In 1964, on my 13th birthday, my parents gave me my favourite present of all time: the Guinness Book of Records. I have it with me now, battered, the flyleaf in tatters but still containing some of the most interesting facts anyone could wish to know. As I read and re-read the book, I found myself memorising many of the facts without making any particular effort to do so, and my fondness for regurgitating them at school lead to my acquiring the nickname "Prof". It began an interest in trivia which I retain to this day.
The GBR is full of facts, over 20,000 of them, compiled by the McWhirters twins, Ross and Norris. Norris, older followers will recall, was a notable athlete and latterly commentator, while Ross carved a reputation with the libertarian far-right as a co-founder of the Freedom Association, and ruffled so many feathers on the left he was eventually assassinated by an offshoot of the IRA. At the height of their powers they would appear on programmes like Blue Peter and demonstrate their party trick of being able to quote on demand any and all of the 20,000 records contained in their famous book.
Facts like: what is the most stupid animal in history?
Answer: the stegosaurus, a dinosaur weighing the better part of 6 tonnes, but whose brain weighed a bare 2 1/2 ounces. This represents just 0.0012% of its body weight, as opposed to a figure of 1.88% for humans. The GBR says: "...it was probably only dimly aware it was alive..."
Or, what is the most unpronounceable word to a person whose mother tongue is English?
Answer: the Polish word for a May Bug, chrzaszcz. The compilers then quote a US reviewer who observed that this rhymes with thrzaszcz.
On the same page as this gem we can find the longest palindrome in the English language: detartrated, while nearby can be found a sentence which makes sense, despite having 11 consecutive uses of the word "had"- viz:
In a grammar test, John, where James had had "had", had had "had had": "had had" had had the teacher's approval.
You won't find unmatchable pearls of wisdom like this in the newer editions. Since the McWhirters relinquished their power to control the content it gradually degraded into the rather unsatisfactory book we find today- full of trivia about pop music and designed so gaudily you almost get a migraine just leafing through its pages, though it does make the point that your average smart phone contains more computing power and memory than did the world's most powerful computer in 1964- and that weighed several tonnes and needed a large room to house it. I guess things move on, huh...
Sunday, 30 August 2015
Thursday, 20 August 2015
So now Jeremy's an antisemite
It didn't take a genius to work out how long it would be before the right wing press got their teeth into Jeremy Corbyn. The answer is, of course, they've already started. Their first assault is on his stance on the Israel/Palestine issue. And because he expressed his disapproval of the way the Zionist regime in Tel Aviv deals with its neighbours in the occupied territories, he has been labelled a Jew baiter. Not surprisingly he has reacted with rage at this calumny. He does not, he says, support the extremists in Hamas and Hisbollah, but he has said that they will have to be included in any talks regarding a solution to the problems in that embattled region, in just the same way the IRA had to be included in talks regarding the future of northern Ireland. It's called political expediency, and most politicians of any calibre have had to use it in order to settle otherwise intractable problems.
One day, however unpalatable we may find the prospect, we may even find ourselves having to talk to IS. I have just been watching channel 4 news in which a clip filmed last year of JC speaking on Russian TV was shown. In it, Corbyn admits the atrocities perpetrated by IS in Iraq are terrible, but then reminded his audience that what the Americans did there, in Fallujah, for example, was equally heinous. This "inconvenient truth" was interpreted by commentators as him saying America is as bad as IS. Of course he was saying nothing of the kind, but never let the truth get in the way of trashing the rep of someone you don't like.
Get used to it, Jeremy. If you become leader of the Labour party, you can be sure of more of the same. A lot more.
One day, however unpalatable we may find the prospect, we may even find ourselves having to talk to IS. I have just been watching channel 4 news in which a clip filmed last year of JC speaking on Russian TV was shown. In it, Corbyn admits the atrocities perpetrated by IS in Iraq are terrible, but then reminded his audience that what the Americans did there, in Fallujah, for example, was equally heinous. This "inconvenient truth" was interpreted by commentators as him saying America is as bad as IS. Of course he was saying nothing of the kind, but never let the truth get in the way of trashing the rep of someone you don't like.
Get used to it, Jeremy. If you become leader of the Labour party, you can be sure of more of the same. A lot more.
