PADDINGTON TWO (2017) D- Paul King
When everybody’s favourite CGI-rendered bear falls victim to false allegations of theft by evil (but delicious) Hugh Grant, he finds himself doing hard time. But his irrepressible nature wins the hearts of even the most hardened recidivists on the inside, and a prison break is planned so that he might clear his name. What’s not to like?
Not a lot, apparently. The film followed on the critical and public success of the first Paddington movie, though some, like me, found it took a long time to get going, with too much emphasis on the perfect middle class existence of his adopted family. Still, as a foil to the unrelenting violence of John Wick 2, it’s hard to beat. Premier league Christmas movie fodder.
THE BEGUILED (1971) D- Don Siegel
THE BEGUILED (2017) D- Sophia Coppola
A wounded confederate soldier stumbles into a girl’s school where he is taken in and his wounds tended to. Soon the teachers and pupils begin to become beguiled (geddit?) by their unusual charge. Some of the older pupils fancy the hell out of him; the younger ones think he’s just great, while the teachers, well, they daren’t admit what they feel, even to themselves.
I group these two films together because in many ways, the second is almost a shot-for- shot remake of the first. The Coppola version had the virtue of a much bigger budget, allowing it to have a remarkably authentic feel. Much of of the money went on the women’s costumes and general look, making them appear exactly like photos from that era. Both films convey a strange, claustrophobic atmosphere which certainly draws the viewer in but, I found myself asking, does the new film really add much to Siegel’s original? I don’t think so, and I think it a shame such a talented director as Sophia Coppola didn’t find an original project on which to exercise her abundant talent. Oh well...
LIFE (2017) D- Daniel Espinosa
The crew of the ISS discover the first evidence of life outside the Earth. Then it starts evolving at an alarming rate, from a single-called organism to something resembling a remarkably vindictive octopus in mere days. First one astronaut, then another is strangled, and they begin to think, screw the ground-breaking discovery aspect of this thing, we’ve just got to kill it. Which proves a lot harder than they might have hoped...
You may remember Ivan Reitman’s hilarious film Evolution featuring David Ducovny. Well, with Life, just think that minus the laughs. Throw in a touch of Ridley Scott’s Alien and you’ve got the whole film, right there. Yes, it’s well made with sound performances, and yes, it is very scary, but I couldn’t help thinking, hey, it’s been done before. Try harder people! There’s no shortage of quality sci-fi novels out there waiting to be filmed.
Friday, 29 December 2017
December 2017 movie review part 1
CRISS CROSS (1949) D- Robert Siodmak
Received wisdom tells any prospective bank robber that you can’t rob an armoured car. Unless you’ve got an inside man. Enter Burt Lancaster, who just happens to work for a security company. Problem solved. Or is it? They might still have to shoot a guard, an idea Burt isn’t fond of, but then he owes the gang leader a big favour.
To me this film is the very definition of film noir. It’s beautifully shot in black and white, and carries a plot line so dark I’m surprised it got through the producers, who in those days would often insert a happy ending, regardless of the writer’s and director’s wishes. Sometimes it was the censors who would insist, fearful an innocent public might be corrupted by a plot line suggesting that crime pays and that murder is part of the game when it comes to robbery. Times have changed a lot, as we shall see later on in this review. But here it is clear that even nearly 70 years ago, some courageous film makers did not shy away from depicting the darker aspects of human behaviour. Brilliant.
JOHN WICK PART TWO (2017) D- Chad Stahelski.
Hitman John Wick (Keanu Reeves) would retire, but a Mafia boss makes him an offer he cannot refuse: kill the boss’s sister. Having achieved this difficult task (she is surrounded by tough guys 24/7), the boss, showing a remarkable lack of gratitude, puts out a contract on him, and the price on his head: a cool 7 million bucks. Suddenly every hitman in New York (and there appear to be hundreds of them) is anxious to collect the fee. With every assassin in the world now out to kill John Wick, how can he possibly survive even one day?
If you’re asking that question you clearly don’t know how John operates. In the first film, someone asks a gang boss if he is the ‘boogeyman’. The boss replies: “John Wick isn’t the boogeyman. He’s the man you send to kill the boogeyman.”
Despite all this violence (we see John, personally, kill 128 people; it was only 84 in the first film) there is a strict ‘assassin’s code’ which must never be broken. Referee of the code is a mysterious man called Winston, (played with suitable gravitas by Ian McShane), to whom everyone defers. We don’t know why, and it’s probably best not to ask.
I enjoyed this film enormously, and it went down well with critics around the world too, which begs a question: what’s so fun about watching a man murder so many people, with knives, guns (he favours the head shot, obviously, as you tend to stop being a threat after that) and even, in three cases, a pencil? Well first, he only kills people who are trying to kill him. Second, the whole thing is done with such style and panache it is almost balletic in its beauty. Directed by a man who was principle stunt co-ordinator for The Matrix movies, this film takes the phrase ‘killer movie’ to a new level.
SOPHIE’S CHOICE (1982) D- Alan J. Pakula
In post-war Brooklyn, an aspiring writer improbably named ‘Stingo’ (Peter McNicol) makes friends with the girl upstairs, Sophie (Meryl Streep), who has a rather nervy boyf (Kevin Kline). The 3 become inseparable, though they have to cope with Kevin’s bizarre and sometimes terrible mood swings. Turns out Sophie has some sort of past, perhaps something that happened in the war, but it is not until near the end do we hear what this ‘choice’ thing is about, and when we do find out it almost seems peripheral, though of course it isn’t.
Merry Streep has never been more beautiful, or acted better, than in this movie, which rightly won her the best actress Oscar that year. But the other 2 players are also strong, even if the ‘Stingo’ character is a little contentious. Does he need to be there at all? I found myself asking. But writer William Styron, whose novel the film is based on, clearly thought so, and Pakula agreed. The result is a very special, if sometimes annoying, movie, which has failed to date despite the 30 year interim. Give it a go.
Received wisdom tells any prospective bank robber that you can’t rob an armoured car. Unless you’ve got an inside man. Enter Burt Lancaster, who just happens to work for a security company. Problem solved. Or is it? They might still have to shoot a guard, an idea Burt isn’t fond of, but then he owes the gang leader a big favour.
To me this film is the very definition of film noir. It’s beautifully shot in black and white, and carries a plot line so dark I’m surprised it got through the producers, who in those days would often insert a happy ending, regardless of the writer’s and director’s wishes. Sometimes it was the censors who would insist, fearful an innocent public might be corrupted by a plot line suggesting that crime pays and that murder is part of the game when it comes to robbery. Times have changed a lot, as we shall see later on in this review. But here it is clear that even nearly 70 years ago, some courageous film makers did not shy away from depicting the darker aspects of human behaviour. Brilliant.
JOHN WICK PART TWO (2017) D- Chad Stahelski.
Hitman John Wick (Keanu Reeves) would retire, but a Mafia boss makes him an offer he cannot refuse: kill the boss’s sister. Having achieved this difficult task (she is surrounded by tough guys 24/7), the boss, showing a remarkable lack of gratitude, puts out a contract on him, and the price on his head: a cool 7 million bucks. Suddenly every hitman in New York (and there appear to be hundreds of them) is anxious to collect the fee. With every assassin in the world now out to kill John Wick, how can he possibly survive even one day?
If you’re asking that question you clearly don’t know how John operates. In the first film, someone asks a gang boss if he is the ‘boogeyman’. The boss replies: “John Wick isn’t the boogeyman. He’s the man you send to kill the boogeyman.”
Despite all this violence (we see John, personally, kill 128 people; it was only 84 in the first film) there is a strict ‘assassin’s code’ which must never be broken. Referee of the code is a mysterious man called Winston, (played with suitable gravitas by Ian McShane), to whom everyone defers. We don’t know why, and it’s probably best not to ask.
I enjoyed this film enormously, and it went down well with critics around the world too, which begs a question: what’s so fun about watching a man murder so many people, with knives, guns (he favours the head shot, obviously, as you tend to stop being a threat after that) and even, in three cases, a pencil? Well first, he only kills people who are trying to kill him. Second, the whole thing is done with such style and panache it is almost balletic in its beauty. Directed by a man who was principle stunt co-ordinator for The Matrix movies, this film takes the phrase ‘killer movie’ to a new level.
SOPHIE’S CHOICE (1982) D- Alan J. Pakula
In post-war Brooklyn, an aspiring writer improbably named ‘Stingo’ (Peter McNicol) makes friends with the girl upstairs, Sophie (Meryl Streep), who has a rather nervy boyf (Kevin Kline). The 3 become inseparable, though they have to cope with Kevin’s bizarre and sometimes terrible mood swings. Turns out Sophie has some sort of past, perhaps something that happened in the war, but it is not until near the end do we hear what this ‘choice’ thing is about, and when we do find out it almost seems peripheral, though of course it isn’t.
Merry Streep has never been more beautiful, or acted better, than in this movie, which rightly won her the best actress Oscar that year. But the other 2 players are also strong, even if the ‘Stingo’ character is a little contentious. Does he need to be there at all? I found myself asking. But writer William Styron, whose novel the film is based on, clearly thought so, and Pakula agreed. The result is a very special, if sometimes annoying, movie, which has failed to date despite the 30 year interim. Give it a go.
December 2017 book review
REPORTER by Trevor Fishlock
Our Trev (yes, I know him. He is one of the few people who has made the transition from patient to friend) has spent his entire life in journalism, from humble beginnings in his local rag to roving correspondent, first for the Telegraph and latterly with The Times. Hence he is one of those people who, on hearing of trouble flaring in any given location around the world, does not, like most of us, cross it off their list of holiday destinations, but rather gets on the next plane there. Kosovo, Afghanistan, Haiti, he has been there on the front line as great and terrible events are taking place, sometimes putting his life in danger to do so.
“My goodness, Mr Fishlock, you have led an interesting life!” Is the sort of thing he must hear all the time, and it’s true. This book, however, is not as well written as one might hope. We find ourselves constantly shifting locale, paragraph by paragraph, as he takes us on a sometimes bewildering ride around the world’s hotspots over the last 40 years. The result is a very uneven piece of writing, fascinating in parts but frustrating in others. I have read several books by Trevor, and they are usually a lot more coherent than this. Pity.
PALIMPSEST, by Gore Vidal
Being the life and times of one of America’s most urbane, sophisticated and insightful political observers. Born into privilege and modest wealth, cousin to Jackie Bouvier and hence on the inside of the Kennedy Camelot (though Bobby, apparently, hated him), Gore has been well placed to comment on the American political scene since his early years. Finding success through writing in his early 20s, he has written a number of highly respected novels and pieces of nonfiction, he has never made a secret of his sexuality, mainly gay with a touch of bi-. He likes anonymous sex, though has had a long standing partner, with whom he does not have sex; indeed he attributes his success in this relationship to the fact that it is a non-sexual union.
