0948 – A Private War (2018)

timespace coordinates: 2001- 2012 / Sri Lanka, Iraq, Afghanistan, Libya (Arab Spring), Syria

A Private War is a 2018 American biographical drama film directed by Matthew Heineman and starring Rosamund Pike as journalist Marie Colvin. The film is based on the 2012 article “Marie Colvin’s Private War” in Vanity Fair by Marie Brenner. The film was written by Arash Amel and features Jamie Dornan, Tom Hollander and Stanley Tucci. (wiki)

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0942

timespace coordinates: 2010s Norway

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Bølgen / The Wave (2015)

The Wave (Norwegian: Bølgen) is a 2015 Norwegian disaster film directed by Roar Uthaug. The movie depicts a future event in Møre og Romsdal in which the Åkerneset crevasse collapses, creating an avalanche resulting in an 80 meter tall tsunami that destroys everything in its path. (wiki) imdb

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Skjelvet / The Quake (2018)

(Sequel to The Wave, directed by John Andreas Andersen.)

In 1904 an earthquake with a 5.4 magnitude on the Richter scale shook Oslo. Its epicenter was in the Oslo Rift which runs directly through the Norwegian capital. There are recorded quakes from the rift on a daily basis and geologists cannot be sure, but arguments indicate that we can expect major future earthquakes in this area. When – nobody can say for certain – but we know that the density of people and infrastructure in Oslo is significantly more vulnerable today than in 1904. What if a massive earthquake is looming? (rottentomatoes) imdb

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Stars: Kristoffer Joner, Ane Dahl Torp, Edith Haagenrud-Sande, Jonas Hoff Oftebro, Kathrine Thorborg Johansen

932 – Jim Knopf und Lukas der Lokomotivführer (2018)

(adaptation of the German kids classic book by Michael Ende)       –imdb–

0925 – First Man (2018)

timespace coordinates: 1961 – 1969 California, Florida, Houston

First Man is a 2018 American biographical drama film directed by Damien Chazelle and written by Josh Singer. Based on the book First Man: The Life of Neil A. Armstrong by James R. Hansen, the film stars Ryan Gosling as Neil Armstrong, alongside Claire Foy, Jason Clarke, Kyle Chandler, Corey Stoll, Ciarán Hinds, Christopher Abbott, Patrick Fugit, and Lukas Haas, and follows the years leading up to the Apollo 11 mission to the Moon in 1969. The musical score for First Man was composed by Justin Hurwitz. The score was performed by a 94-piece orchestra, with instruments such as the electronic theremin and Moog synthesizer, as well as vintage sound-altering machines including Leslie speakers and an Echoplex. (wiki)

Ryan Gosling Poster – First Man 2018 [1675 x 2481] MoviePosterPorn in 2018

#American_flag_controversy

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0912 – Black Mirror: Bandersnatch (2018)

timespace coordinates:  England  July 1984

Black Mirror: Bandersnatch is a 2018 interactive film in the science fiction anthology series Black Mirror. It was written by series creator Charlie Brooker and directed by David Slade. Netflix released it on 28 December 2018 as a standalone film.  In Bandersnatch, viewers make decisions for the main character, the young programmer Stefan Butler (Fionn Whitehead) who adapts a fantasy novel into a video game in 1984.  Other characters include Mohan Thakur (Asim Chaudhry) and Colin Ritman (Will Poulter), both of whom work at a video game company, Butler’s father, Peter (Craig Parkinson) and Butler’s therapist, Dr. Haynes (Alice Lowe). The film is based on a planned Imagine Software video game of the same name which went unreleased after the company filed for bankruptcy. It also alludes to Lewis Carroll‘s own works that feature the bandersnatch creature. A piece of science fiction and horror, Bandersnatch incorporates meta-commentary and rumination on free will.

