Episode #784: Vanilla Sky
Added 2025-02-11 05:00:02 +0000 UTC“This is a version of New York that died immediately on 9/11” - Steve, on the film’s vibe
On this episode, WAIT-WHUT-uary continues with a chat about the early-aughts Cameron Crowe psychological thriller, Vanilla Sky! How amazing is all this New York City cinematography? Was this one of the last times Tom did some super-serious dramatic acting? Can we get more Kurt Russell characters like this doctor guy? Can we also just get Jason Lee back in movies? Has Cameron Diaz ever been better? And how creepy is that mask? PLUS: Coming this Fall to Paramount+, Klingon Frasier!
Vanilla Sky stars Tom Cruise, Penélope Cruise, Cameron Diaz, Jason Lee, Noah Taylor, Timothy Spall, Tilda Swinton, Michael Shannon, and Kurt Russell as Dr. McCabe; directed by Cameron Crowe.
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Original cover art by Felipe Sobreiro.
Comments
Sorry to be so late to comment, and sorry if this has already been mentioned, but I think I recall you going on about the regular inclusion of William Mapother in Tom Cruise movies. Mapother is, IIRC, Cruise's cousin, and Tom Cruise would be Thomas Cruise Mapother IV if he used his full name.
Kevin Matthews
2025-03-21 17:04:47 +0000 UTCWatched this movie for the first time last night, and that was preceded by a rewatch of Lost Highway two nights ago. Jason Lee tells him, "You're in OJ land, man!" and now I'm wondering how influenced Crowe must have been by Lynch in making this.
Nathan Foley
2025-02-26 15:47:39 +0000 UTCDavid Aames after waking up in the year 2151: "Hey, where did the Trade Center go???"
CharlesGrodin'sToupee
2025-02-16 04:53:11 +0000 UTCI read a lot of Philip K Dick stories in my youth but not this one, so I assumed when I saw the movie that the original story would end, in typical Dick fashion, with him finding the pictures of his kid and killing the guy. As it turns out the story is way more different to the movie than that.
Craig
2025-02-15 07:03:07 +0000 UTCI know Cabin is rightfully big on Swinton and Michael Clayton, after a rewatch, is her delivery of “you don’t want the money?” up there first best singular acting moment of the decade? Up there with the Plainview “abandoned my boy” delivery A great I Love Movies Month would be the 2007 movies you haven’t covered yet (No Country, Eastern Promises) and then definitely don’t do Juno. Assassination of Jesse James seems to be an under-seen movie
RJ Cunningham
2025-02-14 22:16:06 +0000 UTCMaybe I'll just make a request to every person I meet from now on "hey if you don't mind could you just really quick yell 'tech support' for me to see if we're in your waking nightmare? Thanks."
Justin
2025-02-14 20:29:13 +0000 UTCMaybe we should all try? - Andrew
We Hate Movies
2025-02-14 19:17:54 +0000 UTCI really really wish I could end 2025 by just screaming "TECH SUPPORT!!!!!" at the top of my lungs.
Justin
2025-02-14 01:50:49 +0000 UTCGlad this gave me an excuse to finally watch this one after so long. I don't love it but it was definitely worth a watch, Cameron Diaz is really great and surprisingly sinister. Solid ass cast. It's a soundtrack movie (and every movie feels like a soundtrack movie now imo) but it's definitely a very good soundtrack. It's always kind of embarrassing when you discover old hits and love them and be like "have you guys heard this Solsbury Hill song? Pretty great!" like 40 years post facto lol.
T Herron
2025-02-13 22:33:12 +0000 UTCThe conversation about all the cum-heavy movies of the late '90s and early '00s reminded me of the classic "was the projector broken??" moment from the beginning of the Shrek episode. Now I have to go back and listen to that yet again. <3 also I have a distinct memory of my mom going to see Vanilla Sky while my little pals and I went to Monsters Inc. 😬 She did not share her thoughts with me that day.
