I just saw Vanilla Sky

This first part is spoiler free. Spoilers will appear further down after due warnings, however, there will be no annoying black boxes. A warning, space and the spoilers themselves.

Just saw it today after seeing The Great Lebowsky. Lebowsky was great but had a depressing and abrupt ending. Vanilla Sky was great but had a depressingly bad and abrupt ending.

Ooh! I forgot! I DID search the forum but there were IMO no threads appropriate for my post.

The important stuff. I loved, adored and was floored by the Vanilla Sky song by McCartney. I first heard it at the Oscars last year and it is the reason I rented the movie today. To me it’s the best song he’s written in years.

Which brings us to the soundtrack that was like Lebowsky’s, great. Really, really great. I’m thinking of buying it.

The psychologist guy was great. Penelope Cruz (whom I do not find in any way atractive) portrayed a carachter that I would normally dislike in such a natural, relaxed way I actually simpathyzed(sp?) with her. Cameron Diaz (whom I find tremendously atractive) was horrible. The girl simply can’t act. I don’t care how great her ass and her mouth are if her performance sucks(bit of poetic license there. There’s no way not to care, but you understand what I mean)!

I tought Cruise did a very good job. Very competent, very secure. Now that that’s out of the way… He couldn’t stop smilling or laughing! That’s very annoying even if it is an intentional effect highlighted by the script. Stop it!

Another problem that I had with it is that his Vanilla Sky carachter is a bit too much like Doc Bill from Eyes Wide Shut and, albeit in a lesser way, Anderton from Minority Report. His determined yet insecure and confused face gets tireing(sp?) after a while. And what’s up with the damn smile?!

I loved the way the movie was shot and directed. Excellent fotography and amazing special effects. I even liked the writing.

Now, understand that all the good things I said about the movie don’t apply to the ending.

SPOILERSDANGER,DANGER WILL ROBINSONSPOILERS!

The ending sucked! It was too rushed, too forced and the restaurant guy doing his whole "
I know everything about you. Even stuff that happened after you were dead and I have no way or reason to know, AND I’ll tell so the director won’t have to make any hard work" thing got really old really fast.

I liked the way things were foreshadowed but it’s as if, at the end of the movie, nobody wanted to have anything to do with it anymore.

Oh, the restaurant guy is one of the crippiest actors I’ve ever seen.

And I thought the ending was pretty clear though lame. He was frozen for 150 years and chose to wake up. Until somebody here in one of the earlier threads in the subject pointed out the movie ended as it began With Cruise waking up to “Open ypur eyes”. And if I’m not mistaken the “eyes” thing was also done when he passes out drunk in the street and we learn that that point is a clear demarcation of realities. So now I don’t know what to make of it. Maybe the first “eyes” is there to introduce us to the made up world of the movie.

In the end I liked the movie a lot but the ending hurt it considerably. I’ll try to find the original spanish(?) one somewhere.

I saw most of it on cable and did not like it. It’s similar to that Michael Douglas movie, The Game – the one with Sean Penn, which I really liked.

I watched it on the same night as A.I… Cherrist, it was like the “mysterious old guys who explain everything at the end, but not very well” night. I felt like following it up with a “magical, altruistic black men” night by watching Legend of Bagger Vance and The Green Mile

i saw the original movie with subtitles, it was called “open your eyes” and it was not in english. and i saw the “vanilla sky.”

the two are VERY close to each other, the only difference being i think that the original did not waste time on his financial problems just focused on his relationships. also the original seemed much more terse and straight to the point, a lot shorter and less bullshit.

still the idea itself is strong enough that even after being butchered like this the movie is still good.