On this day in movie history - Sniper: The White Raven (2022):

Sniper: The White Raven

directed by Marian Bushan,

written by Marian Bushan and Mykola Voronin,

based on the true life and experiences of Mykola Voronin,

released in Ukraine on August 24, 2022.
Music by Nadiia Odesuk / Nadya Odesyuk.

I first saw Sniper: The White Raven back in April (2024), on The Movie Channel.

After watching it, I had to include and recommend it in my book: What's On?

Based on the true life and experiences of Mykola Voronin, an ecologist, teacher and writer.

He lived a simple life off the grid with his wife, Nastya, in Donbas, Ukraine.

In 2014, Russian soldiers invaded and murdered his wife.

Mykola, fueled by rage and the need for justice and vengeance for his wife, enlisted in the Ukrainian Army.

He trained, became a sniper, and fought back.

He switched from idealistic pacifist to warrior, assigning himself the codename Raven, in reference to the White Raven symbol his wife placed in stones outside their home.

Mykola vowed to defend Ukraine.

Russia senselessly invaded Ukraine again in 2022.

This movie and true story couldn’t be more topical or important.

Powerful.

Real.

Raw.

Tragic.

Heartbreaking.

We stand with Ukraine.

Victory to Ukraine.

Glory to Ukraine.

Slava Ukraini.

Cast:

Pavlo Aldoshyn, Maryna Koshkina, Andrey Mostrenko, Roman Semysal, Oleg Drach, Roman Yasinovskiy, Oleg Shulga, Vadim Lyalko, Vadim Kurilko, Vladyslav Dmytrenko, Eugen Volosheniuk, Oleksandr Bykov, Serhiy Artemenko, Egor Kozlov, Zachary Shadrin, Olena Chervonenko, Demyan Radzivilyuk, Alina Karpenko, Anatoly Tikhomirov, Yanina Andreeva, Evhen Chernykov, Igor Parkhomenko, Vitaliy Kovalskyy, Oleksiy Storozhuk, Vitaliy Belskyy, Aleksandr Dyumin, Oleksiy Nakonechnyi, Andriy Yakubov, Kyrylo Goz, Vitaly Kalyuzhny, Mike Parish, Adrian Petriw.

A timeline and pictorial tribute to the work of Stanley Kubrick:

A timeline and pictorial tribute to the work of Stanley Kubrick

In celebration of his movies:

Day of the Fight (1951)

Flying Padre (1951)

The Seafarers (1953)

Fear and Desire (1953)

Killer's Kiss (1955)

The Killing (1956)

Paths of Glory (1957)

Spartacus (1960)

Lolita (1962)

Dr. Strangelove or: How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb (1964)

2001: A Space Odyssey (1968)

A Clockwork Orange (1971)

Barry Lyndon (1975)

The Shining (1980)

Full Metal Jacket (1987)

Eyes Wide Shut (1999)

Video created by Jack Kost.

2022.

Music credit:

Cryptic Sorrow by Kevin MacLeod.

If it can be written, or thought, it can be filmed.

– Stanley Kubrick.

In memory of Stanley Kubrick

Director

Producer

Writer

Photographer

July 26, 1928 – March 7, 1999

On this day in music history - Cloudwalker & the Ascent, by Zero Ohms (2022):

Cloudwalker & the Ascent

Album by Zero Ohms,
released June 24, 2022.

Credits:

Cloudwalker and the Ascent; Unknownland; Vistas Beyond; Tum Gaon (ascending to higher places); Skybound (free from terrestrial bonds); Deep Sky Tones; Across the Seven Skies.

On this day in movie history - Back to the Drive-in (2022):

Back to the Drive-in

documentary directed and written by April Wright,

was released in the United States on June 6, 2022.

On this day in movie history - The Survivor (2021):

The Survivor

directed by Barry Levinson,

written by Justine Juel Gillmer,

was released in the United States on April 27, 2022.
Based on the book Harry Haft: Survivor of Auschwitz, Challenger of Rocky Marciano, by Alan Scott Haft.
Also, the graphic novel The Boxer: The True Story of Holocaust Survivor Harry Haft, by Reinhard Kleist.
Music by Hans Zimmer.

Cast:

Ben Foster, Billy Magnussen, Vicky Krieps, Peter Sarsgaard, Saro Emirze, Danny DeVito, John Leguizamo, Dar Zuzovsky, Laurent Papot, Paul Bates, Svetlana Kundish, Sonya Cullingford, Michael Epp, Erik Contzius, Kingston Vernes, Sophie Knapp, Zachary Golinger, Charles Brice, Scott Alexander Young, John Guerrasio, Pablo Raybould, Amalina Ace, Bálint Magyar, Márk Szekulesz, Aaron Serotsky, Miklós Kapácsy, Andrew Hefler, Kristóf Widder, Patrick McCullough, Peter Linka, Hans Peterson, Katia Bokor, Stephen Saracco, Björn Freiberg, Nikos Brisco, Alan Jouban, Adam Zambryzcki, András Kovács, Gábor Czap, Anthony Molinari, Zsolt Erdei, Zach Anderson, Árpád Antolik, Attila Arpa, Marc Alan Austen, Jeff Burhans, Sandy Burhans, Christian Carrigan, Jim Cleary, Karim Ghajji, Emerson Henley, Roderick Hill, Ken Holmes, Zámbó István, Colton Langan, Perla Middleton, Robert Myers, Cailyn Peddle, Peter Schueller, Marc Schöttner, Ferenc Iván Szabó, Balázs Veres, Conor William Wright, Lauren Yaffe.

