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paulsandberg
Reviews
Cellular (2004)
one of the worst films I've seen
I had high hopes for this film, as it seems every critic was enamored with it. Boy, I sure can't for the life of me see why. Implausible from the get go, laughingly stilted dialog, you name it, this film has it. Why in the heck would Wm. Macy and Kim Bassinger submit to this trash? And yet some critics compare it favorably to Phone Booth - what are you guys smoking?
Just an example of the terrible writing - The kidnappers steal Kim's Porsche Cayanne and then all she can say to her cell buddy when attempting to thwart the kidnapping of her son is that her car is a "black SUV". Come on!!! She HAS to know that it's a Porsche for Chrissakes - not to mention that giving the license number may have helped. DUH!
And then when there's nobody home on the fourth floor of the PD - yeah, sure.
I finally had had enough when the slacker dude takes off after the Porsche in the tiny Security car - uh huh, like he could keep up with the Porsche or that the Security Car wouldn't look conspicuous and the kidnappers, realizing that they were being followed, would simply put pedal to the metal and say "see ya" - a premise that seems beyond the reasoning of our hero.
I'm all for action films, but you have to at least have some basis in reality, and this film truly lacks that basis. Maybe someone thought the whole idea was clever - 1001 ways to make use of a cell phone, but when there is absolutely no reality quotient.... well it just makes a bad film.
Anyone else wonder (1) how a school teacher would be home in the middle of the day (and able to then pick up her son after school) (2) how a school teacher who, by her own admission, doesn't have a lot of money, lives in a fancy house, has a maid, drives a 70,000 dollar car, and has her son enrolled in a private school. Totally laughable.
Medium (2005)
it's not as far fetched as the premise may seem
I've known women who have had premonitions - one even gets weird twinklings where she blurts out things while watching the news - and then whatever info she states comes out to be true.
So this show really works for me. It could have easily gone for some kind of sensationalism and quickly sunk to the bottom, but the writers have decided to reach for something more meaningful by creating an everyday household trying to deal with an unique situation. In doing so they have made the fantastic seem much more plausible and have given the show a sturdy foundation.
If you are looking for refreshingly crisp dialogue and some excellent acting within a show that makes you think, then please give Medium a try. It's so much better than all those so called "reality" shows, or the posturing in such shows as CSI where the writers cover up their lack of skill by having the stars look meaningfully into the camera.
It's funny how a show that many think has an outlandish premise can actually come off as being so much more realistic.