Puls (2016)

Puls: Directed by Tod Williams. With John Cusack, Samuel L. Jackson, Isabelle Fuhrman, Clark Sarullo. When a mysterious cell phone signal causes apocalyptic chaos, an artist is determined to reunite with his young son in New England.

“Yet another film in which Cusacku0026#39;s stupid hat does better acting than he does.nIn the first few minutes we learn that Cusack is a hack-writer u0026amp; the type of father who randomly disappears from his family to have affairs for a year at a time u0026amp; then randomly turns back up demanding to see the family whenever he feels like it. So right from the start, we know he is a POS u0026amp; it is impossible to sympathize with him or care about his fate. Phones act up. Everybody goes crazy. Cusack u0026amp; Sam Jackson make it to the relative safety of his apartment u0026amp; find another survivor a young female. Since the movie canu0026#39;t be about these people sensibly surviving in relative safety, Cusack decides that now the need to intrude on the family he previously deserted is URGENT (why? no reason. just go with it.), and he also convinces the other two idiots to shun safety u0026amp; go after his family with him (again, why? no reason). During these moronic movements of u0026quot;plotu0026quot;, we are also treated to scenes of mindless paternalistic BS such as Sam forbidding the youngish female from smoking by taking cigarettes from her hand while saying u0026quot;NO NO NO NO NO NO NO.u0026quot; as if speaking to a dog or a toddler, then proceeding to smoke the cigarettes himself. They also desert Cusacku0026#39;s lovable u0026amp; devoted cat in the apartment to starve to death alone while they go on this foolu0026#39;s errand of battling zombies to go u0026amp; hassle the family Cusack blithely abandoned a year ago.nAlso, the most important thing you need to know about all of this, in case the movie doesnu0026#39;t beat you over the head with it enough, is: Stephen King does not like cellphones, he thinks they have turned everybody into zombies. Thatu0026#39;s deep social commentary, isnu0026#39;t it? Do you get it? See, because itu0026#39;s important for you to know cellphones are bad, do you get it? DO YOU? DO YOU GET IT??? Also, he thinks young ladies should not be allowed to smoke, because his daughter Naomi smokes, so now he shoehorns the message that u0026quot;IT IS IMPROPER FOR YOUNG LADIES TO SMOKE!u0026quot; into all of his books u0026amp; films.nIf you still want to watch this film go ahead. I canu0026#39;t spoil the ending for you because I got tired of my intelligence being insulted after 25 minutes. Good luck.”