EDUARDO NERIEGA   PENELOPE CRUZ   CHETE LERA   FELE MARTINEZ

and   MINNIE DRIVER   HALLIE KATE EISENBERG   GARY COLLINS

star in

OPEN YOUR EYES        and        BEAUTIFUL

VHS - PAL - LIKE NEW - FEATURES 2 FILMS on the 1-TAPE - Video Dealer Preview - M-rated - Time Coded on Screen -  117-minutes and 112-minutes - Colour - 1997 and 2000-releases - Large box

OPEN YOUR EYES

(ABRE LOS OJOS)

The film that inspired "Vanilla Sky"

Official Selection Sundance Film Festival

A once handsome playboy, César finds himself in a mental facility and he can't remember why.

All he can remember is meeting the love of his life for one day, and then getting into a car accident which left his face horribly disfigured.

But the pain of becoming physically undesirable may help him to find the truth.

                

"Abre Los Ojos" is one of the most astonishing movies I have ever seen.

It's so full of astounding twists that it constantly makes you sit up and wonder what the next shot will bring you.

At the same time, you keep wondering if a movie with so many twists will be able to tie everything up at the end, but Amenabar and his co-writer manage to do just that, in a reasonably (if not perfectly) satisfying manner.

 Eduardo Noriega's acting is so good it's beyond belief, and so is the "disfiguring" makeup.

Pair this off with "The Game" for a truly mind-bending double feature and see what cinema should be like more often. (****1/2)

BEAUTIFUL

When does being irresistible become Unbearable??

Mona Hibbard has wanted to be a beauty pageant queen since she was eight, despite not being considered traditional beauty pageant material.

This goal is in large part to make up for an unhappy home life while she was growing up.

Her primary support for the better part of her life has been her mousy best friend, Ruby Stillwell, with who she currently lives with Ruby's seven year old daughter Vanessa.

Mona's hard work and determination as a girl led to her growing up into an adult with this singular focus to the exclusion of all else.

Because of what she sees as Mona's selfish attitude, Vanessa can't understand what her mother sees in her.

 Mona's ultimate dream is one step from reality when she is chosen to represent Illinois in the Miss American Miss pageant.

 Mona will do whatever it takes to win, much like she did to be crowned Miss Illinois.

But when Ruby is detained, Vanessa, who gets a better understanding of Mona after meeting Mona's mother and stepfather, becomes her surrogate family at the pageant.

Mona's dream of winning the pageant not only faces the obstacles of forty-nine other contestants, but also Joyce Parkins, an ambitious reporter with a vendetta, and Mona herself, whose priorities may change because of Vanessa.

I was very impressed with this movie, Sally Field did an excellent directing job and Minnie Driver and her supporting cast came off as real people as a result of the excellent directing and their superb performances.

 

The movie is emotional but in a very subtle way, by the end you find yourself living the story through the characters and you are feeling what they feel.