0302 – Sicario (2015)

spacetime coordinates: 2010  Chandler, Arizona // El Paso, Texas // Ciudad Juárez, Mexico

Sicario (Spanish: “Hitman”) is a 2015 American crime-thriller film directed by Denis Villeneuve, written by Taylor Sheridan and starring Emily Blunt, Benicio del Toro, Josh Brolin and Victor Garber. The film follows a principled FBI agent who is enlisted by a government task force to bring down the leader of a powerful and brutal Mexican drug cartel.

A sequel, Soldado, began shooting in November 2016 and will be released in June 2018.

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt3397884/

0276 – Pain & Gain (2013)

spacetime coordinates: 1994 – 1995  Miami, Florida

Pain & Gain is a 2013 American dark comedy crime film directed by Michael Bay and starring Mark Wahlberg, Dwayne Johnson, and Anthony Mackie. The film reunites wrestlers Dwayne Johnson and Kurt Angle. The film is loosely based on a story Pete Collins published in a 1999 series of Miami New Times articles and compiled in the book Pain & Gain: This Is a True Story (2013), which details the kidnapping, extortion, torture, and murder of several victims by an organized group of criminals comprising bodybuilders affiliated with the Sun Gym. The film’s title is a play on the common adage, frequently used in fitness: “No pain, no gain“.

Comparisons between the film and actual events

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1980209/

https://film.avclub.com/with-pain-gain-michael-bay-tackled-the-big-dumb-ame-1798246007

244 – The Putin Interviews (Series 2017– )

The Putin Interviews is a four-part, four-hour television series by Oliver Stone. It was first broadcast in 2017.

The series was created from several interviews of Vladimir Putin by Stone between 2015 and 2017.

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt6840134/

0136 – A Cure for Wellness (2016)

spacetime coordinates: 2016 // remote location in the Swiss Alps

A Cure for Wellness is a 2016 American-German psychological horror thriller film directed by Gore Verbinski and written by Justin Haythe. The film stars Dane DeHaan, Jason Isaacs and Mia Goth, and follows a young American executive who is sent to a mysterious rehabilitation center in the Swiss Alps.

A Cure for Wellness received mixed reviews from critics, with praise for its visuals, performances and ambition, but criticism for its length, plot and structure.

imdb, wikipedia

0117 – Snowpiercer (2013)

Snowpiercer (hangul: 설국열차; hanja: 雪國列車; RR: Seolgungnyeolcha) is a 2013 English-language South Korean-Czech science fiction thriller film based on the French graphic novel Le Transperceneige by Jacques Lob, Benjamin Legrand and Jean-Marc Rochette. The film is directed by Bong Joon-ho, and written by Bong and Kelly Masterson.

The film stars Chris Evans, Song Kang-ho, Tilda Swinton, Jamie Bell, Octavia Spencer, Go Ah-sung, John Hurt, and Ed Harris.

In 2014, an attempt to counteract global warming through climate engineering backfires catastrophically, unintentionally causing an ice age that extinguishes all life except the inhabitants of the Snowpiercer, a massive train powered by a perpetual motion engine that travels a circumnavigational track, created by the transportation magnate Wilford.

By 2031, elites inhabit the extravagant front cars and the “scum” inhabit the tail in squalid and brutal conditions.

Evans stars as Curtis Everett, a member of the lower-class tail section passengers as they lead a revolution against the elite of the front of the train. Filming was done on train car sets mounted on gimbals at Barrandov Studios in Prague to simulate the motion of the train. – (read more)

https://fyeahsnowpiercer.tumblr.com/

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1706620/

108 – Manderlay (2005)

spacetime coordinates:  1933 rural Alabama, Manderlay plantation

Manderlay is a 2005 internationally co-produced avant-garde drama film written and directed by Lars von Trier and the second part of von Trier’s projected USA – Land of Opportunities trilogy. It stars Bryce Dallas Howard, who replaces Nicole Kidman in the role of Grace Mulligan. The film co-stars Willem Dafoe, replacing James Caan. Lauren Bacall, Željko Ivanek, Jeremy Davies, and Chloë Sevigny return portraying different characters from those in Dogville. Only John Hurt, Udo Kier, and Jean-Marc Barr reprise their roles.

trailer: https://youtu.be/9h9QykHz4Wg

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0342735/

104 – The Darjeeling Limited (2007)

spacetime coordinates:  2000’s India

The Darjeeling Limited is a 2007 American adventure comedy-drama film directed by Wes Anderson which he co-produced with Scott Rudin, Roman Coppola and Lydia Dean Pilcher and co-wrote with Coppola and Jason Schwartzman. The film stars Owen Wilson, Adrien Brody and Schwartzman and also features Waris Ahluwalia, Amara Karan, Barbet Schroeder and Anjelica Huston with Natalie Portman, Camilla Rutherford, Irrfan Khan and Bill Murray in cameo roles.

The Darjeeling Limited includes many of Anderson’s signature themes and styles, such as despair, abandonment, sibling relationships, a privileged class who rarely work, and timeless fashions and props. Anderson has revealed that The River by Jean Renoir, the films of Satyajit Ray and documentaries on India by Louis Malle were his inspirations for this movie. The film was dedicated to Ray and makes allusions to him and his work.

As of April 2015, on the review aggregator Rotten Tomatoes, 68% of critics gave the film positive reviews, based on 188 reviews, with a consensus among critics that the film “will satisfy Wes Anderson fans.”

imdb