games, music

1124 – Ape Out (2019 video game)

Ape Out is a beat ’em up game developed by Gabe Cuzzillo and published by Devolver Digital. The game was released for Microsoft Windows and Nintendo Switch on February 28, 2019. (wiki)

APE OUT is a wildly intense and colorfully stylized smash ‘em up about primal escape, rhythmic violence, and frenetic jazz. Build up nearly unstoppable momentum and use your captors as both weapons and shields to crush everyone on your procedurally generated path to freedom. (steam)

SYSTEM REQUIREMENTS (MINIMUM)OS: Windows 7, 8, 8.1, 10 x64 / Processor: Intel Core2 Duo E4500 (2 * 2200) or equivalent / Memory: 2 GB RAM / Graphics: GeForce 9600 GT (512 MB) / DirectX: Version 11 / Storage: 2 GB available space / Additional Notes: Controller Recommended


Walkthrough   /   Launch Trailer

movies, Uncategorized

1123 – Twelve Monkeys (1995)

timespace coordinates:  2035,  subterranean compound / ruins of Philadelphia (after a deadly virus released in 1996 wipes out almost all of humanity, forcing survivors to live underground) > 1990 / 1996  Baltimore + battlefield during ww1

15065_12-MONKEYSVHSCover12 Monkeys, also known as Twelve Monkeys, is a 1995 American neo-noir science fiction film directed by Terry Gilliam, inspired by Chris Marker‘s 1962 short film La Jetée, and starring Bruce WillisMadeleine Stowe, and Brad Pitt, with Christopher Plummer and David Morse in supporting roles.

References to time, time travel, and monkeys are scattered throughout the film, including the Woody Woodpecker cartoon “Time Tunnel” playing on the TV in a hotel room, the Marx Brothers film Monkey Business (1931) on TV in the asylum, and the subplots involving monkeys (drug testing, news stories and animal rights). The film is also intended to be a study of people’s declining ability to communicate in modern civilization due to the interference of technology. (Memory,_time,_and_technology)

12 Monkeys is inspired by the French short film La Jetée (1962); as in La Jetée, characters are haunted by the images of their own deaths. Like La Jetée12 Monkeys contains references to Alfred Hitchcock‘s Vertigo (1958). Toward the end of the film, Cole and Railly hide in a theater showing a 24-hour Hitchcock marathon and watch a scene from Vertigo. Railly then transforms herself with a blonde wig, as Judy (Kim Novak) transforms herself into blonde Madeleine in Vertigo; Cole sees her emerge within a red light, as Scottie (James Stewart) saw Judy emerge within a green light. Brief notes of Bernard Herrmann‘s film score can also be heard. Railly also wears the same coat Novak wore in the first part of Vertigo. The scene at Muir Woods National Monument, where Judy (as Madeleine) looks at the growth rings of a felled redwood and traces back events in her past life, resonates with larger themes in 12 Monkeys. Cole and Railly later have a similar conversation while the same music from Vertigo is repeated. The Muir Woods scene in Vertigo is also reenacted in La Jetée. In a previous scene in the film, Cole wakes up in a hospital bed with the scientists talking to him in chorus. This is a direct homage to the “Dry Bones” scene in Dennis Potter‘s The Singing DetectiveJames Cole is a notable Christ figure in film. The film is significant in the genre of science-fiction film noir, and it alludes to various “canonical noir” films.

12-Monkeys-Movie-1995-Tech-Noir-PosterAfter the release of The Zero Theorem in 2013, claims were made that Gilliam had meant it as part of a trilogy. A 2013 review for The Guardian newspaper said, “Calling it [The Zero Theorem] the third part of a trilogy formed by earlier dystopian satires Brazil and Twelve Monkeys [sic]”; but in an interview with Alex Suskind for Indiewire in late 2014, Gilliam said, “Well, it’s funny, this trilogy was never something I ever said, but it’s been repeated so often it’s clearly true [laughs]. I don’t know who started it but once it started it never stopped”(wiki)

imdb   /  12 Monkeys (TV series)

movies, series

1071 – Unbreakable (2000 – 2019 film series)

DvhNGtvUwAEPh7LThe Unbreakable trilogy, also known as the Eastrail 177 Trilogy, is an American superhero thriller and psychological horror film series. The films were written, produced, and directed by M. Night Shyamalan. The trilogy consists of Unbreakable (2000), Split (2016), and Glass (2019).

