Penelope Cruz Movie:

Editorial Review:
Vanilla Sky reunites director Cameron Crowe (Jerry Maguire) with über-playboy Tom Cruise, adds another sexy Cruz (Penélope) and Cameron Diaz for good measure, and delivers a wildly entertaining, bizarre venture into erotic science fiction. Adapted near exactly from Spanish filmmaker Alejandro Amenábar's 1997 romantic thriller Open Your Eyes, the film follows David Aames (Cruise) as he falls from his graceful Manhattan perch of inordinate wealth, good looks, and newfound love with Sofia (Cruz) because of severe facial disfigurement in a car accident caused by a suicidal ex-lover (Diaz). What at first promises to be a conventional allegory of redemption via true love is turned on its head as Cruise's character, reduced to wearing a latex mask and spurned by his friends, wins back his princess only after a miracle of plastic surgery restores his former beauty. A series of plot twists follows as waking life, technological advances, and nightmares flip-flop to dizzying effect and David ultimately comes face to face with his own mortality. Despite a final conceit to some vague morality, the appeal of the film is the wonderfully callous message conveyed by the rest of it (money and physical beauty equal happiness) through an unabashed vanity perfectly embodied by Cruise and Cruz. A delicious, decadent treat. --Fionn Meade

Vanilla Sky [Region 2] Reviews:
"Every Passing Minute is Another Chance to Turn it All Around"
2009-09-13 - VANILLA SKY is a polarizing film because it is a mainstream-Hollywood/avant-garde-art-house hybrid.

Mainstream moviegoers were largely disoriented and repulsed when Tom Cruise's latest romantic comedy blockbuster turned out to be a mind-twisting SF nightmare.

On the flip side, film-hipsters had trouble wrapping their heads around the fact that their friends-with-taste-in-movies were actually insisting that they see this incredible (but hard to describe) movie by the director of JERRY MAGUIRE. Huh??

So the lesson here? Hollywood zombies and film-snots lost out big-time because their minds and eyes were closed. Meanwhile, open-minded filmgoers around the world were treated to one of the single most surprising, affecting, and memorable movies of all time.

No hyperbole.

So, my advice to mainstream moviegoers: Go into this one knowing that it is not (just) a romantic comedy starring Tom Cruise and yet another set of (extremely) pretty faces. Expect the unexpected, take in what you can, and enjoy the ride.

Filmsnobs? Listen to your friends. Being snobs, you probably don't have many, but at least the ones you have exhibit good taste in movies.

It's something like ETERNAL SUNSHINE OF THE SPOTLESS MIND meets MULHOLLAND DR., meets eXistenZ meets DONNIE DARKO meets, well, JERRY MAGUIRE.

Um...

But what I like best about VANILLA SKY is the way it is simultaneously - and successfully - a Hollywood/anti-Hollywood film. The story exhalts our childish dreams of endless life, perfect beauty, and eternal love, even as it pounds home the ultimate futility of these grand delusions. It shows us the mindblowing beauty of living in our own perfect - and perfectly infantile - dreamworld, even as it reveals the wisdom and humanity in trading in our dreamworlds to experience the one and only real thing.

Fianlly, VANILLA SKY asks David Ames (played by Cruise) and us, his esteemed panel of observers, the ultimate question: "What is happiness to you?" I have to say that Ames' answer was something quite similar to what my own would be. And if a panel of all-seeing observers out there could ask you the same question, and read your mind for the answer, they'd probably find you answered the same basic way Dave and I did. Just guessing.

In short, this film gives you an staggering amount to feel, think, see, and talk about with your loved ones and friends (friendless films-nobs can even type about it on their blogs).

Haven't seen it yet yourself? Well, every passing minute is another chance...

I just don't see it...
2009-09-09 - After reading the comparisons here in the reviews between the two movies "Vanilla Sky" and "Abre Los Ojos," I thought I'd see what the fuss was about from those suggesting/arguing that the latter was so much greater than the other. Perhaps opinion in this, as with most everyhting, will inevitably depend upon the person giving it, but still, I don't agree with this sentiment at all.

Sure, there are some idiosyncrosies in Crowe's style, but all in all, Vanilla Sky came across as a much more well pieced together story than Ojos, from character development (including Cruz's), scripting, the matter of piecing together the bits and pieces that comprise the timeline of the movie, and in the acting (I particularly felt Cruise did much better than his counterpart). I believe the real selling point for myself in choosing VS over Ojos is simply that it goes more deeply into the themes carrying the story to its closing, ie, some of the observations of the manner in how the actions/attitudes we carry on in our day to day lives can be so affecting (ironic, however, that Cruise's involvement with Cruz while creating this film led to the dissolution of his marriage).

It's just a pretty darn good flick. In my opinion.

Abre los Ojos
2009-07-04 - Clearly, this movie isn't for everyone. As many people love it as hate it. But I think it's amazing. It's a great love story that seems to defy genre classification. To me it's more than a rent and I'm glad to own it, but I'd recommend anyone who hasn't seen it to rent it first; you may hate it.

It's an amazing movie!! And maybe just what you've always hoped to see.
2009-07-03 - I've loved Vanilla Sky since the first time I saw it. I instantly fell in love with it, so I'm definitely part of the "love it" camp. I'm not going to go too much into the details of the plot in this review as 788 people have said probably all that could be. I must caution potential viewers to please NOT allow your opinion of Tom Cruise to affect your opinion of this movie. He plays this role quite well and convincingly, as the David Ames character he plays might not be so different from the real Tom Cruise. Life immitating art, art immitating life...blah, blah, blah..

In short, it's a great film on many levels. It's a thriller, it's a drama, it makes you think. The ending is sad yet hopeful. As everyone has said, you'll probably either love and appreciate this film, or find it nothing but senseless junk. I definitely think this movie is a classic, that may be appreciated in a greater sense somewhere down the line. Right now, Tom Cruise's personal life overshadows how great this moview actually is.

A really weird film
2009-06-29 - Vanilla Sky
A really nice romp into the world of the mind. It gives you alot to think about when it's over.One of Tom Cruise's best performances not to mention Ms'Cruz's beauty.They are electric on screen together.