Rating: 
Summary: I had high hopes...
Review: I had high hopes for this one. The trailers broadcast on TV and before a movie at the local megaplex gave me the itch to check this one out in the theater (some movies just don't cut it on a small screen - know what I mean?). Jennifer Lopez's performance in "Out of Sight" was darn good so I figured she would hit the mark. Wow, was I surprised. Maybe it was bad directing or a bad script. Whatever it was she had the depth of a puddle. No, wait... I can't blame the writing or directing. She was simply terrible. Angelina Jolie took what could have been a flat and boring role in "The Bone Collector" and added color and life to it. Lopez should stick to music videos.The visual effects and imagery would be fantastic if the focus wasn't constantly on the sado-masichistic. At least the blood and gore in "Hellraiser" had a point. There's simply no need for the kind of stomach churning scenes presented in this flick. It's possible to be disturbing without being so graphic; more left to the imagination would have been better. The plot tries so hard to be as interesting as "Seven" or "Silence of the Lambs", but misses by a mile. The storyline (a serial killer with some creative methods) would have been fine as a "CSI" or "X Files" epsiode; there was simply not enough substance to hold a 2 hour movie. This movie is a rental and only if you can't find anything else on the shelf. DO NOT pay to see this in a theater and DO NOT buy this movie.
Rating: 
Summary: In one word awsome
Review: This movie has great special effects, agood story line, and a whole lot of suspense. There are plenty of extras to keep you busy as well. There has to be something seriously wrong with you if you do not like this movie.
Rating: 
Summary: Hauntingly Strange
Review: Go into the mind of madness in this thriller based on the science fiction concept of joining minds together electronically in order to provide therapy for comatose patients. The opening scene is beautiful but also bizarre. In fact, this may be said of the entire film. Images throughout range from the metaphysical and beautiful, replete with Jungian archtypes, to the frightening glimpses of madness more befitting a Freudian nightmare. This is one of those films that left me unsure whether I liked it, but stuck with haunting imagery that have lingered with me. I can say that it is one that I want to see again... and perhaps repeatedly... to unravel the fantastic and unsettling vision one is left with after only one viewing. Bizarre, mysterious, haunting, at times beautiful, at times horrific... but hardly ordinary! It also is unlikely to be everyone's cup of tea!
Rating:
Summary: Artistic Examination of a Troubled Mind
Review: The Cell is quite possibly one of the most visually layered films ever created. Carl Stargher, a serial killer, has taken another victim and hid her in a remote location where an elaborate torture system will automatically drown her within a few days. FBI agents are able to find Carl but only after he has entered into a coma brought on by a rare virus that attacks the brain. An experimental technology designed to assist coma patients becomes a tool in finding where this killer has hidden his victim. We are guided by psychologist Catherine Deane (Jennifer Lopez) into the tortured mind of this serial killer. It is her job to befriend and counsel Mr. Stargher in an attempt to gain information about where he keeps his victims. Amazing special effects and artistic costumes are used to relay the dreamy inner workings of the human psyche. The director chose to model much of this movie after works by "traditional" artists. I consider this to be more of a motion tribute to very static art forms than a rip off by an uncreative filming supervisor. The art in this film is simply too amazing to describe, you must see it to understand. However, the story line still leaves something to be desired.
Rating: 
Summary: Don't expect too much or too little.
Review: If you expect the movie to be great you will be disappointed. Expect very less, and you sure will enjoy watching it once. There are parts of the movie that is too weird and part of it that is interesting to keep you watching. I thought the music was great. The effects are OK. I don't think they are great. Very good performance by Jennifer Lopez. Don't expect her to look very sexy.
Rating:
Summary: The Cell
Review: They say the human body consist of many cells. Thank God, that this is true because this movie contains one cell and it's spelled with a H. Proberly because this is what I had to go through to see this terrible movie.
Rating:
Summary: who cares if its pretty?
Review: This is just another over produced, over hyped hollywood horror wanna be flick. Jenifer Lopez is the WORST, I repeat WORST model gone actress I have ever seen. The plot is redundant, the characters are boring, and in the end, Lopez's character weeps for the psychopath that has murdered countless women. Give me a break. If you want to hand over another 20 bucks to hollywood for giving us yet another mtv generation scream-esque horror movie, be my guest.
Rating: 
Summary: Seems like I've seen this somewhere before...
Review: ...was it SILENCE OF THE LAMBS? Or SE7EN? Perhaps HELLRAISER? DREAMSCAPE, anyone?
Uninspired and predictable. Almost laughably so. Spurred on to buy this sight unseen by Roger Ebert's "one of the best films of the year" review from the Sun-Times as well as proximity of the product in the store to SE7EN. The trailers had been intriguing. It seemed to be a similar film. If only I'd known what a rip-off...
First, there's the serial killer "where's the victim?" drama. Only 40 hours to find her! Aren't there any better tension-building devices to be used in Hollywood films these days? Both SE7EN and the cornerstone film in the modern serial killer genre, SILENCE OF THE LAMBS, have been based on this scenario, but both added characters and dimensions that rose above the base plot.
