animation, Uncategorized

681 – Isle of Dogs (2018)

timespace coordinates: 2038 Japan

Isle of Dogs (Japanese: 犬ヶ島 Hepburn: Inugashima) is a 2018 stop-motion animated film written, produced and directed by Wes Anderson. Set in a dystopian near-future Japan, the story follows a young boy searching for his dog after the species is banished to an island following the outbreak of a canine flu. The film’s ensemble voice cast includes Bryan CranstonEdward NortonBill MurrayJeff GoldblumBob BalabanGreta GerwigFrances McDormandCourtney B. VanceFisher StevensHarvey KeitelLiev SchreiberScarlett JohanssonTilda SwintonF. Murray AbrahamFrank WoodKunichi Nomura and Yoko Ono.

Anderson said that the film was strongly influenced by the films of Akira Kurosawa, as well as the stop-motion animated holiday specials made by Rankin/Bass Productions. (wiki)

https://www.designweek.co.uk/issues/23-29-april-2018/erica-dorn-on-creating-graphics-for-wes-andersons-isle-of-dogs/

https://www.imdb.com/title/tt5104604/

movies, Uncategorized

0670 – A Quiet Place (2018)

spacetime coordinates: 2020 – 2021 upstate New York

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Speaking of the political and social commentary the film encouraged, director Krasinski said, “The best compliment you can get on any movie is that it starts a conversation. The fact that people are leaving and talking about anything is really fun—but certainly about deep stuff like that, is awesome.”  Krasinski, who did not grow up with horror films, said that prior films of the genre such as Don’t Breathe (2016) and Get Out (2017) that had societal commentary were part of his research. In addition to considering his film a metaphor for parenthood, he compared the premise to US politics in 2018, “I think in our political situation, that’s what’s going on now: You can close your eyes and stick your head in the sand, or you can try to participate in whatever’s going on.” He cited Jaws (1975) as an influence, with how the protagonist police officer moved from New York to an island to avoid frightening situations, and was forced to encounter one in his new location with shark attacks.

Matthew Monagle of Film School Rejects said A Quiet Place seemed to be “the early frontrunner for the sparsely intellectual horror movie of the year”, like previous films The Babadook (2014) and The Witch (2015). Monagle said Krasinski, who had directed two previous films, was “making an unusual pivot into a genre typically reserved for newcomers”, and considered it to be part of a movement toward horror films layered “in storytelling, [with] character beats not typically found in a horror movie”. Tatiana Tenreyro, writing for Bustle, said while A Quiet Place was not a silent film, “It is the first of its kind within the modern horror genre for how little spoken dialogue it actually has.” She said the rare moments of spoken dialogue “give depth to this horror movie, showing how the narrative defies the genre’s traditional films even further”.

Bishop Robert Barron was surprised by strikingly religious themes in the film. He likened the family’s primitive, agrarian life of silence to monasticism, and commends their self-giving love. Barron noted the pervasive pro-life themes, especially in the choices of the parents, as Mrs. Abbott risks everything to give birth to a child, and her husband lays down his own life so that the children can live: what Barron sees as the ultimate expression of parental love.  Sonny Bunch of the Washington Post also commented and expanded on a pro-life message. 

quiet place poster - Martin Riggs
(martin riggs)

Krasinski, who had recently become a new father, said in a conference interview “I was already in a state of terror about whether or not I was a good enough father,” and added that the meaning of parenthood had been elevated for him by imagining being a father in a nightmare world, struggling to simply keep his children alive.  Jonathan Hetterly, writing in Shrinktank, saw the film’s whole premise as a commentary on modern American paranoid parenting, saying that Krasinski “viewed the premise as a metaphor for a parent’s worst fears”.

Krasinski himself has told CBS News “The scares were secondary to how powerful this could be as an allegory or metaphor for parenthood. For me, this is all about parenthood.” (wiki)

imdb    /   meaning

documentary, quotes

664 – The Kingdom: How Fungi Made Our World (2018 Documentary)

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Hidden from sight is a kingdom that rules life on land. It’s an alien world with the largest and oldest organisms alive today. It is the 5th Kingdom of fungi.   (cbc)

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“When we think about the evolution of life on earth, what allowed plants to move out of the sea and to have roots for the first time is fungi. And it’s fungi that services those roots as plants crept from that edge into what we now think of as that normal place that we all live.” Rob Dunn

imdb   intro (youtube)


