Kattiera Nana I think this is a new genre that they're all sort of working their way through it and haven't got all the kinks worked out yet but it's a genre that works for me.

Nonureva Really Surprised!

BoardChiri Bad Acting and worse Bad Screenplay

Philippa All of these films share one commonality, that being a kind of emotional center that humanizes a cast of monsters.

susanboyd-06006 Joel Schumacher is a strange case- On the one hand he has made stinkers like Batman and Robin, he's also been responsible for films such as Falling Down and St. Elmo's Fire. Phonebooth falls somewhere in the middle in that it is a well-paced thriller that you can watch on an idle afternoon and even enjoy it but won't remember it again. Colin Farrell is in top form, but Whitaker and Holmes are wasted.

Tweekums Stu is an obnoxious New York publicist who lies to the people he deals with and calls a woman, who isn't his wife, from a phone booth so his wife won't find out. One day as he is talking to his other woman a man approaches the booth with a pizza that he says somebody has ordered for Stu... he is rudely sent away. Moments after he hangs up the phone rings and he answers... an unidentified man is on the line. He starts giving instructions to Stu and lets it be known that he has the area in the sights of a high powered rifle. Soon afterwards a man who tries to force Stu to leave to booth and is shot; those around claim Stu shot him and soon the booth is surrounded by heavily armed police demanding that Stu hand over his weapon... which obviously he doesn't have. The voice on the phone continues to goad him, trying to force him to do things that will both ruin his relationships and probably get him killed. Outside the booth police Captain Ed Ramey tries to negotiate with Stu and both women in his life arrive at the scene.At only an hour and twenty minutes in length this film is definitely shorter than most; I didn't feel short-changed though as for most of the film it was incredibly tense despite the fact that it was basically just a man talking on a telephone. There is some early action when a pimp tries to force Stu out of the box before being shot by the sniper but after that it is just a question of whether he will shoot somebody else or whether the police will shoot Stu. Colin Farrell is brilliant as Stu; for almost all of the film he is on screen; the centre of attention. Forest Whitaker is impressive as Captain Ramey and Keifer Sutherland is menacing as the sniper even though we only glimpse him at the end of the film... often poor performances are described as phoned-in but this phoned-in performance is great! Director Joel Schumacher does a fine job keeping things really taut as the story plays out in real time. Overall I'd certainly recommend this to anybody wanting a good tense thriller but don't want to spend ages doing it.

Pjtaylor-96-138044 A simple premise executed simply brilliantly, this taut, tense and genuinely gripping thriller does more with its single location, few key characters and short, concise 88-minute run-time than most pictures of the kind can even hope to achieve - doing so on an independent budget and with a shooting schedule of just ten days (with two days for pick-ups), to boot. On reflection, the narrative and certain character motivations of 'Phone Booth (2002)' may seem a little thin and a few of its bizarrely schlocky and very nineties elements stick out like sore thumbs - including a slightly nonsensical opening and ending which both have no place in a piece of this calibre. It's the in-the-moment intensity that rockets this experience up past most others in the genre, though, as it is an unpredictable, engaging and edge-of-your-seat thrill-ride throughout with a stellar lead performance and a fantastically frenzied pace. Highly entertaining, energetic stuff. 8/10

A_Different_Drummer Those members who whined and gave this a bad review are obviously from a planet where every film made is either Godfather or Matrix.OK, by now we all now the secret behind films like this, the "high concept" stuff that Hollywood insiders pine for. Get the best talent in the biz, in front of, and behind, the camera. And make the budget so attractive that you could raise money from your own accountant over lunch if you had to.And then -- the challenge -- do it, and see if you pull it off.And they did. When these films (two guys in an elevator, a guy hanging from a canyon, a woman lost in space) work, it is a joy to behold.Perfect. Engages from beginning to end.