Rose Esposito
2025-02-12 23:00:45 +0000 UTCI have a love/hate relationship with this movie. It's not the best on how women are represented. That's just me. However the scene in Central Park where Sophia jumps on David is very a cute meet up and then he knows he's dreaming is a beautiful but gut wrenching scene.
Louis Brooks
2025-02-12 20:26:57 +0000 UTCAnyone know if we got clear audio of each guy saying “I swallowed your cum” I need to make some new ringtones…
AlsoNamedB0rt
2025-02-12 20:23:34 +0000 UTCIt's OK to like a movie. - Eric
We Hate Movies
2025-02-12 17:48:33 +0000 UTCI don't buy Jason Lee in any way shape or form being romantically involved with Penelope Cruz unless he specifically brought her to the party to be cuckolded by Tom Cruise
Smaug
2025-02-12 16:53:46 +0000 UTCSeems like an odd choice but as a full fledged Urbanite I’m willing to give it a chance.
Jason
2025-02-12 13:34:22 +0000 UTCWait, whut?
Jason
2025-02-12 13:32:54 +0000 UTCAnyone else have no clue Karl Urban is going to be Johnny Cage in Mortal Kombat 2?
RJ Cunningham
2025-02-12 10:57:20 +0000 UTCCrowe's worldview is very specific to Generation Jones (the latter-day boomers born from the mid 1950s to the early 60s). He shared the tastes boomers had, but he was also a lot more aware of what was happening with Gen-X -- he made Singles before the broader public became aware of grunge, for example.
Z
2025-02-12 07:38:13 +0000 UTCThis was my first time watching this movie and I think I went “Wait…WHUT” multiple times during the viewing, because this film is a perfect example of it
Exambolor
2025-02-12 04:20:29 +0000 UTCChris mentioned Minority Report and how the ending didn't sit right with him because it should have ended when he goes down into the hole and instead he gets a happy endong. Well, this just happens to be my favorite film theory and it is the kind you guys hate. The movie tells you earlier that the capsule thing has you in a vivid dream and the film filter changes for the happy ending. That's right, the ending was all a dream!
I.C. Weiner
2025-02-12 03:27:45 +0000 UTC🤷♂️
We Hate Movies
2025-02-12 03:07:17 +0000 UTCIchi the Killer - best use of cinematic ejaculate
Chris Kusiolek
2025-02-12 00:08:02 +0000 UTC"You smooth fuck!" Lmao I love characters that get that kind of reaction out of me.
Tala Hobballah
2025-02-11 22:45:40 +0000 UTC20+ years later sigor ros remains one of my favorite bands. Starting from this grabbing this movie from old school Netflix
Nexuscrawler
2025-02-11 22:36:54 +0000 UTCWWF New York appearing in this film is so 2001…and ALL THE RIGHT FRIENDS is just the ELEC MAN theme from Megaman 1
Jonnie Sea
2025-02-11 21:06:16 +0000 UTCAlmost Famous is based on a true story of when Crowe was working for Rolling Stone as a teenager and tried to interview a grieving, coked up, paranoid Greg Allman. So no Eric, it's not "just another boomer jerking off to the 70's " lol. It's authenticity makes it go from a music fan road trip movie to a beautiful story about growing up painfully awkward and out of your depth. One of my favorites that movie.
Blankzy
2025-02-11 20:15:20 +0000 UTCTotally forgot about the Spielberg cameo in this one, which led to me thinking, "wait, didn't Crowe cameo in a Spielberg movie once?" He did. In Minority Report. With Tom Cruise, the exact same year. What a weird exchange.
Dennis Stack
2025-02-11 18:46:26 +0000 UTCEdge of Tomorrow?? Imo the last time Cruise acted
I'd Rather Have No Name
2025-02-11 18:38:23 +0000 UTCYes I am aware, I was trying to be succinct
The Mad Jay Woman
2025-02-11 18:29:40 +0000 UTCCameron Diaz is an actor that deserves a lot more respect. I think she was written off early on as a pretty face and as a result no one really worked on her acting talent...but when you see her in the right roles she really shines.
