908 – The Ballad of Buster Scruggs (2018)

The Ballad of Buster Scruggs is a 2018 American western anthology film written, directed, and produced by the Coen brothers. It stars Tim Blake Nelson, Liam Neeson, James Franco, Brendan Gleeson, Zoe Kazan, Tyne Daly, Harry Melling, and Tom Waits, and features six vignettes that take place in the American frontier.

The film was based on Western-themed short stories written by the Coens over a period of 20 to 25 years (accounts vary) that differ in mood and subject.

“All Gold Canyon” was based on a Jack London story.

“The Gal Who Got Rattled” was inspired by a story by Stewart Edward White and based in part on contemporaneous accounts, including those of heated arguments over pets.

the Coens intended the stories to be seen together, structured them that way in the script they submitted to Annapurna, and shot the script as written. (wiki)

imdb

906 – Heaven & Hell (2018)

timespace coordinates: early 90s Los Angeles

In 1990s Los Angeles, danger lurks around the corner after a freak accident leaves an undercover cop with supernatural abilities while also unleashing a horror that he must destroy before it destroys everything. (imdb)

0905 – Under the Silver Lake (2018)

timespace coordinates: 2011 Los Angeles

Under the Silver Lake is a 2018 American neo-noir mystery film written, produced and directed by David Robert Mitchell. Set in Los Angeles, it stars Andrew Garfield as a young man who sets out on a quest to investigate the sudden disappearance of his neighbour (Riley Keough), only to stumble upon an elusive and dangerous large-scale conspiracy.

Joshua Rothkopf of Time Out gave the film a perfect five rating, calling it “Hypnotic, spiraling and deliriously high” and stating “the ambition of Under the Silver Lake is worth cherishing. It will either evaporate into nothingness or cohere into something you’ll want to hug for being so wonderfully weird.” Eric Kohn of IndieWire gave a positive review, calling it “a bizarre and outrageous drama grounded in the consistency of Garfield’s astonishment at every turn. […] Aided by cinematographer Mike Gioloukas’ sunny visuals and a searching Disasterpiece score, the movie becomes a bittersweet ode to wanting answers from an indifferent world overwhelmed by superficial distractions. The homage can be irritating and some of the transitions work better than others across an unwieldy running time — but even the flaws speak to the movie’s beguiling raison d’être. It’s fascinating to watch Mitchell grasp for a bigger picture with the wild ambition of his scruffy protagonist.” 

Owen Gleiberman of Variety gave a positive review, calling it “a down-the-rabbit-hole movie, at once gripping and baffling, fueled by erotic passion and dread but also by the code-fixated opacity of conspiracy theory. The movie is impeccably shot and staged, with an insanely lush soundtrack that’s like Bernard Herrmann-meets-Angelo-Badalamenti-on-opioids. When it’s over, though, you feel like you’ve seen a meta-mystery made by someone who spent too much time scrawling notes in the margins of his frayed copy of Infinite Jest. (wiki)

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0904 – Bad Times at the El Royale (2018)

timespace coordinates: 1969, a shady hotel on the California–Nevada border

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

903 – Elizabeth Harvest (2018)

Elizabeth Harvest is a 2018 science-fiction thriller film that was written and directed by Sebastian Gutierrez. The film stars Abbey Lee as the titular Elizabeth, a young woman who discovers that her new husband is hiding secrets.

imdb

898

0897 – Hellblade: Senua’s Sacrifice (2017 video game)

timespace coordinates: late 8th century at the border of Helheim

Hellblade: Senua’s Sacrifice is a dark fantasy action-adventure game developed and published by the British video game development studio Ninja Theory. Self-described as an “independent AAA game“, it was created by a team of approximately twenty developers led by writer and director Tameem Antoniades.

Inspired by Norse mythology and Celtic culture, Hellblade follows Senua, a Pict warrior who must make her way to Helheim by defeating otherworldly entities and facing their challenges, in order to rescue the soul of her dead lover from the goddess Hela. In parallel, the game acts as a metaphor for the character’s struggle with psychosis, as Senua, who suffers from the condition but believes it to be a curse, is haunted by an entity known as the “Darkness”, voices in her head known as “Furies”, and memories from her past. To properly represent psychosis, developers worked closely with neuroscientists, mental health specialists, and people suffering from the condition.

The game blends several genres, including hack and slash, puzzle solving, and psychological horror. Voice acting is an integral part of the game, while its cutscenes combine motion capture by Melina Juergens, and live action performances by other actors. (wiki)

SYSTEM REQUIREMENTS MINIMUM: OS: Windows 7, 8, 10 / Processor: Intel i5 3570K / AMD FX-8350 / Memory: 8 GB RAM / Graphics: GTX 770 with 2GB VRAM / Radeon R9 280X 3GB / DirectX: Version 11 / Storage: 30 GB available space / Additional Notes: Minimum spec screen resolution: 1280×720

steam / death mechanic  / fiction_with_unreliable_narrators