Home :: DVD :: Mystery & Suspense :: General  

Blackmail, Murder & Mayhem
British Mystery Theater
Classics
Crime
Detectives
Film Noir
General

Mystery
Mystery & Suspense Masters
Neo-Noir
Series & Sequels
Suspense
Thrillers
Phone Booth

Phone Booth

List Price: $14.98
Your Price: $10.49
Product Info Reviews

<< 1 2 3 4 5 6 .. 25 >>

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: Short, Sweet, and Effective
Review: This movie is quite short, even when compared to the latest Disney movies that are 90 or more minutes long. Phone Booth is a short and sweet 82 minutes long, but don't think that the length makes it a bad movie. It's not at all. It's short because it works. The movie's situation is something that could actually happen to some poor schmuck who can't leave a ringing phone unanswered.

The movie stars Colin Farrell as Stu, a hotshot publicist who walks around NYC in fancy designer suits toting his cell phone everywhere he goes. Everyday, he uses the same phone booth (so the call doesn't show up on his cell where his WIFE will see it) to call an actress (played by the sincere Katie Holmes) he's representing and also hoping to get into bed with. When he's finished talking to her, the phone rings, and not even thinking, he answers it. The voice on the other end tells him that if he hangs up, he'll shoot him.

One of the great things about this movie is that you will not know what to think of Stu. In the beginning, you'll find that you only see Stu as a huge materialisitc jerk. I was actually hoping that he would get shot. As the story progresses, your mind may change and it may not. I won't tell you how I felt about Stu at the end, that would ruin the fun.

Perhaps the most amazing aspect of this movie is how effective the voice on the other end of the phone is. The voice is Keifer Sutherland, sounding clear, but raspy and scary. And the motivation of this pyscho on the other end picking on poor Stu is excellent as well. Is he really a psycho afterall? Watch and judge for yourself.

Colin Farrell does a great job playing a guy who is forced into an array of emotions while on the phone. It may not be Oscar worthy, but it's worth the bucks to see. And of course Keifer Sutherland, the forboding voice, is highly effective-- definitely a noteable performance.

Good perfermances, interesting cinematography, and certainly a lead character that anyone can relate to at some point, this movie is most definitely worth seeing. With no frills or wasted minutes of exposition, it's quick, too the point, and just an all around awesome thrill ride. And hey, if you didn't like it, it was only 82 minutes of your time.

Rating: 3 stars
Summary: Great, but colin farrel?
Review: I have never been a big Colin Farrell fan. You know with the dating the slut thing. This movie looked good so I picked it up. I was very surprised by the films intense look. It is very heart pumping. You wont expect what happens next. Colin Farrell's perfomance though kind of killed it for me. Because he gets shot in the ear and he just goes you shot me. Then through out the rest of the movie they totally forget about it. That is why I only gave this film 3 stars. Also becuase theres no special features But this is still a great film, which needs good acting. Johny Depp or Mel Gibson either would have been better. This is a great film but only watch it for the pshycology.

Rating: 4 stars
Summary: It is not that bad....
Review: Saw this movie on HBO yesterday, I will have to say the cinematography was a bit strange...but this film kept me guessing what was going to happen next...high action, and almost from the moment that it started!! I little vulgar, but hey I would be too if I knew there was a madman with a rifle looking to kill me...and I had no idea where he was. The ending is a major surprised...overall I liked this film!

Rating: 3 stars
Summary: interesting.
Review: I had not known much about the movie before I rented it, other than there is a man in a phone booth. I had expected that maybe he would be in there for most of the time, but never the entire movie. That is what makes this movie so interesting. Colin Farrell plays an unfortunate hollywood agent that steps into a phone booth and never walks out. The movie begins with him talking with a close friend on the streets of New York, providing some information about his character to the viewer. Then he hears the phone ring, and the movie picks up from there. Although completely original in that the entire movie takes place in one city, on one block, in one phone booth, it had also felt like it had been done before. THe terrorist on the other line has seen Colin's character cheating on his wife and therefore has found an inventive way of punishing him. The ending is nothing spectacular and leaves the viewer with a common theme or message that we've heard in so many other movies. Above all this though, the movie is fun and does provide a good hour and a half of enjoyment. But that's about all.

Rating: 1 stars
Summary: Bad Film from a Bad Director
Review: Fortunately this movie isnt much longer than an hour during which it manages to make you laugh and cry. Mostly at the laughably embarassing script and cry for the precious moments of your life that you will never get back .. wasted. Joel Schumacher is a cartoon character hollywood schlockmeister - there is no premise so thin that he cannot churn out into yet another bad movie. Its running on HBO so don't even bother to rent it.

Rating: 1 stars
Summary: What were they THINKING??!!
Review: I looked forward to this film when I first heard that it was in production. Unfortunately, I rarely get to see movies in the theatre. Fortunately, I didn't pay theatre prices to see this movie. First of all, Colin Farrell is an excellent actor, and I liked the director's work in Falling Down & Tigerland, so what was going on in when they started shooting this movie?

I disagree with other reviewers who stated that the result shows that it is not possible to confine a movie to a small area. It has been done successfully before such as Hitchcock's Lifeboat. This movie, though, seems to throw in the towel before it begins. I first became disenchanted with the opening sequence that was cartoonish. Does anyone need a sociology lesson on society's dependence on telephone communication? Did we need a narrator to introduce us to the phone booth, or it's last inhabitant (Farrell)?

