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| Vanilla Sky | 
| Category: Movie
This item is no longer available
Avg. Customer Rating:  787 reviews
Sales Rank: 12567
Rating: R (Restricted)
Media: Video On Demand
Running Time: 136 minutes
ASIN: B000IZ8VDK
Theatrical Release Date: December 13, 2001
Release Date: November 13, 2008 (New: Last 30 Days)
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| Customer Reviews:
 Very Good Film January 7, 2006
3 out of 7 found this review helpful
It seems to me that this is one of many films that you either get and you like, or you don't get and you hate. If you have an open mind when it comes to movies, then you might like it a lot. The negative reviews about the film seem to be because the reviewer didn't understand the film, and therefore was frustrated into attacking it. I love how people who don't get a movie say that the people who think highly of it are "acting smart" just because they think it makes them smart to like a particular film. It has nothing to do with intelligence in my view. All it is to me is perception. So if you like films with a science fiction flavor and you're open minded, then this is a five-star film. If not, don't waste your time with this one. You'd be better off going to see a movie that spells out every aspect of it's essence with perfect clarity. For those people I recommend something more along the lines of "Finding Nemo", or "Star Trek:The Wrath of Khan". For the rest, this is a great film.
Life-changing movie January 4, 2006
7 out of 10 found this review helpful
I've watched many films - some are just disgarded as a waste of time. Others are thoughtful and remain in the memory for some time. And some a very good. Vanilla Sky is the best film I have ever seen. The only film that has actually affected how I live life. I saw the film in the cinema and I thought I liked it but I wasn't 100% sure because I didn't understand it fully. I watched it again and again (probably about 12 times now) and each time it just seemed to get better.
The film probably has it's flaws. But these are so outweighed by the plusses that I can't see them.
The soundtrack of the film is incredible. I'm not referring to the actual commercial CD of the soundtrack because I believe that more than half of the films tracks are not on the CD. I instantly took to the Sigur ros song that was played when David jumped off the rooftop at the end. I then heard it on the radio on night and decided that I had to get that tune. It took a few hours to track it down using the internet, but I learned all about Sigur Ros in the process. I bought their records and they are now by far my favourite band.
Anyway, the film itself has so many emotions and themes running through it that you identify with some of it. Obviously not the sci-fi part.
Temptation/Consequences - It's human nature to be tempted into wronful actions. How many times have we ruined love and friendship by wrong deeds. The lead character was revitalised after leaving Sofias house in the morning. He could have lived another 40 years in happiness and true love. But he got in the car and his life was ruined. On a personal note, I've done stupid things which nearly ruined the best relationship of my life. This film has made me really think.
Love - We dont appreciate love till something goes wrong
Anybody who can't understand the film should watch it again. Even a third time. That's when it all falls into place.
As for the reviewer who posted on 2 Jan 2006, he thinks Far and
Away was a good movie and doesn't like "hard to follow" movies.
Go rent a bunch of cartoons if you want to be entertained!! Don't dismiss a good film cause you don't understand it.
 Tom Cruise Makes Another Flop January 2, 2006
3 out of 7 found this review helpful
This guy hasn't made a decent movie since Far and Away. Vanilla Sky is just another one of those out-there movies that you have to think way to hard to follow. Then on top of this, the story is a mind bender only to conceal the ending. They try to keep you guessing till the end where you will be completely let down by the lame ending. The only scene worth wathcing in this whole movie is when they get in that car crash, but that was probably only worth seeing in the movie theater with the great sound and big screen. You couldn't pay me to see another Tom Cruise movie after his long string of wierd movies. To top it off the guy has been rated as the most annoying actor of 2005. I think its affecting the movies.
Paint My Skies Hues of Vanilla...and Black December 30, 2005
3 out of 5 found this review helpful
There's a lot of reasons why somebody would want you to believe this is a bad movie.
"The movies disguises confusion as deep plot" is a common one.
This movie is an amazing cinematic experience. For the people who said "poorly developed plot, specifically between Cruise & Cruz," well, the answer for that is in the last few minutes! The movie is AWARE of that fact and also gives you the reason! This movie is not one for casual viewing: it demands that you pay attention to every scene, the dialogues as well as the on-screen visuals. You can't just take a 40-second run to the fridge while the movie is running...a masterfully told story, with great music and greater lines.
SPOILER (SORT OF)
David Aames isn't exactly the kind of guy Average Joe Six-Pack can associate with: he's rich, better looking than 99% of us, sleeps with women who are about 10 times hotter than the ones we sleep with, lives life king size and doesn't even work (sort of). But even this flamboyant-sexy-rich hunk ends up making that one mistake that we all have committed at least once when we were younger: concocting an imaginary fairytale romance with somebody we love (read fascinated/obsessed with) so strongly for reasons unknown that in our little imaginary world, she's the perfect woman, who loves our jokes, loves us regardless of anything else, doesn't seem to care about money and is just too damn sweet. We barely know these girls/women, maybe engage in 3-minute conversations a few times a week at the water cooler and flash each other bright smiles down the hallway. It doesn't qualify for any kind of relationship (maybe except that guy/gal from work/school)...but in our young, love-lusting minds, they are the perfect saviours for our lovelorn lives. This is the essence of this movie...one that causes me to identify with Tom Cruise's character in the movie (yeah, even I was 17 once). But this movie, takes that 17-year-old-romance factor and makes it believable when it afflicts Tom Cruise. That, is an achievement in great storytelling.