This book is a beautiful piece of writing, always articulate and elegant and not infrequently vitriolic when it comes to describing people he doesn’t like, such as Truman Capote, with whom he has enjoyed a long-running feud. It is here we find that deep down he has only been in love once, with a school-mate who died in the fighting on Iwo Jima in 1945. And how nothing and no one has been able to equal the joy he felt being with ‘Jimmy’ for just a few months in his teens. Moving and enlightening.
MIDNIGHT’S CHILDREN, by Salman Rushdie
An Indian man happens to be born at the exact same moment the new Indian state comes into being: Midnight, August 15th, 1947. He then discovers he has a psychic link with the 500 or so other children born within an hour of him, and learns they, like him, seem to have special powers of their own. Meanwhile, the newly free nation of India grows up with him, both undergoing sometimes agonising growing pains in the process.
When this book came out in 1981 it proved a sensation. Winning the Booker Prize, and later winning the ‘Booker of Bookers’ prize as the best of the prize winners over a 25 year period, people were enchanted by its surreal mix of history, autobiography and black comedy, all written in a kind of ‘post magic-realist’ style which is in fact unique. I’ve certainly never read anything like it before. With its extraordinary cast of characters and compelling, if sometimes confusing plot line, this is a book well worth anyone’s time. Intoxicating stuff.
Our Trev (yes, I know him. He is one of the few people who has made the transition from patient to friend) has spent his entire life in journalism, from humble beginnings in his local rag to roving correspondent, first for the Telegraph and latterly with The Times. Hence he is one of those people who, on hearing of trouble flaring in any given location around the world, does not, like most of us, cross it off their list of holiday destinations, but rather gets on the next plane there. Kosovo, Afghanistan, Haiti, he has been there on the front line as great and terrible events are taking place, sometimes putting his life in danger to do so.
“My goodness, Mr Fishlock, you have led an interesting life!” Is the sort of thing he must hear all the time, and it’s true. This book, however, is not as well written as one might hope. We find ourselves constantly shifting locale, paragraph by paragraph, as he takes us on a sometimes bewildering ride around the world’s hotspots over the last 40 years. The result is a very uneven piece of writing, fascinating in parts but frustrating in others. I have read several books by Trevor, and they are usually a lot more coherent than this. Pity.
PALIMPSEST, by Gore Vidal
Being the life and times of one of America’s most urbane, sophisticated and insightful political observers. Born into privilege and modest wealth, cousin to Jackie Bouvier and hence on the inside of the Kennedy Camelot (though Bobby, apparently, hated him), Gore has been well placed to comment on the American political scene since his early years. Finding success through writing in his early 20s, he has written a number of highly respected novels and pieces of nonfiction, he has never made a secret of his sexuality, mainly gay with a touch of bi-. He likes anonymous sex, though has had a long standing partner, with whom he does not have sex; indeed he attributes his success in this relationship to the fact that it is a non-sexual union.
This book is a beautiful piece of writing, always articulate and elegant and not infrequently vitriolic when it comes to describing people he doesn’t like, such as Truman Capote, with whom he has enjoyed a long-running feud. It is here we find that deep down he has only been in love once, with a school-mate who died in the fighting on Iwo Jima in 1945. And how nothing and no one has been able to equal the joy he felt being with ‘Jimmy’ for just a few months in his teens. Moving and enlightening.
MIDNIGHT’S CHILDREN, by Salman Rushdie
An Indian man happens to be born at the exact same moment the new Indian state comes into being: Midnight, August 15th, 1947. He then discovers he has a psychic link with the 500 or so other children born within an hour of him, and learns they, like him, seem to have special powers of their own. Meanwhile, the newly free nation of India grows up with him, both undergoing sometimes agonising growing pains in the process.
When this book came out in 1981 it proved a sensation. Winning the Booker Prize, and later winning the ‘Booker of Bookers’ prize as the best of the prize winners over a 25 year period, people were enchanted by its surreal mix of history, autobiography and black comedy, all written in a kind of ‘post magic-realist’ style which is in fact unique. I’ve certainly never read anything like it before. With its extraordinary cast of characters and compelling, if sometimes confusing plot line, this is a book well worth anyone’s time. Intoxicating stuff.
Thursday, 21 December 2017
Pelagius hates a bully
I hate individuals who use strong-arm tactics to get want they want. And I hate states who do the same even more. Great nations should know better, but considering who is in charge of one particular great nation, I can’t say I’m surprised. When Trump and his UN ambassador warned names would be taken if anyone dared to vote for the resolution to express disapproval of their recognition of Jerusalem as Israel’s capital, some countries, deeply wedded to American aid, Afghanistan and Mali to name two, had no option but to buckle. But a thumping majority of states voted in favour.
Even countries receiving substantial aid from the US bravely stood up to them: Egypt, Turkey and many others. And to our credit, the UK, normally America’s poodle, did too. Only 9 countries voted against, Israel obviously at the top of the list, while Honduras, Guatemala, Togo, and a few other vassal states are so in hock to the US the blackmail worked. Other countries, including Canada, cautiously sat on the fence and abstained. 21 delegations stayed away from the vote altogether, neatly avoiding the problem.
But make no mistake: Trump has been told how the world feels about his bullying tactics: they STINK.
Even countries receiving substantial aid from the US bravely stood up to them: Egypt, Turkey and many others. And to our credit, the UK, normally America’s poodle, did too. Only 9 countries voted against, Israel obviously at the top of the list, while Honduras, Guatemala, Togo, and a few other vassal states are so in hock to the US the blackmail worked. Other countries, including Canada, cautiously sat on the fence and abstained. 21 delegations stayed away from the vote altogether, neatly avoiding the problem.
But make no mistake: Trump has been told how the world feels about his bullying tactics: they STINK.
Sunday, 17 December 2017
U.S. A New Hope
When Trump won his extraordinary victory last year, I blogged that maybe his newfound, awesome responsibility as leader of the Free World might bring out the best in him. Boy, was I ever wrong.
Since then we have seen him break his promises to the poor, while lining the pockets of his cohort, the very rich. We have seen him give succor to the extreme right, on both sides of the Atlantic. We have seen him transform the Environmental Protection Agency into the Environmental Destruction Agency. And we have seen him enjoining the voters of Alabama to ignore his favored candidate’s racism, sexism and multiple accusations of abusing teenagers, all because he knew he would support him in Senate.
But, gloriously, the voters of that deeply conservative state had an attack of conscience and told Moore, and Trump, where to go. True, he did garner 48% of the vote, but time was when he would have romped home with a thumping majority.
This gives me a sliver of hope. That maybe, just maybe, Trump will lose next time, or even be forced out before 2020 because of revelations over his connections with the Russians who helped him get elected. Hope, it seems, springs eternal in the Pelagius breast.
Happy Christmas!
Since then we have seen him break his promises to the poor, while lining the pockets of his cohort, the very rich. We have seen him give succor to the extreme right, on both sides of the Atlantic. We have seen him transform the Environmental Protection Agency into the Environmental Destruction Agency. And we have seen him enjoining the voters of Alabama to ignore his favored candidate’s racism, sexism and multiple accusations of abusing teenagers, all because he knew he would support him in Senate.
But, gloriously, the voters of that deeply conservative state had an attack of conscience and told Moore, and Trump, where to go. True, he did garner 48% of the vote, but time was when he would have romped home with a thumping majority.
This gives me a sliver of hope. That maybe, just maybe, Trump will lose next time, or even be forced out before 2020 because of revelations over his connections with the Russians who helped him get elected. Hope, it seems, springs eternal in the Pelagius breast.
Happy Christmas!
Monday, 11 December 2017
Back to the Middle Ages
Back in the first Millennium, it was Islamic scholars who set the pace for scientific discovery. They made huge advances in mathematics, astronomy and chemistry, to say nothing of their beautiful poetry. Far from burning books, as IS do, the Caliphs sent emissaries to Europe to collect ancient Greek scientific writing. It is down to them this knowledge was not lost centuries ago. Their influence continues today: many stars have Arabic names, Altair, Aldebaran and so on, while their language is preserved in names such as alcohol, algebra and algorrhythm. They came up with the concept of zero, making it possible to write huge numbers easily. The Romans couldn’t really imagine vast numbers, because it was too much of a fag to write them down.
Today, building on the terrific impetus the Islamic scholars gave us, we should be constantly striving to better understand our world and the universe in which it floats. But today I hear the EPA (Environmental Protection Agency) in the US is removing all reference to climate change on its website. Perhaps they should make it all simpler and call it the EDA: Environmental Destruction Agency.
In a recent edition of Weather, the journal of the Royal Meteorological Society published a series of photos of glaciers, one set taken about 40 years ago and the the other taken in 2014 from the same position. In every one you can see how the glaciers have receded, sometimes by many miles. Some glaciers, standing tall in front of the camera 40 years ago are now hardly visible on the horizon.
But is human activity contributing? You are entitled to ask. In 1982 summer in Britain and much of Europe was almost cancelled due to the effect of a Mexican volcano called El Chicon. It pumped many cubic miles of dust and ash into the atmosphere, which cooled the northern hemisphere significantly. But carbon dioxide doesn’t cool the planet, it warms it. Today human activity is pumping 40 billion tones of CO2 into the atmosphere each year, equivalent to a fair-sized volcanic eruption, going on all the time. And you doubt that’s having an effect on the climate? When temperatures having been rising faster in the last 20 years than at any time in the last million years? It’s science, baby, and you can’t fight it, even if you don’t like what it’s telling you. Unless you’re Donald Trump, that is. Then you can just say, oh all that stuff’s just fake news, a hoax.
Burn the books when you don’t like what they say, right Donald?
Today, building on the terrific impetus the Islamic scholars gave us, we should be constantly striving to better understand our world and the universe in which it floats. But today I hear the EPA (Environmental Protection Agency) in the US is removing all reference to climate change on its website. Perhaps they should make it all simpler and call it the EDA: Environmental Destruction Agency.
In a recent edition of Weather, the journal of the Royal Meteorological Society published a series of photos of glaciers, one set taken about 40 years ago and the the other taken in 2014 from the same position. In every one you can see how the glaciers have receded, sometimes by many miles. Some glaciers, standing tall in front of the camera 40 years ago are now hardly visible on the horizon.
But is human activity contributing? You are entitled to ask. In 1982 summer in Britain and much of Europe was almost cancelled due to the effect of a Mexican volcano called El Chicon. It pumped many cubic miles of dust and ash into the atmosphere, which cooled the northern hemisphere significantly. But carbon dioxide doesn’t cool the planet, it warms it. Today human activity is pumping 40 billion tones of CO2 into the atmosphere each year, equivalent to a fair-sized volcanic eruption, going on all the time. And you doubt that’s having an effect on the climate? When temperatures having been rising faster in the last 20 years than at any time in the last million years? It’s science, baby, and you can’t fight it, even if you don’t like what it’s telling you. Unless you’re Donald Trump, that is. Then you can just say, oh all that stuff’s just fake news, a hoax.
