Phone Booth

Rest in peace Joel, you gave me some entertainment all through my life.

For a movie damn near 20 years old and in such a severe shifting world, Phone Booth has not lost any of it's suspense or impact. I mean it's such a fascinating concept alone that you could make a short film of it, let alone a feature length movie. And I feel it was made at that right time in the world when cell phones were becoming more common but payphones were still around, although even I must admit I haven't seen a phone booth in person in 25 odd years. The script is excellent, with a PR guy named Stu who takes an anonymous phone call and very quickly finds himself in the center of a hostage situation with a sniper who always is on the line. There's no doubt been many instances in films where elements of this situation takes place, but the way each event flows into the next, mounting the tension and suspense, must be commended. I mean while the film is no doubt very dated in that early 2000s way, with blue tinting to the film because it's digital babyyy, and the weird fast pans and dutch angles, even I can't give shit to Joel because this was how a good portion of films looked until say 2006/2007 when it finally died off. Colin Farrell is a great lead, and you can believe someone as fast talking and bullshit spewing as his character can get in such a situation. This might be sort of strange to say, but I heard more Kevin Spacey over the phone than Keifer Sutherland but really the guy has a great voice, voice acting high quality type of voice that I would be interested to see more of. There were several points I really had to step back and asses the situation which brought moments of laughter from me, though this gets heavy and intense before even the 15 minute mark and the movie is not even 90 minutes but it certainly doesn't waste a second of film. Most of the time I was in suspense because you don't really know when or not the trigger is going to be pulled and I did see the ending coming, but the curve balls it threw at me hit well. This is a great film to while not necessarily think what you would do in that situation, but vicariously try to find a way out of that situation. It's entertaining and gives you a rollercoaster to go on, and I'm truly happy I saw it. 4 stars, 7.5/10, I might even say this is Joel's best directorial efforts more so than The Lost Boys but there's always more to see.