Cell (2016)

[therock666]

Experience action-packed terror as two men race against the clock to stop a horde of rabid killers as their city descends into apocalyptic madness in the pulse-pounding thriller, Cell, arriving on Blu-ray (plus Digital HD), DVD (plus Digital), and Digital HD on September 27 from Lionsgate. The film is currently available On Demand. Based on Stephen King’s chilling book, the film stars John Cusack (Love & Mercy) alongside Oscar® nominee Samuel L. Jackson (Best Supporting Actor, Pulp Fiction, 1994) and Stacy Keach (The Bourne Legacy). Cell was directed by Tod Williams from a screenplay by Stephen King and Adam Alleca. The home entertainment release of Cell contains audio commentary with the director and a look behind the scenes of the film in the “To Cell and Back” featurette. The Cell Blu-ray and DVD will be available for the suggested retail price of $24.99 and $19.98, respectively.

Stephen King’s best-selling novel is brought to terrifying life in this mind-blowing thriller starring John Cusack and Samuel L. Jackson. At the Boston airport, Clay (Cusack) witnesses a scene of chaotic mayhem when an electronic signal turns hundreds of cell phone users into rabid killers. Desperate to find his estranged wife and son, Clay teams with a train driver (Jackson) to battle the horde of murderous “phoners” as the city descends into apocalyptic madness.

CAST:
John Cusack Love & Mercy, Being John Malkovich, Chi-Raq
Samuel L. Jackson Pulp Fiction, The Hateful Eight, The Avengers
Isabelle Fuhrman The Hunger Games, Orphan
Owen Teague Wild in Blue, Echoes of War, TV’s “Bloodline”
Clark Sarullo Anchorman 2: The Legend Continues
Anthony Reynolds The Hunger Games, Iron Man 3
Erin Elizabeth Burns TV’s “Stan Against Evil”
and Stacy Keach TV’s “Prison Break,” The Bourne Legacy

BLU-RAY/DVD/DIGITAL SPECIAL FEATURES*
· Audio Commentary with Director Tod Williams
· “To Cell and Back” Featurette

[F13BluRay]

I look forward to this. Loved the book

[The Great Owl]

In early 2014, I took a day off of my normal job to work for 13 hours as a background extra on the set of Cell, which was filmed here in Atlanta. I watched Cell on Video on Demand a few weeks back, and it turns out that I appear prominently on the screen for a good second or two at the 32:45 mark. As you can probably ascertain from the below image (taken from my iPhone of my computer screen), I'm not one of the good guys.

[Show spoiler]

I'm not going to lie... Cell is a pretty sloppy Stephen King adaptation, mainly because of studio funding issues. The computer effects look outdated in a Buffy the Vampire Slayer television show sort of way. The cast and crew did an awesome job, in my opinion, though, and I would love to have seen this film have the budget and studio backing that it deserved.
As is, it's a fun film in that "pick a title from the back of the video rental shelves in the horror section" sense. I've always had an affinity for these type of movies.
And, of course...I'm in it.

[The Great Owl]

Originally Posted by The Great Owl

In early 2014, I took a day off of my normal job to work for 13 hours as a background extra on the set of Cell, which was filmed here in Atlanta. I watched Cell on Video on Demand a few weeks back, and it turns out that I appear prominently on the screen for a good second or two at the 32:45 mark. As you can probably ascertain from the below image (taken from my iPhone of my computer screen), I'm not one of the good guys.

[Show spoiler]

Naturally, since this movie marks my 15 minutes of fame as a background extra (haha), I purchased the Blu-ray of Cell earlier today at Best Buy.

The short "Making Of" documentary shows me chasing John Cusack, Samuel L. Jackson, and Isabelle Fuhrman down a hill. This sequence can be seen at roughly 3:49 into the documentary. I'm chuckling as I watch this, because I remember not being able to stop after running down the hill, and almost barreling into the three actors when they stopped in the tall grass at the bottom.

