Archive for the ‘Cultural issues’ Category
A review of the 1942 classic movie “The Magnificent Ambersons”
April 23rd, 2024 by Roger Darlington
When Orson Welles signed a two-picture deal with RKO Pictures in 1940, the result was the acclaimed masterpiece “Citizen Kane” followed by the butchered masterpiece “The Magnificent Ambersons”. Again Welles wrote, produced and directed, but this time he did not star – in fact, it was the only film that he ever directed in which […]
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A review of “How To Stop Time” by Matt Haig
March 30th, 2024 by Roger Darlington
It is an intriguing, if fanciful, proposition: a small number of special people age so slowly after puberty – about one year for every 15 of a normal person – that they can live 900 years or so. Since such a person will eventually and inevitably attract suspicion from ordinary mortals, these subjects of exceptional […]
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A review of the new film “Wicked Little Letters”
March 10th, 2024 by Roger Darlington
The English are noted for their eccentricity and there’s a good deal of it on display in this rather odd offering. It’s as if two films were shot and then, in the cutting rooms, the pair were interwoven. One is a ribald comedy with lots of obscene language, while the other is a social drama […]
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A review of the new Netflix bio-pic “Rustin”
March 10th, 2024 by Roger Darlington
I confess that, prior to the release of this Netflix movie, I had never heard of American political activist Bayard Rustin (1912-1987) who – as set out in the film – played a key role in the organisation of the 1963 March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom. It was a formidable organisational feat: in […]
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A review of the 2006 film “Inside Man”
March 6th, 2024 by Roger Darlington
This starts as a bank robbery, becomes a hostage situation, and then finishes up as neither. Writer Russell Gewirtz attempts to come up with a clever plot but, in the end, it is just too beyond credulity. Nevertheless, any film directed by Spike Lee is worth seeing – although I found the flash forwards confusing. […]
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A review of the new blockbuster movie “Dune: Part Two”
March 3rd, 2024 by Roger Darlington
We’ve had to wait two years for the second part of French-Canadian co-writer and director Denis Villeneuve’s hugely ambitious screen version of Frank Herbert’s classic science fiction novel of 1965. I took the opportunity to rewatch the first segment a few days before I viewed the second. As with “Part One”, I caught “Part Two” […]
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A review of the 2020 film “The Courier”
February 18th, 2024 by Roger Darlington
This espionage drama made little impact on its release because, at that time, we were just emerging from a global pandemic and cinemas were struggling to attract customers. Russia had not yet invaded Georgia and threatened to use nuclear weapons. But it is a film that is worth seeing because it is based on a […]
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A review of the 2022 film “Aftersun”
February 17th, 2024 by Roger Darlington
By the time that I caught up with this film, it had received 121 nominations and 33 awards, so the critics clearly adored it, and I wanted very much to do so too. I love to see new talent and this is the feature film debut of Scottish director, writer and producer Charlotte Wells. The […]
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A review of the inspirational new film “Nyad”
February 12th, 2024 by Roger Darlington
How would anybody even think of swimming nonstop from Cuba to Florida? This is a 110-mile stretch of ocean bedevilled by powerful currents, sharks and jelly fish. American long-distance swimmer Diana Nyad knew better than anyone what would be involved and how impossible it would be. After all, when she was 28, she had tried […]
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A review the new film “The Zone Of Interest”
February 11th, 2024 by Roger Darlington
This is a really disturbing film about the greatest crime against humanity: the Holocaust of the Second World War. It is loosely based on the novel of the same name by British writer Martin Amis and it is both written and directed by Jonathan Glazer who is both British and Jewish. It is largely set […]
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