movies

1081 – The Silence (2019)

timespace coordinates: world under attack by creatures who hunt by sound

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The Silence is a 2019 film starring Kiernan Shipka and Stanley Tucci. It is directed by John R. Leonetti based on a screenplay by Carey Van Dyke and Shane Van Dyke that adapts the 2015 horror novel of the same name by Tim Lebbon. (wiki)

rt   /   imdb   /   670   /   902   /   deaf culture

movies

0958 – Suspiria (2018)

timespace coordinates: 1977, Berlin during the height of the German Autum

(!extreme violence!)

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Suspiria (Latin pronunciation: [sʊsˈpɪria]) is a 2018 supernatural psychological horror film directed by Luca Guadagnino with a screenplay by David Kajganich, inspired by the 1977 Italian film of the same title directed by Dario Argento. Guadagnino’s film, which is set in 1977, stars Dakota Johnson as an American woman who enrolls at a prestigious dance academy in Berlin run by a coven of witches. Tilda Swinton co-stars in three roles, including as the company’s lead choreographer and as a male psychotherapist involved in the academy. Mia Goth and Chloë Grace Moretz appear in supporting roles as students, while Angela WinklerRenée SoutendijkIngrid Caven, and Sylvie Testud portray some of the academy’s matrons. The star of the original film, Jessica Harper, has a cameo appearance.

An “homage” to the original rather than a straightforward remake, the movie explores themes of generational guilt in Germany during the Cold War. The film also focuses on themes of motherhood, evil, and the dynamics of matriarchies.

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Unlike the original film, which used exaggerated colors, Guadagnino conceived Suspiria as visually “winterish” and bleak, absent of primary colors. The film incorporates stylized dance sequences choreographed by Damien Jalet, which form part of its representation of witchcraft. The musical score was composed by Radiohead singer Thom Yorke, who took inspiration from krautrock. (wiki)

Analysis and themes

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imdb /  body horror

movies

0957 – Suspiria (1977)

timespace coordinates: 1970’s FreiburgGermany

Suspiria (Latin: [sʊsˈpɪria]) is a 1977 Italian supernatural horror film directed by Dario Argento, co-written by Argento and Daria Nicolodi, partially based on Thomas De Quincey‘s 1845 essay Suspiria de Profundis (Sighs from the Depths) and co-produced by Claudio and Salvatore Argento. The film stars Jessica Harper as an American ballet student who transfers to a prestigious dance academy in Germany but realizes, after a series of brutal murders, that the academy is a front for a supernatural conspiracy. It also features Stefania CasiniFlavio BucciMiguel BoséAlida ValliUdo Kier and Joan Bennett, in her final film role.

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The film is the first of the trilogy Argento refers to as The Three Mothers, which also comprises Inferno (1980) and The Mother of Tears (2007)Suspiria has become one of Argento’s most successful feature films, receiving critical acclaim for its visual and stylistic flair, use of vibrant colors and its score by the prog-rock band Goblin.

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Suspiria has become a cult classic, and is recognised as an influential film in the horror genre. It served as the inspiration for a 2018 film of the same title, directed by Luca Guadagnino. (wiki)

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imdb

games

0927 – Thief (2014 video game)

timespace coordinates: ‘The City’, a dark fantasy world inspired by VictorianGothic, and steampunk aesthetics.

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Thief is a stealth video game developed by Eidos Montréal, published by Square Enix, and released in February 2014 for the PlayStation 3, PlayStation 4, Xbox 360, Xbox One and Microsoft Windows video gaming platforms. Feral Interactive brought the game to macOS in November 2015. It is a revival of the cult classic Thief video game series of which it is the fourth installment. Initially announced in 2009 as Thief 4, it was later announced in 2013 that the game is a reboot for the series. (wiki)

SYSTEM REQUIREMENTS (MINIMUM): OS: Windows Vista with Platform Update for Windows Vista / Processor: High-Performance Dual Core CPU or Quad Core CPU / Memory: 4 GB RAM / Graphics: AMD Radeon 4800 series / Nvidia GTS 250 / DirectX: Version 10 / Storage: 20 GB available space



steam   /    The Art of Thief

movies

0904 – Bad Times at the El Royale (2018)

timespace coordinates: 1969, a shady hotel on the CaliforniaNevada border

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Bad Times at the El Royale is a 2018 American neo-noir thriller film written, produced and directed by Drew Goddard. (wiki)

