Archive for the ‘Cultural issues’ Category
A review of the new film “Tully”
May 6th, 2018 by Roger Darlington
Director Jason Reitman and writer Diablo Cody first worked together on the justifiably acclaiimed “Juno”, featuring a teenage girl unexpectedly pregnant. A decade later, the two are paired again for another film with a single-word, woman’s name for the title and again we start with an unplanned pregnancy. This time, however, the pregnant woman is […]
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A review of the new blockbuster movie “Avengers: Infinity War”
May 3rd, 2018 by Roger Darlington
As blockbusters go, this buster promised to be the biggest block of them all and so it has proved to be. On its opening weekend, it took the record for the US box office from “Star Wars: The Force Awakens” and the record for the world box office from “The Fate Of The Furious”. Everything […]
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You’ve heard about Mount Rushmore – but what about Stone Mountain?
May 2nd, 2018 by Roger Darlington
Most Americans will have heard of Stone Mountain, but most non-Americans will not. I confess that I’d never heard of the location until watching the ninth and final part of the impressive BBC2 series “Civilisations” when the presenter Simon Schama highlighted its controversial role in the American psyche. Stone Mountain is a quartz monzonite dome […]
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A review of the new film “The Leisure Seeker”
April 27th, 2018 by Roger Darlington
This is not typical Hollywood fare: a movie aimed squarely at the grey demographic and directed by an Italian. The title of this film refers to a 1978 Winnebago recreational vehicle owned by the elderly American couple John and Ella played by Donald Sutherland (now in his 80s) and Helen Mirren (mid 70s), two actors […]
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A review of the new movie “Ready Player One”
April 13th, 2018 by Roger Darlington
The much anticipated and hugely hyped latest directorial offering from cinematic wunderkind Steven Spielberg is visually stunning, set substantially in a fantastical virtual world of 2045 called the OASIS. An early visit to the OASIS involves a race and the experience is genuinely thrilling. The movie is also visually rich with an unbelievable number of […]
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A review of the delightful new film “Lady Bird”
March 27th, 2018 by Roger Darlington
It is such a rarity – but a delight – to see a maintstream movie both written and directed by a woman. As well as being a fine actress, Greta Gerwig has written before (notably “Frances Ha” and “Mistress America”) but this is her directorial début. Astonishingly (but deservedly), at the age of just 34 […]
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A review of the new movie “Tomb Raider”
March 20th, 2018 by Roger Darlington
I’m not sure that the world needed another Tomb Raider movie, following the Angelina Jolie outings of 2001 and 2003, but I suppose that there are too few films with women in leading action roles and I’m a big fan of Swedish actress Alicia Vikander who has now taken over the Lara Croft role and […]
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It’s been a long time since I went to the ballet …
March 18th, 2018 by Roger Darlington
… but this weekend I had the opportunity to spend an evening at the Royal Opera House in London’s Covent Garden viewing three short modern ballets. I found the experience magical and mesmerising. Each dance was performed by the Royal Ballet and set to a piece of music by the American composer Leonard Bertsein and […]
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How to read a film
March 17th, 2018 by Roger Darlington
I spent this cold Saturday in London attending a course at the City Literary Institute. It was called “How to read a film”and delivered by Nick Scudamore. He introduced us to the term “mise-en-scene” which essential,y is everything the director chooses to put in the scene or shot on the day of shooting as contrasted […]
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A review of the new super-hero movie “Black Panther”
March 11th, 2018 by Roger Darlington
A mainstream American movie with a black director, a black writer and a largely black cast is a rarity. Last year (2017), we had “Moonlight” which won the Academy Award for Best Film. This year, we have “Black Panther” with Ryan Coogler as director and co-writer and an amazing array of black thespian talent from […]
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