1197 – The 5th Wave (2016)

timespace coordinates: 2010’s Dayton, Ohio / Earth

“When I was a child, I spoke as a child, I thought as a child, I understood as a child. When I became an adult, I put away childish things”. Colonel Vosch

The 5th Wave is a 2016 American science fiction action film directed by J Blakeson, with a screenplay by Susannah Grant, Akiva Goldsman, and Jeff Pinkner, based on Rick Yancey’s 2013 novel of the same name. The film stars Chloë Grace Moretz, Nick Robinson, Ron Livingston, Maggie Siff, Alex Roe, Maria Bello, Maika Monroe, and Liev Schreiber. (wiki)

The 5th Wave novel  is the first in The 5th Wave trilogy, followed by The Infinite Sea (narration shifts to Ringer’s point of view) and The Last Star.

imdb

1191 – What We Do in the Shadows (2019– TV series)

timespace coordinates: 2019 Staten Island

What We Do in the Shadows is an American comedy horror television series, based on the 2014 film of the same name written by Jemaine Clement and Taika Waititi, that premiered on March 27, 2019, on FX. The series follows four vampire roommates living in New York City and it stars Kayvan Novak, Matt Berry, Natasia Demetriou, Harvey Guillén, and Mark Proksch. In May 2019, FX renewed the series for a 10-episode second season to debut in 2020. (wiki)

What We Do in the Shadows featured meta cameos from Evan Rachel Wood (“True Blood”), Danny Trejo (“From Dusk Till Dawn”), Wesley Snipes (“Blade”), Tilda Swinton (“Only Lovers Left Alive”) and Paul Reubens (“Buffy the Vampire Slayer”) — all of whom played vampires in TV series and movies. (nypost)

imdb

1183 – Batman vs Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles (2019)

Batman vs Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles is a 2019 animated superhero film produced by Warner Bros. Animation and DC Entertainment in association with Nickelodeon. It is based on the six-issue intercompany crossover comic book miniseries, Batman/Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles by James Tynion IV and Freddie Williams II. It was released on Blu-ray and Digital HD on June 4, 2019. In the film, Batman, Robin and Batgirl team up with the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles to save Gotham City from the Shredder and Ra’s al Ghul. (wiki)

Batman vs. Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles CR: Warner Bros. Animation and DC Entertainment

imdb   / rottentomatoes

1178 – Pandora’s Promise (2013 documentary)

Pandora’s Promise is a 2013 documentary film about the nuclear power debate, directed by Robert Stone. Its central argument is that nuclear power, which still faces historical opposition from environmentalists, is a relatively safe and clean energy source which can help mitigate the serious problem of anthropogenic global warming. Richard Branson is credited as an executive producer, as are Paul and Jody Allen, whose production company, Vulcan Productions, helped provide financial support.  A total of $1.2 million (US) was raised to finance the film, “particularly through Impact Partners, which provides documentary financing from individual investors. Mr. Stone said the money came mainly from wealthy “tech heads” who have worked in Silicon Valley.”

The title is derived from the ancient Greek myth of Pandora, who released numerous evils into the world, yet as the movie’s tagline recalls: “At the bottom of the box she found hope.” (wiki)

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The New York Times: “You need to make an argument. A parade of like-minded nuclear-power advocates who assure us that everything will be all right just doesn’t cut it.” > Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists: “In the end, by dismissing the protesters and failing to engage them in significant debate about the pros and cons of nuclear energy, the film undermined its own message.” > Seattle Weekly: “But the doc’s bigger flaw is that no one is allowed to make a reasoned anti-nuclear argument. To the well-made film’s many statistics, graphics, and common-sense assertions, the lack of a rebuttal is deafening.”

imdb   / Q&A with Jeremy Rifkin   /  review

1169 – Ender’s Game (2013)

timespace coordinates: future North Carolina, Battle School, Fairyland / the End of the World, Command School, the Colony (SETTING)

Ender’s Game is a 2013 American military science fiction action film based on Orson Scott Card‘s 1985 novel of the same name. Written and directed by Gavin Hood, the film stars Asa Butterfield as Andrew “Ender” Wiggin, an unusually gifted child who is sent to an advanced military academy in outer space to prepare for a future alien invasion. The supporting cast includes Harrison Ford, Hailee Steinfeld, and Viola Davis, with Abigail Breslin and Ben Kingsley. (wiki)

imdb   /  Websites   /  potential sequel

1168 – Starship Troopers

timespace coordinates: the 23rd century,  Buenos Aires / Terran Federation > Klendathu, the “Bugs’” home planet / Planet “P”/ remote outpost on a planet inhabited by Arachnids / agricultural planet Roku San / classified planet OM-1 /

Starship Troopers (1997)

Starship Troopers is a 1997 American satirical military science fiction action film directed by Paul Verhoeven and written by Edward Neumeier. It originally came from an unrelated script called Bug Hunt at Outpost Nine, but eventually licensed the name Starship Troopers from a science fiction novel by Robert A. Heinlein. The story follows a young soldier named Johnny Rico and his exploits in the Mobile Infantry, a futuristic military unit. Rico’s military career progresses from recruit to non-commissioned officer and finally to officer against the backdrop of an interstellar war between mankind and an insectoid species known as “Arachnids”.

