In the film Gravity (2013), the astronauts on STS-157 & the ISS lose communications with mission control in Houston, supposedly due to the chain reaction of debris collisions taking out communication satellites (according to CAPCOM just before comms are lost).
However, if a debris cascade such as this occurred in low Earth orbit (LEO), wouldn't it be extremely unlikely to affect satellites in geosynchronous orbit (GSO), at almost 10 times the altitude of the ISS's orbit? In which case, NASA's Tracking and Data Relay Satellites (TDRS / TDRSS) would still be functioning and communications with the Mission Control Center would still be possible.