Archive for the ‘Cultural issues’ Category
A review of “Indiana Jones And The Dial Of Destiny”
June 30th, 2023 by Roger Darlington
In 1981, the film world was presented with a new hero, except that in fact Indiana Jones was a reprise of, and a homage to, the 1940s action men so beloved by then wunder-kids George Lucas and Steven Spielberg. Almost unbelievably, some 42 years later, Indy has donned his leather jacket and fedora and picked […]
Posted in Cultural issues | Comments (0)
A review of the 1964 epic war movie “Zulu”
June 23rd, 2023 by Roger Darlington
No less than 11 Victoria Crosses were awarded to the British defenders of Rorke’s Drift at the battle in Natal which took place on 22-23 January 1879. Amazingly some 150 British soldiers, around 30 of them sick or wounded patients in a field hospital, held off a force of about 4,000 Zulu warriors. Inevitably there […]
Posted in Cultural issues | Comments (0)
A review of the new action movie “The Mother”
June 17th, 2023 by Roger Darlington
This is a Netflix effort to produce a female version of the traditional action movie, so women fill the roles of director (New Zealander Niki Caro), writer (African-American Misha Green), star (dancer, singer and actress Jennifer Lopez as a retired assassin and the unnamed Mother) and support (Mexican-born Lucy Paez as the Mother’s daughter Zoe […]
Posted in Cultural issues | Comments (0)
A review of the Len Deighton novel “Winter”
June 8th, 2023 by Roger Darlington
Sometimes a book sits on the shelf for such a long time before it is read. This novel was bought for me in 1988 but it took me until 2023 before I actually read it. The Winter of the title is not a season of the year but the name of a German family and […]
Posted in Cultural issues, History | Comments (1)
A review of the 2020 film “23 Walks”
June 5th, 2023 by Roger Darlington
The title could be off-putting but, in fact, there is very little counting, although there is a lot of walking (and talking) in this London-based relationship movie. Dave (played by Dave Johns who was so good in the eponymous role in “I, Daniel Blake”) and his large dog Tillie come across Fern (played by Alison […]
Posted in Cultural issues | Comments (0)
Why men lose their friends – and how they can make more
June 2nd, 2023 by Roger Darlington
“In the UK, research by the Movember Foundation in 2018 found 27% of men said they had no close friends at all. They also found that friendships become less strong as men get older, with 22% of men aged 55 and over saying they never see their friends. It would seem there is, for men […]
Posted in Cultural issues | Comments (3)
A review of the odd film “Harold And Maude”
May 30th, 2023 by Roger Darlington
I was chatting with an American friend and conversation turned to funerals. He mentioned a film from half a century ago – it was released in 1971 – that, in spite of being something of a film buff, I’d never heard of, let alone seen – so I looked it up. Harold (Bud Cort) is […]
Posted in Cultural issues | Comments (0)
A review of the classic “Three Colours” film trilogy
May 28th, 2023 by Roger Darlington
“Three Colours: Blue” (1993) This was the first of a trilogy of films directed by Krzysztof Kieślowski and written by him and Krzysztof Piesiewicz. Taking their titles from the colours of the French flag and loosely inspired by the French national motto of Liberty, Equality and Fraternity, “Blue” represented liberty and is regarded as a […]
Posted in Cultural issues | Comments (0)
A review of the 1989 classic movie “Do The Right Thing”
May 25th, 2023 by Roger Darlington
African-American Spike Lee is absolutely an auteur. In this, his most seminal film, he is writer, producer and director and takes the role of the viewpoint character. Set on one, blisteringly hot day in Brooklyn, we follow Lee’s Mookie, a 25 year old delivery man for a local pizzeria run by an Italian-American family headed […]
Posted in Cultural issues | Comments (0)
A review of “All Quiet on The Western Front” by Erich Maria Remarque
May 18th, 2023 by Roger Darlington
Having seen both the American (1930) and German (2022) film versions of this famous novel, I thought that it was time to read the original work (1929) in an excellent English translation (1994) by Brian Murdoch. The novel contains less narrative but more reflection than the films and has lost none of its power and […]
Posted in Cultural issues | Comments (0)