1066 – The Highwaymen (2019)

timespace coordinates: 1934 Texas,  Oklahoma, Kansas, Louisiana

The Highwaymen is a 2019 American crime film directed by John Lee Hancock and written by John Fusco. The film follows Frank Hamer and Maney Gault (Kevin Costner and Woody Harrelson), two Texas Rangers who attempt to track down and apprehend notorious criminals Bonnie and Clyde in the 1930s. Kathy Bates, John Carroll Lynch, Kim Dickens, Thomas Mann and William Sadler also star. The Highwaymen began a limited theatrical release in the United States on March 15, 2019 and was released digitally on March 29, 2019 on Netflix. (wiki)

“The art direction is equally meticulous in illustrating the time period: the migrant camps and other settings, the clothes and incidentals, including old-time chenille bedspreads. In addition, the film doesn’t gloss over Bonnie and Clyde’s merciless brutality.” (Diane Carson review)

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Remembering Bonnie & Clyde, documentary (youtube)

1045 – The Mist (2007)

timespace coordinates: 2000’s small town of Bridgton, Maine

The Mist (also known as Stephen King’s The Mist) is a 2007 American science-fiction horror film based on the 1980 book The Mist by Stephen King. The film was written and directed by Frank Darabont. Darabont had been interested in adapting The Mist for the big screen since the 1980s. The film features an ensemble cast including Thomas Jane, Marcia Gay Harden, Samuel Witwer, Toby Jones, and future The Walking Dead actors Jeffrey DeMunn, Laurie Holden, Melissa McBride, and Juan Gabriel Pareja. Darabont has since revealed that he had “always had it in mind to shoot The Mist in black and white”, a decision inspired by such iconic films as Night of the Living Dead (1968) and the “pre-color” work of Ray Harryhausen. While the film’s cinematic release was in color, the director has described the black and white print (released on Blu-ray in 2008) as his “preferred version.”

The director revised the ending of the film to be darker than the novella’s ending, a change to which King was amenable. Darabont also sought unique creature designs to differentiate them from his creatures in past films.

Although a monster movie, the central theme explores what ordinary people will be driven to do under extraordinary circumstances. The plot revolves around members of the small town of Bridgton, Maine who, after a severe thunderstorm causes the power to go out the night before, meet in a supermarket to pick up supplies. While they struggle to survive, an unnatural mist envelops the town and conceals vicious, Lovecraftian monsters as extreme tensions rise among the survivors.

A meta-reference to this film appears in one of Stephen King’s later novels, Under the Dome. (wiki)   /   [The Mist (TV series) imdb]

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1031 – Finding Steve McQueen (2019)

timespace coordinates: 1972  Youngstown, Ohio / Laguna Niguel, California

Finding Steve McQueen is a 2019 American heist thriller film directed by Mark Steven Johnson and written by Ken Hixon and Keith Sharon. The film stars Travis Fimmel, Rachael Taylor, Forest Whitaker, and William Fichtner, telling the story of a gang planning to steal millions of dollars from President Nixon‘s illegal political slush fund. The film is based on the United California Bank robbery. (wiki)

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1029 – Vice (2018)

timespace coordinates: 1963 – 2012 Wyoming > The White House, Washington, D.C

Vice is a 2018 American biographical comedy-drama film written and directed by Adam McKay. The film stars Christian Bale as former U.S. Vice President Dick Cheney, with Amy Adams, Steve Carell, Sam Rockwell, Tyler Perry, Alison Pill, Lily Rabe, and Jesse Plemons in supporting roles. The film follows Cheney on his path to become the most powerful Vice President in American history. (wiki)

imdb   /   rottentomatoes

1018 – Green Book (2018)

timespace coordinates: a tour of the Deep South, 1962

Green Book is a 2018 American biographical comedy-drama film directed by Peter Farrelly. Set in 1962, the film is inspired by the true story of a tour of the Deep South by Jamaican–American classical and jazz pianist Don Shirley (Mahershala Ali) and Italian-American bouncer Tony Vallelonga (Viggo Mortensen) who served as Shirley’s driver and bodyguard.

The film was written by Farrelly, Brian Hayes Currie and Vallelonga’s son, Nick Vallelonga, based on interviews with his father and Shirley, as well as letters his father wrote to his mother. The film is named after The Negro Motorist Green Book, a mid-20th century guidebook for African-American travelers written by Victor Hugo Green, to help them find motels and restaurants that would accept them at a time of widespread racial segregation and sunset towns. (wiki)

imdb   /   controversies

1017 – Please Stand By (2017)

timespace coordinates: 2010’s Oakland, California > Los AngelesPlease Stand By is a 2017 American drama film directed by Ben Lewin and based on the 2008 short play of the same name by Michael Golamco, who also wrote the screenplay. The film stars Dakota Fanning, Toni Collette, Alice Eve, River Alexander, and Patton Oswalt.

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1005 – Mysterious Skin (2004)

timespace coordinates: summer of 1981 > Christmas Eve 1991 Hutchinson, Kansas / New York City

Mysterious Skin is a 2004 Dutch-American drama film directed by American filmmaker Gregg Araki, who also wrote the screenplay based on Scott Heim‘s 1995 novel of the same name.

Mysterious Skin tells the story of two pre-adolescent boys who are sexually abused by their baseball coach, and how it affects their lives in different ways into their young adulthood. One boy becomes a reckless, sexually adventurous male prostitute, while the other retreats into a reclusive fantasy of alien abduction. (wiki)

The film score was composed by Harold Budd and Robin Guthrie.

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