Archive for the ‘Cultural issues’ Category
A review of the new film “My Cousin Rachel”
June 13th, 2017 by Roger Darlington
At an age (late 40s) when sadly many actresses start to find it tougher to obtain decent roles, Rachel Weisz is really coming into her own with central roles in films like “Denial” and now “My Cousin Rachel”. Based on the 1951 novel by English writer Daphne du Maurier (previously filmed in 1952) and both […]
Posted in Cultural issues | Comments (0)
A review of the new super-hero movie “Wonder Woman”
June 7th, 2017 by Roger Darlington
This is a refreshingly different super-hero movie: one with a female central character (Diana Prince – the name Wonder Woman is never used in the film – played by the tall and beautiful Israeli martial artist, model and actress Gal Gadot) and a female director (Patty Jenkins who previously gave us “Monster”, another work with […]
Posted in Cultural issues | Comments (0)
The 35 words you’re (probably) getting wrong
June 6th, 2017 by Roger Darlington
I think that English is an easy language to pick up quickly at the basic level – no declension of nouns, minimal conjugation of verbs, a fairly forgiving approach to word order. But’s it’s a tough language to speak well – a massive vocabulary with lots of words that seem similar or the same, inconsistent […]
Posted in Cultural issues | Comments (0)
A review of last year’s film “Inferno”
June 3rd, 2017 by Roger Darlington
This is the third cinematic outing for Robert Langdon, the fictional character created by the best-selling author Dan Jones. Previously we’ve had “The Da Vinci Code” (2006) and “Angels & Demons” (2009). Now (2016) he’s back played again by Tom Hanks with Ron Howard again in the director’s chair but a new female accomplice, the […]
Posted in Cultural issues | Comments (0)
A review of “The Course Of Love” by Alain de Botton
June 1st, 2017 by Roger Darlington
The author de Botton is known mainly for his philosophical works and this book purports to be a rare venture into fiction, but it hardly qualifies. It has a fair degree of characterisation, being all about Rabin Khan and Kristen McLelland who marry, have children, and struggle to keep their relationship alive and respectful, but […]
Posted in Cultural issues | Comments (0)
A review of the new sci-fi movie “Alien: Covenant”
May 31st, 2017 by Roger Darlington
“Alien” (1979) and “Aliens” (1986) were absolute classics that set the bar impossibly high for any further sequels – but the sequels keep on coming. “Alien 3” (1992) was disappointing and “Alien Resurrection” (1997) rather good. Then came “Prometheus” (2012) with the return of original director Ridley Scott. This was not as scary as the […]
Posted in Cultural issues | Comments (0)
For the first time in forever, I watched a movie on an aircraft
May 27th, 2017 by Roger Darlington
I’ve just returned from a wonderful two-week holiday touring the beautiful island of Sri Lanka. Obviously the flight there and back were long ones but I never use the inflight entertainment, preferring to read and sleep. As many readers will know, I’m a massive movie fan. But I like to see my films on a […]
Posted in Cultural issues, My life & thoughts | Comments (0)
A review of the new horror movie “Get Out”
May 7th, 2017 by Roger Darlington
OK, so this is a horror film which is not a genre I normally entertain and I would probably have never seen it if friends had not taken me. But this is a horror film which is as smart as it is scary, featuring a clever plot with some sharp twists, a political satire on […]
Posted in Cultural issues | Comments (0)
A review of the 1982 classic film “Gandhi”
May 5th, 2017 by Roger Darlington
When I first saw this classic film at the cinema, the audience applauded at both the intermission and the end (it is a long work of 188 minutes). Although the narrative covers over five decades in Gandhi’s life, a major segment concerns the the process by which independence of India and Pakistan was brought about […]
Posted in Cultural issues | Comments (0)
Ever heard of the notion of nominative determinism?
May 3rd, 2017 by Roger Darlington
Nominative determinism is the hypothesis that people tend to gravitate towards areas of work that fit their names. The term was first used in the magazine “New Scientist” in 1994, after the magazine’s humorous Feedback column noted several studies carried out by researchers with remarkably fitting surnames. These included a book on polar explorations by […]
Posted in Cultural issues | Comments (1)