Buy This DVD Now By Clicking On The Text Link Below!
Phone Booth
Stars:
Colin Farrell, Forest Whitaker, Katie
Holmes, Radha Mitchell, and Kiefer Sutherland
Writer:
Larry Cohen
Director:
Joel Schumacher
Feature
length: 81 minutes
Extras:
Director’s Commentary and Trailers
Languages:
English and French Language Dolby Digital 5.1 Surround Sound and Spanish
Language Dolby Surround Sound
Subtitles:
English Captions and Closed Captions and Spanish Language Subtitles
Packaging:
Keep Case
Chapter
Stops: 28
Sound:
Dolby Digital 5.1 Surround Sound and Dolby Surround Sound
Year
of Theatrical Release: 2003/DVD Release: 2003
Theatrical
Distributor: Twentieth Century Fox
Home
Video Distributor: Twentieth Century Fox Home Entertainment
MPAA
Rating: R
Reviewer:
Mark A. Rivera
Lions
Gate Films had a film starring Linda Fiorentino and Wesley Snipes entitled
“Liberty Stands Still,” which had been released theatrically overseas and
released in the States directly to home video on DVD and VHS in October of 2002
that was somewhat similar in concept to this Joel Schumacher thriller entitled
“Phone Booth.” The main difference between the two films is the sniper’s
motive and the moral of the story. In “Liberty Stand Still” the viewer is
given a very clear reason why Wesley Snipes has taken such drastic action and
why he has targeted Fiorentino’s character in a phone booth and holds her
hostage. In “Phone Booth” the reasoning behind Colin Farrell’s situation
is given, but in comparison to Snipe’s character in “Liberty Stands
Still,” Kiefer Sutherland seems more like the “John Doe” character in
“Seven.” He is a man who has decided to take matters into his own hands and
serves as judge, jury, and executioner, but the target is not a person he knows
personally or has ever had any remote dealings with. Farrell is a handpicked
victim, but if there is any deeper personal vendetta between the characters on a
direct and truly more personal level in “Phone Booth,” we never truly find
out. Yet there is a definite cause and effect relationship between Snipes and
Fiorentino that seems more believable in “Liberty Stands Still.”
That noted the moral of the story is more clean cut in “Liberty Stands
Still” while the closing of “Phone Booth” seems more like a pulp scare
type of warning that is less effective.
With
the comparisons now complete, “Phone Booth” is a engaging thriller that is
quite entertaining and while short, the film runs just over 74 minutes without
the closing credits, at least the action and tension is raised throughout the
film so one feels like no screen time is wasted. So as far as I’m concerned
I’d rather see a movie that runs 81 minutes with credits and have it be a good
memorable experience than have it drag an extra half hour or so just to make it
a more traditional feature length.
Twentieth
Century Fox Home Entertainment presents “Phone Booth” on DVD with an
anamorphic widescreen (2.35:1) aspect ratio presentation on one side and a pan
and scan (1.33:1) aspect ratio on the other side. Both presentations look great
with no grain or any other type of anomaly present. Please note that the full
screen version is marked as side A and on that label it says “Side B:
(Flipside) Widescreen.” It is easy to mistakenly put in the wrong side as a
result so the easiest way to avoid this is just to remember that the widescreen
side has no label at all. I also wanted to note that some of the shots on the
(1.33:1) version are rearranged so that the multiple split screens can fit into
and shift between both full screen and a letterboxed (1.85:1) aspect ratio as
necessary. I found both presentations equally satisfying since it is Colin
Farrell’s performance that carries most of the film. If you do not believe in
his performance, the film will fall apart. Fortunately the entire cast really
did a great job so it works.
The
English Dolby Digital 5.1 Surround Soundtrack is lively and well mixed. Kiefer
Sutherland’s voice is carried over the center channel, giving an omniscient
feel and presence to a character we hardly see onscreen, but will no doubt not
forget soon after. A French Language Dolby Digital 5.1 Surround Soundtrack and a
Spanish Language Dolby Surround Soundtrack are also encoded onto the DVD along
with English Captions and Closed Captions for the hearing impaired and Spanish
Language Subtitles as options.
Director
Joel Schumacher gives a laid back screen commentary track where he details the
location shooting in both NY and LA as well as the ten day shooting schedule and
the fact that the film was shot in sequence among other topics. The theatrical
trailer for “Phone Booth” (2:24) and a trailer for the Alex Proyas film
“Garage Days” (1:12) wrap up the extra features on this DVD. The main menu
features voice bits with Kiefer Sutherland while the subsequent menus are
standard interactive still fames that are easy to navigate. “Phone Booth” is
available on DVD-Video now from Twentieth Century Fox Home Entertainment and I
think the film is definitely worth checking out, at least as a rental.
©
Copyright 2003 By Mark A. Rivera
All Rights Reserved.
Buy This DVD Now By Clicking On The Text Link Below!
Phone Booth