The new Al Pacino thriller “88 Minutes” may be neither new nor thrilling — it’s two years old and stultifyingly dull — but it gave me the chance to put together a Sympatico/MSN movie column about films that take place in real time, which was an interesting challenge.
The still at right? Gary Burns’ “waydowntown”. Forgot about that one, didn’t you?
And no, “Silk” is not on the list. It only feels like it’s happening in real time.
Cellular was also a nice surprise compared to its “woman in distress” trailer. Kim Basinger’s character is a science teacher and contributes to staying alive instead of all the action falling on the stranger rushing to her rescue.
But waydowntown and Before Sunset are great movies, worth rewatching, that I’d forgotten were done in real time. I love your compilation lists…even when the movie of the moment sucks, you give a great list of better movies to go along with it.
Thanks, Chris — that’s exactly what I’m trying to accomplish with those lists. And the little surprises that come up along the way are often surprising to me, too; “Before Sunset” popped into my head as I was about two-thirds of the way through, and suddenly the whole thing knitted itself together perfectly.