1250 – Rush (2013)

timespace coordinates: 1976 Formula One season

Rush-FinishRush is a 2013 biographical sports film centred on the Hunt–Lauda rivalry between two Formula One drivers, the British James Hunt and the Austrian Niki Lauda  during the 1976 Formula 1 motor-racing season. It was written by Peter Morgan, directed by Ron Howard and stars Chris Hemsworth as Hunt and Daniel Brühl as Lauda. (wiki)

Some things in the film are exaggerated (like the Hunt–Lauda rivalry; in reality they had shared a flat early in their careers and were good friends), others downplayed (like Lauda’s wife’s shock at his disfigurement), and others invented (like Hunt beating up a reporter or the Nürburgring nickname being “the graveyard”; in fact Jackie Stewart had nicknamed it “the Green Hell”). (read more: historical accuracy)

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1162 – Abendland (2011)

timespace coordinates: Europe at night (2008 – 2010)

Abendland is a 2011 observational documentary film by Nikolaus Geyrhalter. The documentary, which has only scenes at night, explores European obsession with technology and security. Manohla Dargis of The New York Times called Abendland a “visually precise and politically amorphous” portrait of an imagined community: “The overall impression is a vision of Europe as a mosaic, as an artful amalgam of perfectly framed, seemingly disconnected moments during a long shared night, give or take a time zone change or two.” (wiki)

ABENDLAND Trailer


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1149 – LOVE DEATH + ROBOTS (TV series 2019– )

Love, Death & Robots (stylized as LOVE DEATH + ROBOTS) is an American adult animated anthology web television series on Netflix.  The 18-episode first season was released on March 15, 2019. The series is produced by Joshua DonenDavid Fincher, Jennifer Miller, and Tim Miller. Each episode was animated by different crews from a range of countries. The series is a re-imagining of Fincher and Miller’s long in-development reboot of the 1981 animated science fiction film Heavy Metal. 

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The cast includes Mary Elizabeth WinsteadTopher GraceGary ColeSamira Wiley and Stefan Kapičić, with Grace and Winstead appearing in live-action roles, rather than animated.

In March 2019, Netflix revealed that it was experimenting with a new approach by including a different order of episodes to different users.  (*four unique episode orders, released to users at random.) (wiki)

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1014 – Indiana Jones

Indiana Jones is an American media franchise based on the adventures of Dr. Henry Walton “Indiana” Jones, Jr., a fictional professor of archaeology, that began in 1981 with the film

Raiders of the Lost Ark (imdb)

spacetime coordinates: 1936 Egypt, Nepal, Peru, Greece, Washington, D.C.

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In 1984, a prequel,

The Temple of Doom, (imdb)

spacetime coordinates: 1935  Shanghai / village of Mayapore in northern India

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was released, and in 1989, a sequel, 

The Last Crusade. (imdb)

spacetime coordinates: 1912 Utah / 1938 New York (state), Venice,  Alexandretta Turkey, Austria, Berlin

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A fourth film followed in 2008, titled

The Kingdom of the Crystal Skull. (imdb)

spacetime coordinates: 1957 Nevada, Peru,  the Amazon jungle

A fifth and final film, titled

The Dial of Destiny, (imdb)

spacetime coordinates: 1944  in the French Alps / 1969, against the backdrop of the Space Race (New York City, Tangier, the Aegean SeaSicily) / the Siege of Syracuse in 212 BC

was theatrically released on June 30, 2023.

The series was created by George Lucas and stars Harrison Ford as Indiana Jones. The first four films were directed by Steven Spielberg, who worked closely with Lucas during their production. (wiki)

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0986 – Fantastic Beasts: The Crimes of Grindelwald (2018)

 timespace coordinates: 1927 Paris / London / New York City

Fantastic Beasts: The Crimes of Grindelwald is a 2018 fantasy film directed by David Yates and written by J. K. Rowling. A joint British and American production, it is the sequel to Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them (2016). It is the second instalment in the Fantastic Beasts film series, and the tenth overall in the Wizarding World franchise, which began with the Harry Potter film series.

The film features an ensemble cast that includes Eddie RedmayneKatherine WaterstonDan FoglerAlison SudolEzra MillerZoë KravitzCallum TurnerClaudia KimWilliam NadylamKevin GuthrieJude Law, and Johnny Depp. The plot follows Newt Scamander and Albus Dumbledore as they attempt to take down the dark wizard Gellert Grindelwald, while facing new threats in a more divided wizarding world.

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Hogwarts exteriors, like some interiors, were shot in the historic Lacock Abbey, dating from 1229. This abbey, located in Wiltshire, England, had already been used for the same purpose for the first films of the Harry Potter saga .

As with the first film, animal making required months of graphic, pattern, and animation testing to determine the appearance, behavior, movements, attitude, and personality of each creature. J.K. Rowling was inspired, for many of them, by legendary creatures from different cultures, such as the Chinese Zouwu, the Scottish Kelpie and the French Matagot.

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The Art of Fantastic Beasts: The Crimes of Grindelwald


The interior of the basement where Newt Scamander keeps his beasts is stylized according to the lithograph “Relativity” by Maurits Cornelis Escher.

0776 – Bill & Ted’s Excellent Adventure (1989)

timespace coordinates: 2688 >1988 San Dimas, CaliforniaAustria in 1805 > 1879  the Old West > 410 BC ancient Greece > 14th century medieval England > 1901 Vienna Austria > Kassel, Germany, 1810 > Orleans, France, 1429 > Outer Mongolia 1209 >The White House, 1863

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Bill & Ted’s Excellent Adventure is a 1989 American science fiction comedy film directed by Stephen Herek and written by Chris Matheson and Ed Solomon. It stars Alex WinterKeanu Reeves, and George Carlin. The plot follows slackers Bill (Winter) and Ted (Reeves), who travel through time to assemble historical figures for their high school history presentation.

Bill & Ted’s Excellent Adventure received generally positive reviews and was commercially successful. It is now considered a cult classic.

DC Comics produced a tie-in comic following the plot of the first movie timed to coincide with that film’s release on home video. The sequel was adapted by DC’s competitor Marvel Comics, published to coincide with the second film’s release in theaters. Its popularity led to the ongoing Marvel series Bill & Ted’s Excellent Comic Book by Evan Dorkin, which lasted for 12 issues.

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There were also Game BoyNES and Atari Lynx games released, which were very loosely based on the film’s plot. A PC title and nearly identical Amiga and Commodore 64 port were made in 1991 by Off the Wall Productions and IntraCorp, Inc. under contract by Capstone Software and followed the original film very closely. (wiki)

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