The Visitor

In today's global state, the issue of migration has become a heated debate. Thanks in part to it's promise of the 'American Dream', the United States has become the primary settling zone for illegal immigration. To some, immigration is a major issue along the home front. To others, the basic rights of individual freedoms that the country was founded on supersede other issues. Either way, it's become a political debate that figures only escalate as world populace grows.
The Visitor is about a passive University prof who undergoes a journey of self-discovery when he comes across an illegal pair of immigrants living in his New York apartment. Richard Jenkins stars as the lead and was nominated for a Best Actor award at the Oscars last year. Rightfully so. Jenkins, perhaps best known for getting his head beat in with a tire iron in Burn After Reading, portrays his characters numerous insecurities with relative ease and subtlety. Haaz Sliemen, Dani Jekesai Guirira, and Hiam Abbass excel in supporting roles. Slieman and Guirira play the couple squatting in Jenkins' apartment. Slieman is a happy and accepting human being, so his character progression is that much more painful as the story goes on. Abbass plays his mother, and she too is excellent. This is ultimately a character driven story. The writing is excellent. More importantly, it displays patience not accustomed to most films made these days (read: quality films).
In a funny way, the fact that the majority of the main characters in The Visitor are foreign plays to the strength of the films message. It's about acceptance. It's about understanding people before you pass judgement. The performances of the actors, who until now, have really not been accepted or understood by western audiences, plays to its favor.

Vanilla Sky

Over the years, it has become a common thematic tool. It used to be that films told their stories linearly. Put simply, the events of the films are placed in a straight time line. Like with many things, it was only time before the film industry figured out new ways to tell their stories. People forget that a film is like a book. Each chapter is different. Each scene is different. Moving the chapters, or scenes, out of order but in a manner that still tells the story creates a new form of storytelling. Unfortunately, there are those who don't understand how to rearrange the scenes in a manner that makes sense. In those cases, you get, well, nonsense.
Vanilla Sky is the story of a wealthy playboy who's life is thrown into chaos when a jilted lover decides to drive her car off a bridge....with him inside. As a spoiler, this is hardly a movie that can be interpreted as simply as that. Tom Cruise stars in the lead role and it's his performance that controls the majority of the film. It's both detrimental and beneficial. Mr. Cruise is truly an admirable businessman. He knows, almost better than anyone, what roles work for him. Check his resume and he consistently plays a cocky man who is humbled and has to build himself back up. Vanilla Sky is no different. He is humbled alright. Humbled hard. Therein lies an issue. Cruise is not a sturdy enough actor to best portray the depths to which his character falls. Into the third act though, his performance actually comes into focus much better. His overacting may have actually had reason.
Vanilla Sky is a story told both linearly and non-linearly. Certain sequences are linear. Some are not. Some work. And some don't. At the end of the day though, Vanilla Sky is a thoroughly thought-invoking film. It's storytelling is unique and effective whether it's linear or non-linear. Or to you, it could just be nonsense.