0962 – Overlord (2018)

timespace coordinates: June, 1944  Nazi occupied France

Overlord is a 2018 American war horror / period Nazi zombie shoot-’em-up film directed by Julius Avery and written by Billy Ray and Mark L. Smith. It stars Jovan Adepo, Wyatt Russell, Mathilde Ollivier, John Magaro, Gianny Taufer, Pilou Asbæk, and Bokeem Woodbine. The film was produced by J. J. Abrams, through his Bad Robot Productions banner, and Lindsey Weber. The plot follows several American soldiers who are dropped behind enemy lines the day before D-Day and discover secret Nazi experiments. (wiki)

The title of the film is, no doubt, in reference to Operation Overlord, the codename for the Allied operation for the Battle of Normandy, which launched the successful invasion of Nazi-occupied Europe. This, alongside Operation Neptune, would become known as D-Day.

imdb   /   rottentomatoes

961 – Polar (2019)

!extreme violence!

Polar is a 2019 neo-noir action film based on the comics series of the same name.

imdb

0957 – Suspiria (1977)

timespace coordinates: 1970’s Freiburg, Germany

Movie Poster Design

Suspiria (Latin: [sʊsˈpɪria]) is a 1977 Italian supernatural horror film directed by Dario Argento, co-written by Argento and Daria Nicolodi, partially based on Thomas De Quincey‘s 1845 essay Suspiria de Profundis (Sighs from the Depths) and co-produced by Claudio and Salvatore Argento. The film stars Jessica Harper as an American ballet student who transfers to a prestigious dance academy in Germany but realizes, after a series of brutal murders, that the academy is a front for a supernatural conspiracy. It also features Stefania Casini, Flavio Bucci, Miguel Bosé, Alida Valli, Udo Kier and Joan Bennett, in her final film role.

The film is the first of the trilogy Argento refers to as The Three Mothers, which also comprises Inferno (1980) and The Mother of Tears (2007). Suspiria has become one of Argento’s most successful feature films, receiving critical acclaim for its visual and stylistic flair, use of vibrant colors and its score by the prog-rock band Goblin.

Suspiria has become a cult classic, and is recognised as an influential film in the horror genre. It served as the inspiration for a 2018 film of the same title, directed by Luca Guadagnino. (wiki)

---

imdb

955 – The 13th Warrior (1999)

timespace coordinates: 922 A.D Kievan Rus’ > Scandinavia

The 13th Warrior is a 1999 American historical fiction action film based on Michael Crichton‘s novel Eaters of the Dead, which is a loose retelling of the tale of Beowulf combined with Ahmad ibn Fadlan‘s historical account of the Volga Vikings. It stars Antonio Banderas as Ahmad ibn Fadlan, as well as Diane Venora and Omar Sharif. It was directed by John McTiernan. Crichton directed some reshoots uncredited. (wiki)

“Atmospheric, great sets and costumes, but thin plot.” (rt)

imdb

---

Ibn Fadlān and the Land of Darkness: Arab Travellers in the Far North

953 – Saints Row IV (2013 video game)

Saints Row IV is an open world action-adventure video game with third-person shooter elements developed by Volition and published by Deep Silver. It is the fourth title in the Saints Row series. In the game, the playable character is the leader of the 3rd Street Saints, a street gang that has become the world’s most powerful and popular organization, and must fend off an alien invasion after becoming President of the United States and receiving superpowers.

The player is free to explore their environment while completing main and side missions at their leisure. The game incorporates elements from science fiction video games and films, and continues the series’ reputation for over-the-top parody. It was released in August 2013 for Microsoft Windows, PlayStation 3, and Xbox 360, and was later ported to PlayStation 4, Xbox One, and Linux in 2015.

The game is set in a nearly identical simulation of Steelport, the fictional city setting from Saints Row: The Third, though individual story missions have new, custom-designed levels. 

Saints Row IV‘s story parodies science fiction video games, especially Mass Effect 2, as well as films like The Matrix and Zero Dark Thirty, and other “nerd culture”. Some story missions are propelled by individual characters’ existential crises, as each Saint character is stuck in a personal simulation of their own hell, and must be rescued by the player. Other elements borrowed from video game culture include BioWare-style character romances games and a Metal Gear-style mission with an unhelpful partner.

Saints Row IV received several limited and summative edition releases, and was briefly banned in Australia.

System Requirements (Minimum) CPU: Intel Core 2 Quad Q6600 | AMD Athlon II x3. / OS: Windows Vista (x86 or x64) / VIDEO CARD: NVIDIA GTX 260 | AMD Radeon HD 5800 series. / FREE DISK SPACE: 10 GB. / DEDICATED VIDEO RAM: 896 MB.

steam

0950 – The Captain / Der Hauptmann (2017)

timespace coordinates: 1945. Nazi Germany (the last moments of World War II)

The Captain (German: Der Hauptmann) is a 2017 German Art House & war drama film directed by Robert Schwentke.

The film tells the story of German war criminal Willi Herold, who assumed a stolen identity as a German officer and orchestrated the killing of deserters and other prisoners at one of the Emslandlager camps. (wiki)

Simultaneously a historical docudrama and sociological examination with undertones of the absurd, The Captain presents fascism as something of a game to be played by those most gullible and unscrupulous. (rt)

imdb

0948 – A Private War (2018)

timespace coordinates: 2001- 2012 / Sri Lanka, Iraq, Afghanistan, Libya (Arab Spring), Syria

A Private War is a 2018 American biographical drama film directed by Matthew Heineman and starring Rosamund Pike as journalist Marie Colvin. The film is based on the 2012 article “Marie Colvin’s Private War” in Vanity Fair by Marie Brenner. The film was written by Arash Amel and features Jamie Dornan, Tom Hollander and Stanley Tucci. (wiki)

imdb