dierregi

Divided into three acts, "Vanilla Sky" attempts to blend romantic drama, psychological thriller, and sci-fi mystery, only to fall flat on all fronts.

The first part is a cloying meet-cute. David, a smug, rich womaniser, spends the night of his birthday party chatting up Sofia - his best friend's date - while his one-night stand Julie looks on with the simmering fury of a woman about to do something unwise. David and Sofia flirt for what feels like hours, all wide eyes and pseudo-spiritual talk about "delayed pleasure." It's so sweet you might want to check your blood sugar.

Then comes part two, where the tone shifts and things get darker. Julie, in full psycho-ex mode, drives both of them off a bridge. She dies; David survives, disfigured, traumatized, and no longer the golden boy. He tries to reconnect with Sofia, who may or may not still want him now that he has both scars and a personality.

The third part is where the film fully dissolves into nonsense. David is in jail for murder, talking to a shrink while increasingly bizarre scenes from earlier start to feel... off. But the twists are so clumsily handled, and the mystery so bloated, that by the time we reach the final reveal, the only real question left is: Why should we care?

The editing is a chaotic tangle of overlapping scenes, Tom Cruise leans hard on that trademark manic grin (even when it makes no sense), Penélope Cruz is unbearably syrupy, the soundtrack bludgeons every moment, and the ambiguous ending is the final squirt of artificial whipped cream on this headache sundae.

In short: a glossy, pseudo-philosophical mess disguised as a deep film. It's not. It's just confused - and confusing.

If this show is a wellness retreat, I want out, like most of the "strangers". The dialogue is so fake it might as well come with a laugh track - Frances and Tony curbside and chatting menopause like it's a meet-cute pharmaceutical convention.

Michael Shannon's creepy dad vibes feel less haunting, more malfunctioning robot. And Nicole Kidman, cast as a "mysterious" Russian guru, looks like a ghostly 60-year-old, gliding around like a haunted candle wandering in from a cryogenic pod. She's unsettling at best.

If this first episode is anything to go by, the only transformation this series offers is from curiosity to regret.

Adrift moved me in a way few films do these days - maybe because it dares to show a real romance, tender and deep, without irony. Based on a true story from the '80s, it avoids feeling like just another "strong woman vs. Nature" tale by focusing on love and loss with sincerity.

Tami and Richard, two young sailors who meet in Tahiti, fall in love and set off to sail a yacht to San Diego. What starts as a dream becomes a nightmare when they face one of history's worst storms.

The editing jumps between their love story and the post-storm aftermath, creating emotional weight and an unexpected twist that lands with impact.

A quiet, heartfelt film about survival, memory, and love, made all the more affecting because it feels true.