0619 – Patriots Day (2016)

spacetime coordinates: 2013 Boston Marathon bombing

Patriots Day is a 2016 American crime drama-thriller film about the 2013 Boston Marathon bombing and the subsequent terrorist manhunt. Directed by Peter Berg and written by Berg, Matt Cook, and Joshua Zetumer, the film is based on the book Boston Strong by Casey Sherman and Dave Wedge. It stars Mark Wahlberg, J. K. Simmons, John Goodman, Kevin Bacon, and Michelle Monaghan.

Academy Award-winning composers and Nine Inch Nails members Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross were hired to write the musical score for the film. (youtube)

imdb   wiki

617 – The Rocketeer (1991)

spacetime coordinates:  1938 Los Angeles

The Rocketeer is a 1991 American period superhero film from Walt Disney Pictures, produced by Charles Gordon, Lawrence Gordon, and Lloyd Levin, directed by Joe Johnston, that stars Bill Campbell, Jennifer Connelly, Alan Arkin, Timothy Dalton, Paul Sorvino, and Tiny Ron Taylor. The film is based upon the character of the same name created by comic book artist and writer Dave Stevens. Set in 1938 Los Angeles, California, The Rocketeer tells the story of stunt pilot Cliff Secord who stumbles upon a hidden rocket powered jet pack that he thereafter uses to fly without the need of an aircraft. His heroic deeds soon attract the attention of Howard Hughes and the FBI, who are hunting for the missing jet pack, as well as the Nazi operatives that stole it from Hughes.

imdb   wiki

0615 – I Am Legend (2007)

spacetime coordinates: 2009 – 2012 New York City

I Am Legend is a 2007 American post-apocalyptic science fiction horror film based on the novel of the same name, directed by Francis Lawrence and starring Will Smith, who plays US Army virologist Robert Neville. The story is set in New York City after a virus, which was originally created to cure cancer, has wiped out most of mankind, leaving Neville as the last human in New York, other than nocturnal mutants.

“The film’s producers and sound people wanted the creatures in the movie to sound somewhat human, but not the standard”, so Mike Patton, lead singer of Faith No More, was engaged to provide the screams and howls of the infected.

In his vision of an empty New York, Lawrence cited John Ford as his influence: “We didn’t want to make an apocalyptic movie where the landscape felt apocalyptic. A lot of the movie takes place on a beautiful day. There’s something magical about the empty city as opposed to dark and scary that was the ideal that the cast and crew wanted.”

Director’s Cut ending

future   imdb

0614 – The Great Gatsby (2013)

spacetime coordinates: 1922 New York City

The Great Gatsby is a 2013 romance drama film based on F. Scott Fitzgerald‘s 1925 novel of the same name. The film was co-written and directed by Baz Luhrmann and stars Leonardo DiCaprio as the eponymous Jay Gatsby, with Tobey Maguire, Carey Mulligan, Joel Edgerton, Isla Fisher and Elizabeth Debicki.  The film follows the life and times of millionaire Jay Gatsby and his neighbor Nick Carraway (Tobey Maguire), who recounts his encounter with Gatsby at the height of the Roaring Twenties in New York state.

imdb

613 – Red Sparrow (2018)

spacetime coordinates: modern-day Moscow / Budapest

Red Sparrow is a 2018 American spy thriller film directed by Francis Lawrence and written by Justin Haythe, based on the 2013 novel of the same name by Jason Matthews. The film stars Jennifer Lawrence, Joel Edgerton, Matthias Schoenaerts, Charlotte Rampling, Mary-Louise Parker, and Jeremy Irons. It tells the story of a Russian intelligence officer who is sent to make contact with a CIA agent in the hope of discovering the identity of a mole. Matthews, a former member of the CIA, advised the production on the depiction of spying. Based on historic Soviet “sexpionage” and contemporary Russian use of kompromat.

imdb

0596 – Jupiter’s Moon / Jupiter holdja (2017)

spacetime coordinates: 2010’s Hungary / Budapest

The juxtaposition of supernatural thriller tropes and urgent socio-political issues in Kornél Mundruczó’s latest movie — an original take on the superhero origin story set to the backdrop of the refugee crisis — might prove a delicate one for some viewers to take. Those unperturbed, however, should find much to relish in Jupiter’s Moon, a film that somewhat lightly plays with themes of religion and immigration as it rumbles, crashes, and ultimately soars through the streets of the Hungarian capitol. It’s a tricky balance and Mundruczó (who had a break-out with his canine revolt film White God in 2014) strikes it with style and confidence (even going so far as to signpost it in an opening prologue that reminds the audience that the titular gas giant’s largest orbiting body is called Europa, and that many believe that large oceans rest beneath its icy surface where a “cradle of life” might exist). The hero of Jupiter’s Moon, a young Syrian refugee with the connotation heavy name of Aryan (played by Majd Asmi), does not find a cradle of life in his Europa. To the contrary, in fact, he’s gunned down in the opening minutes… (read more)

imdb

0595 – Paul (2011)

spacetime coordinates: 2010 American Southwest

Paul is a 2011 science-fiction road-comedy film directed by Greg Mottola and written by and starring Simon Pegg and Nick Frost. The film is about two science-fiction geeks who meet an extraterrestrial being, voiced by Seth Rogen, with a sarcastic manner and an appetite for cigarettes and alcohol. They help the alien escape the FBI agents pursuing him, so he is able to return to his home planet. The film contains numerous references to other science-fiction films, especially those of Steven Spielberg, as well as to general science-fiction fandom.

imdb  sequel