A review of the new movie “Don’t Look Up”
January 3rd, 2022 by Roger Darlington
Director Adam McKay is responsible for some fine films, notably “The Big Short” which dissected the sub-prime housing crisis in the US and “Vice” which shone a bright light on the administration of the second Bush president.
Here he presents a hugely ambitious and often sharp satire of the current failure of so much of America’s political and media establishment to accept the validity of science and screamingly obvious facts. If that failure was bad enough in the case of Trump and his supporters in relation to the global pandemic, this movie tells the story of reaction to the news that a large comet is about to hit the Earth and extinguish humankind.
The work sports a fabulous cast including Jennifer Lawrence as the red-haired astronomer who first discovered the killer comet, Leonard DiCaprio as the bearded lead scientist warning of the threat, Meryl Streep as the blonde-haired president who is in denial, an (almost) unrecognisable Mark Rylance as the IT guru advising the president, and Cate Blanchett as a vapid television host, not to mention Jonah Hill, Timothée Chalamet, Ron Perlman and even Ariana Grande.
So much of the script resonates with recent American politics, such as the injunction to the president’s supporters that they can ignore the comet in the sky if they “Don’t look up”, an echo of the call at Trump rallies that the right course of action to Hillary Clinton is to “Lock her up”.
The film has had a mixed reception. The public has largely loved it but critics have been more sceptical. I confess that, much though I endorse the message that we need to listen to scientists and much though there are some delightfully comic scenes, I incline towards the position of the critics.
Satire needs to walk a fine line between credibility and craziness and, for me, too much of the material is simply cartoonish. Based on his abundant resources of big data and artificial intelligence, the guru figure makes two predictions as to how leading characters will die. His short-term prediction – a matter of months ahead – is totally wrong, while his long-term forecast – 22,740 years in the future – is astonishingly accurate. Does this matter? To me, it represents some of the flaws in the movie: too often outlandish and off-target.
Posted in Uncategorized | Comments (0)
The sad burning of the South African Parliament Building
January 3rd, 2022 by Roger Darlington
I was sad to hear of the news of the fire at the South African Parliament Building in Cape Town. Somehow it seems symbolic of the flawed attempt to create a new democracy in South Africa. But more immediately it poses questions such as: how did the arsonist gain entry to the building? why did the water sprinkler system not work properly? can the building be restored?
In 2004, I went on a holiday to South Africa which included time in Cape Town and I visited the Parliament Building. In my account of the trip, I wrote:
“Friday was our last day in Cape Town and in South Africa – and it was raining. But this did not stop Roger from organising a mini tour which continued the ‘political’ theme of the day before.
First, we walked over to the Houses of Parliament [click here] on Government Avenue. The building was originally opened in 1885, but obviously the arrival of a multicultural democracy has transformed the establishment. We asked if we could go on a tour of the building and were disappointed to be advised that a week’s notice of such requests is required. However, we found that a school group was expected shortly and it was suggested that, if the teacher did not mind, we could join her pupils on their tour.
This is what happened. It was only a short visit, but we were able to see the National Assembly. This has 400 members representing 12 parties who are elected by universal suffrage and proportional representation using the nine provinces as huge multi-member constituencies and the country as a whole as a final constituency to ensure a proportionate result. Members sit in a horseshoe-shaped pattern with the Government (the African National Congress) to the right of the speaker (a woman) and the Opposition (the Democratic Alliance and others) to the left – just like at Westminster (they even call the recording of debates Hansard).
The other house is called the National Council of Provinces. It has 90 members and each of the provincial legislatures nominates 10 members, regardless of the size of the province, four permanent and six rotating. The new democratic parliament has been sitting for ten years and, to mark this first decade, there was a long banner on the outside of the building setting out the titles of the main items of legislation carried.”
You can read the full account of my holiday in Southern Africa here.
Posted in My life & thoughts, World current affairs | Comments (0)
26 people to watch in 2022
January 2nd, 2022 by Roger Darlington
The “Observer” newspaper has done us a favour in highlighting 26 people who will play an important part in shaping the next year ranging from UK politics to world politics and from media to sports. Check out the piece here.
Posted in Uncategorized | Comments (0)
It’s a special anniversary for my diary writing
December 31st, 2021 by Roger Darlington
On New Year’s Eve 1961, I started to write a diary.
Since then, I’ve managed an entry for every single day. So today I celebrate exactly 60 years of recording my daily activities. The total number of daily entries now stands at 21,913.
The historian David Kynaston has made a total of six visits to study my diaries and included two references in his new book “On The Cusp” on the year 1962 .
Posted in My life & thoughts | Comments (0)
What can the world expect in 2022? Another year of living dangerously.
December 30th, 2021 by Roger Darlington
“On the brink of a new year, the world faces a daunting array of challenges: the resurgent Covid-19 pandemic, the climate emergency, the struggle between democracy and authoritarianism, humanitarian crises, mass migration, and trans-national terrorism. There is the risk of new inter-state conflicts, exacerbated by the breakdown of the rules-based international order, and the spread of lethal autonomous weapons. All in all, for most people on Earth – and a handful in space – 2022 will be another year of living dangerously.”
