Cellular

We have been waiting for this one and were not disappointed. Kim Basinger (8 Mile) stars and boy does she look great! She acts great too - this is a very good performance. She is seriously afraid when she needs to be, very genuine, just a moving performance. She brings alot to the role that another less experienced actress would not. We were moved.

She is kidnapped and has no idea why or what is going on. The kidnapper smashes the wall phone in the room, and she is able to patiently put wires together until she gets a dial tone, and touches the wires together to simulate dialing. She finally reaches a number that belongs to a cell phone owned by a young guy named Ryan - played by Chris Evans (The Perfect Score). Chris comes off very EveryKid to me. Not obnoxious, a little self centered, very realistic. He is such fun to follow, his reactions are very real, he doesn't seem to have 'already read the script'.

William H. Macy (Seabiscuit but our favorite is Fargo) is a sensitive, complicated detective that we just loved. He is always wonderful to watch. He picks his roles well and this is no exception. He's about to retire and open a Day Spa with is wife. Something every police detective wants to do! Ah but this is Los Angeles so maybe that's not so far out.

Jason Statham (The Transporter, Snatch) plays the bad guy. He's a great bad guy - he puts across contained but fierce energy. He holds up his end very well and feels like a definite force to be feared.

A few surprises - a great lawyer role played by Rick Hoffman, who is just hysterical. And a big surprise - Dat Phan in his movie debut! He's the Vietnamese guy who won tv's Last Comic Standing (and is on right now in a Battle of Season One and Season Two) You have to be watching close - he pops up for just a few seconds at the beginning as an artist on Venice Beach, then he gets another few seconds and a shot of him in the background later on. It was fun to see him!

This movie moves quickly, never drags, has many twists and turns but not to many to get lost. You have to forgive a few things in the script that may or may not ever be possible to happen, but it's a very satisfying, well made action and suspense thriller. A real good movie.

Besides outstanding casting, a solid and entertaining thriller story, good action, and great directing, this movie has originality - right down to the way the end credits are displayed.

The popcorn was okay - not as freshly popped as when we see it coming out of the popper but it was fine. Pueblo Tinseltown was the theater.

Overall Rating - a 4!