Burn the books when you don’t like what they say, right Donald?
Tuesday, 5 December 2017
Here we go: Trump goes after the national parks
In the US national parks are called National Monuments, and one of the largest is in Utah, known as the “Bear’s Ears Monument” and the “Grand Staircase Monument”. They’re huge, over a million acres, and contain unique ancient Native American wall paintings and stone built dwellings. The local Native American population regard much of the area as sacred, as do much of the Caucasian peoples who live in or nearby this beautiful place.
But the area is rich in natural resources, including shale gas, oil and precious minerals. And the news that Donald Trump has ordered reducing the size of the national monuments by 85% is good for the speculators and other capitalists, who are now free to exploit the area as they see fit.
Last week the world stood appalled as Trump retweeted the lunatic rankings of Britain First. And later it looked on agog as he said he already knew his national security advisor James Flynnn had lied to the FBI. Perhaps he is even guilty of obstruction of justice because of that, though Trump himself reckons he can pardon himself if so accused. But let’s not forget that amid all the furore about these important issues, such as his disgraceful pro-Zionist move to recognise Jerusalem as Israel’s capital, he’s busy undermining the greatest thing about America: its love and desire to protect its great, but vulnerable, wild places.
But the area is rich in natural resources, including shale gas, oil and precious minerals. And the news that Donald Trump has ordered reducing the size of the national monuments by 85% is good for the speculators and other capitalists, who are now free to exploit the area as they see fit.
Last week the world stood appalled as Trump retweeted the lunatic rankings of Britain First. And later it looked on agog as he said he already knew his national security advisor James Flynnn had lied to the FBI. Perhaps he is even guilty of obstruction of justice because of that, though Trump himself reckons he can pardon himself if so accused. But let’s not forget that amid all the furore about these important issues, such as his disgraceful pro-Zionist move to recognise Jerusalem as Israel’s capital, he’s busy undermining the greatest thing about America: its love and desire to protect its great, but vulnerable, wild places.
Thursday, 30 November 2017
November 2017 film review
CAMERAPERSON (Documentary) 2016 D- Kirsten Johnson
Kirsten Johnson is a highly respected documentary film maker who has stitched together moments from many of her films to make this extraordinary melange of her life’s work, which might be summarised as: people, and how they struggle with the adversities of their lives. We see civilians coping with the aftermath of the vicious inter-communal violence in the Balkans, a Nigerian midwife going about her daily work, and, perhaps most movingly of all, snatches of film of her mother, by now locked into a losing battle against Alzheimer’s.
We see her standing still in a room, a look of complete befuddlement on her features as she perhaps wonders what she is doing there and what she is going to do next: maybe go and stand over there and do the same thing? The parallels with my own mother are frightening, but then many, many people around Britain and across the world will watch this footage and be thinking the same thing about their own relatives.
A beautiful little film, full of the wit, joy and tragedy that makes up the human race.
BLADERUNNER 2049 (2017) D- DenisVilleneuve
It is 30 years on from the time Deckard was commissioned to off a band of renegade replicants and then walked off into the sunset with one of them. K (Ryan Gosling, who else?) is a replicant himself, hired to do the same job as his forebear. And when it is discovered that 2 replicants may have had a baby together, he is tasked with finding the offspring, and killing it.
Denis Villeneuve, like many of us, holds the original Bladerunner in such high regard he was initially reluctant to make a sequel. So when he eventually agreed to direct the movie, it turned out in many ways to be a tribute to Ridley Scott’s classic. Much of the feel of the movie takes us right back to the original; the cinematography, the music, the terse, spare dialogue. Of course by now Denis had about twenty times the budget to work with than did Ridley, and that shows clearly on the screen. But he never allows the special effects to overwhelm the plot, such a big temptation in modern blockbusters, and what emerges is a clever, intriguing plot which is extremely effectively told. And if they decide to make another sequel, another 30 years on, and if they put Villeneuve in charge again, I’ll pay good money to see it.
THE CRAFT (1996) D- Andrew Fleming
A high school student (RobinTunney), recently translocated to LA, notices she has powers of telekinesis. She is latched on to by a group of 3 fellow students who are interested in the black arts. She joins them, forces a brutish jock to fall hopelessly in love with her just for fun, and it all goes from there.
Think Heathers meets the TV series Charmed and you begin to get a glimpse of this picture, which isn’t too hard because Tunney was brought in to replace Shannon Doherty in the latter. All the players work well together, especially Fairuz Balk who adds a special sense of alluring menace. Good fun, if not exactly earth-shattering.
THE DEATH OF STALIN (2017) W/D Armando Ionucci
It is 1953, and uber-tyrant Uncle Joe is at the height of his terrible powers in Soviet Russia- until he suddenly drops dead of a stroke. The other members of the Politburo vie with one another as to who will don the purple. Who will it be? Khrushchev (an, as usual, brilliant Steve Buscemi) seems a front runner, but never forget Lavrenti Beria (Simon Russell Beale), head of the KGB, a man who holds in his little safe blackmail evidence on all the others. Someone has to assume the reins of power, but whoever it is they’d better do it quickly. No one wants to be dumped in the Gulags or take a pistol-shot to the back of the head, just like all the other unfortunates they’ve been screwing for the last 30 years...
I’ve been loving Armando since he co-wrote such classics as Alan Partridge, then went on to The Thick of It and most recently Veep. His ear for dialogue never fails him, neither does it in this fine adaptation of a French graphic novel. This film is both hilarious and terrifying at the same time, as we learn (hopefully not the first time) the lengths humans will go to in order to gain power.
Highly recommended.
Kirsten Johnson is a highly respected documentary film maker who has stitched together moments from many of her films to make this extraordinary melange of her life’s work, which might be summarised as: people, and how they struggle with the adversities of their lives. We see civilians coping with the aftermath of the vicious inter-communal violence in the Balkans, a Nigerian midwife going about her daily work, and, perhaps most movingly of all, snatches of film of her mother, by now locked into a losing battle against Alzheimer’s.
We see her standing still in a room, a look of complete befuddlement on her features as she perhaps wonders what she is doing there and what she is going to do next: maybe go and stand over there and do the same thing? The parallels with my own mother are frightening, but then many, many people around Britain and across the world will watch this footage and be thinking the same thing about their own relatives.
A beautiful little film, full of the wit, joy and tragedy that makes up the human race.
BLADERUNNER 2049 (2017) D- DenisVilleneuve
It is 30 years on from the time Deckard was commissioned to off a band of renegade replicants and then walked off into the sunset with one of them. K (Ryan Gosling, who else?) is a replicant himself, hired to do the same job as his forebear. And when it is discovered that 2 replicants may have had a baby together, he is tasked with finding the offspring, and killing it.
Denis Villeneuve, like many of us, holds the original Bladerunner in such high regard he was initially reluctant to make a sequel. So when he eventually agreed to direct the movie, it turned out in many ways to be a tribute to Ridley Scott’s classic. Much of the feel of the movie takes us right back to the original; the cinematography, the music, the terse, spare dialogue. Of course by now Denis had about twenty times the budget to work with than did Ridley, and that shows clearly on the screen. But he never allows the special effects to overwhelm the plot, such a big temptation in modern blockbusters, and what emerges is a clever, intriguing plot which is extremely effectively told. And if they decide to make another sequel, another 30 years on, and if they put Villeneuve in charge again, I’ll pay good money to see it.
THE CRAFT (1996) D- Andrew Fleming
A high school student (RobinTunney), recently translocated to LA, notices she has powers of telekinesis. She is latched on to by a group of 3 fellow students who are interested in the black arts. She joins them, forces a brutish jock to fall hopelessly in love with her just for fun, and it all goes from there.
Think Heathers meets the TV series Charmed and you begin to get a glimpse of this picture, which isn’t too hard because Tunney was brought in to replace Shannon Doherty in the latter. All the players work well together, especially Fairuz Balk who adds a special sense of alluring menace. Good fun, if not exactly earth-shattering.
THE DEATH OF STALIN (2017) W/D Armando Ionucci
It is 1953, and uber-tyrant Uncle Joe is at the height of his terrible powers in Soviet Russia- until he suddenly drops dead of a stroke. The other members of the Politburo vie with one another as to who will don the purple. Who will it be? Khrushchev (an, as usual, brilliant Steve Buscemi) seems a front runner, but never forget Lavrenti Beria (Simon Russell Beale), head of the KGB, a man who holds in his little safe blackmail evidence on all the others. Someone has to assume the reins of power, but whoever it is they’d better do it quickly. No one wants to be dumped in the Gulags or take a pistol-shot to the back of the head, just like all the other unfortunates they’ve been screwing for the last 30 years...
I’ve been loving Armando since he co-wrote such classics as Alan Partridge, then went on to The Thick of It and most recently Veep. His ear for dialogue never fails him, neither does it in this fine adaptation of a French graphic novel. This film is both hilarious and terrifying at the same time, as we learn (hopefully not the first time) the lengths humans will go to in order to gain power.
Highly recommended.
November 2017 book review
Welcome to this month’s media review. This blog covers the 2 books I have read this month. Please see the next one for movies.
WILD SWANS, by Jung Chang
Being the life and times of a Chinese woman, born a year after me, that is in 1952, growing up in the brave new world of communist China, and her antecedents, her mother and grandmother, who lived in no less turbulent times in the earlier part of the 20th century.
In 1906, or thereabouts, following the death of the last Emperor, they tried to hold a democratic election in a province in north-east China. But it was so riven by vote rigging, vote buying and other corruption that it has been held in China ever since As the reason why democracy can never work in China. This even though it has worked, after a fashion, in India, which is also a vast, incredibly heavily populated and diverse country. Whatever. The fact is that Chinese people have only very rarely in their history been able to determine their own destiny. From the Imperial dynasties, through the ‘reign’ of ultra-capitalist Chang Kei-Shek, through to communism, the Chinese have had leaders imposed on them without their having any say in it.
This book, with its deceptively straightforward and chatty style, is actually a small masterpiece. Jung Chang draws us into the strange and terrible world of her forebears, and then her own, in a way that is totally convincing, and never less than gripping despite its considerable length. And it is the little things, the minutiae of people’s lives as much as the great political events, that make it such an absorbing piece of writing.
For me the most terrible stories come from her own life, beginning with ‘The Great Leap Forward’ in 1959, where beloved Charman Mao, he who could do no wrong, decided that the people were wasting their lives, and indeed China’s potential as a modern, industrialized nation, by growing rice. So he forced them to become a vast army of steelworkers instead. Only trouble with that brave attempt at modernization: who’s going to produce the food? Seems Mao didn’t think, or more likely didn’t care, about that, because millions died in the artificial famine that came about as a result. Nice one Mao. Then of course the Cultural Revolution, where basically everyone was encouraged to denounce everyone else as a bad commie, allowing millions of perfectly good communists to be reviled, beaten or even murdered. And both these movements, it turns out; the Great Leap and the Cultural Revolution were not about political theory turned to action, but about consolidating his own power base. I trawled the internet to determine the many facts Jung Chang lays out in this book- they’re all accurate.
