A review of “Avatar: The Way Of Water”
December 23rd, 2022 by Roger Darlington
When in 2009 I enjoyed the original “Avatar” in 3D and IMAX on the largest screen in Britain (the BFI’s flagship screen), I never imagined that it would take 13 years before I would be able to see the (first) sequel, but I made a point of seeing it in the same format on the same screen.The lovers in the first movie, ex-marine Jake Sully (Sam Worthington) and Na’vi girl Neytiri (Zoe Saldaña), now have three biological children plus an adoptive daughter (voiced by Sigourney Weaver whose character died last time) and an adopted son who is actually a human. These five kids have so much screen time that, in a sense, this is a children’s movie as well as one for adults who are prepared to share the magic.
Director and co-writer James Cameron is very special in what he has brought to the screen world and his planet Pandora looks as luscious as ever as brilliant special effects present us with its glorious terrains and magnificent creatures.
So many of the Cameron tropes are here that one could even summarise “Avatar 2” as “Aliens” (with its endless endings) meets “Titanic” (with its trapped underwater scenes). It is all visually stunning and the introduction of the reef people the Metkayina allows for some fabulous water sequences.
Unsurprisingly, the bad guys – human marines in the form of giant avatars – are back, so there is plenty of action with Neytiri now displaying much skill with a bow and arrow. As last time, the plot is too thin and too new age, but the main problem is the length: at some three and a quarter hours, this film is half an hour longer than the last one and, when one factors in advertisements and trailers, this makes for a bladder-straining visit to the theatre.
In the end though, this is cinema at its best: big, bold, beautiful, and immensely entertaining. As my 12 year old granddaughter – who saw it even before me – declared, it is simply “wonderful”.
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A sign of these economically troubled times
December 23rd, 2022 by Roger Darlington
A message today from the hotel in Milton Keynes where I’ll be sleeping this Christmas:“We’re so excited to be welcoming you to stay with us once again. But, much like many businesses across the UK, we’ve been experiencing supply chain issues across a number of different areas, including team shortages, which unfortunately puts some added pressure on us to be able to deliver the experience you expect and love.
We know that these are our challenges and not yours – it’s all part of being the UK’s largest hotel chain! We just wanted to be honest with you about where we’re at, and to reassure you that we’re doing our absolute best.”
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A review of the new Netflix film “Rogue Agent”
December 17th, 2022 by Roger Darlington
This Netflix movie is a small work in the sense that there are no special effects or great cinematography and no real action sequences, but it tells an interesting story which is based on a real case.Robert Freegard was an imposter and conman who pretended to be an MI5 agent and swindled a succession of victims of significant sums of money. He is played convincingly by James Norton and, if his victims – mainly vulnerable women – seem gullible, you have to remember that the film only shows a portion of what actually happened. A favourite actress of mine, freckled-faced Gemma Arterton, portrays his nemesis, a lawyer who becomes wise to his ways and determined to track him down.
The film concludes with brief information on Freegard’s conviction, imprisonment and – amazingly – release. Since the film was made, he has been indicted for alleged crimes in France.
Link: Wikipedia page on Robert Freegard click here
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Are British strikers being unreasonable?
December 16th, 2022 by Roger Darlington
“The notion of “union baron”, boogeymen/women rallying workers to the picket line at a click of their finger, is wide of the mark by a country mile. When a strike happens, it is because any semblance of good industrial relations between workers and employers has failed. Legal strikes require a vote, a high turnout, and a notice period which come after negotiations have broken down. Then the ballot papers land on door-mats and the dynamic changes. A race against time to reach a deal. Things have clearly got to be bad if it’s got to this stage.”
This is a quote from an insightful blog posting by Simon Sapper, someone I worked with as a trade union colleague and who remains a good friend. He explains how strikers have no other power if the real value of their wages is falling fast in the face of very high inflation and unreasonable demands are being made to change working practices.
Most people accept that a legal right to strike has to be one component of a genuine democracy. But too many think that strikes are only acceptable if they do not inconvenience people. Yet strikes are of no use unless they cause inconvenience.
And strikes do not just inconvenience customers or service users. They massively inconvenience the strikers themselves with serious loss of pay, hard times on the picket line or march (currently in bitterly cold conditions), and an onslaught of abuse from Government ministers and the tabloid press.
On every measure, our unequal society has become more and more unequal. All the current strikers are trying to do is minimise a further ratcheting of this inequality with an effort to maintain something like an acceptable standard of living in the face of double-digit inflation and particularly dramatic increases in the costs of the basics of life.
Footnote:
Most people have no idea how complex the law is in Britain in circumscribing the holding of industrial action. The formal advice on the subject runs to 25 pages.
Among many other requirements:
A ballot for action has to be conducted by an approved independent body.
All industrial action ballots mist be fully postal.
More than 50% of voters have to support a strike.
In the case of “important public services” (such as teachers, firefighters, health staff, transport workers), the ballot is only valid if at least 40% of the relevant workforce has voted to support the action.
Where there is more than one workplace, these 50% and 40% thresholds apply to each workplace (think how many workplaces there are in national industries or services).
The employer has to be given at least two weeks’ notice of industrial action.
The validity of the ballot expires after six months.
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A review of the 2020 film “Let Him Go”
December 13th, 2022 by Roger Darlington
I’d never heard of this movie until I can across it on Netflix. I guess its misfortune was to be released during the covid pandemic so I doubt that many people saw it at the cinema. Truth be told, I’m not sure that I would have bothered to see it a theatre but it is certainly worth viewing on television. It was written and directed by Thomas Bezucha and based on a novel of the same name. The period is 1963 and unusually the locations are Montana and North Dakota (although it was actually shot in Alberta, Canada).The plot is a simple one – two grandparents seek to recover their grandson from a an abusive situation – but the very different grandparents are interesting characters. George (played by Kevin Costner) is a retired sheriff, quiet, laconic, clear-sighted. Margaret (Diane Lane) is his wife, an accomplished horse trainer, idealistic, determined, unswerving. Both give fine performances with Lane especially impressive. The casting of British actress Lesley Manville as the matriarch of the rival family is surprising but successful.
