movies, Uncategorized

0747 – The Spiderwick Chronicles (2008)

timespace coordinates: 2000’s Spiderwick Estate in New England

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The Spiderwick Chronicles is a 2008 American fantasy adventure film based on the bestselling book series of the same name by Holly Black and Tony DiTerlizzi. It was directed by Mark Waters and stars Freddie HighmoreSarah BolgerMary-Louise ParkerMartin ShortNick Nolte, and Seth Rogen. Set in the Spiderwick Estate in New England, it follows the adventures of Jared Grace and his family as they discover a field guide to fairies while battling goblins, mole trolls, and other magical creatures. (wiki)

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List of films featuring home invasions

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0737 – Psychokinesis / Yeom-lyeok (2018)

timespace coordinates: 2010’s Seoul

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Psychokinesis (Hangul염력Hanja念力RRYeom-lyeok) is a 2018 South Korean superhero film written and directed by Yeon Sang-ho. The film stars Ryu Seung-ryongShim Eun-kyungPark Jung-minKim Min-jae and Jung Yu-mi in the lead roles. This is director Yeon Sang-ho’s second live action film after Train to Busan in 2016. It is the first South Korean superhero film, and revolves around a bank security guard who gains telekinetic superpowers after drinking water from a mountain spring affected by a meteor, and decides to use them for saving his estranged daughter and her neighbourhood from an evil construction company.

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0732 – The White King (2016)

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The White King is a 2016 British sci-fi-drama film written and directed by Alex Helfrecht and Jörg Tittel. It is an adaptation of the 2008 Hungarian novel of the same name written by György Dragomán and follows Djata (Lorenzo Allchurch) growing up in an agrarian totalitarian state, without access to the rest of the world, while dealing with persecution against him and his parents (Agyness DeynRoss Partridge) by the government. (wiki)

György Dragomán’s story has been transposed to fictitious near-future dictatorship. Dragomán said this about the film: “In my original novel I wanted to show freedom in a society where freedom should not exist. In their movie Alex and Jörg were brave enough to take my communist childhood tale and adapt it into a modern story, showing us that the threat to freedom is as eternal as our fight for it.”

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718 – Last Knights (2015)

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Last Knights is a 2015 medieval action drama film directed by Kazuaki Kiriya and written by Michael Konyves and Dove Sussman, a South Korea-Czech Republic-UK co-production based on the legend of the forty-seven Ronin. The film stars Clive Owen and Morgan Freeman in the lead roles. It centers on a band of warriors who seek to avenge the loss of their master at the hands of a corrupt minister.

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0704 – The Last Legion (2007)

timespace coordinates: ancient Rome AD 475

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The Last Legion is a 2007 Anglo-Italian action adventure film directed by Doug Lefler. Produced by Dino De Laurentiis and others, it is based on a 2002 Italian novel of the same name written by Valerio Massimo Manfredi. It stars Colin Firth along with Sir Ben Kingsley and Aishwarya Rai, and premiered in Abu Dhabi on 6 April 2007.

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The film is loosely inspired by the events of 5th-century European history, notably the collapse of the Western Roman Empire. This is coupled with other facts and legends from the history of Britain and fantastic elements from the legend of King Arthur to provide a basis for the Arthurian legend.

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historical notes

connections to Arthurian legend   imdb

animation

703 – Early Man (2018)

timespace coordinates:  Stone Age / Bronze Age Manchester

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Early Man is a 2018 British stop-motion animated historical sports comedy film directed by Nick Park, written by Mark Burton and James Higginson, and starring the voices of Eddie RedmayneTom HiddlestonMaisie Williams, and Timothy Spall. The film follows a tribe of primitive Stone Age valley dwellers who have to defend their land from bronze-using invaders in an association football match.

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0698 – Van Helsing (2004)

timespace coordinates: 1888 Transylvania

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Van Helsing is a 2004 American dark fantasy action comedy written and directed by Stephen Sommers. It stars Hugh Jackman as vigilante monster hunter Van Helsing, and Kate Beckinsale as Anna Valerious. The film is an homage and tribute to the Universal Horror Monster films from the 1930s and ’40s (also produced by Universal Studios which were in turn based on novels by Bram Stoker and Mary Shelley), of which Sommers is a fan.

The eponymous character was inspired by the Dutch vampire hunter Abraham Van Helsing from Irish author Bram Stoker’s novel Dracula.  The film includes a number of monsters such as Count DraculaFrankenstein’s monster and werewolves in a way similar to the multi-monster movies that Universal produced in the 1940s, such as Frankenstein Meets the Wolf ManHouse of Frankenstein and House of Dracula.

Spin-offs

Sommers expanded the story of Van Helsing in two direct spin-offs:

  • The animated prequel titled Van Helsing: The London Assignment takes place before the main events of the film, focusing on Van Helsing’s mission to try to stop Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde from terrorizing London.
  • There is also a one-shot comic book, published by Dark Horse Comics, titled Van Helsing: From Beneath the Rue Morgue, that follows Van Helsing on a self-contained adventure that occurs during the events of the film, just after the death of Jekyll/Hyde in Paris but before Van Helsing returned to Rome. In the adventure, Van Helsing deals with Doctor Moreau and his hybrid mutants.

Reboot and shared universe

In May 2012, Universal Pictures announced that they would be rebooting the film with Alex Kurtzman and Roberto Orci as a two-year deal to produce a modern reimagining and Tom Cruise to star as the title character and also produce the film. Rupert Sanders is in talks to direct the film. Orci spoken to IGN that he has hinted that both The Mummy and Van Helsing reboots will have a shared universe. On November 11, 2015, Variety reports that Jon Spaihts and Eric Heisserer will write the reboot, but Cruise left the film. However, in 2016, Cruise signed back on to star in Kurtzman’s The Mummy, which was released in theaters on June 9, 2017. (wiki)

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309 – The Incredible Adventures of Van Helsing (2013 video game)