Michael Daniels
2025-02-11 17:53:06 +0000 UTCMichael Shannon's Shit House Grand Opening adjacent to The Gettin' Place.
DMAC
2025-02-11 17:37:54 +0000 UTCI heart my WLM boys when they disagree and we get that ball-busting 🤩. Honed over the decades of friendship. Just beautiful.
Samuel McGuire
2025-02-11 17:33:58 +0000 UTCDeath Proof was advertised as feminist and then they SELL THEIR FRIEND FOR A CAR. I wanted everyone to crash and burn at the end.
Tala Hobballah
2025-02-11 17:21:03 +0000 UTCI heard about the Tom Cruise cake on the Empire magazine podcast. They get one every year, and supposedly it's really good!
Tony King
2025-02-11 16:52:08 +0000 UTCDid you guys really talk about late 90s cum movies while talking about a movie with Cameron Diaz and not even mention Something About Mary?
Gone
2025-02-11 16:31:08 +0000 UTCYalls NEED to do Rock of Ages. That movie makes The Apple look like Rodgers & Hammerstein.
MarkNM
2025-02-11 16:29:12 +0000 UTCDID SOMEBODY SAY GHOST SUCK? -Dan Aykroyd --ngyah ngyah ngyah
MarkNM
2025-02-11 16:27:38 +0000 UTC2001 was the year I took my only college film course, and I thought this movie was the third best thing I saw that year, only behind Memento and The Royal Tenenbaums. But unlike those two, I have not rewatched this in a very long time.
Jamie
2025-02-11 15:33:42 +0000 UTCWell now I just want Klingon Frasier!
James C Harris
2025-02-11 14:45:14 +0000 UTC"Penelope Cruise"?!
Felipe Sobreiro
2025-02-11 14:24:13 +0000 UTCThe original is better for sure, and the mask in that is actual nightmare fuel. Very skin-like. Tom Cruise is at his best when he plays villains, and since he plays a billionaire douchebag in this, I consider it a villain role. Btw, as your Turkish patron, I'm appointing Andrew as the mayor of New York. We have Ghostbusters on our payroll too. A ghost-suck machine doesn't come cheap, you see. Those Tribeca boys will rebrand themselves as Kebabbusters soon, of course.
Eren Keskin
2025-02-11 13:27:01 +0000 UTCRussell was on another level in this movie. The part where the guy tells him he's a construct and he insists he's real is fantastic.
Michael Daniels
2025-02-11 12:40:25 +0000 UTCBlank Check covered this as well if you're looking for more Vanilla Sky content!
Michael Daniels
2025-02-11 12:37:50 +0000 UTCThis is too crazy - was just thinking about this movie and wondering if any of my pod feed had previously covered it and now low and behold! My WHM synergy is nearing completion… Basically I would like to opt in to a fantasy coma but sadly even in the Vanilla Sky reality capitalism still makes that accessible only to the privileged so I guess it’s back to building guillotines…
The Mad Jay Woman
2025-02-11 11:47:29 +0000 UTCCameron Diaz scary
Ray
2025-02-11 07:53:19 +0000 UTCIt's been awhile since I've seen it, but I remember Cruise being really good in Obilivion.
Taco6N 13
2025-02-11 07:40:55 +0000 UTCReally with Andrew on the whole Tom Cruise coconut cake thing because every time I hear about it, I think about how badly I want Tom to send me a cake every year, how nice! The challenge is to get on his good side, but my problem is that he terrifies me. As much as I love him as an actor, he's a scary dude. Just watch Tom's demeanor shift in that video of the guy that squirts him with water on the red carpet. I'd fold like cheap paper if he ever talked to me like that.
Busiris
2025-02-11 07:39:12 +0000 UTCCan't wait to give it a listen! I remember really liking the movie (and the catchy McCartney title track) back when it came out, perhaps this is the excuse I need to re-watch.
Jeremy Pawlak
2025-02-11 05:06:27 +0000 UTC
