503 – I Sell the Dead (2008)

spacetime coordinates:  early 1800s Ireland I Sell the Dead is a 2008 horror comedy, the feature film debut from Irish director Glenn McQuaid.  The film is a period horror comedy about grave robbing  and supernatural hijinks inspired by the story of William Burke and William Hare, the famous body snatchers that operated in Edinburgh, Scotland in the early 1800s. the movie stars Dominic Monaghan, Ron Perlman, Larry Fessenden and Angus Scrimm.

A graphic novel of the film has been released, with Glenn McQuaid writing and illustrations by Brahm Revel (October, 2009).

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0902290/

502 – El cuerpo / The Body (2012)

spacetime coordinates: 2012 Barcelona Spain

The Body (Spanish: El cuerpo) is a 2012 Spanish crime thriller mystery film directed by Oriol Paulo. The plot follows a detective searching for the body of a femme fatale which has gone missing from a morgue.

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1937149/

498 – The Death of Stalin (2017)

spacetime coordinates:  1953 Moscow

The Death of Stalin is a 2017 political satire film directed and co-written by Armando Iannucci. Based on the French graphic novel La mort de Staline, it depicts the Soviet power struggles following the death of dictator Joseph Stalin in 1953.

A number of academics commented on the historical accuracy of The Death of Stalin. Historian Richard Overy noted in The Guardian that the film “is littered with historical errors”, which can be “viewed as cinematic licence“, but was most critical that the film did not appropriately honour Stalin’s victims. Director Iannucci stated that he “chose to tone down real-life absurdity” to make the work more believable.  Samuel Goff, at the Department of Slavonic Studies, University of Cambridge, cited several justifiable historical inaccuracies with the ranks and roles of Stalin’s inner circle, but thought the film missed the overall point and was unable to locate any of the inherent humour contained in Stalinism.

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt4686844/

0497 – Radio Free Albemuth (2010)

spacetime coordinates:  1985  Los Angeles

Radio Free Albemuth is a 2010 American film adaptation of the dystopian novel Radio Free Albemuth by author Philip K. Dick, which was written in 1976 and published posthumously in 1985. The film is written, directed, and produced by John Alan Simon and stars Jonathan Scarfe and Shea Whigham.

The story is set in an alternate reality 1980’s America under the authoritarian control of President Fremont. It makes liberal references to the collected works of Philip K. Dick.

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1129396/

496 – Outcast (2014)

spacetime coordinates:  12th-century Song dynasty China Outcast is a 2014 American-Chinese-Canadian action film, directed by Nick Powell in his directorial debut and written by James Dormer. It stars Nicolas Cage, Hayden Christensen, Liu Yifei, Ji Ke Jun Yi, and Andy On.

sequel

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1552224/

495

Black Panther’s “voluptuous” sets are influenced by Zaha Hadid, says production designer

 

0493 – The Shape of Water (2017)

spacetime coordinates:  Baltimore during the Cold War  in 1962

The Shape of Water is a 2017 American fantasy drama film directed by Guillermo del Toro and written by del Toro and Vanessa Taylor. It stars Sally Hawkins, Michael Shannon, Richard Jenkins, Doug Jones, Michael Stuhlbarg, and Octavia Spencer. Set in Baltimore in 1962, the plot follows a mute custodian at a high-security government laboratory who falls in love with a captured humanoid-amphibian creature.

the film was primarily inspired by del Toro’s childhood memories of seeing Creature from the Black Lagoon and wanting to see Gill-man and Kay Lawrence (played by Julie Adams) succeed in their romance.

In an interview with IndieWire about the film, del Toro said, “This movie is a healing movie for me. … For nine movies I rephrased the fears of my childhood, the dreams of my childhood, and this is the first time I speak as an adult, about something that worries me as an adult. I speak about trust, otherness, sex, love, where we’re going. These are not concerns that I had when I was nine or seven.”

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt5580390/