I haven't seen the original and I'm sure it must be a good movie...but I still wonder if it can top the Cruise/Crowe experience.
Excellent choice for repeat viewings (in the same category as Terminator 2: Judgement Day. At least I can't seem to tire of these two...surprisingly, I no longer feel like sitting through The Matrix that frequently!)
P.S. You must really love this movie if you understand the title. I realized it after the 10th time (or something) I saw it. Its the scene, the morning-after the nightclub scene. It's shown twice in the movie - Halfway through and at the very end. Well, just observe the sky and notice what the reason for that Vanilla Sky is!
 Vanilla Sky (2001) December 29, 2005
0 out of 1 found this review helpful
Director: Cameron Crowe
Cast: Tom Cruise, Penelope Cruz, Cameron Diaz, Kurt Russell, Jason Lee, Noah Taylor, Timothy Spall, Tilda Swinton, Michael Shannon.
Running Time: 136 minutes
Rated R for sexuality and strong language.
"Almost Famous" was Cameron Crowe's deeply felt ode to rock and roll, a personal journey that was one of the most highly acclaimed films of 2000. In keeping with the rock theme, "Vanilla Sky" could be considered Crowe's cover version of the Alejandro Amenabar's 1997 mind-bender "Open Your Eyes." Reteaming with his "Jerry Maguire" star Tom Cruise, Crowe has taken the lukewarm original vision and twisted it in to a thoroughly bizarre, yet unmercifully enthralling picture. David Aames (Tom Cruise) is an unapologetic, filthy rich playboy who heads a publishing empire and enjoys life to the fullest. At his birthday party, David, through his best friend Brian (Jason Lee), meets Sofia (Penelope Cruz). The two have instant chemistry, and David begins to have real feelings of love for her, something which angers Julie (Cameron Diaz), an old flame. Julie invites David into her car for a ride one afternoon, and promptly crashes it, killing her and disfiguring David. Dazed and confused, David must learn to live again with his disfigurement, and also confront his reality. A reality that is quickly spinning out of his control and heading toward dementia.
Written and directed by Crowe, "Vanilla Sky" is about as extreme a left turn as a filmmaker can make these days and he creates an extending, hallucinogenic film that succeeds only because Crowe is taking such a leap of faith. The higher aspirations for "Vanilla Sky" set Crowe's imagination afire. Taking on bigger topics such as the media-suffocating world and the true consequences of casual sex, Crowe's loftier ambitions with "Vanilla Sky" are miles away from his usual territory of optimism and love. It's a change that I wasn't comfortable with at first, but soon realized that this stretching of the artistic muscles seems to suit Crowe. A director with an incredible gift for visuals (the opening scene set in a completely abandoned Times Square is a knockout) and music placement (Crowe even includes a long forgotten Monkees tune "The Porpoise Song" in his kaleidoscope of a soundtrack), Crowe takes the audience on a journey of multiple realities this time out. A place where all might not be as it seems. Dangerous, even for a man who once asked Eddie Vedder to act, but the new direction opens Crowe up in an all new light. Though I would be disappointed if he completely dropped his heartfelt stories that shaped the foundation of his career, I can rest assured that he can hold his own with even the most peculiar of stories.
Enlisting Tom Cruise into the fold is a stroke of genius, since the actor seems to be the most comfortable under Crowe's direction. "Vanilla Sky" asks a lot of Cruise. It forces him to act with heavy prosthetics for the first time in his career and the character also confronts the very golden boy image that Cruise spent the better part of the last decade trying to bury six feet under. Hyper, convincing, and brutally committed, Cruise takes the challenge of "Vanilla Sky" very seriously. He comes away with an enriching performance that rivals the best work of his career. It helps to have great backup as well from actors the likes of Lee, Cruz, Diaz, Kurt Russell, Noah Taylor and Timothy Spall. It may seem from the opening that this is a no-brainer role for Cruise. Just wait. As the narrative mire becomes deeper, the intensity of his performance grows with each passing minute. While it is a remake (and a pretty straight one at that), "Vanilla Sky" does have many hurdles to cross that Amenabar's "Open Your Eyes" didn't even need to consider. With a bigger star and a budget roughly 60 times larger, Crowe and Cruise have to be very careful to make sure the audience doesn't begin to lose interest in the jigsaw puzzle story. They clarify the plot more efficiently than Amenabar did, and they don't leave the public cold in the end as the original did. "Open Your Eyes" was a scrappier, less involving yarn, as it had less at stake, and that was the very reason I didn't respond to it. "Vanilla Sky" is more urgent with its drama, more interested in keeping the story moving and not relying on the third act twist which propels this tale from being merely a brain-tickler to a full out acid trip. "Sky" is not an easy film to like, and for a big-budget holiday picture, seems and often acts as uncommercial as they come. Yet under all the deranged images, all the nightmare narrative and all the unsightly Tom Cruise, there is a motion picture that does the unthinkable. It is actually quite better than the film it's remaking. To see growth in talent and audacity in project selection from Crowe is certainly a treat, for "Vanilla Sky" is a solid entry from the director and promises some more changes of pace in the future. As long as he continues to have his heart buried somewhere beneath all the madness, we have nothing to worry about.
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