Vanilla Sky
by Cameron Crowe
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DVD Cover Information
Actor: Cameron Diaz, Jason Lee, Kurt Russell, Penélope Cruz, Tom CruiseDirector: Cameron Crowe
Brand: CRUISE,TOM
Producer: Cameron Crowe
Writer: Cameron Crowe
Producer: Bill Block
Producer: Danny Bramson
Producer: Donald J. Lee Jr.
Writer: Alejandro Amenábar
Writer: Mateo Gil
DVD: Region Code 1
Audio: English (Unknown); English (Subtitled); English (Original Language); French (Original Language)
Format: Closed-captioned, Color, Dolby, DVD, NTSC, Subtitled, Widescreen
Running Time: 136 minutes
DVD Release Date: 2002-05-21
Audience Rating: R (Restricted)
Studio: Paramount
Product features:
- Condition: New
- Format: DVD
- Closed-captioned; Color; Dolby; DVD; Subtitled; Widescreen; NTSC
Movie Reviews of Vanilla Sky
Movie Review: I'll tell you in another life, when we are both cats
Summary: 5 Stars
David Aames (Tom Cruise) is the head of a vast publishing empire that he inherited from his father. Besides being at the epicenter of all that is hip in Art, Music, and Literature, he also has good looks, youth, and last but not least, lots and lots of money. He is Citizen Kane, or perhaps Citizen something else--the less than flattering nickname his underlings call him behind his back (See comment). He has a 'friends with benefits' arrangement with Julie Gianni (Cameran Diaz) but when he sees Sofia Serrano (Penélope Cruz) at his birthday party, he jokes about Julie as a twisted pick up line for Sofia:
---------
David Aames: See, I've got this little problem. I've got a stalker.
Sofía: It doesn't sound life threatening.
David Aames: But I need a cover. I need for you to pretend we're having a scintillating conversation, and you are wildly entertained.
[Both laugh]
David Aames: I know it's tough.
Sofía: I'll improvise.
Whoa! This ploy actually works, but the joke backfires on David Aames. The joke turns out to be the truth.
Sofía: I think she's the saddest girl to ever hold a martini.
There are 428 pop culture references in Vanilla Sky, according to writer/director Cameron Crowe. 429 if you count one that was made accidentally. One that was made on purpose was when David Aames (Tom Cruise) walked down the street with Sofia Serrano (Penélope Cruz) and it looked just like Robert Zimmerman and Suze Rotolo on The Freewheelin' Bob Dylan album cover. Pay attention. This is a clue. There will be a test.
David Aames: My dreams are a cruel joke. They taunt me. Even in my dreams I'm an idiot... who knows he's about to wake up to reality. If I could only avoid sleep. But I can't. I try to tell myself what to dream. I try to dream that I am flying. Something free. It never works...
Cameron Crowe really knows his cultural references, as he was a child prodigy rock critic who began writing for Rolling Stone while still in High School. He made Almost Famous in 2000, which was a fictionalized autobiography based on his experience, and in 2001 he followed it up with Vanilla Sky. Based on Alejandro Amenábar's 1997 film "Abre Los Ojos" that also starred Penélope Cruz; Vanilla Sky was Crowe's Magnum Opus. His Magnolia. His Citizen Kane, or rather Citizen Blank (see comment). Along with the 429 cultural references he also crammed in Citizen Kane, Magnolia, Mask with Cher, The Mask with Cameran Diaz and Jim Carrey, François Truffaut's Jules et Jim, La Belle et la bête by the poet Jean Cocteau, Johnny Handsome with Mickey Rourke, The Matrix, and The Phantom of the Opera. It seems like he put everything but the kitchen sink into Vanilla Sky and it must have broken his heart when he was crucified by the press and the film didn't do so well at the box office, either.
David Aames: I wanna wake up! Tech support! It's a nightmare! Tech support! Tech support!
Perhaps this is just a Minority Report, but I really enjoyed Vanilla Sky. I think it was very ambitious but Crowe was able to pull it off after all. He bit off a lot, but it was NOT--as some critics have suggested--more than he could chew. Some people might have been confused, and others might have thought that it explained itself too much in the end (or did it?), but I thought Cameron Crowe balanced himself on the high wire between those extremes, while simultaneously juggling the 429 cultural references and the multiple levels of reality. Where most directors would just take on one story arc, Crowe goes for about 4. Boy meets his reflection in the mirror, boy loses his reflection, boy tries to get his perfect reflection back, boy gets his reflection back--or does he? And it all unravels (or does it?).