Now we can see that Mao has to stand with Hitler and Stalin as one of the great tyrants of the 20th, or indeed any other century. Conclusion: a stunning read.
CRIME AND PUNISHMENT, by Fyodor Dostoyevsky
A sophisticated young man develops a kind of pre-Neitschean philosophy which suggests certain superior individuals may construct their own moral code which may even sanction murder. Practising what he preaches, he goes out and does exactly that. Then his conscience begins to trouble him...
I first read this book when I was 19, and because it remains not only his greatest achievement, but one of his most approachable works, I enjoyed it hugely even then. But that was over 40 years ago, and when my wife re-read it, also after a long gap, I thought I might give it another go myself. Boy, am I ever glad I did.
Crime and Punishment became a sensation in Russia when came out at the end of the 1860s, and soon found an appreciative audience beyond Russia’s borders. It has now come to be seen as one of the greatest of all Russian novels, with its superb characterization and apparently simple (though tremendously subtle in fact) plot. Give it another 20 years, if I’m still around, and I’ll probably read it again.
A wonderful, life-changing book.
WILD SWANS, by Jung Chang
Being the life and times of a Chinese woman, born a year after me, that is in 1952, growing up in the brave new world of communist China, and her antecedents, her mother and grandmother, who lived in no less turbulent times in the earlier part of the 20th century.
In 1906, or thereabouts, following the death of the last Emperor, they tried to hold a democratic election in a province in north-east China. But it was so riven by vote rigging, vote buying and other corruption that it has been held in China ever since As the reason why democracy can never work in China. This even though it has worked, after a fashion, in India, which is also a vast, incredibly heavily populated and diverse country. Whatever. The fact is that Chinese people have only very rarely in their history been able to determine their own destiny. From the Imperial dynasties, through the ‘reign’ of ultra-capitalist Chang Kei-Shek, through to communism, the Chinese have had leaders imposed on them without their having any say in it.
This book, with its deceptively straightforward and chatty style, is actually a small masterpiece. Jung Chang draws us into the strange and terrible world of her forebears, and then her own, in a way that is totally convincing, and never less than gripping despite its considerable length. And it is the little things, the minutiae of people’s lives as much as the great political events, that make it such an absorbing piece of writing.
For me the most terrible stories come from her own life, beginning with ‘The Great Leap Forward’ in 1959, where beloved Charman Mao, he who could do no wrong, decided that the people were wasting their lives, and indeed China’s potential as a modern, industrialized nation, by growing rice. So he forced them to become a vast army of steelworkers instead. Only trouble with that brave attempt at modernization: who’s going to produce the food? Seems Mao didn’t think, or more likely didn’t care, about that, because millions died in the artificial famine that came about as a result. Nice one Mao. Then of course the Cultural Revolution, where basically everyone was encouraged to denounce everyone else as a bad commie, allowing millions of perfectly good communists to be reviled, beaten or even murdered. And both these movements, it turns out; the Great Leap and the Cultural Revolution were not about political theory turned to action, but about consolidating his own power base. I trawled the internet to determine the many facts Jung Chang lays out in this book- they’re all accurate.
Now we can see that Mao has to stand with Hitler and Stalin as one of the great tyrants of the 20th, or indeed any other century. Conclusion: a stunning read.
CRIME AND PUNISHMENT, by Fyodor Dostoyevsky
A sophisticated young man develops a kind of pre-Neitschean philosophy which suggests certain superior individuals may construct their own moral code which may even sanction murder. Practising what he preaches, he goes out and does exactly that. Then his conscience begins to trouble him...
I first read this book when I was 19, and because it remains not only his greatest achievement, but one of his most approachable works, I enjoyed it hugely even then. But that was over 40 years ago, and when my wife re-read it, also after a long gap, I thought I might give it another go myself. Boy, am I ever glad I did.
Crime and Punishment became a sensation in Russia when came out at the end of the 1860s, and soon found an appreciative audience beyond Russia’s borders. It has now come to be seen as one of the greatest of all Russian novels, with its superb characterization and apparently simple (though tremendously subtle in fact) plot. Give it another 20 years, if I’m still around, and I’ll probably read it again.
A wonderful, life-changing book.
Monday, 27 November 2017
Death Lovers
Over the weekend an IS affiliate bombed a Sufi mosque in northern Sinai. Many people were blown to bits. And when the survivors ran out of the smoking ruins of the mosque, men flying the black flag of IS were waiting for them. Travelling in a small fleet of SUVs, they used automatic weapons to pick them off as they ran for shelter. As many as 300 were killed, with hundreds more seriously injured.
Earlier this year, the world was shocked when a lone bomber murdered 22 people and wounded hundreds of others at the Ariana Grande concert in Manchester. This atrocity, however was far, far worse.
It seems odd that Muslims would want to murder other Muslims, but that’s the way it is with IS. They were the wrong kind of Muslims, and anyone who doesn’t follow the extreme Wahabi doctrines of Islam as propounded by the Saudi clerics who inspire IS, is guilty of the sin of shirk, or idolatry. And the penalty for that is death. If you, dear reader, are not also an adept of Wahabi Islam, they want to kill you too.
In World War II, there was no negotiating with the Nazis or Japanese militarists. They were intent on world domination, and weren’t interested in anything else. As a consequence, they had to be crushed.
I suggest the same holds true with IS. Anyone who believes in freedom of expression and the freedom to practice whatever religion they please, or indeed does not choose to adhere to any religion at all, should accept that the only way to deal with IS is to destroy them. In the Middle East, where I understand their grip on power is being steadily eroded, in Europe and elsewhere, where their foot soldiers lurk in their hundreds or thousands, plotting to commit acts of terror against the idolaters, that’s you and me remember, they have to be obliterated. They believe when they die 72 houris, or celestial virgins are waiting in heaven to supply their every need. Let’s help them get there.
Earlier this year, the world was shocked when a lone bomber murdered 22 people and wounded hundreds of others at the Ariana Grande concert in Manchester. This atrocity, however was far, far worse.
It seems odd that Muslims would want to murder other Muslims, but that’s the way it is with IS. They were the wrong kind of Muslims, and anyone who doesn’t follow the extreme Wahabi doctrines of Islam as propounded by the Saudi clerics who inspire IS, is guilty of the sin of shirk, or idolatry. And the penalty for that is death. If you, dear reader, are not also an adept of Wahabi Islam, they want to kill you too.
In World War II, there was no negotiating with the Nazis or Japanese militarists. They were intent on world domination, and weren’t interested in anything else. As a consequence, they had to be crushed.
I suggest the same holds true with IS. Anyone who believes in freedom of expression and the freedom to practice whatever religion they please, or indeed does not choose to adhere to any religion at all, should accept that the only way to deal with IS is to destroy them. In the Middle East, where I understand their grip on power is being steadily eroded, in Europe and elsewhere, where their foot soldiers lurk in their hundreds or thousands, plotting to commit acts of terror against the idolaters, that’s you and me remember, they have to be obliterated. They believe when they die 72 houris, or celestial virgins are waiting in heaven to supply their every need. Let’s help them get there.
Wednesday, 15 November 2017
Freedom of speech to be made illegal in US? Surely shome mistake
I’m afraid not. Just as the UN is about to publish a list of companies operating out of Israel’s illegal settlements on the West Bank, 23 American states have already passed legislation outlawing any attempt to enact “BDS” (Boycott, Divest, Sanction) and call to account companies, such as Coca Cola, Hewlett-Packard, Ben and Jerries and many, many more. And now national legislation is being planned.
Whatever happened to freedom of expression in the Land of the Free? It doesn’t exist, apparently, when it comes to criticizing Israel.
“Companies working where they find it economically advantageous isn’t politics, it’s economics.”
That’s the argument deployed. But it’s naive. Deciding where you place your factories is intensely political, nowhere more so than this embattled land. Indeed, it’s impossible to separate politics from any act. In Friends of the Earth, we used to say: “Existence on planet Earth is a political act”.
Israel does whatever it can to peddle the lie that it gives the Palestinian people a fair deal, while behind the scenes it is doing whatever it can to intimidate, contain and basically crush them into cowed acceptance of their fate. I know. I’ve seen it work on the ground in the occupied territories. The zionists want the world to believe they are a band of terrorists, intent on murdering all the Jews the moment they get the opportunity. They punish an entire nation for the actions of a tiny minority. Yet when they turn away from violence and towards political action, as with the BDS campaign, that’s beyond the pale too.
Right now there’s a lot on the news agenda to keep us copied; Brexit, Trump’s latest antics, the fate of the Rohinja Muslims in Myanmar, and now the confusion in Zimbabwe. But’s let’s not forget the plight of the Palestinians. That’s what the Israelis want you to do.
Whatever happened to freedom of expression in the Land of the Free? It doesn’t exist, apparently, when it comes to criticizing Israel.
“Companies working where they find it economically advantageous isn’t politics, it’s economics.”
That’s the argument deployed. But it’s naive. Deciding where you place your factories is intensely political, nowhere more so than this embattled land. Indeed, it’s impossible to separate politics from any act. In Friends of the Earth, we used to say: “Existence on planet Earth is a political act”.
Israel does whatever it can to peddle the lie that it gives the Palestinian people a fair deal, while behind the scenes it is doing whatever it can to intimidate, contain and basically crush them into cowed acceptance of their fate. I know. I’ve seen it work on the ground in the occupied territories. The zionists want the world to believe they are a band of terrorists, intent on murdering all the Jews the moment they get the opportunity. They punish an entire nation for the actions of a tiny minority. Yet when they turn away from violence and towards political action, as with the BDS campaign, that’s beyond the pale too.
Right now there’s a lot on the news agenda to keep us copied; Brexit, Trump’s latest antics, the fate of the Rohinja Muslims in Myanmar, and now the confusion in Zimbabwe. But’s let’s not forget the plight of the Palestinians. That’s what the Israelis want you to do.
Monday, 13 November 2017
The Wreckers
You know who the wreckers were. They would stand on coastlines during storms, luring ships to disaster by displaying false lights. They didn’t care how many sailors drowned: they were solely interested in the loot. Sometimes when sailors managed to get to shore without drowning, the wreckers would stove in their skulls, just to make sure there were no witnesses.
We have a new band of wreckers right now: the “no-dealers”, the hard Brexiteers. They don’t care how much damage they do to our country: they just want the loot, in this case power, power to have the sort of Britain they want: free of taxes, free of environmental controls, free of that irritating European Court of Justice.
You know who they are: IDS, Owen Paterson, Jacob Rees-Mogg, Bill Cash, there are about 40 in all, but they are very powerful. But not powerful enough, they reckon. Oh yes, there’s Boris, of course, but he’s kind of in a class of his own. Remain, leave, he doesn’t really care either way; he just wants so desperately to climb to the top of the greasy pole, and now he’s even joined forces with former arch-enemy Michael Gove, the very man who tried to stab him in the back a few short months ago. They think they can do a Blair/Brown thing if they play their cards right. They sense Theresa’s weakness, and like a pack of wolves they are waiting for right time to pounce and rip her heart out.