Be aware though that this film is a slow burner as it only gradually builds up the tension. But, when the pace does quicken, you’ll feel that it was worth going along for the ride.
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A review of the film version of “Seven Years In Tibet”
December 11th, 2022 by Roger Darlington
It took me 25 years to view this 1997 film and, by then, I’d visited China four times but never managed to reach Tibet. In fact, although there was some secret filming in the Chinese-occupied territory, most of the stunning scenery in this work was shot in Argentina.So the film looks wonderful and it tells a remarkable, largely true, story: how the former Nazi, Austrian mountaineer Heinrich Harrer, found himself as a tutor and friend to the current Dalai Lama in the period just after the Second World War and the occupation of Tibet by China.
The cast is an attractive one with American Brad Pitt as Harrer and British David Thewlis as his fellow mountaineer, the German Peter Aufschnaiter, and many of the support cast having different ethnic backgrounds of Asian origin. Then there is music written by John Williams and performed by Yo-Yo Ma.
All this would encourage one to view the movie and it is worth seeing, but ultimately it is something of a disappointment. Although well-intentioned in its support of Tibetan culture and independence, as a film it is too long and too slow and lacks a certain passion.
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A review of the 2018 Battle of Britain film “Hurricane”
December 7th, 2022 by Roger Darlington
What “Dark Blue World” in 2001 did for Czechoslovaks in the wartime Royal Air Force, “Hurricane” – which had different titles in Poland and the USA – in 2018 did for Polish pilots in the RAF, namely paid tribute to brave men who left their Nazi-controlled nations to fight for liberty but were subsequently erased from history by the post-war communist regimes. This British/Polish production uses the vernacular of the characters: English, Polish, German and French.The events – which are largely true – focus on the role in the Battle of Britain of one particular Polish squadron (there were eventually 16 in the RAF): 303 or Kościuszko Squadron. Flying Hawker Hurricanes, the squadron claimed the largest number of aircraft shot down of the 66 Allied fighter squadrons engaged in the Battle of Britain, even though it joined the fray two months after the Battle had begun.
Two members of the squadron were among the highest-scoring aces of the Battle: the Czechoslovak Josef František with a score of 17 kills and the Polish Witold Urbanowicz with 16 kills to his credit. Both these pilots are represented in the film by actors of the appropriate nationality, but the lead role is assigned to another 303 pilot: the Polish/Swiss Jan Zumbach – an ace with eight victories in the Battle – who surprisingly is played by Welsh actor Iwan Rheon.
In this low budget film, the air battle sequences were shot using a combination of replica cockpits, a life-size replica Hurricane on a gimbal, a real Hurricane (one of only nine in the world) and visual effects.
Link: Wikipedia page on 303 Squadron click here
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How many of the top 100 films of all time have you actually seen or even know?
December 5th, 2022 by Roger Darlington
“Sight and Sound” magazine has announced the result of its latest 10-yearly ‘Greatest Film of All Time’ critics’ poll and Chantal Akerman’s 1975 film “Jeanne Dielman, 23 Quai du Commerce, 1080 Bruxelles” is there at No 1.“Jeanne Dielman” makes this the first time a female director has been admitted to this exclusive top spot. It has previously had only three members: Vittorio de Sica (“Bicycle Thieves” in 1952), Orson Welles (“Citizen Kane” in 1962, 1972, 1982, 1992 and 2002) and Alfred Hitchcock (“Vertigo” in 2012).
Have you actually seen “Jeanne Dielman”? I thought not. Have you even heard of it? No, me neither – and I’ve seen about 3,000 films. In fact, I’ve only seen 38 of these 100 greatest films.
It makes you wonder just have esoteric these choices are. I mean, my all-time favourite movie – “Lawrence Of Arabia” directed by David Lean – is not even mentioned.
So how many of these 100 films have you seen?
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A review of the 2000 film “In The Mood For Love”
December 4th, 2022 by Roger Darlington
This immensely stylish work by Hong Hong director Kar-wai Wong is like a Chinese version of “Brief Encounter” in that it shows a man and woman – both married – struggling with whether they should be unfaithful to their spouses, although the twist this time is that their partners are apparently already having an affair with each other. As the couple in question, handsome Tony Chiu-Wai Leung and beautiful Maggie Cheung give understated but emotional performances.Although made shortly after Hong Kong was returned to China, the story is set in the 1960s as the political uncertainties overlap with the romantic ones.
The locations are in and around one of the crowded tenement blocks so typical of the territory, but director of photography Christopher Doyle provides a mixture of languid and close-up shots that create an absorbing set of images and Cheung’s character wears such gorgeous dresses that you wonder if she really is a secretary or a model. The music of Nat King Cole, while an odd choice for a Chinese movie, simply underlines the dreamlike quality of the production.
In the 2022 “Sight & Sound” poll of the top 100 films of all time, “In The Mood For Love” – while relatively little known to western viewers – comes in at No 5.
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Word of the day: Twiddlemuff
November 30th, 2022 by Roger Darlington
A Twiddlemuff is a double thickness hand muff with bits and bobs attached inside and out. It is designed to provide a stimulation activity for restless hands for patients suffering from dementia.I came across one today while volunteering in the Older Persons’ Unit of St Thomas’ Hospital in London.
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