Tuesday, 18 August 2015
Magic bullet misfires
This morning it was announced that GPs and dentists might actually be punished for prescribing antibiotics inappropriately. The reasons for this are clear and have been known for a long time. In 1976 a famous research paper was published by Nigel Stott and Robert West which showed that unless the patient was coughing up green sputum or had definitive signs of infection in the lung fields, then giving antibiotics did not speed recovery. I was in my vocational training to become a GP at the time, and it gave our tutors ammunition to demonstrate that even then antibiotics were being misused and that a new approach was needed. The problem, as we all now know, was that bacteria evolve very rapidly and adapt to antibiotics, becoming resistant and requiring the development of progressively more powerful and (potentially dangerous) agents.
Unfortunately the damage had already been done. Decades of unnecessary prescribing had educated the public to believe that antibiotics did work for self limiting ailments; that is to say, if you are given ABs on day 3 for a condition which your own immune system will clear up in a week, you are still inclined to believe the antibiotics were what cured you. This led to patients demanding treatment for colds and so on, and often hostility on their part when the treatment was denied.
It took a long time for GPs to modify their practices, and even longer for patients to take the message on board, but eventually the message permeated through and we are now in a very different place from where we were back in '76. But some GPs have hung on to the "easy way" and these are the recalcitrant medics the plans intend to punish.
There are two points I want to make here. First, let's not forget the role of vets in this whole scene. Like the doctors and dentists, they too have been guilty of overusing antibiotics to a massive degree. Second, we must guard against going too far in the opposite direction. A close friend of mine went to her doctor after she had endured a horrible cold for 2 weeks. And even though she was coughing green phlegm, the doctor still refused to treat her. Only after 2 more weeks of suffering did the doctors relent and give her the treatment she should have had two weeks before. Doctors need to work according to recognised guidelines, not fundamentalist zeal.
Saturday, 8 August 2015
Well done England!
I have just witnessed the last wicket fall in the fourth Test Match in the Ashes series and seen England take back the Ashes in spectacular style.
I was listening to TMS on Thursday, scarcely able to believe my ears as the Ozzies were destroyed by a bowling spell from Stuart Broad which has few parallels in modern cricket. 8 for 15? It doesn't even sound like a cricket score. After the Australians had been dispatched for just 60 runs, one of the commentators kept saying "All over in 18.3 overs. 18.3 overs". He was clearly unable to believe what he had just seen. True, Jim Lakers incredible figures of 9 for 37 and 10 for 53 in the 1956 Ashes test match at Old Trafford remain safe, as they may well do for all time, even though the Indian captain Anil Kumble also achieved a clean sweep of 10 for 74 in 1999 against Pakistan in New Delhi. But Broad's achievement is nonetheless magnificent for its sheer audacity. And Broady didn't enjoy one of stickiest wickets ever used in a test match, as did our Jim back in 1956.
Nice one England! You have shown how a brave new bunch of young players can sometimes thrash a team of old established masters of the game, so great credit must go to the selectors and management of the England side- and you don't get to say that very often!
I was listening to TMS on Thursday, scarcely able to believe my ears as the Ozzies were destroyed by a bowling spell from Stuart Broad which has few parallels in modern cricket. 8 for 15? It doesn't even sound like a cricket score. After the Australians had been dispatched for just 60 runs, one of the commentators kept saying "All over in 18.3 overs. 18.3 overs". He was clearly unable to believe what he had just seen. True, Jim Lakers incredible figures of 9 for 37 and 10 for 53 in the 1956 Ashes test match at Old Trafford remain safe, as they may well do for all time, even though the Indian captain Anil Kumble also achieved a clean sweep of 10 for 74 in 1999 against Pakistan in New Delhi. But Broad's achievement is nonetheless magnificent for its sheer audacity. And Broady didn't enjoy one of stickiest wickets ever used in a test match, as did our Jim back in 1956.
Nice one England! You have shown how a brave new bunch of young players can sometimes thrash a team of old established masters of the game, so great credit must go to the selectors and management of the England side- and you don't get to say that very often!
Tuesday, 4 August 2015
Correction: JC will nationalise banks
In a recent blog I said Jeremy Corbyn doesn't intend to nationalise the banks if he becomes the next Prime Minister. This morning, however, he has suggested that rather than selling off RBS as the government is doing piece by piece, the nation as a whole would be better served if it were to remain in public hands.
