Archive for the ‘Cultural issues’ Category
A review of the bestselling novel “Conclave” by Robert Harris
December 13th, 2024 by Roger Darlington
Harris is one of the best-selling authors of British fiction and has made his reputation with a series of works usually set in a particular time and/or place and drawing on much historical research. He is not a great writer and often the journey is more interesting than the destination (his endings can be weak), […]
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A review of the entertaining new film “Conclave”
December 2nd, 2024 by Roger Darlington
Which is best? The book or the film? It’s an endless – and perhaps fruitless – debate. I’ve read and enjoyed so many books by Robert Harris, but not the 2016 novel on which this film is based. The book has been an international bestseller, but this excellent cinematic version has so many visual and […]
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A review of the book “Orbital” by Samantha Harvey
November 26th, 2024 by Roger Darlington
It won the 2024 Booker Prize, it is short (136 pages), and it has a great cover – all reasons why I was attracted to this strikingly unconventional and utterly original novel, the fifth by British writer Samantha Harvey who is a tutor on the MA course in Creative Writing at Bath Spa University. It […]
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A review of the new blockbuster movie “Gladiator II”
November 20th, 2024 by Roger Darlington
Ridley Scott is an outstanding director with a terrific canon of work. Many of his films cry our for sequels and he regrets now not having directed the sequels to “Alien” and “Blade Runner”. He’s been working on a sequel to “Gladiator” for decades and now, 24 years later, here it is. The guy is […]
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A review of the classic 1975 film “One Flew Over The Cuckoo’s Nest”
November 2nd, 2024 by Roger Darlington
This classic film won all five of the top Academy Awards: Best Picture and Best Screenplay plus Best Director (the Czech Milos Forman), Best Actor (Jack Nicholson as rebellious inmate Randle P McMurphy) and Best Actress (Louise Fletcher as the acidic Nurse Ratchet). It is based on the best-selling novel by Ken Kesey, which he […]
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A review of the new film “The Room Next Door”
October 29th, 2024 by Roger Darlington
An internationally acclaimed director: the Spanish Pedro Almodovar making his first English-language film in his distinguished canon of 23 movies and one where he is writer as well as director. Two very talented actresses: Tilda Swinton and Julianne Moore who are rarely off the scene in what is effectively an impressive two-hander. A serious social […]
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A review of the new film “The Outrun”
September 29th, 2024 by Roger Darlington
Think you have problems? Well, 30 year old Scottish Rona is coping with a traumatic childhood, a bipolar father, an evangelical mother, the break-up of a relationship, a serious addiction to alcohol and acute depression, plus the wildness, windiness and loneliness of an island in Orkney. This could, so easily, have been a misery movie, […]
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A review of “The Talented Mr Ripley” by Patricia Highsmith
September 27th, 2024 by Roger Darlington
Crime fiction is a massively popular genre, but I generally avoid it. I made an exception for this 1955 psychological thriller because it has become such a well-established classic: it won a number of awards, it resulted in four sequels, and it has been the subject of many radio, television and film adaptations. I thoroughly […]
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A review of the 1973 ‘classic’ film “Zarzoz”
September 19th, 2024 by Roger Darlington
It may be a bit of stretch to call the science fiction tale “Zardoz” a classic but, over the last 50 years, it has certainly become something of a cult favourite. I’ve seen it on the big screen three timse: first, on its release at the Odeon in Leicester Square; second, in the early 1980s […]
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A review of “The Old Man And The Sea” by Ernest Hemingway
September 17th, 2024 by Roger Darlington
Santiago is an experienced but elderly fisherman in a Cuban fishing village who has had a prolonged run of bad luck, having failed in 84 consecutive days to catch anything. His luck is about to change dramatically, but at what cost and with what consequence? This novella of less than 100 pages won Hemingway the […]
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