What this movie needed was simplicity, and subtlety. That would have fitted with the theme and setting of the movie. How about having the sniper's voice sound on the screen as it would have to the man in the phone booth. Instead, he was made to sound like the narrator of The Shadow radio show (yes, I understand that it may have been intentional, get it..."Who knows what evil lurks in the heart of all men...?" The sniper does as did the Shadow before him, but why is this needed?). Also, the Farrell character's sin that leads to his misfortune is idiotic to say the least. Think about it...he only talks about having an affair, but doesn't do it??

What I thought would occur in this type of movie was that a normal Joe would have happened to have been at the wrong place at the wrong time, and be mistook for involvement in a shooting spree. The tension would have been with his trying to resolve the victim's old quandary of "Why Me" while needing to stay in the booth for reasons he can't explain, and trying to overcome his predicament. The producers' also try to give justification to the terrorist by having all of his shooting victims be nefarious sorts. That type of vigilante moralism doesn't play too well anymore, if it ever did. I don't know if my way of doing the film would have worked, but it was not given a chance with the crew that did this debacle.

Rating: 3 stars
Summary: Well acted and directed, but way too heavy handed as a whole
Review: "Phone Booth" is a hyperkinetic thriller that takes place mostly in and around a phone booth. Although I hate it when reviewers tell you too much about a movie, it's probably not a giveaway to say that it involves a man who for a particular reason finds himself at the mercy of a sniper in New York City.
As it is directed by Joel Schumacher, the movie looks like a million bucks and manages to generate a high degree of mystery and fear in spurts via the concept and the execution; however, the movie almost falls totally apart as the payoff is way too heavy handed and serves as a stale morality play.

Notwithstanding the big picture, the movie moves quickly in figurative and literal terms. Colin Farrell does is good job in a difficult role and Keifer Sutherland's voice is right on target, but others, particularly Katie Holmes and Radha Mitchell, are totally wasted in thankless roles. Also although Schumacher has a great eye for visuals, he rarely gets beyond the sheen of most of his characters.

I am going to make this one short and give it three stars as it kept me interested and I was entertained by Schumacher's visual tricks. Although I was hoping for a much better payoff and feel that it was ridiculously heavy handed, I was not bored and just to be able to say that these days is enough to warrant consideration. Not a must-see, but also not something to stay away from if you have a little over an hour to kill.

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: Made standing in a phone booth seem scary
Review: I hadn't seen any other Colin Farrell movie before this one besides Daredevil and I thought he did a pretty good job. He played a man who made a living lying and he cheated on his wife. But one day when he steps into a phone booth like he does everyday to call his girlfriend (The one who he was cheating his wife for) things start to go wrong. First of all a pizza guy delivers a pizza to the booth and then a guy calls. He wants to kill him but he likes to fool around first. Two hookers who wanted to use the phone brought a guy over to make him get out of the booth but the guy on the phone kills him. Colin Farrell was framed becasue the guy had put a gun in the phone booth earlier. The cops come he does what the guy tells him to do and he lied to the police by saying he was on the phone with his pyschratrist. The cops later find out who he's talking to and they try to stop him. The guy shot Colin and then framed and killed the pizza guy.

This was a great movie and I left a lot of the movie out so you can see it for yourself. Even though the majority of this movie is in a phone booth it is a movie you'll want to watch again and again.

Rating: 3 stars
Summary: Not "morally bankrupt" and not super but good
Review: I'm shocked at how varying these reviews are for Phone Booth.

It's not meant to be a deep movie. It's meant to be impressive on a couple of levels.

#1 - It holds your attention for over an hour inside a phone booth
#2 - You won't figure out the ending until it really happens and even then some miss it.

Listen closely to the shooter's voice. Who is it? Look closely at the shooter when you see him (you will). Surprise actor!

Rating: 2 stars
Summary: MORALLY BANKRUPT MESS
Review: First...i guess I just don't get Collin Farrell. I've seen him in a few things now and find him boring beyond all belief. Well...in this movie he plays a small time publicist/Agent who pretends to a much higher standing in the entertainment world.

He is trying desperately to "get with" one of his stars. Stu stops at a phone booth to call the actress played by Katie Holmes and now finds himself the target of a sick sniper voiced by Kiefer Sutherland.

He's told to stay on the phone no matter what, so when some ladies from a strip club want to use the phone, Stu tells them to get lost, prompting them to get the clubs bouncer. The sniper shoots the bouncer and Stu gets the blame.

Soon the phone booth is surrounded by cops, demanding Stu's surrender. Stu can't leave though and the sniper forces Stu to call his girlfriend and confess what he has been up to. Stu breaks down with guilt as his girlfriend arrives to try an help.

Unfortunately, in Director Joel Schumachers twisted sense of morality, the sniper is made to be the hero, depsite the fact that he kills at least two people. I guess murder is ok as long as you tell the truth and admit your sins to your loved ones.

The payoff of the movie is just abysmal and unbelievable. I won't spoil it for you but it really irked me. Stu may be guilty of lying but making him as the villain and the sniper as the anti-hero is reprehensible.

Farrell is also a dullard. I've been bored by him in every movie I've seen. He's completely lacking in screen presence.

Phone booth wants desperately to be a hitchcockian thriller but Schumacher has none of the master's skill at building suspense.


<< 1 2 3 4 5 6 .. 25 >>

© 2004, ReviewFocus or its affiliates