r/moviecritic 20h ago

Underrated? Uncut Gems of 2000’s?

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90 Upvotes

55 comments sorted by

39

u/MyBodyStoppedMoving 19h ago

Few movies can pull off the “real time” thing successfully, meaning the 2 hours you watch it there’s only 2 hours passing in the movie. I thought this movie nailed it out of the park.

6

u/AXXXXXXXXA 18h ago

I thought for sure they shot it in 2 hours. Because the lighting outside is so consistent. Shot over 10 days though. Impressive.

2

u/Phlanix 18h ago

You can't make movies feel this intense anymore.

When you needed to use a phonebooth it meant your life was fked up and you needed to un-fk it fast.

Phonebooth in movies showed how urgent thing were and how important the conversation was and you only had a limited time before the call would end so you had to say shit fast.

On the other hand it showed how bad your situation was when you argued in the phone booth and the person hung up on you. and it was your last quarter so you were out of luck and slammed the phone screaming and cursing.

8

u/IDigRollinRockBeer 18h ago

I saw this in theatres and at that time using the phone booth just meant we needed a ride home

3

u/Phlanix 16h ago

I use to see ppl waiting for calls because to make international calls you needed a $5 card with code in it and a family member was in an accident or died.

some were waiting for a job interview or just a call from someone. spend like 2hr next to the booth waiting for the call. and they would get nervous if someone used the phone cause they might miss their call.

2

u/redeyedrenegade420 17h ago

I probably used a phone booth to get home from this movie!

3

u/Reasonable-HB678 4h ago

In downtown Los Angeles, mostly. Just enough tall buildings in the right amount of square mileage to replicate Manhattan.

2

u/Jambo11 18h ago

Ironic that Kiefer Sutherland played the bad guy in a movie that's real time, later starring as the protagonist in a show that's real time.

4

u/GakkoAtarashii 18h ago

That is the opposite of ironic. 

1

u/Jambo11 18h ago edited 18h ago

How so?

a state of affairs or an event that seems deliberately contrary to what one expects and is often amusing as a result.

Bad guy in a piece of real time media.

Later plays a good guy in a piece of real time media.

3

u/HistorianNew8030 16h ago

Technically Sutherland starred in 24 first as it came out in 2001. This movie came out in 2002.

1

u/Jambo11 16h ago

Ahhh...

Thank you for the correction.

1

u/Akira510 18h ago

Liberty stands still with Wesley Snipes is in the spirit of this movie.

12

u/Auroeagle 19h ago

Behind Enemy Lines

3

u/faverett28 18h ago

I effing love this movie. Golden

23

u/retepoteil 19h ago

When I first sat down to watch this I thought it was gonna be terrible. But it was really suspenseful, good acting and was really up in the plot. Haven’t seen it in years but from what I remember a very good movie

1

u/Key_Curve_1171 19h ago

Why did you suspect it would be bad?

3

u/RogueAOV 17h ago

Whenever movies have such a cliched line such as 'Goddamn it man you dun made me hurt my dick hand',

my expectations are low.

They were significantly subverted.

3

u/jetpack324 19h ago

I didn’t like Colin Ferrel as an actor at the time. I didn’t know much of the plot but I knew it took place in a phone booth. Just didn’t seem like a good movie plot + actor I didn’t like. Turns out he is a phenomenal actor and the movie was very well written; now it’s one of my top 10 favorite films. I am so happy to be so wrong about it all back then.

2

u/retepoteil 18h ago

joel schumacher Directed it

6

u/DesperadoKz 19h ago

Fun fact: Michael Bay considered directing. When he met with the producers, the first thing he asked was "How can we get him out of the phone booth?"

1

u/faverett28 18h ago

Forgive me ignorance, but what did he mean by that?

1

u/DesperadoKz 18h ago

Probably more action.

1

u/InterviewObvious2680 18h ago

still, this is a movie script for his type of directing and atmosphere setting.