In my opinion there shouldn’t have been a referendum in the first place, and I blame David Cameron for giving in to the wreckers and holding one. Right now I think the public, hopefully better informed this time, should be given a second chance to vote on whatever deal, or no deal, the government comes up with in March 2019. This time, perhaps, it won’t be “Christmas for racists” as Frankie Boyle so eloquently dubbed the first referendum, but a discussion about economic realities. If we just allow the politicians to have their way, we’re heading to becoming the poor man of Europe, where it will only be fun to live here if you’re rich.
STOP THEM! STOP THEM BEFORE IT’S TOO LATE!
We have a new band of wreckers right now: the “no-dealers”, the hard Brexiteers. They don’t care how much damage they do to our country: they just want the loot, in this case power, power to have the sort of Britain they want: free of taxes, free of environmental controls, free of that irritating European Court of Justice.
You know who they are: IDS, Owen Paterson, Jacob Rees-Mogg, Bill Cash, there are about 40 in all, but they are very powerful. But not powerful enough, they reckon. Oh yes, there’s Boris, of course, but he’s kind of in a class of his own. Remain, leave, he doesn’t really care either way; he just wants so desperately to climb to the top of the greasy pole, and now he’s even joined forces with former arch-enemy Michael Gove, the very man who tried to stab him in the back a few short months ago. They think they can do a Blair/Brown thing if they play their cards right. They sense Theresa’s weakness, and like a pack of wolves they are waiting for right time to pounce and rip her heart out.
In my opinion there shouldn’t have been a referendum in the first place, and I blame David Cameron for giving in to the wreckers and holding one. Right now I think the public, hopefully better informed this time, should be given a second chance to vote on whatever deal, or no deal, the government comes up with in March 2019. This time, perhaps, it won’t be “Christmas for racists” as Frankie Boyle so eloquently dubbed the first referendum, but a discussion about economic realities. If we just allow the politicians to have their way, we’re heading to becoming the poor man of Europe, where it will only be fun to live here if you’re rich.
STOP THEM! STOP THEM BEFORE IT’S TOO LATE!
Monday, 30 October 2017
October 2017 media review part 3
FILMS, CONTINUED
UNDER THE SHADOW (2016) D- Babak Anvari
A young woman and her child live in an apartment in Tehran, in the depths of the Iran/Iraq war of the 1980s. Her husband, who is working away from the city, wants them to move, especially since the Iraqis have announced their intention to start attacking it with guided missiles. Then a missile does indeed strike their block, though fortunately without exploding. But then strange, supernatural things start happening which have nothing to do with the Sunni/Shia conflict.
A neighbour is convinced a “Djinn” is at work in their apartment block, a kind of evil spirit which is given authenticity by being mentioned in the Koran. But our heroine builds her life on logic, not superstition, and she refuses to buy it. Until, that is, she starts seeing things that threaten to demolish her entire belief system...
A joint British/Iranian production, this film was highly praised on its release, with its high professional standards and powerful depictions of the horror lying beneath the highly ordered veneer of Iranian society. Gripping stuff, and be warned, very scary.
LOVING VINCENT (2017) W/D- Dorota Kobiela and Hugh Welchman
A young man is given the task of delivering one of the last letters Vincent Van Gogh wrote before his untimely death. Initially reluctant to carry out this onerous task (he’d rather get pissed on absinthe and screw around), eventually he becomes absorbed in the story of the late scribe. Did he really kill himself, was it a tragic accident or even... murder? The young man takes it upon himself to investigate further...
Using a revolutionary animation technique involving 115 animators (mostly Polish) working on 65,000 separate images, the whole film resemble the Great one’s paintings. Consequently, this film is visually stunning. For someone like me, for whom the work of Van Gogh is very close to their hearts, some scenes are moving to the point of tears. That said, the film is ultimately disappointing. The plot has various holes, and the “acting” if that is the word, leaves something to be desired. Despite this, the images linger long in the memory.
In conclusion, I think I have to say that if, like me, you love Vincent, you will want to see this.
UNDER THE SHADOW (2016) D- Babak Anvari
A young woman and her child live in an apartment in Tehran, in the depths of the Iran/Iraq war of the 1980s. Her husband, who is working away from the city, wants them to move, especially since the Iraqis have announced their intention to start attacking it with guided missiles. Then a missile does indeed strike their block, though fortunately without exploding. But then strange, supernatural things start happening which have nothing to do with the Sunni/Shia conflict.
A neighbour is convinced a “Djinn” is at work in their apartment block, a kind of evil spirit which is given authenticity by being mentioned in the Koran. But our heroine builds her life on logic, not superstition, and she refuses to buy it. Until, that is, she starts seeing things that threaten to demolish her entire belief system...
A joint British/Iranian production, this film was highly praised on its release, with its high professional standards and powerful depictions of the horror lying beneath the highly ordered veneer of Iranian society. Gripping stuff, and be warned, very scary.
LOVING VINCENT (2017) W/D- Dorota Kobiela and Hugh Welchman
A young man is given the task of delivering one of the last letters Vincent Van Gogh wrote before his untimely death. Initially reluctant to carry out this onerous task (he’d rather get pissed on absinthe and screw around), eventually he becomes absorbed in the story of the late scribe. Did he really kill himself, was it a tragic accident or even... murder? The young man takes it upon himself to investigate further...
Using a revolutionary animation technique involving 115 animators (mostly Polish) working on 65,000 separate images, the whole film resemble the Great one’s paintings. Consequently, this film is visually stunning. For someone like me, for whom the work of Van Gogh is very close to their hearts, some scenes are moving to the point of tears. That said, the film is ultimately disappointing. The plot has various holes, and the “acting” if that is the word, leaves something to be desired. Despite this, the images linger long in the memory.
In conclusion, I think I have to say that if, like me, you love Vincent, you will want to see this.
October 2017 media review part 2
FILMS
DIE NIBERLUNGEN (1924) D- Fritz Lang
A young man is blessed by the Gods with invulnerability, except (there’s always an “except”, right?) for one little area on his body. As long as he keeps that secret, he’ll be fine. He falls in love with the daughter of the king, who returns his love with interest. But other high ranking courtiers aren’t best pleased by the match...
It’s hard to know how much to reveal of the rather labyrinthine plot, which may in any event already be known to you. It is, after all, the plot of Wagner’s Ring Cycle, Germany’s most enduring myth. Suffice it to say that over the course of nearly five hours Lang produces one of the greatest masterpieces of the silent era. Despite its length the time rips past as one great crisis after another develops and is then resolved, often in the most unpredictable manner. The cinematography is extraordinary, the acting exemplary and the whole experience, sublime.
SILENCE (2016) D- Martin Scorsese
A Jesuit missionary (Adam Driver) makes the brave, if foolhardy decision to convert medieval Japanese society to the way of the Lord. The authorities quickly apprehend him and insist he converts to their faith. An epic battle ensues. Will he give in, or hold out, even though his converts are horribly executed before his eyes? And what of another priest (Liam Neeson) who preceded him? Has he renounced his faith and embraced Buddhism? Or held out against all the torture?
Watch and find out.
Scorsese, a devout catholic himself, had apparently been trying to make this film for years despite the naysayers who said it would never work, especially on this scale (it’s over three hours long). But he persisted, and the result is absorbing; highly atmospheric, deeply troubling and sometimes (as if often the case with this director) graphically horrific.
THE SETUP (1949) D- Robert Wise
A boxer (a terrific Robert Ryan in one of his strongest roles) in the twilight of his career is put up against an up-and-coming fighter who is an unknown quantity. The younger man is favoured by a local gangland boss who bribes Ryan’s manager to persuade him to take a fall. The manager is so convinced Ryan will lose he doesn’t bother telling him about the deal. And when the fight gets under way and it becomes clear Ryan is trying his hardest to win, the gangland boss is not best pleased...
One of my perennial criticisms of movies, especially in the last few years, is that they’re too long. Silence (see above) is at least half an hour too long; indeed my wife thought a good hour could have been shaved off it. But here, in just 73 minutes, Robert Wise has been able to create a classic of film noir, tightly directed, superbly lit and featuring riveting performances from all the players involved, especially Ryan, who here turns in what he thought was one of his best performances on screen. Terrific stuff. Don’t miss it.
THE CHILDHOOD OF A LEADER (2016) D- Brody Corbet
France, 1919. The great powers are thrashing out the terms of the Versailles Treaty, and an American diplomat and his family are holed up in a requisitioned chateau while the discussions are taking place. But his son is causing at least as much trouble for him as the protracted negotiations...
This young man is not a happy bunny. He hurls rocks at delegates emerging from church, throws tantrums at dinner parties and generally threatens to destroy the calm home life of the diplomat and his family. A battle of wills develops, and as anyone who has children will confirm, these usually end in tears all round.
Although it is never made clear, I think the idea is that this young man will go on to become some sort of charismatic fascist leader one day. In a way this is peripheral to the main story, which is: what is wrong with this troubled little boy, who on the surface is very easy to dislike, and what will happen next? What emerges is a fascinating piece of cinema, well acted and with a brilliant soundtrack to go with its dark themes of power and family disharmony. Intriguing...
DIE NIBERLUNGEN (1924) D- Fritz Lang
A young man is blessed by the Gods with invulnerability, except (there’s always an “except”, right?) for one little area on his body. As long as he keeps that secret, he’ll be fine. He falls in love with the daughter of the king, who returns his love with interest. But other high ranking courtiers aren’t best pleased by the match...
It’s hard to know how much to reveal of the rather labyrinthine plot, which may in any event already be known to you. It is, after all, the plot of Wagner’s Ring Cycle, Germany’s most enduring myth. Suffice it to say that over the course of nearly five hours Lang produces one of the greatest masterpieces of the silent era. Despite its length the time rips past as one great crisis after another develops and is then resolved, often in the most unpredictable manner. The cinematography is extraordinary, the acting exemplary and the whole experience, sublime.
SILENCE (2016) D- Martin Scorsese
A Jesuit missionary (Adam Driver) makes the brave, if foolhardy decision to convert medieval Japanese society to the way of the Lord. The authorities quickly apprehend him and insist he converts to their faith. An epic battle ensues. Will he give in, or hold out, even though his converts are horribly executed before his eyes? And what of another priest (Liam Neeson) who preceded him? Has he renounced his faith and embraced Buddhism? Or held out against all the torture?
Watch and find out.
Scorsese, a devout catholic himself, had apparently been trying to make this film for years despite the naysayers who said it would never work, especially on this scale (it’s over three hours long). But he persisted, and the result is absorbing; highly atmospheric, deeply troubling and sometimes (as if often the case with this director) graphically horrific.
