movies

505 – Downsizing (2017)

spacetime coordinates: near future Norway / Nebraska2017-12-29-downsizingDownsizing is a 2017 american science fiction  / high-concept social satire / comedy-drama film directed by Alexander Payne, written by Payne and Jim Taylor and starring Matt DamonChristoph WaltzHong Chau, and Kristen Wiig. It tells the story of a couple who decide to undertake a newly-invented procedure to shrink their bodies so they can start a new life in an experimental community.

Starting with Gulliver’s Travels by Jonathan Swift, there exists a rich literature as well as many films dealing with mini-humans usually called dwarfs. The idea of shrinking human bodies in order to reduce the consumption of raw materials available on earth necessary for the life of mankind was presented for the first time in the novel Das Miniatom-Projekt (2006) by Richard M. Weiner. In the novel the miniaturization takes place at CERN by decreasing the sizes of atoms with the help of the world’s biggest particle accelerator, while in the Downsizing film the shrinkage is performed by bio-medical methods, by decreasing the sizes of cells.

Absolut-Vodka-Bottle-in-Downsizing-2

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1389072/

movies

0497 – Radio Free Albemuth (2010)

spacetime coordinates:  1985  Los Angeles

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Radio Free Albemuth is a 2010 American film adaptation of the dystopian novel Radio Free Albemuth by author Philip K. Dick, which was written in 1976 and published posthumously in 1985. The film is written, directed, and produced by John Alan Simon and stars Jonathan Scarfe and Shea Whigham.

The story is set in an alternate reality 1980’s America under the authoritarian control of President Fremont. It makes liberal references to the collected works of Philip K. Dick.

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1129396/

animation

494 – The Breadwinner (2017)

spacetime coordinates: 2001, Taliban-era  AfghanistanDPYOPn6UQAAFWQrThe Breadwinner is a 2017 animated drama film by Cartoon Saloon directed by Nora Twomey and executive produced by Mimi Polk Gitlin and Angelina Jolie.  Based on the best-selling novel by Deborah Ellis, the film is an international co-production between Canada, Ireland, and Luxembourg,

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http://www.imdb.com/title/tt3901826/

movies

0490 – Novitiate (2017)

spacetime coordinates:  1960s Nashville, Tennessee, USA

Poster-2017-Novitiate

Novitiate is a 2017 American drama film written and directed by Maggie Betts. Set in the early 1960s and during the era of Vatican II, a young woman in training to become a nun struggles with issues of faith, the changing church and sexuality.

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt4513316/

movies

0487 – The Florida Project (2017)

spacetime coordinates: 2010’s Florida

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The Florida Project is a 2017 American drama film directed by Sean Baker and written by Baker and Chris Bergoch. It stars Willem DafoeBrooklynn PrinceBria Vinaite, Valeria Cotto, Christopher Rivera, and Caleb Landry Jones. The plot follows a six-year-old girl and with her rebellious mother living in a motel in Kissimmee, Florida outside Orlando as they try to stay out of trouble and make ends meet. The title is derived from the early name for Walt Disney World, located near the setting of the film.

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt5649144/

movies, quotes

0473 – Borgman (2013)

spacetime coordinates: 2010’s Netherlands

“and they descended upon the earth to strengthen their ranks”

borgmen

Borgman is a 2013 Dutch psychological thriller drama film directed by Alex van Warmerdam.

A vagrant enters the lives of an upper-class family, turning their lives into a psychological nightmare in the process. Although never stated in the film, the behavior of Borgman resembles that of an “alp“, a nightmare demon from German folklore.

borgman-2

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1954315/

movies, series

0467 – Cloverfield franchise

Cloverfield (2008)

spacetime coordinates: 2000’s New York

Cloverfield_poster

Cloverfield is a 2008 American found footage science fiction monster horror film directed by Matt Reeves, produced by J. J. Abrams and Bryan Burk, and written by Drew Goddard. The film, which is presented as found footage shot with a home camcorder, follows six young New York City residents fleeing from a gigantic monster and various other smaller creatures that attack the city while they are having a farewell party.

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1060277/

cloverfield_2_by_fauxster

10 Cloverfield Lane (2016)

spacetime coordinates: 2010’s Louisiana

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10 Cloverfield Lane is a 2016 American science fiction horror film directed by Dan Trachtenberg, produced by J. J. Abrams and Lindsey Weber and written by Josh Campbell, Matthew Stuecken and Damien Chazelle. The film stars John GoodmanMary Elizabeth Winstead, and John Gallagher Jr. It is the second installment in the Cloverfield franchise. The film was developed from a script titled The Cellar, but under production by Bad Robot, it was turned into a spiritual successor of the 2008 film Cloverfield. The film follows a young woman who, after a car crash, wakes up in an underground bunker with two men who insist that an event has left the surface of Earth uninhabitable. The film is presented in a third-person narrative, in contrast to its predecessor’s found-footage style.

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1179933/

The Cloverfield Paradox (2018)

spacetime coordinates: 2028  Cloverfield Station

cloverfield-3-poster-xl

The Cloverfield Paradox is a 2018 American science fiction horror film directed by Julius Onah, written by Oren Uziel and Doug Jung, and produced by J. J. Abramss Bad Robot Productions. It is the third installment in the Cloverfield franchise. The film stars Daniel BrühlElizabeth DebickiAksel HennieGugu Mbatha-RawChris O’DowdJohn OrtizDavid Oyelowo, and Zhang Ziyi, and follows an international group of astronauts aboard a space station who, after using a particle accelerator to try to solve Earth’s energy crisis, must find a way home after accidentally traveling to an alternate dimension.

The film was based on God Particle, a spec script from Oren Uziel which had the main plot of the space station crew but unconnected to Cloverfield. The script was acquired by Paramount Pictures and Bad Robot in 2012. It had been initially planned as part of Paramount’s low-budget InSurge distribution label, but following the folding of that label, its production was expanded as a Paramount-distributed film. Only during production did Abrams decide to link the film to Cloverfield, adapting Uziel’s screenplay and adding scenes to establish this connection, following the same approach used by 10 Cloverfield Lane from its original script, The Cellar. Abrams saw the ability to use the particle accelerator accident as a means for future events to cause changes in the past, establishing a way to narratively link the Cloverfield franchise together.

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt2548396/

Cloverfield Monster Attacks Tagruato Oil Rig