Presentation – Bandersnatch is presented as an interactive film. A brief tutorial, specific to the device being streamed on, explains to the viewer how to make choices. They have ten seconds to make choices, or a default decision is made. Once a playthrough ends, the viewer is given an option of going back and making a different choice. The average viewing is 90 minutes, though the quickest path ends after 40 minutes, and at least one path results in a 2.5 hour viewing experience. There are 150 minutes of unique footage divided into 250 segments.  IGN reports that according to Netflix, there are five “main” endings, with variants within each ending; such endings may be intercut with credits, similar to other Black Mirror episodes. Producer Russell McLean said there are between ten and twelve endings, some of which are more vague as endings compared to others, and according to director David Slade, there are a few “golden eggs” endings that may take a long time before viewers figure out how to achieve them.  No ending is considered “prescribed” over any other, according to executive producers Charlie Brooker and Annabel Jones, particularly as they felt some endings were not truly endings in the traditional sense. In most cases, when the viewer reaches an ending, the interactive film gives the player the option to redo a last critical choice as to be able to explore these endings, or they can alternatively view the film’s credits. In some cases, the same segment is reachable in multiple different ways, but will present the viewer with different choices based on the way they reached the segment. In other cases, certain loops guide viewers to a specific narrative regardless of the choices they make. Some endings may become impossible to reach based on choices made by the viewer, unless they opt to restart the film. This action will erase all stored information about which options they had selected while watching the episode on that device.

Analysis – The term “bandersnatch” originates from a fictional creature created by Lewis Carroll, which appear in his 1870s poems “Jabberwocky” and “The Hunting of the Snark“. The film makes several allusions to Carroll’s works. Part of Butler’s motivation is to find his stuffed rabbit toy which leads him to discover deeper secrets, comparable to Alice‘s quest to find the White Rabbit in Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland. Ritman and his girlfriend Kitty lead Butler into a psychedelic experience in their flat, correlating to the Mad Hatter‘s tea party from the same story, with Kitty’s appearance even similar to that of the Hatter. At one point, Butler travels through a mirror, or literally following the action suggested by the title of Carroll’s Through the Looking-Glass. The design of the Pax is similar to Carroll’s own drawing of the Bandersnatch. 

The “bandersnatch” term also relates to Bandersnatch, a planned video game by Imagine Software. One of several expensive “megagames” which Imagine Software worked on, Bandersnatch was never released as the company went bankrupt in 1984. Imagine’s closure was widely publicised as the events leading to it occurred at the time the BBC were featuring the company in its 1984 “Commercial Breaks” documentary series, and had cascading effects on the video game development industry in the United Kingdom. As an allusion, the film opens on 9 July 1984, the day Imagine was closed, and the cover of Crash with this news is featured in the film. The video game was mentioned in an Easter egg in series three episode “Playtest“, on the front cover of a magazine which is briefly shown onscreen.  

Additionally, the story shares elements of the works of Philip K. Dick, who frequently wrote on alternate realities and timelines. The Davies character is an allusion to Dick, who had frequently used recreational drugs throughout his life, and at one point attempted to kill his wife. Dick’s work Ubik is visually referenced in the film. Brooker also compares the story to the 1993 comedy fantasy Groundhog Day, about a character who re-lives the same day repeatedly.  Some of the themes of lack of free will, monitoring, and control, as well as the 1984 setting, led to comparisons to George Orwell‘s novel, Nineteen Eighty-Four. 

Bandersnatch has elements of comedy, horror, pathos, science fiction and a 1980s period piece. David Griffin of IGN compares it to the adventure video game series The Walking Dead, whose first instalment was released in 2012, and the 2018 adventure game Detroit: Become Human.  At one point, Thakur mentions that Butler’s game has no need to type in “get lamp”, which is the first necessary command that the player must use in the first text adventure game, Colossal Cave Adventure, and the title of a documentary about the onset of interactive fiction.  (wiki)

imdb   /  https://tuckersoft.net/  /    nohzdyve/

910 – The House with a Clock in Its Walls (2018)

timespace coordinates: 1955 New Jersey

The House with a Clock in Its Walls is a 2018 American Amblin classics fantasy film directed by Eli Roth (Hostel), based on the 1973 novel of the same name by John Bellairs. The film stars Jack Black, Cate Blanchett, and Owen Vaccaro, and follows a young boy who is sent to live with his uncle in a creaky old house. He soon learns it was previously inhabited by a nefarious entity. (wiki)

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0902 – Bird Box (2018)

Bird Box is a 2018 American post-apocalyptic thriller film directed by Susanne Bier and with a screenplay by Eric Heisserer, based on the 2014 novel of the same name by Josh Malerman. (wiki)

In the wake of an unknown global terror, a mother must find the strength to flee with her children down a treacherous river in search of safety. Due to unseen deadly forces, the perilous journey must be made blindly. starring Academy Award winner Sandra Bullock, John Malkovich, Sarah Paulson, and Trevante Rhodes.

imdb   /   670 – A Quiet Place (2018)   /   692 – The Happening (2008)