to be .... mediocre. Maybe this is an exception.

If you thought the original was just OK, then I'd say this probably is an exception. It really is very well made IMO.

Originally posted by GearHead
However, I didn't particularly like the plot device which explained to the audience exactly what had happened. I felt the film contained enough clues in retrospect to piece together what was going on. Can you imagine a David Lynch movie where someone appears at the end of the film to explain it all !!

I would agree with you to a certain extent here. I didn't find this film particularly "strenuous" to watch probably because I am used to pondering Lynch's ridiculously complex plots as well as the fantastically intricate plot for Donnie Darko. I felt rather patronised by the lengthy explanations part of the movie. These should have been shorter IMO (I don't like your reworked ending though - sorry, mate ).

What you have to remember though is that this is a Hollywood film, made to be a "blockbuster". If it's not explained in sufficient detail, the Americans just won't get it. If you watched any of the featurettes on the DVD, you will see that the original test showing of Vanilla Sky was not successful because the audience didn't understand what was going on - they therefore had to have a major rethink about all the scenes and Cameron Crowe talked about one school of thought in moviemaking that emphasises "the importance of clarity".

Originally posted by GearHead
Did no one else see the similarity, Jason Lee looked just like Tom Cruise with a beard and slightly larger teeth. Oh, and taller.

I didn't see the similarity at all.

After I watched the movie, I watched the trailers and yet again, I'm so glad that I hadn't seen any trailers for this movie before I watched it. I'm also glad I didn't see the video by Afrika Bambaata. Watching either of these would have ruined a lot of the movie for me because they all included way too much footage for my liking!

[GearHead]

Squirrel God,

Im not offended that you don't like the 'explanation-less' ending, just to my mind it just didn't need any explanation at all. The film contained sufficient clues to work out what happened such as the frequent references to the frozen dog. The scene in the bar/restaurant where David is visited by 'tech-support' was very jarring in the movie, almost like the movie had stopped, you were hit over the head by a big clue, then the movie carried on. The discussion about the lucid dream option. All these things can be re-assembled after the movie has finished to figure out a plausible explanation. I really love to be able to do that for myself and then re-watch a film to confirm my own conclusions.

Donnie Darko. I watched this film last weekend and it's hardly left my mind since. When I saw the movie for the first time I thought I had a reasonable grasp on what had happened. It turns out I was wrong. I watched the movie again, listening to the directors commentry and there is stuff in there that really changed my interpretation of the film. You also need to read "The Philosophy of Time Travel" contained in the disk's supplements as this pretty much explains completely what the movie is about and the various roles of all the characters. What struck me the second time watching this movie is just how deeply sad (unhappy) Donnie Darko is (just my opinion) and how haunting the Tears For Fears track at the end of the film is. Top film.

Allan