“My tea’s gone cold, I’m wondering why I got out of bed at all. The morning rain clouds up my window and I can’t see at all. And even if I could, it would all be gray, but your picture on my wall, it reminds me that it’s not so bad. It’s not so bad. -- And I want to thank you for giving me the best day of my life.”
“Thank You” by Dido has always been a pleasure to listen to no matter what mood I’m in. Because of heavy sampling in the music industry, it comes as no surprise to me that I only knew about this song as a result of listening to “Stan” by Eminem. Both songs are favorites on my playlist but only one fits in line with today’s theme. Allow me to take this time to thank all of you who visit The Madlab Post and not only read my blog posts but also comment on them as well.
I appreciate everyone who takes the time to join in on film related discussions, subscribe to this blog, tweet about my posts or retweet my tweets such as Damyanti at Amlokiblogs and Daily (w)rite. I’m also grateful for my fellow blogging friends who make time to include me in various blogging activities of theirs such as linking to a specific post that I write and mentioning The Madlab Post in posts on their blog.
Thank You Herman at Terrible Analogies, for all of your support over the years and movie rental/DVD purchasing recommendations. It’s almost hard to believe that we were brought together by way of a frozen meal review! Thank You to Alana at Writercize for getting me to flex my brain and writing muscles. Thanks Arlee Bird at Tossing It Out for publishing my guests posts, featuring me in your Media Matters post and for also hosting the great ol' A to Z Challenge.
Also, Thank You Dale at Smurfin’ the Web for welcoming me as a co-host of the Monday Movie Meme, which provides a sense of purpose and structure to my weekly blogging activities. Speaking of the Monday Movie Meme -- It’s MONDAY, everybody! -- and time for another installment of the Movie Meme after we took a trip down memory lane with Neighbors from Hell, last week. This week’s theme is: Time is of the essence.
Share on your blog or in the comments section, movies that involve people who are dealing with circumstances where the clock is working against them. These movie characters either have a certain amount of time to complete a task before something disastrous happens or they are trying to avoid the progression of time for specific reasons. Here are my selections for this week’s Time is of the essence movie meme.
The Negotiator
In this action film starring Samuel L. Jackson and Kevin Spacey, a police negotiator takes hostages as collateral for buying enough time to prove that he is innocent of corruption and murder. My grandmother introduced me to this film and I’ve enjoyed watching it multiple times ever since. One unfortunate thing that “The Negotiator” did do, however, is reinforce a distrust in cops as a collective. Yeah, I know it’s just a movie but still -- you can’t help but wonder “are ANY of them the good guys?” and “Do any of them take their oath seriously?”
16 Blocks
In this crime drama starring Bruce Willis and Mos Def, an old alcoholic cop is assigned to escort a witness from police custody to the courthouse by 10a.m. for a grand jury testimony. The task sounds simple but their journey gets really complicated when the drug-dealing cops who want the witness dead do all in their power to try and make sure that he does not make it to the courthouse -- even if that means harming their fellow man in blue.
Add to that the fact that this witness is a petty criminal; everyone involved is on edge because they don’t know who to trust. Still, the designated police escort has two hours to get his witness to a destination that is sixteen hours aways, all while people are trying to kill them. -- And you thought you had a bad morning! Talk about waking up on the wrong side of the bed, it looks like these characters woke up on the wrong side of the law! -- at least, on this particular day.
Out of Time
In this crime thriller starring Denzel Washington, Sanaa Lathan and Eva Mendes, a police chief tries to solve a double murder involving his mistress and $450,000 in missing drug money, before he becomes the prime suspect.
There is a lot of weird back and forth in “Out of Time” with regards to the storytelling but if you can tolerate it, then this movie can be entertaining to watch on any lazy afternoon. I’m not a fan of the flashbacks because they seemed excessive, yet the main character is likeable, depending on how you view him, so it’s easy to want to find out if he can get out of the trouble he will potentially be in.
Darn, I just realized that all of my selections for this week’s Monday Movie Meme have another common thread beyond just being in time-sensitive situations -- they’re all cop movies. Sheesh! I guess I watch a lot of friggin’ cop movies!
Can YOU name some movies where time is of the essence?
Have YOU watched any of the movies listed here?
If so, what did YOU think about them?