The sell-off of shares this morning will accrue £1.2 billion, which, according to George Osborne, will be used to reduce the national debt. This despite the fact that the British public will be losing out to the tune of £1 billion because the share price has been set at an unrealistically low figure. Reducing the national debt, George? Really? Most advanced industrial countries have vast national debts, many of them, like us, running at around the same as their GDP. In fact our debt is only 91% of our GDP. For other countries it is a lot higher, like Japan,where it is 226%, or Belgium, where it is 102%. Even the US, with all its vast natural resources and huge manufacturing base, it is 72%. We have had a substantial national debt at least since 1815, yet somehow the nation has not gone down the tubes. Yet now, for some reason, reducing it comes before preserving vital public services like libraries, community centres and many other services now under threat because of the huge cuts in public spending the Tories have introduced. It's not financial prudence we're talking about here, its politics, pure and simple.
RBS is one of the biggest banks in the world, and was when it nearly went tits up in 2008. Understandably, the Labour administration felt it had to protect people's savings, and bailed it out to the tune of several hundred billions. Slowly but surely RBS has climbed out of the pit it dug for itself through its own greed, but now, just when it looks like that, given a couple more years, it might actually be paying a dividend to the people of Britain who own it,, the Tories are selling it off at a discount price.
I find myself in full agreement with JC on this one, only I would go a little further. I say nationalise all the major banks, and the utilities and railways as well. I know the record of nationalised companies hasn't been great, but that doesn't mean it couldn't be done better this time. And as for compensating the present owners, let's do what we've done for at least the last 200 years: add it to the national debt and remain calm.
The sell-off of shares this morning will accrue £1.2 billion, which, according to George Osborne, will be used to reduce the national debt. This despite the fact that the British public will be losing out to the tune of £1 billion because the share price has been set at an unrealistically low figure. Reducing the national debt, George? Really? Most advanced industrial countries have vast national debts, many of them, like us, running at around the same as their GDP. In fact our debt is only 91% of our GDP. For other countries it is a lot higher, like Japan,where it is 226%, or Belgium, where it is 102%. Even the US, with all its vast natural resources and huge manufacturing base, it is 72%. We have had a substantial national debt at least since 1815, yet somehow the nation has not gone down the tubes. Yet now, for some reason, reducing it comes before preserving vital public services like libraries, community centres and many other services now under threat because of the huge cuts in public spending the Tories have introduced. It's not financial prudence we're talking about here, its politics, pure and simple.
RBS is one of the biggest banks in the world, and was when it nearly went tits up in 2008. Understandably, the Labour administration felt it had to protect people's savings, and bailed it out to the tune of several hundred billions. Slowly but surely RBS has climbed out of the pit it dug for itself through its own greed, but now, just when it looks like that, given a couple more years, it might actually be paying a dividend to the people of Britain who own it,, the Tories are selling it off at a discount price.
I find myself in full agreement with JC on this one, only I would go a little further. I say nationalise all the major banks, and the utilities and railways as well. I know the record of nationalised companies hasn't been great, but that doesn't mean it couldn't be done better this time. And as for compensating the present owners, let's do what we've done for at least the last 200 years: add it to the national debt and remain calm.
Saturday, 1 August 2015
July 2015 book and film review
BOOKS
FLASHMAN ON THE MARCH, by George McDonald Frazer.
In this episode of the dastardly one's progress through what appears to be all the critical events of the 19th century, we find him in Abyssinia, acting as envoy to general Napier, who has been sent to sort out Emperor Theodore, who has taken a number of British hostages and is threatening to off them, maybe by throwing them off a cliff or perhaps immolating them. He hasn't made his mind up yet. Theodore is a despot's despot, and has committed atrocities that would have even the most vicious IS militant turning away and finding a quiet place to vomit. Can Flashy penetrate his security and do what, strictly unofficially, you understand, he has been told to do: place a bullet in his brain.
As this is a Flashman novel you can be sure to find the usual spicy ingredients: a sulky, gorgeous creature (often more than one) with whom Flashy can practice his famed techniques of seduction, a genuine historical context from which we are able to learn much of our country's noble imperial past, and some truly thrilling adventures which are told with pace and verve.
