Archive for the ‘Cultural issues’ Category
A review of the film “Love In The Time Of Cholera”
August 12th, 2017 by Roger Darlington
The novel by Colombian author Gabriel García Márquez was first published in Spanish in 1985 and this English-language movie adaptation was released in 2007. As the title makes clear, this is a love story, but what makes it different is the time (roughly 1880-1930), the place (unnamed in the novel but identified in the film […]
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Another day of rain (or sun)
August 9th, 2017 by Roger Darlington
Here in London, we’ve had a miserable summer with lots of cool, overcast, and even wet days. Today is probably the worst so far with so much rain. I decided that the only thing to do was to listen to “Another Day Of Sun”, the opening song from the wonderful movie “La la Land”. Enjoy!
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A review of the sci-fi blockbuster “Valerian And The City Of A Thousand Planets”
August 8th, 2017 by Roger Darlington
You have to admire an artist with ambition who is prepared to take risks and French writer/director Luc Besson is an original in the world of cinema. He has given us such wonders as “Leon”, “The Fifth Element” and “Lucy” – works of variable success – plus the under-rated and under-known “The Lady” and even […]
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A review of the new Christopher Nolan film “Dunkirk”
August 5th, 2017 by Roger Darlington
The last time we saw Dunkirk in a film was in Joe Wright’s “Atonement” which featured a staggering five and a half minute Steadicam shot of a hell on earth beach scene. Now, thanks to the supreme talents of British director Christopher Nolan, we have an entire film devoted to the miracle of May/June 1940 […]
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There’s nobody in the world of cinema to compare to Clint Eastwood
August 4th, 2017 by Roger Darlington
Regular visitors to this blog will know that I am a lifelong fan of cinema and see quite a lot of films, all of which I review on my website. There is probably nobody who has starred in and/or directed more of the movies that I’ve viewed over the last six decades than the legend […]
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A review of the novel “Alone In Berlin” by Hans Fallada
August 3rd, 2017 by Roger Darlington
This remarkable novel was first published in German in 1947 and I read an English translation by Michael Hofman published in 2009. It is a long work – almost 600 pages – but the translation is excellent, the narrative compelling, and the text is divided into 72 chapters, so that it is a compulsive read. […]
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A review of the new rom-com movie “The Big Sick”
July 30th, 2017 by Roger Darlington
This is a romantic comedy that follows the traditional rom-com narrative: boy meets girl, boy loses girl – well, you know the rest. But much else is a fresh approach to the genre. Above all, the lead characters are not traditional fare. The family of stand-up comedian Kumail (played by stand-up Kumail Nanjiani) are Pakistani […]
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Why is there nothing as good as “Madam Secretary” about British politics?
July 26th, 2017 by Roger Darlington
OK, it’s not as superlative as “The West Wing”, my all-time favourite television series. But “Madam Secretary” is good television. Like “The West Wing”, it deals with political issues that have a real-life basis and it represents politicians as basically honourable and trying to to the right thing. And women both originated the series and […]
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The films of British writer/director Christopher Nolan
July 26th, 2017 by Roger Darlington
At this time of year, my professional commitments are light, so I sign up for a number of short courses at the City Lit further education college in central London. My second such course of this summer was delivered by an American lecturer called Mary Wild. and it was titled “Christopher Nolan: dystopian dreams and hidden […]
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A review of the movie “War For Planet Of The Apes”
July 24th, 2017 by Roger Darlington
“War For Planet Of The Apes” This is the third movie in the rebooted franchise which has used some confusing titles. In 2011, we had “Rise Of ..” and then in 2014 there was “Dawn Of ..” when really title-wise it should have been the other way round. Now (2017) comes “War For ..” but […]
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