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The Cell - New Line Platinum Series

The Cell - New Line Platinum Series

List Price: $14.97
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Rating: 2 stars
Summary: JCMICHAELS.COM The Cell Review
Review: Jennifer Lopez stars in this suspenseful psychological thriller about a woman that must enter the mind of a serial killer in order to locate a missing victim. The ride that follows is one that will leave you wondering why you spent 107 minutes watching what could have been a great film.

Visually it is stunning, paying great attention to set design, special effects and mood. There are a couple of instances that seem to deviate from the intelligence of Lopez's character. One point I will mention is on the back of the DVD case, it reads, "The visually haunting world threatens her very existence when she becomes trapped by the terror inside." As she walks through this bizarre and twisted world that is the serial killers head, there is no mistaking that she is in a world that is not her own. While in this world you get the sense that she is in complete control, she can leave at any moment by pressing a chip embedded in her hand, something that is mentioned at the very start, therefore becoming trapped should not be an issue.

From the hackneyed storyline there comes the second rate acting. I do know that normally some of the actors, Lopez and D'Onofrio, have sparks of brilliance but that rarely happens with Vince Vaughn. His character sadly takes on the role of savior to both Lopez and the killer's latest and missing victim. When he must "...rescue her [Lopez] from the killer's nightmare mind..." it furthers the point that the detail was just missing. The writer expects us to believe that Vaugn's character, who has never entered a mind, can successfully rescue anyone?

If you haven't already figured out, I didn't find much that I liked about the movie, including the forced and unimaginative ending. But if you want to see a lot of special effects without the disturbance of a good plot and great acting, or if you want a movie that is loaded with extras including commentaries, documentaries and interactive games then you should pick this movie up. Otherwise rent and be done with it.

Rating: 2 stars
Summary: You've already seen this movie!
Review: The title says it all. Nothing new here, nothing I haven't seen in other movies made in the past 20 years.

Serial killer is caught, and now it's a chase to find out where the girl is! Only 1 person can find out.. Jennifer Lopez! She does this by entering his mind.

The serial killer side of the movie is pretty uncreative and highly unmotivated. If you've ever read about or seen a movie about serial killers, you've seen it all before. You also get the idea that this guy is the guy all the other serial killers would make fun of and pick on, should all of the serial killers hang out together. Too much time spent on why he is the way he is, which was lame and pointless. Generic bleeding heart abused child story, where if it was true, 45% of us would be drowning and bleaching women like this guy is.

Vince Vaughn's character actually says so much in the movie. I think they probably cut out the one interesting part of the movie: Why Vince Vaughn wasn't a serial killer.

Jennifer Lopez, as always, shouldn't really be acting in this movie. The whole cyber-reality mind meld thing was pretty lame and unmotivated. Better examples of this can be found in older movies like Dreamscape and Brain Storm. Even Nightmare on Elm Street!

Visual effects were OK, if you're into antiques, the color red, or Tool videos. Because, every brain scene took place in a reddish room with antiques, or in a Tool video. Everything else was in a generic "High Tech" complex.

If your friend has it, borrow it. Don't spend any money on it though.

Rating: 1 stars
Summary: Horrible. Just plain horrible.
Review: A film made specifically for people born with no minds orlogical understanding of their own... If you've got money to waste, look NO further. Oh yeah...and I wish I owned stock in the company that provided Ms. Lopez with lip gloss.

Rating: 1 stars
Summary: Serially Stupid
Review: Please do not rent, pay or purchase this atrocious film. It has not a single redeeming quality. Not even those who enjoy senseless entertainment will walk away happy. It commits the cardinal sin of trying to purchase an audience through hitting the right moralistic buttons. When you've got nothing else, get preachy. This film suggests pathological killers are the product of abusive, perversely religious fathers, and merit our sympathy. Yea right, the problem in our society is people take their religion too seriously. What world is Mr. Singh living in? Can't these post-mod lefty Hollywood sophists conger up a plot without taking a gratuitous stab at organized religion? The predictable plot, poor acting and vapid dialogue were difficult enough to take. But the sappy moralizing put the movie over the top. If making bad movies were a criminal offense, Mr. Singh deserves the death penalty or at least life without parole. Under no circumstances enter "The Cell". You will regret it.

