1033 – Exodus: Gods and Kings (2014)

timespace coordinates: 1300 BC – ancient Egypt

Exodus: Gods and Kings is a 2014 epic biblical film directed and produced by Ridley Scott. An international co-production between the United States, the United Kingdom, and Spain.

It is inspired by the biblical episode of the exodus of the Hebrews from Egypt led by Moses and related in the Book of Exodus.

The film stars Christian Bale, Joel Edgerton, John Turturro, Aaron Paul, Ben Mendelsohn, María Valverde, Sigourney Weaver, Ghassan Massoud, Indira Varma, Golshifteh Farahani, and Ben Kingsley.

In an interview for Access Hollywood, Scott claimed there was a “final” cut of the film that was 4 hours, implying that the version released in theaters was reduced by 90 minutes. (wiki)

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imdb

1032 – The Last Samurai (2003)

timespace coordinates: 1876 – 1877 California > JapanThe Last Samurai is a 2003 American period action drama film directed and co-produced by Edward Zwick, who also co-wrote the screenplay with John Logan and Marshall Herskovitz. The film stars Tom Cruise, who also co-produced, with Timothy Spall, Ken Watanabe, Billy Connolly, Tony Goldwyn, Hiroyuki Sanada, Koyuki, and Shin Koyamada in supporting roles.

SONY DSC

Tom Cruise portrays a United States Captain of the 7th Cavalry Regiment, whose personal and emotional conflicts bring him into contact with samurai warriors in the wake of the Meiji Restoration in 19th Century Japan.

1877 — In 1877, nine years after the Meiji Restoratin, a major rebellion in Kyushu concentrated the opposition of conservative elements to the westernization of Japan. The traditional forces, including for example samurai infuriated at no longer being allowed to carry swords, were defeated by the new conscript army. Thousands were executed. Here the brave new officers in their western-style uniforms accept the surrender of un-uniformed rebels. — Image by © Asian Art & Archaeology, Inc./CORBIS

The film’s plot was inspired by the 1877 Satsuma Rebellion led by Saigō Takamori, and the westernization of Japan by foreign powers, though in the film the United States is portrayed as the primary force behind the push for westernization. To a lesser extent it is also influenced by the stories of Jules Brunet, a French army captain who fought alongside Enomoto Takeaki in the earlier Boshin War and Frederick Townsend Ward, an American mercenary who helped Westernize the Chinese army by forming the Ever Victorious Army. (wiki)

imdb   /  Criticism and debate

1024 – The Golden Compass (2007)

timespace coordinates:  parallel universe – Victorian Jordan College in Oxford >  retrofuturistic London > experimental station Bolvanga – far North

The Golden Compass is a 2007 fantasy adventure film based on Northern Lights, the first novel in Philip Pullman’s trilogy His Dark Materials. Written and directed by Chris Weitz, it stars Nicole Kidman, Dakota Blue Richards, Daniel Craig, Sam Elliott, Eva Green, and Ian McKellen.

The film depicts the adventures of Lyra Belacqua, an orphan living in a parallel universe where a dogmatic ruling power called the Magisterium opposes free inquiry. Children in that universe are being kidnapped by an unknown group called the Gobblers who are supported by the Magisterium. Lyra joins a tribe of sea-farers on a trip to the far North, the land of the armoured polar bears, in search of the missing children.

Before its release, the film received criticism from secularist organisations and fans of the His Dark Materials trilogy for the dilution of elements of the story which were critical of religion, as well as from some religious organisations for the source material’s anti-religious themes. The studio ordered significant changes late in post-production, which Weitz later called a “terrible” experience. Although the film’s visual effects won both a BAFTA and an Academy Award, critical reception was mixed and revenue lower than anticipated.  The film trilogy has not been continued, prompting actor Sam Elliott to blame censorship and the Catholic Church. (wiki)

Video game  The game was released prior to the film and features a slightly different sequence of events towards the end of the story, as well as additional footage at the end of the game not seen in the film. (playthrough)

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Controversies   /  Cancelled sequels 

imdb   /   His Dark Materials (TV Series 2019– )

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1754 – La Belle Sauvage (2017 novel)

1793 – The Secret Commonwealth (The Book of Dust #2 – 2019)