THE SETUP (1949) D- Robert Wise
A boxer (a terrific Robert Ryan in one of his strongest roles) in the twilight of his career is put up against an up-and-coming fighter who is an unknown quantity. The younger man is favoured by a local gangland boss who bribes Ryan’s manager to persuade him to take a fall. The manager is so convinced Ryan will lose he doesn’t bother telling him about the deal. And when the fight gets under way and it becomes clear Ryan is trying his hardest to win, the gangland boss is not best pleased...
One of my perennial criticisms of movies, especially in the last few years, is that they’re too long. Silence (see above) is at least half an hour too long; indeed my wife thought a good hour could have been shaved off it. But here, in just 73 minutes, Robert Wise has been able to create a classic of film noir, tightly directed, superbly lit and featuring riveting performances from all the players involved, especially Ryan, who here turns in what he thought was one of his best performances on screen. Terrific stuff. Don’t miss it.
THE CHILDHOOD OF A LEADER (2016) D- Brody Corbet
France, 1919. The great powers are thrashing out the terms of the Versailles Treaty, and an American diplomat and his family are holed up in a requisitioned chateau while the discussions are taking place. But his son is causing at least as much trouble for him as the protracted negotiations...
This young man is not a happy bunny. He hurls rocks at delegates emerging from church, throws tantrums at dinner parties and generally threatens to destroy the calm home life of the diplomat and his family. A battle of wills develops, and as anyone who has children will confirm, these usually end in tears all round.
Although it is never made clear, I think the idea is that this young man will go on to become some sort of charismatic fascist leader one day. In a way this is peripheral to the main story, which is: what is wrong with this troubled little boy, who on the surface is very easy to dislike, and what will happen next? What emerges is a fascinating piece of cinema, well acted and with a brilliant soundtrack to go with its dark themes of power and family disharmony. Intriguing...
October 2017 media review part 1
BOOKS
FRANK SINATRA HAS A COLD, AND OTHER STORIES, by Gay Talese
Want to spend some quality time with one of the world’s most iconic entertainers? Accompany Mohammed Ali on his trip to Cuba to meet Fidel Castro? Or even get inside the head of “Mr Bad News”, the man who compiles obituaries for The New York Times? Then read on...
From humble beginnings in New York’s Little Italy, Gay Talese went on to be a revered journalist, and then to become one of the most acclaimed “creative nonfiction” writers in the world. His methods are simple. He obtains permisssion (just how is hard to understand sometimes, in view of his legendary candour) to hang around his subject for a few days, weeks or even months, before distilling their lives into a straightforward, no-nonsense analysis which is many things, but above all human.
Concentrating as much on tiny detail as the bigger picture, Talese creates sublime little pieces of literature that make you marvel, and wonder: how did he do that? And how did they let him?
Marvellous.
THE REMAINS OF THE DAY, by Kazuo Ishiguro
A butler to a grand house, approaching retirement, reflects on his lengthy career as he takes a road trip to the West Country to re-connect with a former colleague. His former employer, Lord Darlington, has died, and the great house has been purchased by a nouveau riche American. On the surface not much has changed: the new owner has kept him on as butler, so his future is secured. But as he makes his leisurely way through the English countryside, it is not the future that is preoccupying him, but the past...
Ishiguro, who has just won the Nobel Prize for literature, is Japanese by birth but has spent nearly all his life in Britain, which is what qualifies him to speak of his subject; the workings of the nobility and their homes as well as what goes on inside them with such authority.
Some years ago I saw the very fine film of this book, starring Anthony Hopkins, Emma Thompson and Edward Fox and felt I didn’t need to read the book. Big mistake. Although the film is a faithful adaptation, neglecting the book would be a crime against fine literature. Don’t commit the same felony. Immaculately constructed, with a deeply moving core, this book is wonderful.
THE BLUE TOUCH PAPER, by David Hare
Being the life and times of one of Britain’s most eminent playwrights, by the man himself.
Raised in lower middle class gentility in 1950s Bexhill, he quickly showed himself to be something out of the norm. He won a scholarship to read English at Jesus, secured a first and then met a series of very clever people who encouraged him to involve himself in the theatre, first directing and then writing. The rest, as they say, is history. His first big success was Slag, which caused a storm when it was produced in the West End. Ever since he been writing plays which critique British society in a savage, insightful but always humorous style. And what especially marked him out was his creating strong roles for women, a famously neglected area for British playwrights at the time.
This book ends around 1979, with the rise of Thatcherism, so we do not hear how he was awarded a knighthood in 1998 for his services to theatre, or how he squared accepting the honour with his long history of subverting the establishment.
“He bit the hand that fed him” you could say, “But he never bit it off”. Is that cruel? I’ve been taking pops at the status quo all my life. Would I accept an honour in the highly unlikely event I were to be offered one? It is perhaps for the best I will never be faced with such a decision...
Please see next blogs for film reviews.
FRANK SINATRA HAS A COLD, AND OTHER STORIES, by Gay Talese
Want to spend some quality time with one of the world’s most iconic entertainers? Accompany Mohammed Ali on his trip to Cuba to meet Fidel Castro? Or even get inside the head of “Mr Bad News”, the man who compiles obituaries for The New York Times? Then read on...
From humble beginnings in New York’s Little Italy, Gay Talese went on to be a revered journalist, and then to become one of the most acclaimed “creative nonfiction” writers in the world. His methods are simple. He obtains permisssion (just how is hard to understand sometimes, in view of his legendary candour) to hang around his subject for a few days, weeks or even months, before distilling their lives into a straightforward, no-nonsense analysis which is many things, but above all human.
Concentrating as much on tiny detail as the bigger picture, Talese creates sublime little pieces of literature that make you marvel, and wonder: how did he do that? And how did they let him?
Marvellous.
THE REMAINS OF THE DAY, by Kazuo Ishiguro
A butler to a grand house, approaching retirement, reflects on his lengthy career as he takes a road trip to the West Country to re-connect with a former colleague. His former employer, Lord Darlington, has died, and the great house has been purchased by a nouveau riche American. On the surface not much has changed: the new owner has kept him on as butler, so his future is secured. But as he makes his leisurely way through the English countryside, it is not the future that is preoccupying him, but the past...
Ishiguro, who has just won the Nobel Prize for literature, is Japanese by birth but has spent nearly all his life in Britain, which is what qualifies him to speak of his subject; the workings of the nobility and their homes as well as what goes on inside them with such authority.
Some years ago I saw the very fine film of this book, starring Anthony Hopkins, Emma Thompson and Edward Fox and felt I didn’t need to read the book. Big mistake. Although the film is a faithful adaptation, neglecting the book would be a crime against fine literature. Don’t commit the same felony. Immaculately constructed, with a deeply moving core, this book is wonderful.
THE BLUE TOUCH PAPER, by David Hare
Being the life and times of one of Britain’s most eminent playwrights, by the man himself.
Raised in lower middle class gentility in 1950s Bexhill, he quickly showed himself to be something out of the norm. He won a scholarship to read English at Jesus, secured a first and then met a series of very clever people who encouraged him to involve himself in the theatre, first directing and then writing. The rest, as they say, is history. His first big success was Slag, which caused a storm when it was produced in the West End. Ever since he been writing plays which critique British society in a savage, insightful but always humorous style. And what especially marked him out was his creating strong roles for women, a famously neglected area for British playwrights at the time.
This book ends around 1979, with the rise of Thatcherism, so we do not hear how he was awarded a knighthood in 1998 for his services to theatre, or how he squared accepting the honour with his long history of subverting the establishment.
“He bit the hand that fed him” you could say, “But he never bit it off”. Is that cruel? I’ve been taking pops at the status quo all my life. Would I accept an honour in the highly unlikely event I were to be offered one? It is perhaps for the best I will never be faced with such a decision...
Please see next blogs for film reviews.
Thursday, 12 October 2017
I felt sorry for Theresa (nearly)
There can’t be anybody who hasn’t had that nagging, irritating little cough at the end of a cold. I’ve had them in front of patients when I was working as a GP, and that was bad enough. Imagine having one in front of ten million people. We don’t have to, because we all saw it, in an incident which redefined the expression “car crash politics”.
Then earlier this week the poor woman was asked how she’d vote if there was another leave/remain referendum tomorrow. And unlike Damian Green, who neatly sidestepped it by saying “That’s a totally hypothetical question and I’m not going to go there”, she remained silent. It is public knowledge the PM supported remain, albeit in the limp, half-hearted way a lot of Tories (and Jeremy Corbyn, come to that) did. She couldn’t say “Nothing that has happened since has changed my mind”; nor could she say, “Well, now I’ve had time to think I would change my vote”. At least she isn’t that hypocritical. But the poor dab is in such a mess right now she couldn’t say anything.
So, as one human being to another, I was feeling a bit of sympathy. Until yesterday’s PMQs, that is. When challenged by the Labour leader about the universal credit helpline, which for many costs 55p a minute to call, she completely ducked the question. Considering those claiming universal credit are invariably indigent, why couldn’t she say “Yes, that is a problem and we are going to make it free for everyone”? Maybe in her heart she thinks it should be free, but the trouble is she’s still in the thrall of people like IDS, Liam Fox and Owen “I’d rather see the UK’s GDP halved and our unemployment rate double before I submit to those tyrants in Brussels” Patterson.
John Major didn’t cave in to the “bastards”. But David Cameroon did, which is why we are where we are now, and now Theresa May is doing the same thing. Now these arch-Brexiteers, every bit as fundamentalist in their views as your average IS fighter, are running the country.
Then earlier this week the poor woman was asked how she’d vote if there was another leave/remain referendum tomorrow. And unlike Damian Green, who neatly sidestepped it by saying “That’s a totally hypothetical question and I’m not going to go there”, she remained silent. It is public knowledge the PM supported remain, albeit in the limp, half-hearted way a lot of Tories (and Jeremy Corbyn, come to that) did. She couldn’t say “Nothing that has happened since has changed my mind”; nor could she say, “Well, now I’ve had time to think I would change my vote”. At least she isn’t that hypocritical. But the poor dab is in such a mess right now she couldn’t say anything.
So, as one human being to another, I was feeling a bit of sympathy. Until yesterday’s PMQs, that is. When challenged by the Labour leader about the universal credit helpline, which for many costs 55p a minute to call, she completely ducked the question. Considering those claiming universal credit are invariably indigent, why couldn’t she say “Yes, that is a problem and we are going to make it free for everyone”? Maybe in her heart she thinks it should be free, but the trouble is she’s still in the thrall of people like IDS, Liam Fox and Owen “I’d rather see the UK’s GDP halved and our unemployment rate double before I submit to those tyrants in Brussels” Patterson.
John Major didn’t cave in to the “bastards”. But David Cameroon did, which is why we are where we are now, and now Theresa May is doing the same thing. Now these arch-Brexiteers, every bit as fundamentalist in their views as your average IS fighter, are running the country.
