557 – Gangs of New York (2002)

spacetime coordinates: 1846 – 1862  New York City

Gangs of New York is a 2002 American epic period drama film directed by Martin Scorsese, set in the mid-19th century in the Five Points district of New York City. It was inspired by Herbert Asbury‘s 1928 non-fiction book, The Gangs of New York.

The film is set in 1863 and follows gang leader William “Bill the Butcher” Cutting (Daniel Day-Lewis) in his roles as crime boss and political kingmaker under the helm of “Boss” Tweed (Jim Broadbent). The film culminates in a violent confrontation between Cutting and his mob with the protagonist Amsterdam Vallon (Leonardo DiCaprio) and his allies, which prefaces the real-life New York Draft Riots of 1863.

historical accuracy   imdb 

10th Anniversary Trailer

 

536 – Simon Stålenhag

Simon Stålenhag is an artist and designer specialising in futuristic artwork focused on stereotypical Swedish countryside environments. The settings of his work have been adapted into a range of art books and a tabletop game. (wiki)

http://www.simonstalenhag.se/index.html

526 – Unravel (2016 video game)

spacetime coordinates: 20th century Northern Scandinavia

Unravel is a puzzle platform video game developed by the Swedish company Coldwood Interactive and published by Electronic Arts. It was announced on 15 June 2015 and released in February 2016 for PlayStation 4, Xbox One, and Microsoft Windows. The game centres on Yarny, a small anthropomorphic creature made of yarn whom the player navigates through the environment, utilizing the unraveling yarn which makes up Yarny to solve puzzles, avoid dangerous creatures, and traverse obstacles.

MINIMUM SPECIFICATIONS: CPU: Intel Core 2 Duo @ 2.4 GHz or AMD Athlon Phenom X2 @ 2.8Ghz AMD //  RAM: 4 GB // OS: Windows 7, Windows 8.1, Windows 10 – all 64-bit // VIDEO CARD: Requires DX11 class hardware and feature setGeForce GT 450 or Radeon HD 5750 or better, with 512 MB or greater (Laptop GeForce GTX 745M, AMD Radeon HD 8650G or Intel 4400 or better)

https://www.ea.com/games/unravel

0525 – Cold Skin (2017)

spacetime coordinates: desolate South Atlantic island the edge of the Antarctic Circle 1914, just after of Franz Ferdinand’s assassination that eventually caused World War I

Cold Skin is a 2017 French-Spanish fantasy adventure /  sci-fi horror film directed by Xavier Gens based on Albert Sánchez Piñol’s novel of the same name. The film owes a good deal to HP Lovecraft’s tales of Innsmouth folk.

“cinematographer Daniel Aranyó takes the pebble-strewn shores and grey skies of the island and fills them with uncertainty, finding in all that bleakness something that beguiles and something that chills. The waves that swirl up against the shore can be cool, clear turquoise or a deep, obscure blue-black, and either way they could be hiding something deadly just beneath the surface. Though at times we glimpse an awful tide of grey flesh like that once said to have pursued a man who stayed overnight in an Innsmouth hotel, there’s a sense that the real horror here is just out of sight – perhaps because we dare not look at it. And still, when morning comes, we can almost taste the salt air and the sweet fresh water from the fountain by the shore: the island is undeniably beautiful.”  Review by Jennie Kermode

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http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1034385/

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The Shadow Over Innsmouth – read by Mike Bennett (YouTube)

0489 – Ikitie / The Eternal Road (2017)

spacetime coordinates: 1930’s Finland // Kolkhoz  in East Karelia, Soviet Union

The Eternal Road (Finnish: Ikitie) is a 2017 Finnish drama film based on a novel by Antti Tuuri  set against the backdrop of the untold story about 10,000 people who voluntarily moved from North America to the Soviet Union to build a worker’s paradise, but who eventually learned the true face of Stalin’s U.S.S.R. (based on true events)

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt4173170/

0459 – Murder on the Orient Express (2017)

spacetime coordinates: the Orient Express,  winter of 1934

Murder on the Orient Express is a 2017 American mystery drama film directed by Kenneth Branagh with a screenplay by Michael Green, based on the 1934 novel of the same name by Agatha Christie. The film stars Branagh as Hercule Poirot, with Penélope Cruz, Willem Dafoe, Judi Dench, Johnny Depp, Josh Gad, Derek Jacobi, Leslie Odom Jr., Michelle Pfeiffer, and Daisy Ridley in supporting roles.

The film is the fourth adaptation of Christie’s novel, following the 1974 film, a 2001 TV film version, and a 2010 episode of the television series Agatha Christie’s Poirot.  The plot follows Poirot, a world-renowned detective, as he seeks to solve a murder on the famous trans-European train in the 1930s.

Sequel

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt3402236/

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456 – Marwencol (2010)

Marwencol (also known as Village of the Dolls in the UK) is a 2010 American documentary film that explores the life and work of outsider artist and photographer Mark Hogancamp. It is the debut feature of director-editor Jeff Malmberg.

in popular culture

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1391092/

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Welcome to Marwen –2018 drama film directed by Robert Zemeckis, based on the experiences of Mark Hogancamp