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0991 – The Adventures of Tintin (2011)

timespace coordinates: 1955 Belgium > Morocco

The Adventures of Tintin (also known as The Adventures of Tintin: The Secret of the Unicorn outside North America) is a 2011 3D computer-animated mystery adventure comedy film based on the comics series of the same name by Belgian cartoonist Hergé. Co-produced and directed by Steven Spielberg, produced by Peter Jackson and Kathleen Kennedy and written by Steven Moffat, Edgar Wright and Joe Cornish, the film is inspired by three of Hergé’s albums: The Crab with the Golden Claws (1941), The Secret of the Unicorn (1943) and Red Rackham’s Treasure (1944). Starring the voices of Jamie Bell, Andy Serkis, Daniel Craig, Nick Frost and Simon Pegg, the film features human characters animated primarily using live-action motion capture animation. (wiki)

imdb   /   Video game

Sequels

990 – Chymical Wedding of Christian Rosenkreutz (1616 book)

“and you,” she went on, addressing me, “have received more than others, see that you also give more!”

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The Chymical Wedding of Christian Rosenkreutz (German: Chymische Hochzeit Christiani Rosencreutz anno 1459) is a German book edited in 1616 in Strasbourg. Its anonymous authorship is attributed to Johann Valentin Andreae. The Chymical Wedding is often described as the third of the original manifestos of the mysterious “Fraternity of the Rose Cross” (Rosicrucians), although it is markedly different from the Fama Fraternitatis and Confessio Fraternitatis in style and in subject matter.

It is an allegoric romance (story) divided into Seven Days, or Seven Journeys, like Genesis, and recounts how Christian Rosenkreuz was invited to go to a wonderful castle full of miracles, in order to assist the Chymical Wedding of the king and the queen, that is, the husband and the bride.

This manifesto has been a source of inspiration for poets, alchemists (the word “chymical” is an old form of “chemical” and refers to alchemy—for which the ‘Sacred Marriage’ was the goal) and dreamers, through the force of its initiation ritual with processions of tests, purifications, death, resurrection, and ascension and also by its symbolism found since the beginning with the invitation to Rosenkreutz to assist this Royal Wedding. (read more: wiki)

Rosicrucian Trilogy: Modern Translations

Chemical Wedding of Christian Rosenkreutz [Audiobook]

The Chymical Wedding of Christian Rosenkreutz [English translation 1690 – pdf]

Esoteric Christianity and the Mission of Christian Rosenkreutz

The Mission of Christian Rosenkreutz

0986 – Fantastic Beasts: The Crimes of Grindelwald (2018)

 timespace coordinates: 1927 Paris / London / New York City

Fantastic Beasts: The Crimes of Grindelwald is a 2018 fantasy film directed by David Yates and written by J. K. Rowling. A joint British and American production, it is the sequel to Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them (2016). It is the second instalment in the Fantastic Beasts film series, and the tenth overall in the Wizarding World franchise, which began with the Harry Potter film series.

The film features an ensemble cast that includes Eddie Redmayne, Katherine Waterston, Dan Fogler, Alison Sudol, Ezra Miller, Zoë Kravitz, Callum Turner, Claudia Kim, William Nadylam, Kevin Guthrie, Jude Law, and Johnny Depp. The plot follows Newt Scamander and Albus Dumbledore as they attempt to take down the dark wizard Gellert Grindelwald, while facing new threats in a more divided wizarding world.

Hogwarts exteriors, like some interiors, were shot in the historic Lacock Abbey, dating from 1229. This abbey, located in Wiltshire, England, had already been used for the same purpose for the first films of the Harry Potter saga .

As with the first film, animal making required months of graphic, pattern, and animation testing to determine the appearance, behavior, movements, attitude, and personality of each creature. J.K. Rowling was inspired, for many of them, by legendary creatures from different cultures, such as the Chinese Zouwu, the Scottish Kelpie and the French Matagot.

imdb

The Art of Fantastic Beasts: The Crimes of Grindelwald

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The interior of the basement where Newt Scamander keeps his beasts is stylized according to the lithograph “Relativity” by Maurits Cornelis Escher.

0979 – The Isle (2019)

timespace coordinates: island off the west coast of Scotland in 1846 (Eilean Shona)

imdb   /   rt