Rating: 1 stars
Summary: The Cell as seen on TRL
Review: I watched this in hopes of seeing something other than recycled movies. But, yet again I was disappointed. People heralded this as a great movie with great visuals. Though, to tell the truth this is in the same vein as Seven, Kiss the Girls and others in the serial-killer genre. So the plot was very, very familiar. As for the visuals, i.e. inside the killer's mind, you can see such visuals in videos for Tool and especially Marilyn Manson. I'm a fan of neither band but it's interesting that this was seen as something never done before. Hype is a very powerful entity.

Rating: 2 stars
Summary: Great Picture - Thin Storyline
Review: The story is not uninteresting, but not special either. The costumes are great, the picture quality and the surrealistic scenery also. Somehow the movie didn't thrill me.

Rating: 2 stars
Summary: Visually Dazzling
Review: The dream sequences were magnificent & startling. If the filmmakers had cut absolutely every last scene taking place in the "real world" they might have even had a good movie, a pitch black horror fantasy along the lines of "Hellraiser". Instead these scenes are limited to dream sequnces which ultimately does nothing to further the main plot along.

The main plot focuses on the attempt of a team of detectives, who may be the most inept to appear on screen since Inspector Clouseau, try to find where a serial killer's most recent victim is being held before she is actually killed. If you think you've seen this plot before you have. It was done most memorably in "Silence of the Lambs," but also in "Kiss the Girls," "Bone Collector" and "Copycat." This plot isn't just tired, it is so exhausted that it's dead on arrival, even more comatose than the serial killer himself.

The plot twist that the heroes go inside the killer's dreams to find clues to the whereabouts of his newest victim is undermined when it is revealed that ordinary detective work would have done the same job, only faster.

So the audience goes inside the mind of a serial killer for no particular reason. Problem is, to paraphrase a line from far more clever "The Blair Witch Project," no serial killer is that creative. It was more like diving into the mind of Salvador Dali. It would have been a worthwhile experience to have those visuals without such an excessively stupid, boring plot.

Rating: 1 stars
Summary: Horrible flick and waste of time!
Review: One sentence: Jennifer Lopez couldn't act her way out of a phone booth.

This is a simply AWFUL flick. Gruesome, nauseating, I came away with a pounding headache.

BTW, I love GOOD sci-fi, such as The Matrix, Bladerunner, both Terminators, The Abyss, and more.

But, this movie is one of those flicks where they try to constantly ram special effects down your eyeballs and use them as a substitute for good acting or a good story line. It doesn't work. And, if you are watching this movie to see Lopez undress and show off her body, you are wasting your time and money, 'cause it ain't gonna happen!

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: A HIP AND TWISTED THRILLER
Review: When a serial killer (the chilling Vincent D'Onofrio) falls into a coma, before his last victim can be found, the FBI enlist the help of a child therapist (Jennifer Lopez) to enter his mind and find the missing girl.

Catherine (Lopez) has the abilty to enter her patient's mind's and see what is going on in their head, a very dangerous procedure due to that fact if she gets deep enough, she may not come back...putting the risk's aside, she decides to help agent Novak (Vince Vaughn) bring the girl back alive.

"The Cell" is visually STUNNING, once Lopez's character enters the killer's twisted mind you are thrown into a suspenseful roller coaster ride (music video style). Shifting from present day to the alternate world the viewer is kept on the edge of their seat awaiting the next shock, and wondering what the outcome will be.

A must see for suspense fans.

Nick Gonnella

Rating: 2 stars
Summary: Wish I did like it, but I just don't.
Review: I rented this film with high expectations, with the good reviews it received from my 3 favorite critics (Roger Ebert, James Kendrick, James Berardinelli). But now I end up agreeing with the other critics. The Cell, like Hollow Man, features a great premise, but fascinates only through visuals, with a story that's weak and suspenseless.


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