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/

0481 – In This Corner of the World (2016)

spacetime coordinates:  1930s-1940s Hiroshima and Kure  Japan

In This Corner of the World (この世界の片隅に Kono Sekai no Katasumi ni) is a 2016 Japanese animated wartime drama film produced by MAPPA, co-written and directed by Sunao Katabuchi, featuring character designs by Hidenori Matsubara and music by Kotringo. The film is based on the manga of the same name written and illustrated by Fumiyo Kōno.

Though it is a fictional account, the episodes and background of the story are based on facts and real incidents researched by the production staff.  In the film, the lost townscape of pre-war Hiroshima, damaged by the atomic bombing in Hiroshima, is accurately revived in the scenes, following old photos, documents, and the memories of living people.

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt4769824/

0472 – The Lost Boys (1987)

spacetime coordinates: 1980’s beach town of Santa Carla, California

The Lost Boys is a 1987 American horror thriller comedy film directed by Joel Schumacher and starring Jason Patric, Corey Haim, Kiefer Sutherland, Jami Gertz, Corey Feldman, Dianne Wiest, Edward Herrmann, Alex Winter, Jamison Newlander, and Barnard Hughes.

The film is about two Arizona brothers who move to California and end up fighting a gang of young vampires. The title is a reference to the Lost Boys in J. M. Barrie‘s stories about Peter Pan and Neverland, who, like the vampires, never grow up.

principal photography

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0093437/

0463 – Justice League (2017)

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0974015/

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0461 – My Friend Dahmer (2017)

spacetime coordinates:  1974 – 1978  Bath, Ohio

My Friend Dahmer is a 2017 American biographical drama film written and directed by Marc Meyers about the American serial killer Jeffrey Dahmer. It is based on the 2012 graphic novel of the same name by cartoonist John “Derf” Backderf, who had been friends with Dahmer in high school in the 1970s, soon before Dahmer began his killing spree. The film stars Ross Lynch, Alex Wolff, Dallas Roberts, and Anne Heche.

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt2291540/

0458 – Dellamorte Dellamore (1994)

spacetime coordinates: 1990’s Buffalora, little town in the north of Italy

Cemetery Man (Italian: Dellamorte Dellamore) is a 1994 comedy horror film directed by Michele Soavi and starring Rupert Everett, François Hadji-Lazaro and Anna Falchi. It was written and produced by Gianni Romoli and Michele Soavi and based on a 1991 novel by Tiziano Sclavi. Sclavi is also the author of the comic Dylan Dog, which covers similar themes and whose protagonist is a Rupert Everett lookalike. Everett plays a beleaguered caretaker of a small Italian cemetery, who searches for love while defending himself from dead people who keep rising again. It is an international co-production between Italy, France, and Germany.

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0109592/

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ignis fatuus  (will-o’-the-wisp ) Medieval Latin for “foolish fire”) is an atmospheric ghost light seen by travellers at night, especially over bogs, swamps, or marshes. It resembles a flickering lamp and is said to recede if approached, drawing travellers from the safe paths. The phenomenon is known by a variety of names, including jack-o’-lantern, friar’s lantern, hinkypunk, and hobby lantern in English folk belief, and is well attested in English folklore and in much of European folklore. (read more)

0441 – The Punisher (TV Series 2017– )

“a compelling and complex horror story about the military.” Esquire

Marvel’s The Punisher, or simply The Punisher, is an American web television series created for Netflix by Steve Lightfoot, based on the Marvel Comics character of the same name. It is set in the Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU), sharing continuity with the films and other television series of the franchise, and is a spin-off of Marvel’s Daredevil.

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt5675620/

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