Archive for the ‘Cultural issues’ Category
A review of “Ant-Man And The Wasp: Quantumania”
March 25th, 2023 by Roger Darlington
This is the third Ant-Man movie and the 31st film in the Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU). Over the past 15 years, I’ve diligently seen every episode of the MCU, but sometimes – like here – it feels more like a duty than a delight. Paul Rudd and (now short-haired) Evangeline Lilly are back as the […]
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Word of the day: misophonia
March 23rd, 2023 by Roger Darlington
Misophonia is a disorder in which people feel strong emotional responses to certain sounds, feeling angry, distressed or even unable to function in social or work settings as a result. Researchers say they have found 18.4% of the UK population have significant symptoms of misophonia. You can read more about this here.
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A review of the new South London rom-com “Rye Lane”
March 19th, 2023 by Roger Darlington
We all remember how “Notting Hill” (1999) was a rom-com that failed utterly to reflect the ethnic diversity of London, but the British rom-com is changing. Hot on the heels of “What’s Love Got To Do With It?” which features a lead character of Pakistani heritage (plus a segment in Lahore), we have “Rye Lane” […]
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A review of the 2022 film “White Noise”
March 16th, 2023 by Roger Darlington
I chose to watch this film because I’ve found interesting some other work by the writer and director Noah Baumbach (such as “While We’re Young” and “Marriage Story”) and I usually admire the performances of the lead actors Adam Driver (such as the aforementioned films and recent segments of the “Star Wars” saga) and Greta […]
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A review of the film “The Banshees Of Inisherin”
March 13th, 2023 by Roger Darlington
This is a film that elicits mixed emotions. Certainly it is both written and directed by a considerable talent (Martin McDonagh who gave us “Three Billboards Outside Ebbing Missouri”); it has some wonderful scenery (not Inisherin – which is a fictional island – but Inishmore and Aran Islands off the west coast of Ireland); and […]
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A review of the new rom-com movie “What’s Love Got To Do With It?’
March 12th, 2023 by Roger Darlington
The rom-com is such a staple of the cinematic diet that any addition to the genre has to find a new angle. In this case, the novel element is the comparison of arranged marriage – or assisted marriage, as it now called – which is so common in the Indian sub-continent (with a very high […]
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A review of a fascinating book on the making of the classic film “Lawrence Of Arabia”
March 12th, 2023 by Roger Darlington
“Lawrence Of Arabia” by Kevin Jackson (2007) The film “Lawrence Of Arabia” (1962) is my favourite cinematic work and to date (2023) I have seen it 12 times, so I thoroughly enjoyed this short (127 pages) examination of the making of the movie, which is one of the books in the British Film Institute Film […]
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A review of the new Italian film “Nostalgia”
March 7th, 2023 by Roger Darlington
My mother was from Naples and took us there twice as children, so the city has a special place in my heart. Naturally, therefore, I was attracted to this 2022 Italian film, co-written and directed by Mario Martone and based on a 2016 novel, which is shot mainly in the impoverished Rione Sanità district of […]
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So, just how important are our friends?
March 7th, 2023 by Roger Darlington
“Building your life around close friendships rather than family or romance is a joyous and necessary act of rebellion, and governments should put in place ‘friendship ministries’ to radically rethink the way society is organised, a key French philosopher has argued. Geoffroy de Lagasnerie this week publishes a manifesto for friendship, ‘3 Une Aspiration au […]
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A review op the 2022 Korean film “Broker”
March 5th, 2023 by Roger Darlington
I admired and enjoyed the 2018 Japanese film “Shoplifters” which was written and directed by Hirokazu Kore-eda. In this 2020 work – which again he both writes and directs – he switches both location and language to South Korea, although he reprises some familiar themes. The core of this story is the notion of a […]
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