Auberon Waugh has said Frazer is a far better writer than Ian Fleming, which as a firm fan of the Bond books I find a bit hard to swallow, but what I have to accept is that the Flashman books are highly entertaining, skillfully constructed and represent perhaps the apex of "Airport reading". Try any of them and see for yourself.
THE MAGIC MOUNTAIN, by Thomas Mann
In the early part of the 20th century, a young man travels from the "flatlands" of northern Germany to Switzerland to visit his cousin who is being treated for TB in a sanatorium in the high Alps. There he encounters not only his ailing relative but a whole collection of disparate characters who have been drawn together by their life-threatening plight, and the professionals who are dedicated to their cure. He finds himself stimulated, disgusted and entranced in turns by the inmates, one of whom he finds himself falling in love with, despite his better judgement...
I first read this wonderful book in 2005, and found an afterword written by Mann himself, who, in a rather unusual appeal, suggested that we read the book again. He did not specify whether we should re-read the book immediately, or leave an interval, so I chose the latter and left a full ten years between the first read and the re-appraisal.
The Magic Mountain is widely seen as one of the most important works of literature to come out of Germany in the 20th century, praised for its originality, skill of characterisation and intellectual power. Some see it as an allegory of the nameless forces that circled each other in the run-up to World War I, others as a deeply insightful analysis of health and illness, life and death and the human condition itself. For myself, I have never met anyone who having read it didn't rate it among the best books they'd ever read.
I share this view, which is only being cemented by the re-read. In addition to all its other wonders, as a medical man I found myself continually fascinated by the authentic medical detail, which gives a unique perspective on how TB was treated in the days before antibiotics. I'm afraid that the summary of that has to be, not very well, but then consumption, phthisis, or whatever you want to call this terrible plague, remains a major therapeutic challenge to this day, especially as the bacillus responsible for TB continues to evolve and become resistant to the treatments offered.
In conclusion, what a book!
FILMS
EX MACHINA (2014) D- Alex Garland. An internet trillionaire invites one of his brightest employees to his mountain retreat where he invites him to have a chat with his latest computer to see if it can pass the Turing Test. You know the one: if you have a conversation with something behind a screen and you can't distinguish its responses from that an intelligent human would make, then to all intents and purposes that machine is thinking, or at least performing all the tasks a human being does when it is thinking.
The computer in question appears to pass the test with ease; indeed, the internet mogul says "we're already way past that" and states his hidden agenda: that the computer comes in a rather attractive (if obviously mechanical) shape, and the real idea is to see if the employee can form an emotional relationship with a machine.
Stephen Hawking has spoken of the problems that might ensue once we start making computers that are self aware, and oh dear, our computer genius probably should have paid more attention to Hawking's remarks. Or read some of Asimov's robot stories, where, after establishing the three laws of robotics that are designed to keep all humans safe, then made a whole career out of writing stories about how those laws can go horribly wrong.
Channel 4 is currently showing their very good series Humans, which in some ways covers the same ground. Based on a series originally created in Sweden (in which, by the way, there were some explicit sex scenes, which for reasons of sheer prudery were dropped when the English version was made), it too addresses a world where self-aware machines wander the streets trying, just like us, to find a meaning to their existence. Alex Garland has made a fascinating and thought provoking film. I liked Domhnall Gleeson as the wide eyed computer nerd falling for the foxy Alicia Vikander as the thoughtful android, as well as Oscar Isaac as the hubris-laden internet mogul.
Good stuff.
THE BLADE (1995) D- Tsui Hark. 2 men work in a Chinese sword-making factory when they protect a monk being assaulted by a bunch of thugs. Badly beaten, they swear revenge, while the two men, who start out as firm friends, become enemies when one is anointed the new factory boss when the owner retires. What follows is a bewildering array of cinematic techniques, super-tight close-ups, vivid colour washes, balletic violence and lots and lots of blood.
I only saw this film 2 weeks ago and I have already forgotten some of the plot elements- no matter. What remains is a dazzling memory of the look of the film- and I'm not the only one. Numerous actioners since have borrowed heavily from the cinematography and general style of the movie- none more so than Quentin Tarantino, who lifted wholesale many of its techniques into his own films, notably the Kill Bill series.
Ground breaking stuff.
