Vanilla Sky (2001) | Sleepwalking to the Bar

<p>Degens Andy S and Brandon Bombay celebrate the podcast&#39;s three year anniversary by covering a Cruisemas movie that was specially requested by a listener to talk, &#39;Vanilla Sky.&#39; Andy opens it up with a dreamstate story involving Ambien that had him questioning his reality, by ending up in the wrong situation.  Then the fellas tackle one of the most ambitious big budget movies of the 2000s that is very emblematic of its era. The film opens with one of the most jaw-dropping scenes of the decade in an empty pre-9/11 Times Square, and then proceeds to bite off more than it can chew, but offers a compelling ride. It&#39;s a glimpse at a bygone era of NYC, and a bygone era in cinema where Tom Cruise offered a personal performance before his well-publicized breakdown. Along with the meta-Cruise role, is Penelope Cruz who reprises her role from the original Spanish-language film the movie is based on. Her charm, and angelic face jump off the scream, and she even graces the audience by losing her clothing in one intimate scene. Juxtaposed to her effortless charm is Cameron Diaz&#39;s manic turn as the vengeful love whose body gets lied to and spouts, &quot;I swallowed your c** that means something.&quot; The film also marked the peak of Cameron Crowe&#39;s Hollywood reign, as his career went on a precipitous fall after failing to grapple with a perplexing third act. Unlike Crowe, Degen Cinema is not slowing down as we&#39;re grateful to all our maniac listeners who&#39;ve been along for the ride the past three years, and counting. </p>