Tom Cruise and Penélope Cruz had all the chemistry that Cruise lacked with his then real life wife Nicole Kidman in Eyes Wide Shut. Cruz was magical and Cruise gave a stellar performance. He almost jumps on the couch on Oprah, but dials it back just enough. It was a bold performance, as in the first part he is kind of a jerk, but semi likeable, considering he has had the world handed to him on a silver platter. In the next part he has to adjust to life without his movie star smile. His face is hideously disfigured. He doesn't take it well, and is an even bigger jerk. I think this was brave and one of Tom Cruise's boldest roles. He is forced to actually act here, and not just smile and let the audience bask in his smile. He is not just cruising on auto pilot. Though Penélope Cruz obviously makes his job so much easier.
Cameran Diaz did well as the F W/ B, or the FB for short (See Comment). She seems like she is content with the friendship with benefits, but then she lowers the boom! Big Time. Rumor has it that the character called Kelly from Lost in Translation was based on Miss Diaz. Writer/director Sofia Copolla's husband Spike Jonze directed Cameran in Being John Malkovich (again, see comment). Sofia/Sofia, Cameron/Cameran, Cruise/Cruz? I don't know what any of that means, but there's something about Diaz, "the saddest girl to ever hold a martini."
Jason Lee plays David's wing man Brian, an aspiring writer. What is it with Jason Lee's movie career? He is the perennial 2nd banana (Heartbreakers being the exception that proves the rule). Lee was 2nd banana to Ben Affleck in Chasing Amy (who is himself the perennial 2nd banana to Matt Damon). 2nd banana to David Schwimmer in Kissing a Fool, even, where his character is also a writer, just like in Vanilla Sky. It's one thing to play 2nd banana to Tom Cruise, but once you have 2nd bananaed Schwimmer, you better take that offer to be on a sit com about karma called "My Name is Earl," because your movie career is in what is known in show biz as a rut.
Jason Lee was also a rock singer in Cameron Crowe's previous film, Almost Famous, but he was kind of a 2nd banana there, too. He was the Greg Almon to Billy Crudup's Duane Almon, so even though he was the lead singer, he was upstaged by the guitarist, and thus was also the 2nd banana, again. 3rd banana, if you count the kid who was supposed to be the young Cameron Crowe. Jason Lee was more than adequate as Cruise's 2nd banana here, but nothing to write home about.
The film also features the talents of Timothy Spall, Johnny Gallecki, Alicia Witt, Kurt Russell, Noah Taylor, and Tilda Swinton; and a great soundtrack, with well chosen tunes from Radiohead, The Rolling Stones, Todd Rundgren, The Beach Boys, a 3D hologram of John Coltrane, Creeper Lagoon, The Monkees, R.E.M., Elmer Bernstein, Jeff Buckley, Bob Dylan, Sinéad O'Connor, Björk; and Paul McCartney even recorded a song called Vanilla Sky especially for this film. The songs, an integral part of the 429 cultural references, are woven seamlessly into the tapestry of Vanilla Sky.
Dr. Curtis McCabe: My favorite Beatle was once John. Now it's... Paul.
The Sheltering Sky (1990) Timothy Spall was Eric Lyle
The Mask (New Line Platinum Series) (1994) Cameran Diaz was Tina Carlyle
Eyes Wide Shut (Unrated Edition) [HD DVD] (1999) Tom Cruise was Dr. William 'Bill' Harford
Magnolia (1999) Tom Cruise was Frank T.J. Mackey
Topsy-Turvy (1999) Timothy Spall was Richard Temple (The Mikado)
Being John Malkovich (1999) Cameran Diaz was Lotte Schwartz
Almost Famous (2000) Directed by Cameron Crowe; Jason Lee was Jeff Bebe; and Noah Taylor was Dick Roswell
Masked And Anonymous (2003) Penélope Cruz was Pagan Lace
Grindhouse Presents, Death Proof - Extended and Unrated (Two-Disc Special Edition) (2007) Kurt Russell was Stuntman Mike
Vicky Cristina Barcelona (2008) Penélope Cruz was Maria Elena
Sofía: I'll tell you in another life, when we are both cats.
Write your own review
Summary of Vanilla Sky
David Aames has always taken his good fortune for granted until he is in a car accident caused by his suicidal ex-girlfriend.Genre: Feature Film-Drama
Rating: R
Release Date: 29-DEC-2004
Media Type: DVD
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
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