Archive for the ‘Cultural issues’ Category
A review of the play “The Philanthropist”
May 2nd, 2017 by Roger Darlington
I don’t go to the theatre anywhere near as often as I should like but I’ve resolved to change this. I recently became one of the last people in the UK to se the musical “Les Miserables”. Then, this weekend, I went to see a play at the Trafalgar Studios in London. It was “The […]
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Weekend cinema (1): a German horror film from 1919
April 30th, 2017 by Roger Darlington
“The Cabinet Of Dr. Caligari” This wonderfully radical German Expressionist work from director Robert Wiene is unusually wordy for a silent film but then it has quite an intricate plot with a surprise ending. It is not just the story that is original; the stage sets are full of disorientating features such as unnatural angles […]
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Weekend cinema (2): an American sci-fi movie from 2017
April 30th, 2017 by Roger Darlington
“Guardians Of The Galaxy Vol 2” In 2014, the original “Guardians”was a surprising hit and, like many others, I was totally won over by its original bunch of characters and fresh tone with rich colours, witty script and zippy action. Three years later, the next outing for these space heroes is again directed and co-written […]
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A review of the 1942 film “Went The Day Well?”
April 28th, 2017 by Roger Darlington
“Went the day well? We died and never knew. But, well or ill, Freedom, we died for you.” This week, a friend persuaded me to join him in seeing a British wartime film at the BFI Southbank cinema in London. “Went The Day Well?” is a British black and white film of 1942 which is […]
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I join the start of the Russian Revolution – well, at least the exhibition
April 27th, 2017 by Roger Darlington
As a blogger, I was invited to this morning’s media preview at the British Library of the new exhibition “Russian Revolution: Hope, Tragedy, Myths” which opens to to the general public tomorrow and runs until 29 August. We were shown around the exhibition by the curators Katya Rogatchevshaia and Susan Reed. This fascinating exhibition tells […]
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Word of the day: pareidolia
April 24th, 2017 by Roger Darlington
Pareidolia is a psychological phenomenon in which the mind responds to a stimulus, such as an image or a sound, by perceiving a familiar pattern where none actually exists. Common examples are perceived images of animals, faces, or objects in cloud formations or pieces of food or features in nature, the man in the moon, […]
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A review of the novel “Where My Heart Used To Beat”
April 23rd, 2017 by Roger Darlington
This novel by Sebastian Faulks is not a work to cheer the spirits, but it is really well-written and very thoughtful and thought-proving. I can recommend it and I’ve reviewed it here.
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A review of the new film “The Sense Of An Ending”
April 21st, 2017 by Roger Darlington
Based on the Booker Prize-winning novella by Julian Barnes (which I have read – my review here), inevitably this film adaptation is diffrent from the original work. The structure of the book was a section of the (unreliable) narrator’s time at school and university followed by the present day coming to terms with revelations of […]
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A review of the new comedy film “Going In Style”
April 16th, 2017 by Roger Darlington
There are very few films that feature older characters in main roles so I suppose we should commend “Going In Style” for making the effort. Michael Caine, Morgan Freeman and Alan Arkin are all hitting or into their 80s and the three of them are very talented actors who are hardly stretched in this remake […]
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Word of the day: voluptuary
April 13th, 2017 by Roger Darlington
I’ve recently started reading the novel “”Where My Heart Used To Beat” by Sebastian Faulks, the author best-known for his earlier work “Birdsong”. On the first page, the narrator states: “I supposed I’d say I was a voluptuary, someone who had seen it all …” The word ‘voluptuary’ was new to me, so I looked […]
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