Archive for January, 2018


A review of the film “Jumanji: Welcome To The Jungle”

January 7th, 2018 by Roger Darlington

This is an action comedy with equal parts adventure and humour providing appeal to a wide age range of viewers. Four American teenagers on detention are sucked into an old video game where they find themselves inhabiting avatars with special skills but very different personalities (and, in once case, gender) than their real selves with […]

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What are the prospects for Africa in 2018 – and does anyone care?

January 3rd, 2018 by Roger Darlington

Over the years, I’ve been to Africa 8 times and visited eight countries (Kenya four times). But the continent is home to no less than 54 nations and, in. terms of the world’s media, very under-reported. In this short article, the Africa correspondent of the “Guardian” newspaper briefly reviews the state of the continent and […]

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A review of the 1928 film classic “October 1917”

January 3rd, 2018 by Roger Darlington

This is the black & white silent movie, written and directed by Grigoriy Aleksandrov and Sergei Eisenstein, which was produced to mark the tenth anniversary of the Bolshevik revolution in Russia and covers the dramatic events of February to November 1917. Famously it was created on such a grand scale – many scenes were shot […]

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35 films to look out for in the first months of 2018

January 2nd, 2018 by Roger Darlington

As a keen movie fan, I was attracted to a list put together today by the “Guardian” critic of 35 films that will be released in the UK in the first four months of this year. In the first weeks, I’ll be especially keen to see “Darkest Hour” and “The Post”. A little later down […]

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What is it like to be in Iran?

January 1st, 2018 by Roger Darlington

At the turn of the year, the major news from the Middle East is the wave of demonstrations in Iran. We’re not sure how these have spread so rapidly and how things will develop. But I visited Iran shortly after the last major wave of protests organised by the Green Movement and indeed made contact […]

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