(Relationship to novel) Because the film originated from an unrelated script, with names and superficial details from the novel being added retroactively, there are many differences between the two. While the novel has been accused of promoting militarism, fascism, and military rule, the film satirizes these concepts by featuring bombastic displays of nationalism as well as news reports that are intensely fascistic, xenophobic, and propagandistic.  Verhoeven stated in 1997 that the first scene of the film—an advertisement for the Mobile Infantry—was adapted shot-for-shot from a scene in Leni Riefenstahl’s Triumph of the Will (1935), specifically an outdoor rally for the Reichsarbeitsdienst. Other references to Nazism in the movie include the Wehrmacht-inspired uniforms and insignia of field grade officers, M.I. working uniforms reminiscent of Mussolini’s Blackshirts, Albert Speer‘s style of architecture, and its propagandistic dialogue (“Violence is the supreme authority!”). 

In a 2014 interview on The Adam Carolla Show, the actor Michael Ironside, who read the novel as a youth, said that he asked Verhoeven, who grew up in Nazi-occupied Netherlands, “Why are you doing a right-wing fascist movie?” Verhoeven replied, “If I tell the world that a right-wing, fascist way of doing things doesn’t work, no one will listen to me. So I’m going to make a perfect fascist world: everyone is beautiful, everything is shiny, everything has big guns and fancy ships, but it’s only good for killing fucking Bugs!” 

(Themes) … In his DVD commentary, Verhoeven stated his intentions clearly: the film’s message is that “War makes fascists of us all”. He evoked Nazi Germany’s fashion, iconography, and propaganda because he saw it as a natural evolution of the United States after World War II, and especially after the Korean War. “I’ve heard this film nicknamed All Quiet on the Final Frontier“, he said, “which is actually not far from the truth.” Edward Neumeier (who had previously worked with Verhoeven on RoboCop) broadly concurs, although he sees a satire on human history rather than solely the United States. Verhoeven says his satirical use of irony and hyperbole is “playing with fascism or fascist imagery to point out certain aspects of American society… of course, the movie is about ‘Let’s all go to war and let’s all die.'” (wiki)

imdb

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Starship Troopers 2: Hero of the Federation (2004)

Starship Troopers 2: Hero of the Federation is a 2004 military science-fiction action television film directed by Phil Tippett and starring Richard Burgi, Lawrence Monoson, and Colleen Porch. It is a sequel to Starship Troopers (1997) and the second installment of the Starship Troopers film series. (wiki)

Made for 5% of the cost of Starship Troopers (1997). (imdb)

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Starship Troopers 3: Marauder (2008)

1146
01:33:47,715 –> 01:33:51,617
I got religion, Dix. I got it bad.

Starship Troopers 3: Marauder is a 2008 American military science fiction film written and directed by Edward Neumeier and starring Casper Van Dien who returned as Johnny Rico from the original film, along with Jolene Blalock and Boris Kodjoe. It is a sequel to Starship Troopers (1997) and Starship Troopers 2: Hero of the Federation (2004) (which were both written by Neumeier) and the third installment of the Starship Troopers film series. The film was released directly to DVD in the U.S. on August 5, 2008. (wiki)

Joe Leydon of Variety stated:

“Die-hard fans of Starship Troopers, Paul Verhoeven’s notorious 1997 cult-fave sci-fi spectacle, will be pleased to note that its second made-for-vid sequel gamely attempts to replicate the original pic’s over-the-top style and self-satirical tone. (…) the latest episode reprises Verhoeven’s love-it-or-hate-it mix of gruesome mayhem, overstated melodrama, peek-a-boo nudity and tongue-in-cheek fascist aesthetics.”

imdb

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Starship Troopers: Invasion (2012)

Starship Troopers: Invasion –imdb– (スターシップ・トゥルーパーズ インベイジョン) is a Japanese-American 2012 computer-animated military science fiction film directed by Shinji Aramaki. It is the fourth installment of the Starship Troopers film series.

The film was followed by

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Starship Troopers: Traitor of Mars (2017) 

imdb

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Starship Troopers (video game) 

Starship Troopers: Terran Ascendancy 

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Future

1165 – The Abyss (1989)

timespace coordinates: 1988, Deep Core, a privately owned experimental underwater drilling platform near the Cayman Trough

The Abyss is a 1989 American science fiction film written and directed by James Cameron, starring Ed Harris, Mary Elizabeth Mastrantonio, and Michael Biehn. When an American submarine sinks in the Caribbean, the U.S. search and recovery team works with an oil platform crew, racing against Soviet vessels to recover the boat. Deep in the ocean, they encounter something unexpected. (wiki)

imdb