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Anon is a 2018 British science fiction thriller film directed and written by Andrew Niccol and financed by Sky Cinema Original Films. The film stars Clive Owen and Amanda Seyfried. The plot follows a troubled detective in a futuristic world where privacy and anonymity no longer exist, who comes across a young woman that has evaded the government’s transparency system. The film was released internationally as an “Original Film” on the streaming service Netflix on 4 May 2018.
spacetime coordinates: 2010’s Hungary / Budapest
The juxtaposition of supernatural thriller tropes and urgent socio-political issues in Kornél Mundruczó’s latest movie — an original take on the superhero origin story set to the backdrop of the refugee crisis — might prove a delicate one for some viewers to take. Those unperturbed, however, should find much to relish in Jupiter’s Moon, a film that somewhat lightly plays with themes of religion and immigration as it rumbles, crashes, and ultimately soars through the streets of the Hungarian capitol. It’s a tricky balance and Mundruczó (who had a break-out with his canine revolt film White God in 2014) strikes it with style and confidence (even going so far as to signpost it in an opening prologue that reminds the audience that the titular gas giant’s largest orbiting body is called Europa, and that many believe that large oceans rest beneath its icy surface where a “cradle of life” might exist). The hero of Jupiter’s Moon, a young Syrian refugee with the connotation heavy name of Aryan (played by Majd Asmi), does not find a cradle of life in his Europa. To the contrary, in fact, he’s gunned down in the opening minutes… (read more)
Space Station 76 is a 2014 American science fiction film directed by Jack Plotnick, and co-written by Plotnick, Jennifer Elise Cox, Sam Pancake, Kali Rocha, and Michael Stoyanov.
A dark comedy film that deconstructs seemingly idyllic relationships, set against the backdrop of Omega 76, a 1970s retro futuristic space station.
The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy is a 2005 British-American science fiction comedy film directed by Garth Jennings, based upon previous works in the media franchise of the same name, created by Douglas Adams. It stars Martin Freeman, Sam Rockwell, Mos Def, Zooey Deschanel and the voices of Stephen Fry and Alan Rickman. This is the ninth version of the “Hitchhiker’s Guide”. It has previously appeared as a radio series, two record albums, novels, a television series (The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy (1981)), a computer game, a stage show, a comic book, a video game (The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy (1984)) and a towel. (The game version is not, in fact, a video game, but was an Infocom “interactive fiction” {text only} game, plotted/scripted by Douglas Adams, programmed by Steve Meretzky, which has been available to play free on the BBC Radio 4 website since 2005.)
The producers have stated that this film is not a literal translation of the books (just as the books were not a literal translation of the original radio show), but all of the new ideas and characters came from Douglas Adams himself. The hired writer simply came aboard to improve structure and make the screenplay more coherent.
Easter Egg: The DVD includes an “Improbability Drive” item on every menu. Clicking this leads to a random point in one of the bonus features. Used several times leads to a strange cartoon, which is the same one Deep Thought watches.
The Hitchiker’s Guide is a parody of “The Encyclopedia Galactica” from Isaac Asimov‘s Foundation novels.
The Equalizer is a 2014 American vigilante action thriller film directed by Antoine Fuqua and written by Richard Wenk, based on the 1980s TV series The Equalizer. It stars Denzel Washington, Marton Csokas, Chloë Grace Moretz, David Harbour, Bill Pullman and Melissa Leo. imdb
spacetime coordinates: 1896 New York City
The Alienist in an American period drama television series based on The Alienist by Caleb Carr. The ten-episode limited series stars Daniel Brühl, Luke Evans, and Dakota Fanning as an ad hoc team assembled in mid-1890s New York City to investigate a serial killer who is murdering street children.
“Don’t stay here. This boat is full of corpses.” // “It doesn’t matter. The whole world is full of corpses.”
Sweet Movie is a 1974 avant-garde comedy-drama film written and directed by Yugoslavian director Dušan Makavejev. An international co-production of companies from France, Canada, and West Germany, the film follows two women: a Canadian beauty queen, who represents a modern commodity culture, and a captain aboard a ship laden with candy and sugar, who is a failed communist revolutionary.
The film created a storm of controversy upon its release, with scenes of coprophilia, emetophilia, (a performance by Otto Muehl and his commune of Vienna Actionists) implied child molestation, and footage of remains of the Polish Katyn Massacre victims. The film was banned in many countries, including the United Kingdom – it is still banned in many countries to this day. Because of her role in the film, Anna Prucnal was exiled from her native Poland for 7 years.
Mühl later renounced the film in an interview as being “downright kitsch” :p
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