In a Nutshell. Mini reviews of movies old and new. No fuss. No spoilers. And often no sleep.

Sunday 23 October 2011

The Cell (2000)

J-Lo dives into the mind of a serial killer hoping to convince him to take her seriously now that she’s an actress in a real, genuine, honest to God film!
It's shallower than it pretends to be, step in it and your toes will barely get wet, but Tarsem makes his eye-candy so full of sugary goodness that it's possible to forgive the plot for the most part.
J-Lo says very little, mercifully, and when she does she whispers.
Vincent D'Onofrio has an intensely overbearing cinematic presence; without him it would be little more than a pretty moving painting that has a number of similarities to The Silence of the Lambs (1991).
Somehow, the individual parts combine to form something memorable that pleases me more than it probably should.

3½ milky white dolls out of 5

2 comments:

Impudent Urinal said...

Watch the anime Psycho Diver for something similar.
2 the psycho is always a bigger draw than the protagonist out of 5

Dr Faustus said...

Haven't seen Psycho Diver. It's gone on my list.