Giving opinions for several years and showing like a fine vintage
Giving opinions for several years and showing like a fine vintage
Member since:11.07.2000
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Phone Booth was a movie that drifted from director to director for a few years. Pearl Har’bores’ Michael Bay was interested but apparently wanted to take the film out of the phone booth. Stars such as Jim Carrey were also attached at one point. Then it landed into the lap of Joel Schumacher, he’d just worked with Colin Farrell on Tigerland, it got good reviews and hence the movie was made in only 12 days.
This is a concept movie revolving around a single idea. New York publicist Stu Shepard is a smarmy git. He uses people to get what he wants and constantly tells lies to further his own career. Every day the married Stu calls his girlfriend on a payphone, she doesn’t know he’s married and Stu’s wife knows nothing about his affair.
Stu makes his regular call from the phone booth and is surprised to see a pizza delivered to him. Next the phone rings and a commanding voice tells him not to hang up the phone, Stu dismisses the caller as a nutter but soon realizes that the caller has a rifle pointed straight at Stu. Soon there’s a dead body, the police show up and Stu is at the centre of media frenzy, as he can’t leave the booth for fear of being shot. Plus the women in his life have turned up to the scene and the caller wants Stu to do something he’s not comfortable with. That’s telling the truth.
Phone Booth is a very entertaining movie, although it’s set in one location it doesn’t get dull mainly due to the fact that it’s only 77-minutes in length. However these minutes would seem an eternity if the lead actor weren’t any good. However Farrell justifies the hype as he is excellent in the lead role. His real-life cocky manner is perfectly channelled into Stu and instantly you know what kind of person he is. As the film progresses Stu becomes an emotional wreck as someone on a telephone is controlling him. The voice on the other end is Keifer Sutherland and I’m not spoiling this, as you’ll know it’s him as soon as he speaks. Forest Whitaker also adds some depth to the proceeding as the police officer trying to figure out what’s going on.
Joel Schumacher gives the film some assured direction. Many people think he’s a poor director due to his handling of the Batman films as well as other movies such as 8MM. But he’s also done the likes of Tigerland and Falling Down, this is more in the Falling Down mould with a lot of colourful urban characters. He doesn’t really resort to a lot of flashy camera work to tell the story and instead lets the performances do most of the work.
Ultimately Phone Booth isn’t a fantastic film but it’s one that gets by purely on its concept. It’s hard for something like this blow you away as it’s very limited in what it can actually do. You always know how the film will probably end but that’s no bad thing in this case as 77-minutes is not a great deal of time to feel cheated. My only gripe with the film is the way Sutherland’s part is handled. It never sounds like Sutherland’s character is actually there, instead it’s a clear case of Sutherland watching the film and performing his dialogue in a recording boot. You get used to it eventually but I just wished that more were done to actually integrate Sutherland’s voice into the ambience of the film. As it stands it’s juts a voice that feels thrown in as an afterthought.
Still this is good fun and well worth a watch.
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Thriller - Original Language: English - Classification: 15 years and over - Starring: Timothy West, Neil Morrissey, Tara Fitzgerald, Annette Crosbie, Pauline Quirke, Rob Brydon, Denise Van Outen, John Thomson, Kevin Whately, David Suchet
Production Year: 2002 - Thriller - Director: Bharat Nalluri, Rob Bailey, Andy Wilson - Original Language: English - Classification: 15 years and over - Starring: Matthew MacFadyen, Keeley Hawes, David Oyelowo, Peter Firth, Jenny Agutter, Lisa Faulkner
For a film confined almost entirely to one tiny location,Phone Boothhas been the centre of ... more
a lot of off-screen action: changing lead man from Will Smith to Jim Carrey to Colin Farrell, with various directors attached, and finally postponed as a result ...
Postage & Packaging: £1.21 Availability: Usually dispatched within 1-2 business days...
Stu Shepard (Colin Farrell) is an arrogant publicist lying his way to success in New York. ... more
Everything changes however when he unknowingly answers a call in a phone booth he's been using to cheat on his wife. Now he is at the mercy of the caller (Kiefer...
For a film confined almost entirely to one tiny location,Phone Boothhas been the centre of ... more
a lot of off-screen action: changing lead man from Will Smith to Jim Carrey to Colin Farrell, with various directors attached, and finally postponed as a result ...
Postage & Packaging: Free! Availability: Usually dispatched within 24 hours...
A single phone call can change a man's life...or possibly end it. Stu Shepard is a ... more
self-centered New York City publicist who suddenly finds himself on the deadly end of a high-powered rifle scope. Now it's a real-time race against the clock as Stu must...
Postage & Packaging: £0.00 Availability: 3-5 working days
![Phone Booth [2003] [DVD]](http://picnicb.ciao.com/uk/78525005.jpg "Phone Booth [2003] [DVD]")
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