Film: Vanilla Sky

[nibot]

After dinner, Erik suggested that we catch a movie down in the city. I was kind of surprised because it was pretty much the first time a swede had proposed some kind of more-or-less random entertainment activity to me, and naturally I said, "yes, of course, let's go!" After catching the key words "las vegas" and "conspiracy," I set my heart on seeing Ocean's Eleven. But it was utsåld so we saw Vanilla Sky instead. It turned out to be a great movie! I had no idea ahead of time what it was about, so I was quite pleased with how it turned out. Some comments: 1) The movie is rather confusing, to say the least, and I was pleased to find that, yes, it does eventually explain itself. But now I have to see it again to see how all the `confusing' bits and pieces fit together. (This is a good quality in a film.) 2) the title Vanilla Sky is stupid. The film is a re-make of a Spanish film titled Open Your Eyes, which is a much better title. 3) Tom Cruise's character is completely vapid. I think his stammering-in-wide-eyed-wonder "It's so funny, so great, that you just said that!" response to the reincarnation-as-cats comment exemplifies this utter lack of depth. He could at least have expressed his wide-eyed-wonder with a witty response! But, after all, it is Tom Cruise, so I guess I shouldn't expect more. That, and there are way too many Tom Cruise glamor shots. 4) There were a couple of good lines in the film, including the sad-martini and reincarnated-as-cats lines which were repeated so often that they completely lost their novelty which spoiled the treat they would otherwise have offered. Other repeated lines ("open your eyes," "what is happiness for you?" etc) were used sparingly and worked well to hold the film together, but the former cases are inexcusable. 5) It was directed by Cameron Crowe. I should have known. I knew there was something oddly familiar about the film, having seen Almost Famous not so long ago.

Comments

[earthemp6.livejournal.com]

I'm actually surprised at how many people didn't like that movie (I'm assuming they didn't understand it). I thought it was great too, any attempt at semi-cerebral entertainment from Hollywood should always be appreciated, simply for the attempt if not its execution.