This is opening paragraph of an article in today’s “Guardian” newspaper which provides an useful, if sobering, review of the current state of humankind.
Speaking personally, I’m hoping that 2022 can be ‘the year of travel’. I really want to go abroad a few times to make up for two years at home. We’ll have to see if that’s possible …
Posted in World current affairs | Comments (0)
A review of the classic German war film “Das Boot”
December 29th, 2021 by Roger Darlington
“The Boat” is a German war film with an interesting genesis and aftermath. In 1941, war correspondent Lothar-Günther Buchheim joined German submarine U-96 on a patrol as part of the hard-fought Battle of the Atlantic. In 1973, he published a best-selling novel called simply “Das Boot” based on his experiences aboard U-96. Wolfgang Petersen then wrote and directed a film of the same title based on the novel and this was released in its initial theatrical form in 1981 (how I first viewed it) and then as a director’s cut in 1997 (how I subsequently saw it).
The first version lasted two and a half hours, while the director’s cut ran to three and a half hours. In between the two cinematic versions, German television broadcast a five-hour version as a mini series.
Quite rightly the work has been both a commercial and a critical success and viewing it is a nerve-wracking experience. It is very rare for a non-English speaking film to receive an Academy Award nomination outside of the Best Foreign Film category, but “Das Boat” received no less than six (although it did not actually win any).
The film had one of the largest budgets in the history of German cinema and the sets and sound are terrific with the claustrophobic nature of the submarine constantly hammered home. The captain of the real U-96 during Buchheim’s 1941 patrol served as a consultant which ensured the authenticity of the operation although some of the narrative is fiction. A fine cast is led by Jürgen Prochnow as the submarine captain.
Posted in Cultural issues | Comments (0)
My Christmas gift to you
December 26th, 2021 by Roger Darlington
It’s my latest short story entitled “After Life” which you can read here.
To access all my short stories click here
If you would like to have my short stories in book form, you can purchase “The Rooms In My Mind” for a very modest price on Amazon click here
Posted in My life & thoughts | Comments (0)
Life at the moment feels like a waiting game
December 20th, 2021 by Roger Darlington
I’m waiting to see if …
… England enters into some kind of fourth lockdown to combat the impact of the Omicron variant of the corona virus
… the western nations will honour their undertakings to provide anti-covid vaccines to the developing nations so that we reduce the incidence of deaths, illness and new variants
… Prime Minister Boris Johnson will be pushed out of office for his serial lying and gross incompetence
… President Joe Biden can somehow persuade the US Congress to approve his infrastructure bill
… Russia invades Ukraine and, if so, how far will the Russians advance and what will be the death toll
… China invades Taiwan and, if so, what will be the American reaction and the consequences for the world
… Israel launches bombing raids on Iran to prevent the latter acquiring a nuclear capability
Posted in My life & thoughts | Comments (0)
A review of the new blockbuster “Spider-Man: No Way Home”
December 19th, 2021 by Roger Darlington
After almost two years of the global pandemic, demand was high for a new Marvel movie and, if I wanted to see it in IMAX on the opening weekend, to secure a decent seat I had to attend the showing at 8 am on the Sunday morning. But it was worth it to forget the Omicron variant for a couple of hours and enjoy a genuinely entertaining spin on the Spidey story.
First, we had three “Spider-Man” movies directed by Sam Raimi with Tobey Maguire in the eponymous role; then we had two “Amazing Spider-Man” films helmed by Marc Web with Andrew Garfield as the titular super-hero; now we have third offering from director Jon Watts with the third representation of the arachnidic super-hero played by Tom Holland.
What’s new in the reel world is that, as revealed in an end of credits clip last time, the identity of Spider-Man is now public knowledge and what’s new in the real world, as revealed by the media, is that Holland (Peter Parker) is now in an actual relationship with Zendaya (Michelle Jones aka MJ).
Doctor Strange (Benedict Cumberbatch) tries to sort out the exposure of Spider-Man’s identity, but finds that meddling with the multiverse can bring all sorts of earlier characters in the franchise crashing into the here and now, providing all kinds of set-ups, both threatening and amusing. As always, stay for the two clips in the middle of and at the very end of the credits.
Posted in Cultural issues | Comments (0)
The grim record of covid deaths in the United States
December 15th, 2021 by Roger Darlington
The US death toll from Covid-19 has passed 800,000, a once-unimaginable figure seen as doubly tragic given that more than 200,000 of those lives were lost after vaccines became available last spring. The figure represents the highest reported toll of any country in the world and is likely to be even higher.
The US accounts for approximately 4% of the world’s population but about 15% of the 5.3 million known deaths from coronavirus since the outbreak began in China two years ago.The grim milestone comes as the world braces for a rise in cases of the new Omicron variant, with the World Health Organisation (WHO) warning it is spreading at an unprecedented rate.
The deadly milestone comes as cases and hospitalisations are on the rise again in the US, driven by the highly contagious Delta variant, with the new variant Omicron posing a fresh threat. About 200 million Americans are vaccinated, or just over 60% of the population. That is well short of what scientists say is needed to keep the virus in check.
Posted in American current affairs, Science & technology | Comments (0)