JURASSIC WORLD (2015) D- Colin Trevorrow. Oh no, they've opened another dinosaur theme park, and this time, not content with your run-of-the-mill T rexes and velociraptors, they have genetically created brand new, super dinosaurs with bigger fangs and super-claws. Can you guess how far into the movie you get before everything goes horribly wrong?
I saw the first Jurassic Park movie in 1993- loved it and thought I was witnessing the cutting edge of computer-graphiced special effects. And it didn't hurt that it was made by the film world's top, grand-scale thriller producer. This film owes a great deal to that first offering, and acknowledges it in frequent and sometimes hilarious references. All this adds a rather endearing quality to the picture, which also demonstrates how little progress has been made in computer graphics despite an intervening period of more than 20 years.
KATYN (2007)D- Andres Wajda. In September 1939 Germany invaded Poland from the west. Shortly thereafter, the Soviets invaded from the east, and as the two states had signed a non aggression pact there was an uneasy stalemate which persisted until June 1941 when Hitler ordered the invasion of Russia itself. Once they occupied the whole country, the Nazis discovered evidence of a terrible massacre committed in the Katyn forest. Anything up to 20,000 people had been murdered, doctors, lawyers, academics, the entire officer class of the Polish military: basically the cream of Polish intelligentsia.They were quick to publicise the evidence, but the Russians countered by saying that the Nazis, and not they, had committed the atrocity. And here is the heart of this film: the mystery surrounding the massacre; what was known and who knew it? It is now known, only because Gorbachev released the relevant documents in the late 1980s, that the Russians were indeed to blame. But back in the middle of WWII, who will reveal the truth, and who will find the knowledge impossible to bear?
Powerful stuff, though not for the faint hearted.
ON THE ROAD (2012) D- Walter Salles. Being the life and times of Dean Moriarty, aka Neal Cassady (Garrett Hedlund), key figure of America's 1950 "Beat Generation", who rubbed shoulders with Alan Ginsberg, Ken Kesey and most of the other players in that crazy, excessively talented cohort. If you have read Jack Kerouack's famous book, you will already be acquainted with these figures, and know that their lives, while being doubtless infinitely entertaining for them, left a swathe of disappointed, abandoned people in their wake, and this is well demonstrated in the movie. Kristen Stewart shines brightly as the muse to Moriarty and others; most of the men, however, come over as selfish, hedonistic assholes, which I have to say in the last analysis they were. I have known a few speed freaks in my time, and this is how they live: a high octane, self obsessed existence with little regard for others. In fact, the film shows all this rather well; too well in fact, as it threatens to become a little dull with its repetitive themes.
MAGIC IN THE MOONLIGHT (2014) D- Woody Allen. A famous magician devotes his spare time to exposing fake mediums- until he comes across someone who might actually be the real deal. It doesn't hurt that she is an extremely attractive and intelligent woman. Nonetheless, he will stop at nothing to expose her as a fraud- if she is one, that is.
Woody Allen once said that when sex is good it's really good, and when it's bad, it's still pretty good. I'd say the same about his movies. When they're good (Blue Jasmine, Crimes and Misdemeanours) they aspire to genuine greatness; even when they're not so great, like this one, they're still better than most other films you'll see in any given year. Colin Firth is excellent as the wood-be debunker, and Emma Stone highly appealing as the medium who seems to know everything before anyone else.
MIRROR MIRROR (2012) D- Tarsam Singh. An evil queen (Julia Roberts) uses dark forces to keep her realm in thrall, but a beautiful young girl (Lily Collins) threatens to be rather more than a fly in her pot of cold cream. She would murder her rival, but she escapes her assassins and falls in with a gang of diminutive neer-do-wells.
Played as much for laughs as thrills, this re-working of Snow White works quite well. Roberts clearly relishes the chance of playing a super-villain, while the Seven Dwarves ((or Seven Little People as we should now refer to them) warm to their roles with great glee.
Pretty good, really.
FLASHMAN ON THE MARCH, by George McDonald Frazer.
In this episode of the dastardly one's progress through what appears to be all the critical events of the 19th century, we find him in Abyssinia, acting as envoy to general Napier, who has been sent to sort out Emperor Theodore, who has taken a number of British hostages and is threatening to off them, maybe by throwing them off a cliff or perhaps immolating them. He hasn't made his mind up yet. Theodore is a despot's despot, and has committed atrocities that would have even the most vicious IS militant turning away and finding a quiet place to vomit. Can Flashy penetrate his security and do what, strictly unofficially, you understand, he has been told to do: place a bullet in his brain.