On this day in television history - Life After Life (2022 TV mini-series & novels):

Life After Life

directed by John Crowley,

written by Bathsheba/Bash Doran, Jessi Drewett,

based on the novel by Kate Atkinson,

released on the internet on April 19, 2022.

Music by Volker Bertelmann.

Cast: Isla Johnston, Thomasin McKenzie, Eliza Riley, Lesley Manville, Sian Clifford, Sean Delaney, Maria Laird, James McArdle, Nancy Rumball, Nelly Rumball, Harry Michell, Jessica Hynes, Joshua Hill, Patsy Ferran, Jack Forsyth-Noble, Sadie Byron, Oscar Eskinazi, John Hodgkinson, Ron Cook, Jessica Brown Findlay, Laurie Kynaston, James George Williams, Gus Turner, Anders Hayward, Matthew Pidgeon, Alfie Harrison, Joe Black, Matilda Stafford, Kelsey Balla, Pamela Stafford, Zachary Nachbar-Seckel, Ralph Davis, Harry Cadby, River Caddle, Zara Gormley, Mhairi Gayer, Louis Hofmann, Matthew Cottle, James Chadburn, Andy Membury, Kai Membury, Helena Albright, Aron von Andrian, Archie O'Callaghan, Arthur McGirr, Zee Asha, Matthew Sim, Syreeta Kumar, Ian Saynor, Odimegwu Okoye, Hope Delaney, Dominic Hodson, Paul Lancaster, Anna Lavrenteva, Callum Coates, Aiden Lewis-Quilter, Liam Lewis-Quilter, Freddy Sawyer, Lacey Dempsey-Ball, Sarah Daniela Seggari, Muki Zubis, Leo Rait, Xavier Edmead, Suzanne Bertish, Tachia Newall, Wyatt Wilfort, Finley Wilfort, Ray MacAllan, Declan Miele-Howell, Saura Lightfoot-Leon, Emma Beattie, Daniel Boys, Zac Pile, Rose Riley, Kieran Brunt, Cameron Ralph, Audrey Hart, Clara Graham, Matilda Humphrey, Gilian Cally, Jude Humphrey, Evie Templeton, Edward Green, Martin Oelbermann, Lily Claudia Eustace, Stuart Cooke, Hannah Colby, Andreas Bedorf.

Recommended reading:

Life After Life

By Kate Atkinson.

Published by Back Bay Books.

Published 2013.

ISBN-10: 0316176494

ISBN-13: 978-0316176491

Description:

What if you could live again and again, until you got it right?

On a cold and snowy night in 1910, Ursula Todd is born to an English banker and his wife. She dies before she can draw her first breath. On that same cold and snowy night, Ursula Todd is born, lets out a lusty wail, and embarks upon a life that will be, to say the least, unusual. For as she grows, she also dies, repeatedly, in a variety of ways, while the young century marches on towards its second cataclysmic world war.

Does Ursula's apparently infinite number of lives give her the power to save the world from its inevitable destiny? And if she can – will she?

Named a New York Times Best Book of the Century, Life After Life is darkly comic, startlingly poignant, and utterly original: this is Kate Atkinson at her absolute best.

A God in Ruins

By Kate Atkinson.

Published by Back Bay Books.

Published 2015.

ISBN-10: 0316176508

ISBN-13: 978-0316176507

Description:

His stunning companion to Kate Atkinson's #1 bestseller Life After Life, "one of the best novels I've read this century" (Gillian Flynn), follows Ursula's brother Teddy as he navigates an unknown future after a perilous war.

"He had been reconciled to death during the war and then suddenly the war was over and there was a next day and a next day. Part of him never adjusted to having a future."

Kate Atkinson's dazzling Life After Life explored the possibility of infinite chances and the power of choices, following Ursula Todd as she lived through the turbulent events of the last century over and over again. A God in Ruins tells the dramatic story of the 20th Century through Ursula's beloved younger brother Teddy – would-be poet, heroic pilot, husband, father, and grandfather – as he navigates the perils and progress of a rapidly changing world.

After all that Teddy endures in battle, his greatest challenge is living in a future he never expected to have. An ingenious and moving exploration of one ordinary man's path through extraordinary times, A God in Ruins proves once again that Kate Atkinson is one of the finest novelists of our age.