SYNOPSIS: Colin Farrell plays Stu Shepard, a show biz agent fond of using a phone booth to call his girlfriend (Katie Holmes) so his wife (Radha Mitchell) doesn't get wise. After one such chat, the phone rings, and Stu picks up. A taunting voice on the other end (Kiefer Sutherland) knows all about his heartless attitude and infidelity, and threatens to shoot if he hangs up or makes a move.
WHAT WE SAID: St. Petersburg Times film critic Steve Persall gave Phone Booth a B when it was released in theaters in April. "Mostly, Phone Booth is a nice showcase for Farrell's talent, reminding folks that he's not just a pretty face. Stu offers him a range of emotions, from humor to hysteria, and the actor pulls it off," he wrote.
RATING: R; violence, profanity
RUNNING TIME: 81 min.
DVD FEATURES: Commentary by director Joel Schumacher, theatrical trailer, full-screen and widescreen formats.
Basic
DIRECTOR: John McTiernan
CAST: John Travolta, Samuel L. Jackson, Connie Nielsen, Timothy Daly, Taye Diggs
SYNOPSIS: Travolta stars as a hard-living ex-Army Ranger recruited to solve the murder of a hated Special Forces sergeant (Samuel L. Jackson) during a mission in Panama. Two survivors, (Giovanni Ribisi and Brian Van Holt) recall the events in series of flashbacks evoking Rashomon.
WHAT WE SAID: The St. Petersburg Times did not review this film. The Orlando Sentinel's Roger Moore wrote: "the basic question of Basic is whether we'll feel that enough is at stake to hang on while the film builds its mystery. Director John McTiernan has lost his sense of how to ratchet up suspense . . . the script is more concerned with its puzzle than with making us care to solve it."
RATING: R; violence, language
RUNNING TIME: 98 min.
DVD FEATURES: Commentary by director John McTiernan, theatrical trailer, featurettes: "Basic: A Director's Design," "Basic Ingredients: A Writer's Perspective," widescreen format.
Classics new on video:
The Mouse That Roared
DIRECTOR: Jack Arnold
CAST: Peter Sellers, Jean Seberg
SYNOPSIS: Many consider this 1959 comic tour-de-force, in which Peter Sellers plays all three principal roles, his best work. And, like Sellers' Dr. Strangelove, it's a memorable satire of Cold War politics. The tale concerns Grand Fenwick, a fictional European principality, and its leaders' idea of waging war against the United States, figuring that when it loses, the Americans will shower them with funds to rebuild, just as it did to vanquished nations after World War II. Sellers portrays Grand Fenwick's prime minister, monarch and field marshall to hilarious effect as the plan goes awry.
MPAA RATING: Not rated
RUNNING TIME: 83 min.
DVD FEATURES: Closed-captioned, widescreen format.
Hepburn on TV
Set your VCR today on Turner Classic Movies, and you'll have a Katharine Hepburn video collection all your own. The cable channel's schedule includes: 6 a.m. Mary of Scotland 8:15 a.m.: Holiday, co-starring Cary Grant. 10 a.m.: Woman of the Year, co-starring Spencer Tracy. NOON: Adam's Rib, co-starring Spencer Tracy and Judy Holliday. 2 p.m.: Pat and Mike, co-starring Tracy. 4 p.m.: The Lion in Winter, co-starring Peter O'Toole and Anthony Hopkins. 6:30 p.m.: Katharine Hepburn: All About Me 1993 interview. 8 p.m.: Bringing Up Baby, co-starring Cary Grant. 10 p.m.: The Philadelphia Story, co-starring Grant and James Stewart. Midnight: Guess Who's Coming To Dinner, co-starring Spencer Tracy and Sidney Poitier. 2 a.m. Little Women, co-starring Joan Bennett. 4 a.m. Undercurrent, co-starring Robert Taylor and Robert Mitchum. For more Hepburn classics later this month and next, go to www.turnerclassicmovies.com