As this is a Flashman novel you can be sure to find the usual spicy ingredients: a sulky, gorgeous creature (often more than one) with whom Flashy can practice his famed techniques of seduction, a genuine historical context from which we are able to learn much of our country's noble imperial past, and some truly thrilling adventures which are told with pace and verve.
Auberon Waugh has said Frazer is a far better writer than Ian Fleming, which as a firm fan of the Bond books I find a bit hard to swallow, but what I have to accept is that the Flashman books are highly entertaining, skillfully constructed and represent perhaps the apex of "Airport reading". Try any of them and see for yourself.
THE MAGIC MOUNTAIN, by Thomas Mann
In the early part of the 20th century, a young man travels from the "flatlands" of northern Germany to Switzerland to visit his cousin who is being treated for TB in a sanatorium in the high Alps. There he encounters not only his ailing relative but a whole collection of disparate characters who have been drawn together by their life-threatening plight, and the professionals who are dedicated to their cure. He finds himself stimulated, disgusted and entranced in turns by the inmates, one of whom he finds himself falling in love with, despite his better judgement...
I first read this wonderful book in 2005, and found an afterword written by Mann himself, who, in a rather unusual appeal, suggested that we read the book again. He did not specify whether we should re-read the book immediately, or leave an interval, so I chose the latter and left a full ten years between the first read and the re-appraisal.
The Magic Mountain is widely seen as one of the most important works of literature to come out of Germany in the 20th century, praised for its originality, skill of characterisation and intellectual power. Some see it as an allegory of the nameless forces that circled each other in the run-up to World War I, others as a deeply insightful analysis of health and illness, life and death and the human condition itself. For myself, I have never met anyone who having read it didn't rate it among the best books they'd ever read.
I share this view, which is only being cemented by the re-read. In addition to all its other wonders, as a medical man I found myself continually fascinated by the authentic medical detail, which gives a unique perspective on how TB was treated in the days before antibiotics. I'm afraid that the summary of that has to be, not very well, but then consumption, phthisis, or whatever you want to call this terrible plague, remains a major therapeutic challenge to this day, especially as the bacillus responsible for TB continues to evolve and become resistant to the treatments offered.
In conclusion, what a book!
FILMS
EX MACHINA (2014) D- Alex Garland. An internet trillionaire invites one of his brightest employees to his mountain retreat where he invites him to have a chat with his latest computer to see if it can pass the Turing Test. You know the one: if you have a conversation with something behind a screen and you can't distinguish its responses from that an intelligent human would make, then to all intents and purposes that machine is thinking, or at least performing all the tasks a human being does when it is thinking.
The computer in question appears to pass the test with ease; indeed, the internet mogul says "we're already way past that" and states his hidden agenda: that the computer comes in a rather attractive (if obviously mechanical) shape, and the real idea is to see if the employee can form an emotional relationship with a machine.
Stephen Hawking has spoken of the problems that might ensue once we start making computers that are self aware, and oh dear, our computer genius probably should have paid more attention to Hawking's remarks. Or read some of Asimov's robot stories, where, after establishing the three laws of robotics that are designed to keep all humans safe, then made a whole career out of writing stories about how those laws can go horribly wrong.
Channel 4 is currently showing their very good series Humans, which in some ways covers the same ground. Based on a series originally created in Sweden (in which, by the way, there were some explicit sex scenes, which for reasons of sheer prudery were dropped when the English version was made), it too addresses a world where self-aware machines wander the streets trying, just like us, to find a meaning to their existence. Alex Garland has made a fascinating and thought provoking film. I liked Domhnall Gleeson as the wide eyed computer nerd falling for the foxy Alicia Vikander as the thoughtful android, as well as Oscar Isaac as the hubris-laden internet mogul.
Good stuff.
THE BLADE (1995) D- Tsui Hark. 2 men work in a Chinese sword-making factory when they protect a monk being assaulted by a bunch of thugs. Badly beaten, they swear revenge, while the two men, who start out as firm friends, become enemies when one is anointed the new factory boss when the owner retires. What follows is a bewildering array of cinematic techniques, super-tight close-ups, vivid colour washes, balletic violence and lots and lots of blood.
