I enjoy them both for different reasons. They both may have the same story and narrative but stylistically they're very different. Open Your Eyes is quieter, darker, more of a horror film and more philosophical. Vanilla Sky is more of a crazy, trippy mindfuck. I think Open Your Eyes is probably the better film as Vanilla Sky does have some corny dialogue here and there.

I've never seen Abre Los Ojos (Open Your Eyes) but, given how you describe it relative to VS, I'm not sure I want to.

I found VS to be a sad, uncomfortable story to watch. Yeah, there is probably a lesson in there somewhere, but not a pleasant experience to get to it...for me, anyway.

That said, the acting in the film was splendid. They did a good job with the script, such as it was.

@DRDMovieMusings said:

I've never seen Abre Los Ojos (Open Your Eyes) but, given how you describe it relative to VS, I'm not sure I want to.

I found VS to be a sad, uncomfortable story to watch.

I can see that. And, yeah, Open Your Eyes is even more uncomfortable. He's a lot more disfigured in that. They sanitized it a bit for old Tom Cruise.

Yeah, there is probably a lesson in there somewhere, but not a pleasant experience to get to it...for me, anyway.

Both films are about identity. The limits of personality. There's a very good 60's Japanese film that explores the same sort of thing called 'The Face of Another'. It's a theme I'm very interested in.

@JustinJackFlash said:

Both films are about identity. The limits of personality. There's a very good 60's Japanese film that explores the same sort of thing called 'The Face of Another'. It's a theme I'm very interested in.

Make a list!

@DRDMovieMusings said:

@JustinJackFlash said:

Both films are about identity. The limits of personality. There's a very good 60's Japanese film that explores the same sort of thing called 'The Face of Another'. It's a theme I'm very interested in.

Make a list!

Haha. I don't think I can think of many others. Face/Off maybe.

@JustinJackFlash said:

@DRDMovieMusings said:

@JustinJackFlash said:

Both films are about identity. The limits of personality. There's a very good 60's Japanese film that explores the same sort of thing called 'The Face of Another'. It's a theme I'm very interested in.

Make a list!

Haha. I don't think I can think of many others. Face/Off maybe.

But, that's the beauty - set up the list with what you've got, create a discussion thread and invite others to submit suggestions - great way for you to discover new films that speak to your interest; and you'll be making a positive, engaging conversation, a constructive contribution to the tone and quality we want the site to be!

Good idea. I'll do it tomorrow. Hitting the sack now.

@JustinJackFlash said:

Good idea. I'll do it tomorrow. Hitting the sack now.

One of the approaches I use that I think is really ideal for this site is, I set up a discussion to go along with the list - because it's all about the conversation which other movie sites that will not be named shut down ;-) When I check out other people's lists and want to talk about it, I have no specific place to go, so I end up creating a general discussion that the original list maker is not quarterbacking, making it a little more difficult for the list maker to referee the discussion.

For example, check out the intro to my Movies About Hollywood list - it includes an invite to join the conversation, and the conversation has a link back to the list.

And, for comparison, here's my lists page.

Yes, I remember your "Bad movies I like" discussion.

Ok, I'll give that a go. Not sure how I'll manage, I haven't tried creating links on this site before but I'm sure I'll pick it up.

Think I might broaden the list to just films which explore Identity. Otherwise it might be a bit too specific.

I did it, but how do you turn the links into words like you have. I haven't taken my anti-retardation pills today.

@DRDMovieMusings said:

@JustinJackFlash said:

I did it, but how do you turn the links into words like you have. I haven't taken my anti-retardation pills today.

Looks like you've gotten it rolling, nice! When it comes to trolls in the discussion, the Ignore button is your friend.

To make a hyperlink, copy the url you want to link to, and enclose it in parenthesis following the text link in brackets, eg...

[the visible link]' (url in here)

(in the above example, do not include the apostrophe - I had to put it there so you could see the method, else it would have made a functioning link)

Got it. Nice one!

I'll be honest, trolls really don't bother me.

@DRDMovieMusings said:

@JustinJackFlash said:

@DRDMovieMusings said:

@JustinJackFlash said:

Both films are about identity. The limits of personality. There's a very good 60's Japanese film that explores the same sort of thing called 'The Face of Another'. It's a theme I'm very interested in.

Make a list!

Haha. I don't think I can think of many others. Face/Off maybe.

But, that's the beauty - set up the list with what you've got, create a discussion thread and invite others to submit suggestions - great way for you to discover new films that speak to your interest; and you'll be making a positive, engaging conversation, a constructive contribution to the tone and quality we want the site to be!

Heyyy your discussions are set to private. :(

On the topic of "Vanilla Sky", it sure was a mindbending movie to watch, and a bit heartwrenching at times. I really, really liked it. Tom Cruise is a magnificent actor and I hope we get to see him in more roles out of the "atypical" Cruise movies once he is finished with Mission Impossible. By the way, towards the end there is a clip with Gregory Peck in a film, do anybody know which it is?

@DonGable said:

Heyyy your discussions are set to private. :(

If your looking for the discussion about the identity films list, I believe the problem is that it was on the "General Discussions" part of the site. And they closed this part of the site down quite a while ago. I don't know if it's still possible to access it. I will have a look in my past discussions list and see if I can find it there and post a link. Though I'm not sure it'll work.

On the topic of "Vanilla Sky", it sure was a mindbending movie to watch, and a bit heartwrenching at times. I really, really liked it. Tom Cruise is a magnificent actor and I hope we get to see him in more roles out of the "atypical" Cruise movies once he is finished with Mission Impossible. By the way, towards the end there is a clip with Gregory Peck in a film, do anybody know which it is?

You should check out Abre Los Ojos.

Been a long time since I watched Vanilla Sky but is the Gregory Peck film not To Kill a Mocking Bird?

No, had a look and there's no sign of it. Looks like they got rid of all the links to "General Discussions".