1

u/Eyre_Guitar_Solo 8h ago

It means he didn’t get the whole concept of the movie, which was to turn a limitation into a strength.

6

u/sleazypornoname 19h ago

Colin Farrell acts the shit out of this movie. Great film. 

2

u/userwithusername 7h ago

It reminds me of a single-location stage play.

5

u/RulerofHoth 18h ago

Dark City

Not necessarily hidden, but often forgotten Swingers

4

u/Sharpe_Points 18h ago

Layer Cake (2004), great underrated crime movie starring Daniel Craig.

3

u/Constant-Pianist6747 16h ago

Absolutely nobody talks about 16 Blocks anymore, but it was really good, IMHO. I worked at a theater at this time and audiences really liked it.

4

u/dyllywonkz 19h ago

Great movie! So much good acting with limited sets

2

u/BeacanWentFishn 18h ago

Discovering this movie in my mid teens made me appreciate smaller, intimate stories rather than automatically gravitate towards action blockbusters. Nothing against those either. Just watch movies

2

u/cuslu 18h ago

I remember when I was a kid seeing the preview for this in theaters and immediately was hit with a “this is cinema” moment

2

u/TheRealZebraq 18h ago

I remember this movie being delayed after 9/11 happened. They pushed the release date by almost a year due to the “terrorism” aspect of the film. They also pulled the Spiderman trailer that featured a shot of the twin towers with a massive spider web between them and some helicopters stuck in it. Ahh, the good old days.

2

u/fake_hugo 18h ago

Yesss thank god somebody talks about this. No movie will ever top the amount of stress I felt as a kid watching this (10-12yrs old). And the ending is also pretty neat, Imo. Very underrated movie, and the ratings dont mean anything, too.

2

u/the_hucumber 13h ago

I bought this on a pirate dvd from the Kho San Road in Thailand.

That's a sentence that completely dates me and this movie

2

u/sanchotobe 19h ago

Sutherland, Farrell, and Whitaker were all perfect in this movie.

3

u/crunchwrapsupreeeeme 19h ago

I remember it got a lot of bad reviews when it came out, but I thought it was good. I just rewatched it recently and it still holds up! The editing and the way it’s filmed is so early 2000’s and I love that, very nostalgic.

1

u/AXXXXXXXXA 18h ago

Just rewatched it tonight and definitely holds up. Looks great. Awesome editing.

1

u/Jambo11 19h ago

Solid movie

1

u/No-Category-6343 18h ago

Tape - Linklater

1

u/IDigRollinRockBeer 18h ago

Not Another Teen Movie

1

u/escoemartinez 18h ago

It’s a shame they pulled this so fast around here anyway because of that DC sniper shit.

1

u/TotalAd1041 16h ago

Ghostdog- the Way of the Samurai.

Absolute gem.

1

u/bigtrondon 14h ago

This is “Carry-on “ set in 2005

1

u/Bananarama_Vison 10h ago

I remember this to be rather short, like 75min. But I think I would have to rewatch it, can hardly recall it, now that I think of it…

1

u/WozzeC 10h ago

I love minimalistic movies like this where it is all in the acting and the script. Basically the entire movie filmed in one room/scene. Like Saw I, Cube, Circle

1

u/BossOne2 10h ago

Inside man

1

u/Exroi 9h ago

It's decent

1

u/BloodOk6235 6h ago

People really hated this movie but I thought it was decent. I think ita only real problem is that the concept (man can’t leave phone booth or he will die) can’t take up that much time. Not much can happen in that one physical space.

It’s basically the same idea of Speed except the bus could move. Things can happen when you can move. “Man in a Phone booth forever” is hard to stretch out as Interesting for 90+ minutes

1

u/Flat_Flower_987 19h ago

The Carry On movie has similar elements.

1

u/fake_hugo 18h ago

Carry on is objectively worse, tho. The acting in Phone Booth is very good.

1

u/kouzlokouzlo 13h ago

Phone Booth is not underated :-) its superb :-)