Vanilla Sky

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Evan W Mind-bending throughout! Keeps you on the edge of your toes until the final credits. Powerful acting by Tom Cruise and Penélope Cruz. Don’t miss!! Rated 5/5 Stars •  Rated 5 out of 5 stars 05/12/25 Full Review Audience Member Why 5 Stars? When a song on the radio elicits visions of a movie 20+ years after the fact, you know the artists hit the mark. No Spoilers in this review. Driving with my now adult daughter, Solsbury Hill (Peter Gabriel) came up on a Spotify playlist. It immediately invoked feelings of human tragedy and love lost from this movie. I asked my daughter if she'd ever seen or heard about Vanilla Sky? She said "no, and it doesn't look too good....it has a 42 on Rotten Tomatoes". I was shocked but it wouldn't be the first time my memory of a 20 year old event had drifted. So, I pledged to watch the movie again last night. I knew/remembered the overall storyline in general. Even so, I was left guessing about aspects David's (Cruise) journey and dream. The casting (other than Kurt Russel as McCabe) was spot on. The main characters are fairly deep a provide a commentary on the human condition in the areas of love, loss, envy and mortality. This may be Tom Cruise's best overall acting performance during the several years before he became typecast as an action hero. Playing the rich narcissistic playboy was not a stretch. Watching the "David Aames" character morph as layers of the onion were stripped away revealed Cruise actually has acting talent. Several times, I forgot I was watching a movie and felt real empathy for the character. Cameron Diaz also nailed the schizophrenic "Julie Gianni"; playing a perfect girlfriend, 1990's NYC good time girl, society gold digger and fatal attraction stalker equally convincingly. Like Cruise, she evoked a range feelings from envy to pity to fear. Penelope Cruz was perfectly cast for "Sofia". She exudes "life" with a captivating infectiousness and the viewer never wonders how a "most eligible bachelor" would become instantly smitten. The rest of the cast did a convincing job of selling their characters... except for Kurt Russel. He never came off as being fatherly or a caring psychologist. I always felt like he was impatient and never wanted to be wherever he was. The writing and directing keeps you guessing about what is real and what's not. When tech support explains things at the end, the pieces fit and there's the "aha moment". Some psychological sci-fi movies leave an empty feeling at the end when the puzzle is unsolvable. Not Vanilla Sky. Two hours plus is enough guessing time and the answers are welcomed. Rated 5/5 Stars •  Rated 5 out of 5 stars 04/30/25 Full Review Kyle C It’s got a strong ending and the directing is good! Tom Cruise once again plays a major weirdo very effectively (probably because he actually is one). Cameron Diaz is super unpleasant to watch but I think that’s intentional; she’s really creepy here. But none of the characters are able to generate much sympathy from the audience. Each one of them, and presumably their actors and all the writers, seem to think they’re the most charming people on Earth, and it gets old really fast. But the big trouble with this film is that the first half of it is almost purely a romance flick without much else going on, and the bigger trouble is that it’s just not even a very good romance flick. It meanders and doesn’t give you much to care about. As much as I appreciate a tightly-wrapped ending, it can’t make up for the messy rest of the film. Rated 3/5 Stars •  Rated 3 out of 5 stars 04/25/25 Full Review Jeremy L This movie is one of the most underrated movies of all time. It intricately speaks to the human experience, both conscious and subconscious, almost as well as the myth of Orpheus and Eurydice. The writer has clearly read his Miguel de Unamuno... it's the little thing that matter. Also, the soundtrack is 🔥 Rated 5/5 Stars •  Rated 5 out of 5 stars 03/28/25 Full Review Leprechaun K Original and trippy. One of my favorite Cruise films. Rated 4/5 Stars •  Rated 4 out of 5 stars 03/02/25 Full Review Ben B One of my favorite movies. I like the story, acting and especially the ending! Rated 5/5 Stars •  Rated 5 out of 5 stars 02/03/25 Full Review Read all reviews

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