46. THE CELL
 
United States
dir. Tarsem
world premiere 2000
U.S. release 2000
 

 
Because the film pulls such a whopping bait-and-switch on the credibility of Lopez's protagonist that Tarsem's moderate grasp of narrative barely matters. Even the tiredness of the childhood-abuse trope gets ironically recuperated. And the visuals and soundscape are so heady and disreputably luxurious that these quibbles, settled or otherwise, barely register until days after the film ends.