Second, we have the advances in modern science that allow anyone to enter the mind of anyone else. Didn't you know? A better film would have allowed me to suspend my disbelief. THE CELL, however, brought back bad memories of DREAMSCAPE. With interiors ripped from SE7EN and Nine Inch Nails videos and S&M visuals "worthy" of HELLRAISER, the "mind/dream" sequences were predictable in both their imagery and attempts to shock the viewer.
Finally, there's the multi-dimensional serial killer. He's got a good side? Portray him as a child. An abused child? Great! This is a possible spoiler, but I found it almost comedy (if it hadn't been so sad) that the climax of the film; the destruction of the "evil" side of D'Onofrio's serial killer, was accomplished by Lopez's character through the same graphic violence that had twisted the child into a madman. The same violence visited upon his victims. It's too bad the director and writer could not have come up with a more creative resolution.
In summary, a visual treat, colorful and disorientingly dreamlike, but that is merely entertainment - and entertainment that cannot sustain over ninety minutes of film. The multi-dimensional world contrasts as well with the predictably one-dimensional performances turned in by the wooden Lopez, overrated Vince Vaughn, and Vincent D'Onofrio, heartbreakingly wasted with so little dialogue and utilized largely as a clothes horse for mediocre dreamland costumes.
A great disappointment. A single viewing won't be a tragic waste of your time, but the purchase of this film would be a tragic waste of your dollars.
Rating:
Summary: A feast for the senses. (4.5 stars)
Review: There are two types of horror movies: (1) Those that rely on hackneyed plot devices and strive for "Boo!" moments to enjoin suspense and fear from the viewer; and (2) Those that yield a sense of horror through a profound psychological effect. I recognize the merit of (1), but I tend to prefer (2) simply because such films tend to be more engaging in their originality. The Cell is of this type, and it's an enjoyable film so long as it is taken as a shallow sci-fi/horror flick and nothing notably intellectual or deep. The Cell's most amazing quality is its incredible visuals. With the magic of special effects (clap clap) you are taken into the twisted mind of a very psychologically distraught serial killer. It's a truly surreal, disturbing journey not for the lighthearted, but engaging for those who stick with it. Disquieting imagery, gritty design, and disconcerting camerawork underscore the overtly twisted and fantastic jaunt through the killer's psyche. It's quite an engaging experience, sadly undermined by a few faults. I'm not a fan of Jennifer Lopez's acting, and she's not great here, although I suppose she suffices by conveying the amicable and sympathetic elements of her character. The script is just fine, and succinctly covers a lot of ground in the movie's densely packed exposition so you can immediately jump into the core genus of the film's plot. The story fails to achieve a sense of suspense, which is unfortunate. The whole motive for entering the serial killer's mind is to find where he hid his last victim. I suspect this was meant to provide an added measure of urgency, but I all but forgot that factor during the scenes where Lopez explored the mind of the murderer. Maybe it was a superfluous component of the plot, or maybe it was just poorly implemented. I'm not sure, but I never really felt engaged by that aspect of the story. But that's okay, because the disturbing visual aspects of this film more than compensate for a little flimsiness in the story. The serial killer's mind is a weirdly absorbing place to explore, and there was some breathless sense of intensity associated with that alone. Style over substance? Sure, a little. But, like very few other films, it doesn't matter all that much in the end. This movie leaves one seriously bothered in the end, but for all the horror, we like it. That's the magic of The Cell.
Rating:
Summary: An underrated and overrated movie
Review: First of all, I should say that there are plenty of less than appealing scenes in this movie, but no more than in Silence of the Lambs. In fact, I found that movie much more disturbing than this one....by a long shot. This one delves into the mind of a killer. The visions are unique and well produced. I liked how the director didnt follow the conventional routines of most. He alters angles, slows down and then speeds up scenes. It keeps the viewer on edge, which Im sure was his intent. The Cell reminded me a lot of What Dreams May Come. Where that movie had some wondrous visions of Heaven, this one stays much closer to home and is, I think, a better movie. What Dreams fails miserably because of the terrible, and quite necessary, relationships of the family that is torn apart. In The Cell, that doesnt come into play. The story is straightforward and uncomplicated. A serial killer needs to be stopped. Even then, when he is captured, the final missing victim needs to be found, and fast. That brings in Jennifer Lopez and the technology to enter another person's mind. You have to buy that, too, which I did. This movie is good, but not as good as some people have said, raving about it. This movie is bad, too, in that its not pleasant to see some of the scenes such as child abuse and torturous murder. However, and this needs to be emphasized, the scenes are nowhere nearly as brutal as many viewers have made out. The Cell is a fraction of the brutality seen in a movie like Natural Born Killers or Saving Private Ryan. I found those to be far more troubling. This is a good rental movie, if nothing else, to be surprised at the astounding visuals. I wouldnt buy it, though. As for the acting, I was less than impressed. Jennifer Lopez, how has done some great work in the past few years, is not very good here. She delivers her lines like she is reading them straight from the script. This movie will not garner any acting awards, that I much I guarantee. I hope that Ms. Lopez will find her way back to acting rather than singing(where she has very little talent except to wear skimpy outfits). She has acting talent but she cant walk through many more movies and expect to have a successful career. She walked through this one. Fortunately for her, the movie was a visual feast and needed no great acting. If it had received that, I might have given it another star. As it is, I give it 3.5 stars.
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