When a sports agent has a moral epiphany and is fired for expressing it, he decides to put his new philosophy to the test as an independent agent with the only athlete who stays with him and his former secretary.
Director:
Cameron Crowe
Stars:
Tom Cruise,
Cuba Gooding Jr.,
Renée Zellweger
A New York City doctor pushes himself on a harrowing and dangerous night-long odyssey of sexual and moral discovery after his wife admits that she once almost cheated on him.
In a future where a special police unit is able to arrest murderers before they commit their crimes, an officer from that unit is himself accused of a future murder.
A very handsome man finds the love of his life, but he suffers an accident and needs to have his face rebuilt by surgery after it is severely disfigured.
As students at the United States Navy's elite fighter weapons school compete to be best in the class, one daring young pilot learns a few things from a civilian instructor that are not taught in the classroom.
The biography of Ron Kovic. Paralyzed in the Vietnam war, he becomes an anti-war and pro-human rights political activist after feeling betrayed by the country he fought for.
Director:
Oliver Stone
Stars:
Tom Cruise,
Raymond J. Barry,
Caroline Kava
Incarcerated and charged with murder, David Aames Jr. is telling the story of how he got to where he is to McCabe, the police psychologist. That story includes: being the 51% shareholder of a major publishing firm, which he inherited from his long deceased parents; the firm's board, appointed by David Aames Sr., being the 49% shareholders who would probably like to see him gone as they see him as being too irresponsible and immature to run the company; his best bro friendship with author, Brian Shelby; his "friends with benefits" relationship with Julie Gianni, who saw their relationship in a slightly different light; his budding romance with Sofia Serrano, who Brian brought to David's party as his own date and who Brian saw as his own possible life mate; and being in an accident which disfigured his face and killed the person who caused the accident. But as the story proceeds, David isn't sure what is real and what is a dream/nightmare as many facets of the story are incompatible to ...Written by
Huggo
The flat-screen television that retracts into the floor was thought up by Cameron Crowe and Tom Cruise while brainstorming things they've always dreamed of having, that the David Aames character should have. Crowe says in the commentary that the design was drawn up by Cruise, who wanted to install one in his house before realizing that it would retract through the ceiling of the floor below him. See more »
Goofs
Eye line off in final scene. When David runs to jump off the roof, he jumps up on the ledge and then stops and turns around to look at Sophia. She is looking up at him, so he should be looking down - since he's higher on the ledge - but he's also looking up. See more »
Quotes
[first lines]
Sofía:
[in Spanish]
Open your eyes.
Sofía:
[in English]
Open your eyes. Open your eyes. Open your eyes. Open your eyes. Open you...
[David wakes up and pushes the snooze button on his alarm]
See more »
Crazy Credits
Thanks to Conan O'Brien and all at Late Night. See more »
Alternate Versions
Three parts from the quick montage at the end of the film suggest scenes cut from the final film: two frames from a scene that was in "Abre Los Ojos" (upon which "Vanilla Sky" was based) where David shoots a police officer in front of the L.E. building, a frame of David and Sofia on a bed where Sofia is wearing a bathrobe (she never wore a bathrobe in the film), and a frame set in David's company where David is a kid, sitting on a couch, and a man (possibly Thomas Tipp) is talking to him). See more »
One of Us
(1995)
Written by Eric Bazilian
Performed by Joan Osborne
Courtesy of Blue Gorilla Records / The Island Def Jam Music Group
under license from Universal Music Enterprises See more »
First thing is I must admit to not having seen 'Abre Los Ojos', so I can't comment on how much of this is a straightforward remake, or whether any of it is different or original . 'Vanilla Sky' begins as a murder mystery, but that is just a ruse, it is in fact more Phildickian than Hitchcockian. Any fan of PKD's mind-blowing work, specifically 'Ubik', 'A Maze Of Death' and 'Flow My Tears The Policeman Said', bits of which 'Vanilla Sky' share some similarities to, will feel more at home with this kind of material than 'Jerry Maguire' fans.
I have two major problems with 'Vanilla Sky', and both of them I blame on Cameron Crowe, a director who fails to set my world on fire. Apart from the flawed but entertaining 'Almost Famous' I haven't liked much of his output, which to me is basically commercial pap. With this movie he is obviously trying to expand his range, and succeeds to a certain degree, but still doesn't entirely pull it off.
My first problem is Crowe's direction which is disjointed, clumsy and ultimately turns potentially fascinating material into a bore. My other problem was the distracting and ridiculous use of music. It was almost like Crowe went through his record collection and insisted on putting in his favourite bits, regardless of whether it made any cinematic sense or not. Maybe he was going for a similar eclectic feel that the Coen's achieved in 'The Big Lebowski', more than likely, looking at the subject matter, it was trying to be a comment on pop culture and the media ala Trent Reznor's superb musical collage in 'Natural Born Killers'. Whatever the motivation it fell flat on its face, and almost single handedly ruined this movie for me.
Ultimately 'Vanilla Sky' is neither a masterpiece, nor a complete turkey. Crowe is no Kubrick, Cronenberg or Lynch, and this kind of concept needs someone of that vision and creative originality to truly soar. It is interesting in places, irritating in others, and dull for too much of the time. Nice try, worth a look for sure, just don't have high expectations. This year's 'The Matrix', but not as good.
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First thing is I must admit to not having seen 'Abre Los Ojos', so I can't comment on how much of this is a straightforward remake, or whether any of it is different or original . 'Vanilla Sky' begins as a murder mystery, but that is just a ruse, it is in fact more Phildickian than Hitchcockian. Any fan of PKD's mind-blowing work, specifically 'Ubik', 'A Maze Of Death' and 'Flow My Tears The Policeman Said', bits of which 'Vanilla Sky' share some similarities to, will feel more at home with this kind of material than 'Jerry Maguire' fans.
I have two major problems with 'Vanilla Sky', and both of them I blame on Cameron Crowe, a director who fails to set my world on fire. Apart from the flawed but entertaining 'Almost Famous' I haven't liked much of his output, which to me is basically commercial pap. With this movie he is obviously trying to expand his range, and succeeds to a certain degree, but still doesn't entirely pull it off.
My first problem is Crowe's direction which is disjointed, clumsy and ultimately turns potentially fascinating material into a bore. My other problem was the distracting and ridiculous use of music. It was almost like Crowe went through his record collection and insisted on putting in his favourite bits, regardless of whether it made any cinematic sense or not. Maybe he was going for a similar eclectic feel that the Coen's achieved in 'The Big Lebowski', more than likely, looking at the subject matter, it was trying to be a comment on pop culture and the media ala Trent Reznor's superb musical collage in 'Natural Born Killers'. Whatever the motivation it fell flat on its face, and almost single handedly ruined this movie for me.
Ultimately 'Vanilla Sky' is neither a masterpiece, nor a complete turkey. Crowe is no Kubrick, Cronenberg or Lynch, and this kind of concept needs someone of that vision and creative originality to truly soar. It is interesting in places, irritating in others, and dull for too much of the time. Nice try, worth a look for sure, just don't have high expectations. This year's 'The Matrix', but not as good.