Wednesday, 11 October 2017
Another gold mine in Alaska: so what?
Since 2010 the American EPA (Environmental Protection Agency) has been looking into the impact the proposed Pebble Mine in Alaska might have on the local environment and the Native American communities nearby. This week their report was published, and it makes grim reading.
Gold mines take a terrible toll on the surrounding ecology. More than a million tonnes of material has to be sifted for every half-ton of gold, but gold is gold, right? It’s like, precious. So who cares? Well, as it happens, the local population does. They rely on the sock-eye salmon that swim in their rivers for their survival, and the stocks will be devastated if the mine goes ahead. And a huge, ugly scar will be left on the earth, at present a beautiful, untouched piece of Arctic wonderland.
Will Donald Trump take a hand to stop this despoliation? Will he fuck. He’s been systematically pulling the teeth of the EPA since he came into office, even putting a director in place who has been implacably opposed to almost everything the EPA has been trying to achieve over the last 20 years. Trump has said he’s interested in “clean air, and clean water; that’s about it”. But is it just the air he breathes, and the water he drinks? I think so. He won’t give a flying fuck about the problems of a far-flung land and the people who live there.
So look out Alaska. You’re in for it now. If you want to stop this outrage, you’re going to have to do it yourself. Don’t expect any help from your president.
Gold mines take a terrible toll on the surrounding ecology. More than a million tonnes of material has to be sifted for every half-ton of gold, but gold is gold, right? It’s like, precious. So who cares? Well, as it happens, the local population does. They rely on the sock-eye salmon that swim in their rivers for their survival, and the stocks will be devastated if the mine goes ahead. And a huge, ugly scar will be left on the earth, at present a beautiful, untouched piece of Arctic wonderland.
Will Donald Trump take a hand to stop this despoliation? Will he fuck. He’s been systematically pulling the teeth of the EPA since he came into office, even putting a director in place who has been implacably opposed to almost everything the EPA has been trying to achieve over the last 20 years. Trump has said he’s interested in “clean air, and clean water; that’s about it”. But is it just the air he breathes, and the water he drinks? I think so. He won’t give a flying fuck about the problems of a far-flung land and the people who live there.
So look out Alaska. You’re in for it now. If you want to stop this outrage, you’re going to have to do it yourself. Don’t expect any help from your president.
Thursday, 5 October 2017
Homage to Catalonia
States don’t like bits of them detaching themselves. It reduces their power. Iran, Turkey and Iraq don’t want the Kurds to have their own state. It may have something to do with the substantial oil fields situated within the region known as “Kurdistan”. They’re so worried about it the leaders of Turkey and Iran, one Sunni, the other Shia, normally bitter enemies, have cozied up and are speaking with one voice.
We didn’t like it when Scotland wanted to become independent. But at least that is another country. With Catalonia, that’s like Yorkshire saying it wants independence from the rest of the UK. Hence the Spanish don’t want to lose Catalonia. Hardly surprising. Its industry constitutes nearly 20% of the Spanish economy, and the tens of millions of foreign visitors to it every year provide a huge source of foreign currency.
My question is: why do they want to break away? What’s in it for them? I ask, because it is a question no one in the media has been prepared to address. It’s as if there’s a news embargo on why the Catalonians want independence.
Culturally speaking, Catalonia is very different from the rest of Spain. It has its own language, which is spoken by the majority of its citizens. Moreover, anarchist sentiment has long been part of the DNA of the Catalan people. Catalonians want to do things their way, and like all anarchists, bristle the moment someone else tells them what to do. I imagine the more they are told they can’t be independent, the more they’ll want to have their own way. But as I said, the media, the BBC and Sky News, CNN, Euronews, Al Jazeira, all of them seem to have signed up to a conspiracy of silence as to the underlying reasons. And you know what? That stinks.
We didn’t like it when Scotland wanted to become independent. But at least that is another country. With Catalonia, that’s like Yorkshire saying it wants independence from the rest of the UK. Hence the Spanish don’t want to lose Catalonia. Hardly surprising. Its industry constitutes nearly 20% of the Spanish economy, and the tens of millions of foreign visitors to it every year provide a huge source of foreign currency.
My question is: why do they want to break away? What’s in it for them? I ask, because it is a question no one in the media has been prepared to address. It’s as if there’s a news embargo on why the Catalonians want independence.
Culturally speaking, Catalonia is very different from the rest of Spain. It has its own language, which is spoken by the majority of its citizens. Moreover, anarchist sentiment has long been part of the DNA of the Catalan people. Catalonians want to do things their way, and like all anarchists, bristle the moment someone else tells them what to do. I imagine the more they are told they can’t be independent, the more they’ll want to have their own way. But as I said, the media, the BBC and Sky News, CNN, Euronews, Al Jazeira, all of them seem to have signed up to a conspiracy of silence as to the underlying reasons. And you know what? That stinks.
Tuesday, 3 October 2017
The sound of freedom
A couple of years ago in a little town in rural New England, they decided to build a new gun range. They already had one, but it was busy and shooters sometimes had to wait for several minutes before a stall became free. Well within the hearing of most of the population, some objected to the noise pollution the new range would generate. The objectors didn’t get very far, and as far as I know the gun range is still there and still operating. A news crew went there to gather opinion, and one man they interviewed said this:
“Every time I hear a gunshot I think, ‘freedom’”.
OK. So on Sunday, in Las Vegas, when the sound of gunfire echoed across its hotels and casinos, and had that gentleman been present, I wonder, would that have been his first thought? Or would he perhaps have been thinking: “I’ve got to get outa here. Some nut’s tryin to kill me!”?
The 2nd Amendment to the US constitution, which as we all know, because it keeps getting rammed down everyone’s throats, guarantees all Americans the right to bear arms. And as we also know, this was introduced during the revolutionary war to assist in the fight against the hated British. That of course was over 200 years ago, but the amendment is still in place, now serving a rather different purpose.
But this right is limited. Stinger missile systems, which enable an individual to take down an aircraft in flight, are not on sale to the American public. Neither are rocket powered grenades (RPGs) by which a man can blow up a whole building with a simple pull on a trigger. I do not believe it is possible for a private citizen to own a tank, load it up with shells and drive to work in it. However, it is possible for a private citizen to own an automatic rifle, another weapon of war, which can fire up to thirty rounds a second, making it possible to kill a large number of human beings in a very short space of time. That, after all, is what it is designed to do. Why would a private citizen wish to own such a weapon? To hunt wild animals?
“Hey honey, I bagged me a deer with my specially modified AR15 today. OK, there wasn’t much left of it by the time I’d finished, but it sure was fun blowing it away!”
Automatic weapons, like handguns, really have only one purpose: to kill human beings. Yet all across America, these items are openly on sale, often without any checks at all on who might be wishing to buy them. When I visited North Carolina not long ago, I couldn’t resist wandering into a gun store and examining a “Dirty Harry” style .44 magnum handgun- “the most powerful handgun in the world” (I don’t know if that’s still true, but it’s certainly up there). As I weighed the awesome piece of hardware in my hands, the store owner explained: “You don’t wing someone with this baby. You either miss ‘em altogether or blow a piece out of ‘em the size of a grapefruit”. Although the store owner knew I was a foreign visitor, I was told that if I handed over $350 I could take it away with me, there and then, and as many bullets as I wanted to go with it.
I respectfully put it to you, my American friends: that’s wrong.
“Every time I hear a gunshot I think, ‘freedom’”.
OK. So on Sunday, in Las Vegas, when the sound of gunfire echoed across its hotels and casinos, and had that gentleman been present, I wonder, would that have been his first thought? Or would he perhaps have been thinking: “I’ve got to get outa here. Some nut’s tryin to kill me!”?
The 2nd Amendment to the US constitution, which as we all know, because it keeps getting rammed down everyone’s throats, guarantees all Americans the right to bear arms. And as we also know, this was introduced during the revolutionary war to assist in the fight against the hated British. That of course was over 200 years ago, but the amendment is still in place, now serving a rather different purpose.
But this right is limited. Stinger missile systems, which enable an individual to take down an aircraft in flight, are not on sale to the American public. Neither are rocket powered grenades (RPGs) by which a man can blow up a whole building with a simple pull on a trigger. I do not believe it is possible for a private citizen to own a tank, load it up with shells and drive to work in it. However, it is possible for a private citizen to own an automatic rifle, another weapon of war, which can fire up to thirty rounds a second, making it possible to kill a large number of human beings in a very short space of time. That, after all, is what it is designed to do. Why would a private citizen wish to own such a weapon? To hunt wild animals?
“Hey honey, I bagged me a deer with my specially modified AR15 today. OK, there wasn’t much left of it by the time I’d finished, but it sure was fun blowing it away!”
Automatic weapons, like handguns, really have only one purpose: to kill human beings. Yet all across America, these items are openly on sale, often without any checks at all on who might be wishing to buy them. When I visited North Carolina not long ago, I couldn’t resist wandering into a gun store and examining a “Dirty Harry” style .44 magnum handgun- “the most powerful handgun in the world” (I don’t know if that’s still true, but it’s certainly up there). As I weighed the awesome piece of hardware in my hands, the store owner explained: “You don’t wing someone with this baby. You either miss ‘em altogether or blow a piece out of ‘em the size of a grapefruit”. Although the store owner knew I was a foreign visitor, I was told that if I handed over $350 I could take it away with me, there and then, and as many bullets as I wanted to go with it.
I respectfully put it to you, my American friends: that’s wrong.
Monday, 2 October 2017
September 2017 film review part two
MISS BALA (2014) W/D- Gerardo Naranjo (Mexico)
A beautiful young woman (Stephanie Sigman) enters the “Miss Baja California” contest, but finds herself, through no fault of her own, mixed up with the leader of a drugs cartel. She is forced to smuggle cash across the border; in return the cartel leader offers to fix the contest in her favor. Fearing for her life (and life is very cheap in Mexico; as the movie ends it explains how more than 30,000 people have been murdered by drug gangs and the police since 2005), she co-operates. Finally, of course, she is apprehended by authorities...
Based on true events, this is a fascinating and moving little tale told with great skill, though throughout it is Sigman’s performance which shines most brightly.
THE ANGRY SILENCE (1960) D- Guy Green
An impoverished factory worker (Richard Attenborough) risks the ire of his fellows when he breaks an unofficial strike. They bully him, harass his family and then send him to Coventry (hence the “angry silence”).
When this powerful little social drama came out in 1961, it was banned in the mining valleys of South Wales, where the unions disapproved of its apparent “anti-strike” theme. But Dickie Attenborough went there himself and persuaded them to relent. What a guy...
SULLY (2016) D- Clint Eastwood
In 2009, Captain Chesley Sullenberger set off from La Guardia airport in New York en route to Charlotte, North Carolina. But within a minute a bird strike took out both his engines. Lacking the height to make it to any airstrip, he crash-landed in the Hudson River, where, miraculously, everyone on board was recovered alive. Hailed initially as the “hero of the Hudson”, “Sully” soon came under fire for not trying hard enough to make it to an airport. And that’s your movie, right there.
