2001 – The Last Duel (2021)

spacetime coordinates: 14th century France (1370 – 1386)

The Last Duel is a 2021 epic historical drama film directed by Ridley Scott from a screenplay by Nicole Holofcener, Ben Affleck, and Matt Damon, based on the 2004 book The Last Duel: A True Story of Trial by Combat in Medieval France by Eric Jager. Set in medieval France, the film stars Damon as Jean de Carrouges, a knight who challenges his former friend, squire Jacques Le Gris (Adam Driver) to a judicial duel after Jean’s wife, Marguerite (Jodie Comer), accuses Jacques of raping her. The events leading up to the duel are divided into three distinct chapters, reflecting the contradictory perspectives of the three main characters. Affleck also stars in a supporting role as Count Pierre d’Alençon.

During an interview on the podcast WTF with Marc Maron in November 2021, Scott blamed the film’s box-office failure on millennials, arguing: “I think what it boils down to — what we’ve got today [are] the audiences who were brought up on these fucking cell phones. The millennian do not ever want to be taught anything unless you are told it on the cell phone” 🙂 (wiki)

imdb   /   rottentomatoes

1984 – Chappie (2015)

spacetime coordinates: 2016 Johannesburg, South Africa

Chappie (stylized as CHAPPiE) is a 2015 American dystopian science fiction action film directed by Neill Blomkamp and written by Blomkamp and Terri Tatchell. It stars Sharlto Copley, Dev Patel, Hugh Jackman, Ninja, Yolandi Visser, Jose Pablo Cantillo, and Sigourney Weaver. The film, set and shot in Johannesburg, is about an artificial general intelligence law enforcement robot captured and taught by gangsters, who nickname it Chappie.

Blomkamp said he “wrote Chappie as a trilogy” and expressed interest in making sequels if they were “economically feasible”. As of November 2016, no sequels are planned. Blomkamp said the film did not perform well enough. (wiki)

imdb

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Die Antwoord – Umshini Wam (A Short Film)

1982 – Oats Studios

Oats Studios is an independent film studio started in 2017 by Oscar-nominated South African filmmaker Neill Blomkamp (District 9) – imdb.

Oats Studios – Volume 1 – Zygote

The studio was created with the goal of distributing experimental short films via YouTube and Steam in order to gauge the community for interest and feedback as to which of them are viable for expansion into feature films.

Adam | Unity   ADAM: Episode 2   ADAM: Episode 3

Actors featured in the films include Sigourney Weaver, Carly Pope, Sharlto Copley, Jason Cope, Kellan Lutz, Michael Rogers, Jose Pablo Cantillo, and Dakota Fanning. (wiki)

https://oatsstudios.com/

1965 – Danger Close (2019)

spacetime coordinates: August 1966  Phước Tuy Province, South Vietnam

Danger Close: The Battle of Long Tan is a 2019 Australian war film about the Battle of Long Tan during the Vietnam War. It is directed by Kriv Stenders and stars Travis Fimmel. (wiki)

imdb

1958 – Big Fish (2003)

spacetime coordinates: 2003 >> 40’s 50’s 60’s 70’s 80’s Alabama

Big Fish is a 2003 American fantasy comedy-drama film directed by Tim Burton, and based on the 1998 novel of the same name by Daniel Wallace. The film stars Ewan McGregor, Albert Finney, Billy Crudup, Jessica Lange, Helena Bonham Carter, Alison Lohman, Robert Guillaume, Marion Cotillard, Steve Buscemi, and Danny DeVito. The film tells the story of a frustrated son who tries to distinguish fact from fiction in his dying father’s life.

Big Fish was shot on location in Alabama in a series of fairy tale vignettes evoking the tone of a Southern Gothic fantasy. (wiki)

imdb

1957 – Man on Fire (2004)

spacetime coordinates: 2003 Mexico City Man on Fire is a 2004 action thriller film directed by Tony Scott based on the 1980 novel of the same name by A. J. Quinnell. Denzel Washington portrays John Creasy, a despondent, alcoholic former U.S. Marine Corps Force Reconnaissance Captain and CIA Special Activities Division officer – turned bodyguard, who goes on a revenge rampage after his charge, nine-year-old Lupita “Pita” Ramos (Dakota Fanning) is abducted. The supporting cast includes Christopher Walken, Radha Mitchell, Giancarlo Giannini, Marc Anthony, Rachel Ticotin and Mickey Rourke. (wiki)

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imdb

1953 – Tracker (2010)

spacetime coordinates: 1903 around Auckland in the British colony of New Zealand

Tracker is a 2010 British–New Zealand action-thriller film directed by Ian Sharp and starring Ray Winstone as a renowned Afrikaner commando leader of the Second Boer War and a master tracker & Temuera Morrison as a Maori harpooner on a whaling ship. (wiki)

imdb