1642 – Snowpiercer (TV Series 2020-)

timespace coordinates: 2021, seven years after the world becomes a frozen wasteland, the remnants of humanity inhabit a perpetually moving train consisting of 1001 carriages that circles the globe 2.7 revolutions per year (133 days to complete a revolution). Built by billionaire Wilford, the train is rigidly separated by class, with passengers caught up in a revolutionary struggle against the strictly imposed social hierarchy and unbalanced allocation of limited resources.

Snowpiercer is an American post-apocalyptic dystopian thriller television drama series that premiered on TNT on May 17, 2020. It is based on both the 2013 South Korean–Czech film of the same name, directed by Bong Joon-ho, and the 1982 French graphic novel Le Transperceneige, from which the film was adapted, by Jacques Lob, Benjamin Legrand, and Jean-Marc Rochette.

A reboot of the film’s continuity, the series questions class warfare, social injustice, and the politics of survival. Daveed Diggs and Jennifer Connelly star alongside Mickey Sumner, Annalise Basso, Sasha Frolova, Alison Wright, Benjamin Haigh, Roberto Urbina, Katie McGuinness, Susan Park, Lena Hall, Sheila Vand, Sam Otto, Iddo Goldberg, and Jaylin Fletcher. (wiki)

imdb

1641 – Caravaggio (1986)

Malta, Siracuse, Messina, Naples,
Porto Ercole. 18th July 1610.

Four years on the run,
so many labels on the luggage…

and hardly a friendly face, always on the
move, running under the poisonous blue sea

running under the July sun.
Adrift…

Caravaggio is a 1986 British historical drama film directed by Derek Jarman. The film is a fictionalised re-telling of the life of Baroque painter Michelangelo Merisi da Caravaggio. It is the film debut of Tilda Swinton and Sean Bean.

Caravaggio (Michelangelo Merisi) (Italian, Milan or Caravaggio 1571–1610 Porto Ercole) The Musicians, ca. 1595 Oil on canvas; 36 1/4 x 46 5/8 in. (92.1 x 118.4 cm) The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, Rogers Fund, 1952 (52.81) http://www.metmuseum.org/Collections/search-the-collections/435844

In keeping with Caravaggio’s use of contemporary dress for his Biblical figures, Jarman intentionally includes several anachronisms in the film that do not fit with Caravaggio’s life in the 16th century. In one scene, Caravaggio is in a bar lit with electric lights. Another character is seen using an electronic calculator. Car horns are heard honking outside Caravaggio’s studio etc. (wiki)

imdb

1640 – Tales from the Loop (TV Series 2020-)

timespace coordinates: 1955 > early 1980s Mercer, Ohio. Mercer is home to the Mercer Center for Experimental Physics, an underground facility known as the Loop. It is there where researchers attempt to “make the impossible possible”.

Tales from the Loop is an American science fiction drama web television series based on the art book of the same name by Swedish artist Simon Stålenhag (536). The series premiered on Amazon Prime Video on April 3, 2020. All eight episodes of the first season were released simultaneously. (wiki)

David Baird from the B.C. Catholic characterizes the series as “a set of loosely interrelated meditations upon ephemerality, the impact of technology, and human vulnerability infused with a mild science fiction savour” and considers it “a beguiling fusion of forward-looking nostalgia”.

imdb   /   rottentomatoes

1630 – The Fandom (2020 documentary)

The Fandom is a 2020 documentary film that focuses on the history of the furry fandom. Directed by Colorado Springs filmmakers  Ash Kreis and Eric Risher. (wiki)

imdb

1559 – Now Apocalypse (TV Series 2019)

spacetime coordinates: 2010’s Los Angeles

Now Apocalypse is an American comedy television series that aired for one season of ten episodes from March 10 to May 12, 2019, on Starz. The series was written by Gregg Araki and Karley Sciortino. Araki also was director and executive producer alongside Steven Soderbergh and Gregory Jacobs. Starz canceled the series on July 26, 2019. Araki later stated that he was shopping the series to other networks.

Ulysses, his friends Carly and Ford, and Ford’s girlfriend Severine navigate love, sex, and fame in Los Angeles. Troubled by sinister, premonitory dreams, Ulysses wonders if the end of the world as we know it is coming, or if he is simply suffering some kind of marijuana-fueled delusions. (wiki)

This is all perfectly well-made, candy-coloured fun as well as being a bang up-to-date exploration of 21st-century sexual identities (co-written by Araki with sex columnist Karley Sciortino), albeit one in which everyone looks amazing all the time. Boyd Hilton / Empire Magazine / rottentomatoes

imdb

1555 – Cooties (2014)

spacetime coordinates: 2013 – Fort Chicken, Illinois

Cooties is a 2014 American horror comedy film directed by Jonathan Milott, Cary Murnion from a screenplay written by Ian Brennan and Leigh Whannell. The film stars Elijah Wood, Alison Pill, Rainn Wilson, Jack McBrayer, Whannell, Nasim Pedrad, Brennan, and Jorge Garcia as a group of elementary school employees who fight to survive an outbreak among students that turn them aggressive and cannibalistic. (wiki)

imdb

1553 – The Old Guard (2020)

spacetime coordinates: 2019 (/2024?) South Sudan >  Afghanistan > France > England

The Old Guard is a 2020 American superhero film directed by Gina Prince-Bythewood and written by Greg Rucka, based on his comic book of the same name. The film stars Charlize Theron, KiKi Layne, Matthias Schoenaerts, Marwan Kenzari, Luca Marinelli, and Chiwetel Ejiofor, and follows a team of immortal mercenaries that go on a revenge mission. (wiki)

The graphic novel that originated the film, The Old Guard: Force Multiplied, has four issues, so fans can expect this movie to have sequels. At least a second one is already in Netflix’s pipeline, with signed contracts by the main characters.

imdb   /   Scythians