Vanilla Sky - AHB

"I looked like Tom Cruise on Vanilla Sky, it was televised . . ." - Kanye West

He may be the most fun Hollywood actor to hate on (I mean Keanu Reeves just gets old), but there is something undeniable about Tom Cruise's talent/whatever you want to call it. I thoroughly enjoyed Vanilla Sky, and it is rare that I feel this way about a sci-fi-esque film. Cameron Crowe movies generally score pretty high with me, and this was definitely not an exception.

A lot could be written about the portrayal of different interactions of love and friendship in this film; Cruise's character, David, is like the prototype of "I-it" relationships. He has no understanding of people's value apart from what the help him achieve (. . . 4 times). He is a publishing mega-mogul whose entire job is packaging and promoting an image, and eventually this takes over his personal life as well. Therefore, it is interesting that the car accident did more damage to his face than anywhere else. It is funny that disfigurement in the physical sense is so much easier to recognize than that of the soul, which is infinitely more important. Justin and I were having a conversation the other day about confronting personal failings. We were largely in agreement that there is little more disappointing than someone who either cannot recognize or chooses to ignore his or her weaknesses. Eventually those things will, and their destructive power is terrible. By the time David was ready to confront himself, due to his meeting with Sofia, the consequences of his actions had already been put in motion and it was too late.

Publishing and packaging is only as good as the product inside.

"Hell hath no fury like a Cameron Diaz scorned."