Seven strangers, each with a secret to bury, meet at Lake Tahoe‘s El Royale, a rundown hotel with a dark past. Over the course of one fateful night, everyone will have a last shot at redemption… before everything goes to hell. Jeff Bridges, Chris Hemsworth, Jon Hamm, Dakota Johnson and Cynthia Erivo lead an all-star cast in BAD TIMES AT THE EL ROYALE. (rt)

imdb

games

0864 – BioShock 2 (2010 Video game)

timespace coordinates: city of Rapture 1968

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BioShock 2 is a first-person shooter video game developed by 2K Marin and published by 2K Games. A part of the Bioshock series, it is the sequel to the 2007 video game BioShock and was released worldwide for Microsoft Windows, the PlayStation 3, and the Xbox 360 on February 9, 2010. Feral Interactive released an OS X version of the game on March 30, 2012.  A remastered version of the game was released on Microsoft Windows, PlayStation 4 and Xbox One on September 13, 2016, as part of BioShock: The Collection.

Set in the fictional underwater dystopian city of Rapture, the game’s story takes place eight years after BioShock. Assuming control of Subject Delta, a hulking Big Daddy, players are tasked with fighting through “splicers”, the psychotic human population of the city, using weapons and an array of genetic modifications. The game also introduces a story-driven multiplayer mode called Fall of Rapture, which takes place during Rapture’s 1959 civil war, before the events of the first game.


(Themes) In contrast to the first BioShocks focus on libertarianism and Ayn Rand’s philosophies, BioShock 2 focuses on collectivist ideals. Lamb’s philosophy of altruism is based on that of Karl Marx and John Stuart Mill. “Her motto is ‘Make the world your family’ meaning force your mind into becoming loyal to the world in a way usually reserved for your child, and that’s intellectually daunting,” said Thomas. In comparison to the first game’s questions of free will and destiny, Thomas said that the player character is “almost the ultimate individual” whom Lamb goads to fulfill her goals. 

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Professor Ryan Lizardi draws parallels between BioShock 2s themes of community versus the individual and the issues of McCarthyism and the hippie movement that occurred around the time period of the game’s setting. “As this sequel is an extension of the first game’s storylines and characters, there are direct contrasts between the extreme politics of Andrew Ryan’s objectivism and the extreme religion/politics of Lamb’s collectivism,” he writes. “Bioshock 2 specifically asks players to question all sides of debates when extreme stances are taken, and asks players to weigh their decisions in an alternate and complex history. ” (wiki)

steam // www.bioshock2game.com


SYSTEM REQUIREMENTS (remastered version) MINIMUM:

Requires a 64-bit processor and operating system/ OS: Windows 7 Service Pack 1 64-bit. Platform Update for Windows 7 SP1 and Windows Server 2008 R2 SP1/ Processor: Intel E6750 Core 2 Duo 2.66 GHz / AMD Athlon X2 2.7 GHZ / Memory: 4 GB RAM / Graphics: 2GB AMD Radeon HD 7770 / 2GB NVIDIA GeForce GTX 670 / DirectX: Version 11 / Storage: 25 GB available space / Sound Card: DirectX Compatible Sound Device

movies

838 – BlacKkKlansman (2018)

timespace coordinates: 1972 Colorado Springs, Colorado

blackkklansman-posterBlacKkKlansman is a 2018 American biographical comedy-drama film directed by Spike Lee and written by Charlie Wachtel, David Rabinowitz, Kevin Willmott, and Lee, based on the 2014 memoir Black Klansman by Ron Stallworth. The film stars John David Washington as Stallworth, along with Adam DriverLaura Harrier, and Topher Grace. Set in 1970s Colorado Springs, the plot follows the first African-American detective in the Colorado Springs police department, who sets out to infiltrate and expose the local chapter of the Ku Klux Klan. The film was theatrically released in the United States on August 10, 2018, coinciding with the one-year anniversary of the white supremacist Unite the Right rally(wiki)

historical accuracy   /   Blaxploitation   /   imdb


This film contains clips from D. W. Griffith‘s silent movie The Birth of a Nation. While Spike Lee was a student at NYU Film School, he was so outraged that his NYU Film School professors taught The Birth of a Nation (1915) with no mention of its racist message or role in the Klan’s twentieth-century rebirth that he made a student short film titled The Answer (1980) as a response. The film so offended many of his professors that Lee was nearly expelled from NYU. He was ultimately saved by a faculty vote. (read more: trivia)