I only saw this film 2 weeks ago and I have already forgotten some of the plot elements- no matter. What remains is a dazzling memory of the look of the film- and I'm not the only one. Numerous actioners since have borrowed heavily from the cinematography and general style of the movie- none more so than Quentin Tarantino, who lifted wholesale many of its techniques into his own films, notably the Kill Bill series.
Ground breaking stuff.
JURASSIC WORLD (2015) D- Colin Trevorrow. Oh no, they've opened another dinosaur theme park, and this time, not content with your run-of-the-mill T rexes and velociraptors, they have genetically created brand new, super dinosaurs with bigger fangs and super-claws. Can you guess how far into the movie you get before everything goes horribly wrong?
I saw the first Jurassic Park movie in 1993- loved it and thought I was witnessing the cutting edge of computer-graphiced special effects. And it didn't hurt that it was made by the film world's top, grand-scale thriller producer. This film owes a great deal to that first offering, and acknowledges it in frequent and sometimes hilarious references. All this adds a rather endearing quality to the picture, which also demonstrates how little progress has been made in computer graphics despite an intervening period of more than 20 years.
KATYN (2007)D- Andres Wajda. In September 1939 Germany invaded Poland from the west. Shortly thereafter, the Soviets invaded from the east, and as the two states had signed a non aggression pact there was an uneasy stalemate which persisted until June 1941 when Hitler ordered the invasion of Russia itself. Once they occupied the whole country, the Nazis discovered evidence of a terrible massacre committed in the Katyn forest. Anything up to 20,000 people had been murdered, doctors, lawyers, academics, the entire officer class of the Polish military: basically the cream of Polish intelligentsia.They were quick to publicise the evidence, but the Russians countered by saying that the Nazis, and not they, had committed the atrocity. And here is the heart of this film: the mystery surrounding the massacre; what was known and who knew it? It is now known, only because Gorbachev released the relevant documents in the late 1980s, that the Russians were indeed to blame. But back in the middle of WWII, who will reveal the truth, and who will find the knowledge impossible to bear?
Powerful stuff, though not for the faint hearted.
ON THE ROAD (2012) D- Walter Salles. Being the life and times of Dean Moriarty, aka Neal Cassady (Garrett Hedlund), key figure of America's 1950 "Beat Generation", who rubbed shoulders with Alan Ginsberg, Ken Kesey and most of the other players in that crazy, excessively talented cohort. If you have read Jack Kerouack's famous book, you will already be acquainted with these figures, and know that their lives, while being doubtless infinitely entertaining for them, left a swathe of disappointed, abandoned people in their wake, and this is well demonstrated in the movie. Kristen Stewart shines brightly as the muse to Moriarty and others; most of the men, however, come over as selfish, hedonistic assholes, which I have to say in the last analysis they were. I have known a few speed freaks in my time, and this is how they live: a high octane, self obsessed existence with little regard for others. In fact, the film shows all this rather well; too well in fact, as it threatens to become a little dull with its repetitive themes.
MAGIC IN THE MOONLIGHT (2014) D- Woody Allen. A famous magician devotes his spare time to exposing fake mediums- until he comes across someone who might actually be the real deal. It doesn't hurt that she is an extremely attractive and intelligent woman. Nonetheless, he will stop at nothing to expose her as a fraud- if she is one, that is.
Woody Allen once said that when sex is good it's really good, and when it's bad, it's still pretty good. I'd say the same about his movies. When they're good (Blue Jasmine, Crimes and Misdemeanours) they aspire to genuine greatness; even when they're not so great, like this one, they're still better than most other films you'll see in any given year. Colin Firth is excellent as the wood-be debunker, and Emma Stone highly appealing as the medium who seems to know everything before anyone else.
MIRROR MIRROR (2012) D- Tarsam Singh. An evil queen (Julia Roberts) uses dark forces to keep her realm in thrall, but a beautiful young girl (Lily Collins) threatens to be rather more than a fly in her pot of cold cream. She would murder her rival, but she escapes her assassins and falls in with a gang of diminutive neer-do-wells.
Played as much for laughs as thrills, this re-working of Snow White works quite well. Roberts clearly relishes the chance of playing a super-villain, while the Seven Dwarves ((or Seven Little People as we should now refer to them) warm to their roles with great glee.
Pretty good, really.
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