All of the films feature the character David Dunn. The series has been noted for its differences to more traditional superhero movies, with Shyamalan’s work referred to as “the first auteur shared superhero universe”. It is the first superhero franchise that is written and directed by one person, in comparison to other popular films in the genre.  Shyamalan has noted that while it is based on comic book superheroes, and refers to comic books, it is not actually derived from comic book material itself. In contrast to most superhero films, the series is also generally grounded in reality, and is seen as a deconstruction of the superhero genre. The series is thus considered to be a unique take on the superhero genre. 

The filmmaker has stated that the films are origin stories, of people with unique gifts, with the intent being to acknowledge that every person has something special about them. Unbreakable has been labeled the first grounded superhero film, while Split has been called the first solo supervillain origin story, and Hollywood’s first stealth sequel. Although the series is slated as a trilogy, Shyamalan mentioned that he would be open to a continuation if the inspiration came to him. (wiki)

split-2017-poster

imdb:  UnbreakableSplitGlass

documentary, Uncategorized

840 – Savages – The Story of Human Zoos (2017 documentary)


For more than a century the great colonial powers put human beings, taken by force from their native lands, on show as entertainment just like animals in zoos. The story of the savage treatment of people who were considered sub-human.

movies, series

0790 – Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them (2016)

 timespace coordinates: 1926 New York City

fantastic beasts poster

Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them is a 2016 fantasy film directed by David Yates. A joint British and American production, it is a spin-off and prequel to the Harry Potter film series, and it was produced and written by J. K. Rowling in her screenwriting debut, and inspired by her 2001 book of the same name. The film stars Eddie Redmayne as Newt Scamander, with Katherine WaterstonDan FoglerAlison SudolEzra MillerSamantha MortonJon VoightCarmen Ejogo and Colin Farrell in supporting roles. It is the first instalment in the Fantastic Beasts film series, and ninth overall in the Wizarding World franchise, that began with the Harry Potter films.

Initially, in October 2014, the studio announced the film would be the start of a trilogy. The sequel is set to be released on 16 November 2018, followed by the third on 20 November 2020. In July 2016, David Yates confirmed that Rowling had written the screenplay for the second film and has ideas for the third. In October 2016, Rowling confirmed that the series would comprise five films. In November 2016 it was confirmed that Johnny Depp will have a starring role in the sequel, reprising his role as Gellert Grindelwald. In April 2017, it was confirmed that Jude Law had been cast for the role of Albus Dumbledore at around the time he was the Transfiguration professor at Hogwarts. The second film will take place in the United Kingdom and Paris. (wiki)

imdb

movies, series

0761 – Jurassic World

timespace coordinates: 2010’s Isla Nublar, off the Pacific coast of Costa Rica / Northern California


Jurassic World (2015)

jurassic_world_poster_by_stevencormann-d7235ty

Jurassic World is a 2015 American science fiction adventure film, the fourth installment of the Jurassic Park film series, and the first film in a planned Jurassic World trilogy.

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Set 22 years after the events of Jurassic ParkJurassic World takes place on the same fictional Central American island of Isla Nublar, which is located off the Pacific coast of Costa Rica, where a theme park of cloned dinosaurs has operated for nearly a decade. The park plunges into chaos when a genetically-engineered dinosaur escapes from its enclosure and goes on a rampage.

Lego Jurassic World: The Indominus Escape (2016)   /   Lego Jurassic World: Employee Safety Video (2016)

Themes and analysis   /   Scientific accuracy   / imdb


Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom (2018)

fallen-kingdom-poster-t-rex

Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom is a 2018 American science fiction adventure film and the sequel to Jurassic World (2015). Directed by J. A. Bayona, it is the second installment of a planned Jurassic World trilogy. Derek Connolly and Jurassic World director Colin Trevorrow both returned as writers, with Trevorrow and the original Jurassic Park director Steven Spielberg as executive producers. (wiki)

imdb