Vanilla Sky

Starring: Penelope Cruz, Tom Cruise Director: Cameron Crowe Original UK Premiere: 2002 Dvd Release: 18th November, 2002 Number Of Discs: 1 Format: PAL, Widescreen, Region 2 Encoding Subtitled In: Arabic, Bulgarian, Danish, Dutch, English, Finnish, German, Icelandic, Italian, Norwegian, Romanian, Swedish

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Vanilla Sky is a 2001 film which tells a story of a young millionaire who is charged with murder. The film stars Tom Cruise, Cameron Diaz, Penelope Cruz, Jason Lee & Kurt Russell. The film was directed by Cameron Crowe & is a close remake of the 1997 Spanish film Abre Los Ojos, which was written by Alejandro Amenábar & Mateo Gil. Penélope Cruz appeared in the original film as well, in the same role. Early in the film, the principal character mentions Monet s vanilla sky in a painting. Forget everything you know about life & just open your eyes. Throughout much of the movie, the skies are all vanilla just like in Monets painting - in fact, a little too like the painting. That is the only giveaway that were in a fantasy movie about simulated reality, because it plays it straight, appearing to be a film about modern life & a successful womanizer who becomes the victim of a Fatal Attraction. Tom Cruise plays David Aames, a handsome & successful young man who is severely disfigured in an automobile accident caused by Julie Gianni. Posters Of Vanilla Sky

DVD Extras: Vanilla Sky's anamorphic 1.78:1 widescreen transfer is practically flawless with no visible pixilation, showing off John Toll's excellent cinematography. The audio is also exemplary, particularly with music tracks such as Radiohead's Everything in Its Right Place. Cameron Crowe's commentary track is excellent & the other extra's consist of a couple of trailers, a stills gallery & an interview with Paul McCartney from Entertainment Tonight in regards to his Golden Globe-nominated song Vanilla Sky. Two featurettes are included. In the first Crowe follows the surreal theme of the film. The second, Prelude to a Dream, a making-of documentary, is conspicuous for it's lack of interviews or any real material about the making of the film.

Vanilla Sky reunites director Cameron Crowe with the swoonsome Tom Cruise; adds another sexy Cruz & Cameron Diaz for good measure; & delivers a wildly entertaining, bizarre venture into erotic science fiction. Adapted almost exactly from Spanish filmmaker Alejandro Amenábars 1997 romantic thriller Open Your Eyes, the film follows David Aames as he falls from his graceful Manhattan perch of inordinate wealth, good looks & new-found love with Sofia because of severe facial disfigurement resulting from a car accident caused by a suicidal ex-lover . Reduced to wearing a latex mask & spurned by his friends, what at first promises to be a conventional allegory of redemption via true love is turned on its head as Cruises character only wins back his princess after a miracle of plastic surgery restores his former beauty. A series of plot twists follow, as waking life, technological advances & nightmares merge to dizzying effect, leaving David 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 whole, money & physical beauty equal happiness & an unabashed vanity perfectly embodied by Cruise & Cruz.

Penelope Cruz Sánchez, nicknamed simply Pe, is a Spanish actress. Born in Madrid, Spain, Cruz was a dancer as a child & young teen & actually dropped out of high school to pursue dancing at the National Conservatory of Madrid & theatre at Cristina Rotas School in New York. Her parents named her after a song by Joan Manuel Serrat. She first achieved fame when she appeared in the video clip La fuerza del destino for the Spanish synth-pop group Mecano. She then started a relationship with Nacho Cano, a member of the group, which lasted for several years. She also was a TV presenter for the teen-oriented program La Quinta Marcha, in collaboration with Jesús Vázquez. Cruzs first major films were Jamón, Jamón & the more widely known Belle Époque, a film which won an Academy Award for Foreign Language Film. She also appeared with Matt Damon in All The Pretty Horses. In 1999 she appeared in Pedro Almodóvar s Todo sobre mi madre which won an Academy Award for Foreign Language Film. In early 2001 she began a three-year relationship with Tom Cruise. Posters Of Penelope Cruz

Editors Choice: All The Pretty Horses, Sahara, Vanilla Sky, Blow, All About My Mother, The Girl Of Your Dreams, Belle Epoque, Jamon Jamon, View DVDology

Tom Cruise is an American film actor & producer who has starred in a number of top-grossing movies. His first leading role in a blockbuster movie was in 1983 s Risky Business. // Cruises parents moved frequently when he was a child, residing in a number of locations throughout the United States & Canada, including Ottawa, Louisville, Kentucky, Glen Ridge, New Jersey, where he attended Glen Ridge High School & Wayne, New Jersey. Before going into acting, Cruise attended a Franciscan seminary & aspired to become a Catholic priest. He received Academy Award nominations for Born on the Fourth of July & Jerry Maguire, both as Best Actor ; & for Magnolia, as Best Supporting Actor. In 1996, he became the first actor in history to star in five consecutive films that grossed $100 million in domestic release. Impossible & Jerry Maguire. Impossible & its sequels, Vanilla Sky & The Last Samurai. The company also co-produced The Others. In 1990, 1991 & 1997, People magazine rated him among the 50 most beautiful people in the world. Posters Of Tom Cruise

Editors Choice: The Last Samurai, Vanilla Sky, Jerry Maguire, Minority Report, Collateral, Eyes Wide Shut, The Bone Collector, A Few Good Men, View DVDology

Cameron Crowe is an American writer & film director. He was born in Palm Springs, California & was raised in San Diego, California. Although he is now best known as a director, Crowe began work as a music journalist at the age of 15 before becoming a contributing editor for the music magazine Rolling Stone. His film career was jump-started at the age of 22 when he returned to high school to do research for a book called Fast Times at Ridgemont High. The film adaptation of the same name was equally successful. Cameron Crowe made his directorial debut with the teen romance, Say Anything, a moderately successful cult hit. The film Jerry Maguire launched Crowe into greater recognition, netting five Oscar nominations, including a win for Cuba Gooding Jr for best supporting actor. The mostly autobiographical film Almost Famous & the subsequent American adaptation of Abre los Ojos, Vanilla Sky, starring Tom Cruise, were both also quite successful. Crowe received an Oscar for his screenplay for Almost Famous. He married the singer Nancy Wilson in 1986 & they have two children. Posters Of Almost Famous

Editors Choice: Almost Famous, Vanilla Sky, Jerry Maguire, Say Anything, Singles, View DVDology

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