In this screenshot, I'm in the purple/blue sweatshirt and jeans, running right next to the cameraman at the bottom of the hill. They told us to roar, to look mean, and to run fast. Mission accomplished on all fronts. I'm heftier in this photo than I am now, since I've lost 60 pounds since that day of filming, but I like the big angry look that I have in the movie.

[Show spoiler]

[The Great Owl]

Originally Posted by The Great Owl

[Show spoiler]

Whoa... I'm watching the Director Commentary track right now on the Blu-ray. When I show up on the screen in the above shot, the director (Tod Williams) says, "This guy...I love the way that he did it."

This just made my day.

[The Great Owl]

Here's the official site review that was just posted today.

This is a fair review that will give Stephen King fans an idea of what they're getting themselves into. My fondness of the movie for reasons stated in my above post sways me more in its favor, but I also wish that the filmmakers had been been able to utilize a higher budget with better backing from the studio. I think that it's a fun drive-in movie in the same way that I think that many of the "bad" early 1980s films are fun drive-in movies, but your mileage may vary.

Thanks to the reviewer for posting a screenshot of yours truly in the screenshots section of the write-up!

Incidentally, the woman in the greenish sweater in another one of the screenshots is a running friend of mine. The two of us ran together on a pace team for a half marathon race a year or so ago. Several running friends were at the film set that day as extras, because that's how we all found out about the casting. A casting call was sent out to local running groups asking for "experienced trail runners and marathon runners", since much of our extra work involved running fast dashes through woods after the stunt doubles or actors.

[skads_187]

Originally Posted by The Great Owl

I'm not going to lie... Cell is a pretty sloppy Stephen King adaptation, mainly because of studio funding issues. The computer effects look outdated in a Buffy the Vampire Slayer television show sort of way. The cast and crew did an awesome job, in my opinion, though, and I would love to have seen this film have the budget and studio backing that it deserved.
As is, it's a fun film in that "pick a title from the back of the video rental shelves in the horror section" sense. I've always had an affinity for these type of movies.
And, of course...I'm in it.

thats cool that you are in a SK movie!

besides the low budget feel, is it faithful to the novel? if you've read it of course.

[AnamorphicWidescreen]

Just saw Cell for the first time. Hadn't read the SK novel, so didn't know what to expect. From one standpoint, I found this a good, solid movie about the dangers of depending too much on technology. I liked the post-apocalyptic aspect, i.e. the characters wandering through a burned out city, deserted countryside, etc. while packs of roaming zombies were on their backs - very good imagery here.

However, from another stand-point, I found the movie hilarious! I know it wasn't intentionally meant to be funny, but the idea of cell phones taking over people's minds & turning them into zombies is comical, since I think it's happening already - everywhere you look, people have their faces buried in their stupid cell phones. I get the impression that if I-phones would all go dead at one time, this world would have a collective nervous breakdown & people would start acting like the zombie characters in this film - LOL

I guess one of the reasons I wasn't sympathetic to all those poor suckers in the movie who were "taken over" by cell phones is because I myself hate cell phones, especially I-phones. I own a cell, but only because I consider it a necessary evil; I have a very basic (older) model without Internet access or texting.

There are times I wish I could throw my stupid cell phone against the wall so it could smash into a thousand #$#$%$% pieces, I hate it so much - seriously.

[The Great Owl]

Originally Posted by skads_187

thats cool that you are in a SK movie!

besides the low budget feel, is it faithful to the novel? if you've read it of course.

The movie is fairly faithful to the novel up until the end, and I rather like the way that the cinematic treatment of the ending turned out.

I really need to make the screenshot of me into my profile avatar, but I like my current profile avatar too much.

[mvp828]

I just finished this after having picked it up in one of the Vudu sales. I liked it. Now, I can't compare it to the book since I haven't read it, but compared to some of the other Stephen King books turned movies, I feel like this was one of the better ones.

On a side note... I'm kind of curious as to if there is any backstory as to Jackson and Cusack being King fan's or just random that they have done two movies based off his books now.

[bryantburnette]

Cusack was also in Stand By Me.