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ome scientists believe that fungi might provide the answers to surviving climate change.
fungus hyphe web growing that stays mostly hidden (we only see the fruiting bodies) and live unlike plants consuming tissues
mushroom grow on every continent including Anatarctica
Dr. Anne Madden’s research has led to patent pending brewing technology, a newly discovered species, novel antibiotics, and a better understanding of the microorganisms in our world.
Helicon fungus growing on a twig
games, movies

0660 – Rampage (2018)

spacetime coordinates: 2017 San Diego / Wyoming / Everglades > Chicago

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Rampage is a 2018 American science fiction monster film directed by Brad Peyton, and loosely based on the video game series of the same name by Midway Games. The film stars Dwayne JohnsonNaomie HarrisMalin AkermanJake LacyJoe Manganiello, and Jeffrey Dean Morgan. It follows a primatologist named Davis Okoye who must team up with George, an albino gorilla who turns into a raging creature of enormous size as a result of a rogue experiment, to stop two other mutated animals from destroying Chicago. It is the third collaboration between Peyton and Johnson, following Journey 2: The Mysterious Island (2012) and San Andreas (2015). (wiki)

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It is the all-time best reviewed film based on a video game, according to Rotten Tomatoes.

imdb

movies, quotes

0653 – Of Gods and Men / Des hommes et des dieux (2010)

spacetime coordinates: 1996, Algeria, Abbey of Our Lady of Atlas

“I have said, Ye are gods; and all of you are children of the most High. But ye shall die like men, and fall like one of the princes.”

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Of Gods and Men is a 2010 French drama film directed by Xavier Beauvois, starring Lambert Wilson and Michael Lonsdale. Its original French language title is Des hommes et des dieux, which means “Of Men and of Gods” and refers to a verse from the Bible shown at the beginning of the film. It centers on the monastery of Tibhirine, where nine Trappist monks lived in harmony with the largely Muslim population of Algeria, until seven of them were kidnapped and assassinated in 1996 during the Algerian Civil War.

Largely a tale of a peaceful situation between local Christians and Muslims before becoming a lethal one due to external forces, the screenplay focuses on the preceding chain of events in decay of government, expansion of terrorism, and the monks’ confrontation with both the terrorists and the government authorities that led up to their deaths. Principal photography took place at an abandoned monastery in Azrou, Morocco. (wiki)

imdb

movies

0630

28 Days Later… (2002)

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28 Days Later is a 2002 British post-apocalyptic horror film directed by Danny Boyle, written by Alex Garland, and starring Cillian MurphyNaomie HarrisBrendan GleesonMegan Burns, and Christopher Eccleston. The plot depicts the breakdown of society following the accidental release of a highly contagious virus and focuses upon the struggle of four survivors to cope with the destruction of the life they once knew. (wiki)

alternative_endings   imdb


28 Weeks Later (2007)

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28 Weeks Later is a 2007 science fiction horror film co-written and directed by Juan Carlos Fresnadillo. A sequel to Danny Boyle’s 28 Days Later (2002), it stars Robert CarlyleRose ByrneJeremy RennerHarold PerrineauCatherine McCormackImogen Poots, and Idris Elba. The plot depicts the efforts of NATO military forces to salvage a safe zone in London following the events in 28 Days Later, the consequence of two young siblings breaking protocol to find their infected mother, and the resulting reintroduction of the highly contagious virus to the safe zone. (wiki)   imdb

Sequel       

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28 Days Later (comic series)

movies

0628 – Gattaca (1997)

6ebe946dd3dc520c70b46f17d25e8b8bGattaca is a 1997 American science fiction film written and directed by Andrew Niccol. It stars Ethan Hawke and Uma Thurman, with Jude LawLoren DeanErnest BorgnineGore Vidal, and Alan Arkin appearing in supporting roles. The film presents a biopunk vision of a future society driven by eugenics where potential children are conceived through genetic selection to ensure they possess the best hereditary traits of their parents. The film centers on Vincent Freeman, played by Hawke, who was conceived outside the eugenics program and struggles to overcome genetic discrimination to realize his dream of traveling into space.

The movie draws on concerns over reproductive technologies which facilitate eugenics, and the possible consequences of such technological developments for society. It also explores the idea of destiny and the ways in which it can and does govern lives. Characters in Gattaca continually battle both with society and with themselves to find their place in the world and who they are destined to be according to their genes.

The film’s title is based on the letters G, A, T, and C, which stand for guanineadeninethymine, and cytosine, the four nucleobases of DNA. The movie uses a swimming treadmill in the opening minutes to punctuate the swimming and futuristic themes. The futuristic turbine cars are based on 1960s car models like Rover P6Citroën DS19 and Studebaker Avanti, and futuristic buildings represent modern architecture of the 1950s. (wiki)

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Political_references   imdb