0628 – Gattaca (1997)

Gattaca is a 1997 American science fiction film written and directed by Andrew Niccol. It stars Ethan Hawke and Uma Thurman, with Jude Law, Loren Dean, Ernest Borgnine, Gore Vidal, and Alan Arkin appearing in supporting roles. The film presents a biopunk vision of a future society driven by eugenics where potential children are conceived through genetic selection to ensure they possess the best hereditary traits of their parents. The film centers on Vincent Freeman, played by Hawke, who was conceived outside the eugenics program and struggles to overcome genetic discrimination to realize his dream of traveling into space.

The movie draws on concerns over reproductive technologies which facilitate eugenics, and the possible consequences of such technological developments for society. It also explores the idea of destiny and the ways in which it can and does govern lives. Characters in Gattaca continually battle both with society and with themselves to find their place in the world and who they are destined to be according to their genes.

The film’s title is based on the letters G, A, T, and C, which stand for guanine, adenine, thymine, and cytosine, the four nucleobases of DNA. The movie uses a swimming treadmill in the opening minutes to punctuate the swimming and futuristic themes. The futuristic turbine cars are based on 1960s car models like Rover P6, Citroën DS19 and Studebaker Avanti, and futuristic buildings represent modern architecture of the 1950s. (wiki)

Political_references   imdb

627 – The Running Man (1987)

spacetime coordinates: 2017 – 2019 Los Angeles

The Running Man is a 1987 American science fiction action film directed by Paul Michael Glaser and starring Arnold Schwarzenegger, María Conchita Alonso, Yaphet Kotto, and Richard Dawson. It is very loosely based on the 1982 novel of the same name written by Stephen King and published under the pseudonym Richard Bachman. The film’s story, set in a dystopian United States between 2017 and 2019, is about a television show called The Running Man, where convicted criminal “runners” must escape death at the hands of professional killers.

Original director Andrew Davis was fired one week into filming and replaced by Glaser. Schwarzenegger has stated this was a “terrible decision”, as Glaser “shot the movie like it was a television show, losing all the deeper themes”.  (wiki)

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624 – The Crazies (2010)

The Crazies is a 2010 American science fiction horror film directed by Breck Eisner, with a screenplay by Scott Kosar and Ray Wright. The film is a remake of the 1973 film of the same name by George A. Romero, who is an executive producer of the remake. The original film follows two stories, one about the civilians and soldiers in the town and the other following politicians and military leaders away from the town. The remake focuses on a family that lives in the town and has to survive the outbreak.

The Crazies stars Timothy Olyphant and Radha Mitchell. The film takes place in the fictional town of Ogden Marsh, Pierce County, Iowa, “friendliest place on Earth,” whose town water supply is accidentally infected with the “Trixie” virus. After an incubation period of 48 hours, this virus gradually transforms the mental state of the infected into that of cold, calculating, depraved, bloodthirsty killers, who then prey on family and neighbors alike.

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0599 – La linea (1971–1986 TV Series)

La Linea (“The Line”) is an Italian animated series created by the Italian cartoonist Osvaldo Cavandoli. The series consists of 90 episodes, which were originally broadcast on the Italian channel RAI between 1971 and 1986. All episodes were short subjects, ranging from 2:28 to 6:37 in runtime. Over the years the series aired in more than 40 countries around the world. The background tune for the series was created by Franco Godi. The character  was voiced by Carlo Bonomi in a mock version of Milanese that resembled gibberish as much as possible, giving the cartoon the possibility to be easily exported without dubbing. The voice resembles Pingu‘s, the Swiss animated penguin, which was also voiced by Bonomi. Cavandoli also adapted his animated cartoon series into a comic strip.

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0590 – Galaxy Quest (1999)

Galaxy Quest is a 1999 American comic science fiction film directed by Dean Parisot and written by David Howard and Robert Gordon. A parody of science fiction films and series, particularly Star Trek and its fandom, the film stars Tim Allen, Sigourney Weaver, Alan Rickman, Tony Shalhoub, Sam Rockwell, and Daryl Mitchell as the cast of a defunct cult television series called Galaxy Quest, in which the crew of a spaceship embarked on intergalactic adventures, who are suddenly visited by actual aliens who believe the series to be an accurate documentary, and become involved in a very real intergalactic conflict. Star Trek fans voted it the seventh best Star Trek film of all time in 2013.

Impact_and_legacy   //  sequel   //   imdb

0580 – Watchmen (2009)

spacetime coordinates: 1985 New York City

Watchmen is a 2009 American superhero film directed by Zack Snyder, based on the 1986–87 DC Comics limited series of the same name by Alan Moore and Dave Gibbons. It stars an ensemble cast of Malin Åkerman, Billy Crudup, Matthew Goode, Carla Gugino, Jackie Earle Haley, Jeffrey Dean Morgan, and Patrick Wilson. A dark satirical and dystopian take on the superhero genre, the film is set in an alternate history in the year 1985 at the height of the Cold War between the United States and the Soviet Union, as a group of mostly retired American superheroes investigates the murder of one of their own before uncovering an elaborate and deadly conspiracy, while their moral limitations are challenged by the complex nature of the circumstances.

Minutemen 1940 from the mystery adventure “Watchmen,” a Warner Bros. Pictures and Paramount Pictures presentation, in association with Legendary Pictures. Pictured left-to-right are: APOLLONIA VANOVA as Silhouette, NIALL MATER as Mothman, DAN PAYNE as Dollar Bill, CLINT CARLETON as the original Nite Owl, DARYL SCHEELER as Captain Metropolis, CARLA GUGINO as the original Silk Spectre, GLENN ENNIS as Hooded Justice and (kneeling) JEFFREY DEAN MORGAN as The Comedian. PHOTOGRAPHS TO BE USED SOLELY FOR ADVERTISING, PROMOTION, PUBLICITY OR REVIEWS OF THIS SPECIFIC MOTION PICTURE AND TO REMAIN THE PROPERTY OF THE STUDIO. NOT FOR SALE OR REDISTRIBUTION.

The “Ultimate Cut” edition incorporated the animated comic Tales of the Black Freighter into the narrative as it was in the original graphic novel, lengthening the runtime to 3 hours and 35 minutes.

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