Archive for February, 2024
A review of the book “But What Can I Do?” by Alastair Campbell
February 24th, 2024 by Roger Darlington
The last book that I read was “Why We Get The Wrong Politicians” by Isabel Hardman. In my view, that work put too much emphasis and blame on individuals for the current state of British politics, spent far too much time describing the problem and very little time suggesting remedies, and was overly pessimistic about the present […]
Posted in British current affairs | Comments (0)
How good is your Chinese history?
February 20th, 2024 by Roger Darlington
This week, it’s half-term in the town where my two granddaughters live and I’ve agreed to entertain each of them for a day. Today was the turn of the younger who is seven. I asked her what she’d learned at school recently and she told me that they had been studying the Shang Dynasty. Now […]
Posted in History | Comments (0)
A review of the 2020 film “The Courier”
February 18th, 2024 by Roger Darlington
This espionage drama made little impact on its release because, at that time, we were just emerging from a global pandemic and cinemas were struggling to attract customers. Russia had not yet invaded Georgia and threatened to use nuclear weapons. But it is a film that is worth seeing because it is based on a […]
Posted in Cultural issues | Comments (1)
A review of the 2022 film “Aftersun”
February 17th, 2024 by Roger Darlington
By the time that I caught up with this film, it had received 121 nominations and 33 awards, so the critics clearly adored it, and I wanted very much to do so too. I love to see new talent and this is the feature film debut of Scottish director, writer and producer Charlotte Wells. The […]
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Three quotes from three US presidents
February 13th, 2024 by Roger Darlington
“Ich bin ein Berliner.” — President John F. Kennedy, June 26, 1963 “Mr. Gorbachev, tear down this wall!” — President Ronald Reagan, June 12, 1987 “I would encourage [the Russians] to do whatever the hell they want.” — Donald Trump, February 10, 2024
Posted in American current affairs | Comments (0)
A review of the inspirational new film “Nyad”
February 12th, 2024 by Roger Darlington
How would anybody even think of swimming nonstop from Cuba to Florida? This is a 110-mile stretch of ocean bedevilled by powerful currents, sharks and jelly fish. American long-distance swimmer Diana Nyad knew better than anyone what would be involved and how impossible it would be. After all, when she was 28, she had tried […]
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A review the new film “The Zone Of Interest”
February 11th, 2024 by Roger Darlington
This is a really disturbing film about the greatest crime against humanity: the Holocaust of the Second World War. It is loosely based on the novel of the same name by British writer Martin Amis and it is both written and directed by Jonathan Glazer who is both British and Jewish. It is largely set […]
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I always like to have a project
February 10th, 2024 by Roger Darlington
Last year, my project was to write a memoir in time for circulation at my 75th birthday on 25 June 2023. I did it. It’s called “Roger And (Not) Out” and you can find it in Amazon. This year, my project is to curate a series of interviews of staff and residents at the apartment […]
Posted in My life & thoughts | Comments (0)
A review of the new film “Society Of The Snow”
February 7th, 2024 by Roger Darlington
Uruguayan Air Force Flight 571 was the chartered flight of a Fairchild FH-227D from Montevideo, Uruguay, to Santiago, Chile, that crashed in the Andes mountains on 13 October 1972. The flight was carrying 45 passengers and crew, including 19 members of the Old Christians Club rugby union team, along with their families, supporters and friends. […]
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A review of the new film “American Fiction”
February 4th, 2024 by Roger Darlington
This is an African-American work in the sense that the source material (the novel “Erasure” by Percival Everett), the writer and director (Cord Jefferson in a feature-film debut), almost all the actors, and the subject material are all African-American. But this is not “The Color Purple”; instead the message of the movie is that most […]
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