Even at 87, Clint Eastwood puts a very competent movie together, and with Tom Hanks in the lead this couldn’t fail. Actually, it did. Apart from two key scenes, first the crash itself and then the moment where Sully proves he had no option but to ditch in the river, this film falls rather flat. There is no real flair, no real punch, just a skillful exposition of the facts. It could, and perhaps even should, have been a documentary. Pity.
LA NOTTE (1961) D- Michelangelo Antonioni
A Milanese couple go to visit an old friend who is dying in hospital. She is so upset she can’t bear it, and waits for her husband outside. As he leaves his friend’s ward, an attractive young woman lures him into her room and attempts to seduce him. He doesn't try that hard to discourage her, even though she is clearly unwell. Finally nurses arrive and pry them apart.. He rejoins his wife outside, but few words are exchanged. Clearly this is a loveless marriage...
That night they go to a high society party, where they go their separate ways and have a variety of disparate experiences. Finally they re-unite, but still there is no meeting of minds. End of movie.
Here we come to the creme de la creme. Antonioni’s movie is a miracle of astute human observation and directorial guile. These unlikeable people, beautiful and talented though they are, exert a magnetic pull upon our attentions. We cannot wait to see what they get up to next, and we are always hungry for more. Like all the best movies, it seems too short and we want it go on to see what happens next. Notable too for Monica Vitti’s performance as a bored socialite, this is one of the most influential films in modern cinema. Rightly so. One of the films to see before you die.
A beautiful young woman (Stephanie Sigman) enters the “Miss Baja California” contest, but finds herself, through no fault of her own, mixed up with the leader of a drugs cartel. She is forced to smuggle cash across the border; in return the cartel leader offers to fix the contest in her favor. Fearing for her life (and life is very cheap in Mexico; as the movie ends it explains how more than 30,000 people have been murdered by drug gangs and the police since 2005), she co-operates. Finally, of course, she is apprehended by authorities...
Based on true events, this is a fascinating and moving little tale told with great skill, though throughout it is Sigman’s performance which shines most brightly.
THE ANGRY SILENCE (1960) D- Guy Green
An impoverished factory worker (Richard Attenborough) risks the ire of his fellows when he breaks an unofficial strike. They bully him, harass his family and then send him to Coventry (hence the “angry silence”).
When this powerful little social drama came out in 1961, it was banned in the mining valleys of South Wales, where the unions disapproved of its apparent “anti-strike” theme. But Dickie Attenborough went there himself and persuaded them to relent. What a guy...
SULLY (2016) D- Clint Eastwood
In 2009, Captain Chesley Sullenberger set off from La Guardia airport in New York en route to Charlotte, North Carolina. But within a minute a bird strike took out both his engines. Lacking the height to make it to any airstrip, he crash-landed in the Hudson River, where, miraculously, everyone on board was recovered alive. Hailed initially as the “hero of the Hudson”, “Sully” soon came under fire for not trying hard enough to make it to an airport. And that’s your movie, right there.
Even at 87, Clint Eastwood puts a very competent movie together, and with Tom Hanks in the lead this couldn’t fail. Actually, it did. Apart from two key scenes, first the crash itself and then the moment where Sully proves he had no option but to ditch in the river, this film falls rather flat. There is no real flair, no real punch, just a skillful exposition of the facts. It could, and perhaps even should, have been a documentary. Pity.
LA NOTTE (1961) D- Michelangelo Antonioni
A Milanese couple go to visit an old friend who is dying in hospital. She is so upset she can’t bear it, and waits for her husband outside. As he leaves his friend’s ward, an attractive young woman lures him into her room and attempts to seduce him. He doesn't try that hard to discourage her, even though she is clearly unwell. Finally nurses arrive and pry them apart.. He rejoins his wife outside, but few words are exchanged. Clearly this is a loveless marriage...
That night they go to a high society party, where they go their separate ways and have a variety of disparate experiences. Finally they re-unite, but still there is no meeting of minds. End of movie.
Here we come to the creme de la creme. Antonioni’s movie is a miracle of astute human observation and directorial guile. These unlikeable people, beautiful and talented though they are, exert a magnetic pull upon our attentions. We cannot wait to see what they get up to next, and we are always hungry for more. Like all the best movies, it seems too short and we want it go on to see what happens next. Notable too for Monica Vitti’s performance as a bored socialite, this is one of the most influential films in modern cinema. Rightly so. One of the films to see before you die.
September 2017 Film review part one
SOUTH (1919) D- Frank Hurley
In 1915, while the world was locked in the most terrible conflict in its history, Sir Ernest Shackleton headed south to explore the Antarctic, having the foresight to bring cameraman Frank Hurley with him to record his exploits. His ship, Endurance, became locked in the ice and the crew stranded. Slowly their ship is crushed by the pack-ice, a scene dramatically captured by Hurley and his hand-cranked camera.
Leaving most of the crew behind, Shackleton and a handpicked group made what is now recognized as one the great epic journeys to a whaling station on Elephant Island, 800 miles away, to mount a rescue for his men. Incredibly, no one lost their life throughout the ordeal, and Frank Hurley was on hand to record everything he saw with the most extraordinary skill. Unforgettable.
FAT CITY (1972) D- John Huston
An ageing boxer, well past his sell-by date, seeks solace in drink. Then he meets a young pugilist on his way up and decides to mentor him. He even resolves to get back in shape himself, but his good resolutions are drowned in bourbon...
This gritty, naturalistic piece from Huston, a man thought by many also to be past his prime, is a revelation. He draws a staggering performance from Stacy Keach as the alcoholic fighter, and indeed, the portrayals of drunkenness from him his and off/on girlfriend played by Susan Tyrell are the most realistic I have ever seen.
With films like The Maltese Falcon and The Treasure of the Sierra Madre under his belt while still a young man, Huston could have rested on his illustrious laurels in the 50s. His later output was more patchy, but then, in the autumn of his career he produced this minor masterpiece. A classic.
SCENT OF A WOMAN (1992) D- Martin Brest.
A young man (Chris O’Donnell) is given the task of babysitting a blind and embittered army major (Al Pacino). The latter would seek to drink himself to death slowly, and the young man is charged with keeping his drinking under control. This proves harder than anticipated...
Ever since The Panic in Needle Park we have been marveling at the sheer talent of La Pacino, and here he is in vintage form as he runs rings round his “carer”. He is benefited by a great script and highly professional directing, richly deserving his Oscar for best actor in 1992. Even better, like Fat City, it doesn’t seem to have dated a day.
WHITE GOD (2014) D- Kornel Mundrusczo.
This could have been called “About a Dog”, because the story centers around a mongrel dog in Budapest, a place where mongrel strays are rounded up an euthanized. They are taxed too, and the father of the girl whose dog it is is not prepared to pay this tax, so dumps it. But here is a highly resourceful mutt. It survives the streets; even when it is captured by a dog fighting syndicate it escapes and returns to its haunts, eventually becoming the de facto leader of a huge pack of feral canines. And they aren’t happy about their “second class dog” status...
Think Lady and the Tramp with an edge, a brutal, realistic edge. Here the dogs don’t talk. They don’t have to. Their actions speak a lot louder than their barks. Highly watchable.
Please see next blog for more movie reviews.
In 1915, while the world was locked in the most terrible conflict in its history, Sir Ernest Shackleton headed south to explore the Antarctic, having the foresight to bring cameraman Frank Hurley with him to record his exploits. His ship, Endurance, became locked in the ice and the crew stranded. Slowly their ship is crushed by the pack-ice, a scene dramatically captured by Hurley and his hand-cranked camera.
Leaving most of the crew behind, Shackleton and a handpicked group made what is now recognized as one the great epic journeys to a whaling station on Elephant Island, 800 miles away, to mount a rescue for his men. Incredibly, no one lost their life throughout the ordeal, and Frank Hurley was on hand to record everything he saw with the most extraordinary skill. Unforgettable.
FAT CITY (1972) D- John Huston
An ageing boxer, well past his sell-by date, seeks solace in drink. Then he meets a young pugilist on his way up and decides to mentor him. He even resolves to get back in shape himself, but his good resolutions are drowned in bourbon...
This gritty, naturalistic piece from Huston, a man thought by many also to be past his prime, is a revelation. He draws a staggering performance from Stacy Keach as the alcoholic fighter, and indeed, the portrayals of drunkenness from him his and off/on girlfriend played by Susan Tyrell are the most realistic I have ever seen.
With films like The Maltese Falcon and The Treasure of the Sierra Madre under his belt while still a young man, Huston could have rested on his illustrious laurels in the 50s. His later output was more patchy, but then, in the autumn of his career he produced this minor masterpiece. A classic.
SCENT OF A WOMAN (1992) D- Martin Brest.
A young man (Chris O’Donnell) is given the task of babysitting a blind and embittered army major (Al Pacino). The latter would seek to drink himself to death slowly, and the young man is charged with keeping his drinking under control. This proves harder than anticipated...
Ever since The Panic in Needle Park we have been marveling at the sheer talent of La Pacino, and here he is in vintage form as he runs rings round his “carer”. He is benefited by a great script and highly professional directing, richly deserving his Oscar for best actor in 1992. Even better, like Fat City, it doesn’t seem to have dated a day.
WHITE GOD (2014) D- Kornel Mundrusczo.
This could have been called “About a Dog”, because the story centers around a mongrel dog in Budapest, a place where mongrel strays are rounded up an euthanized. They are taxed too, and the father of the girl whose dog it is is not prepared to pay this tax, so dumps it. But here is a highly resourceful mutt. It survives the streets; even when it is captured by a dog fighting syndicate it escapes and returns to its haunts, eventually becoming the de facto leader of a huge pack of feral canines. And they aren’t happy about their “second class dog” status...
Think Lady and the Tramp with an edge, a brutal, realistic edge. Here the dogs don’t talk. They don’t have to. Their actions speak a lot louder than their barks. Highly watchable.
Please see next blog for more movie reviews.
Sunday, 1 October 2017
Book review September 2017
Welcome to this month’s book review. Please note I have to divide my review up into several portions, as devoted readers may have noticed, because my iPad doesn’t like this blogging site. Please be patient...
BOOKS
THE NOISE OF SILENCE, by Julian Barnes
Being the life and times of one of Russia’s greatest composers, Dimitri Shostakovich. Written in the form of a biographical novel, and drawing deeply on Elizabeth Wilson’s definitive study, Shostakovich: A Life Remembered, here Julian Barnes has written what many feel is one of his best books.
Born in 1906, Dimitri lived his entire adult life under communism, and much of it under the baleful eye of uncle Jo Stalin. Hence his work was constantly subject to the scrutiny of his censors, who often pronounced his work reactionary and working against the spirit of the glorious revolution. Time and again some of his greatest achievements were proscribed and suppressed, and he often teetered on the edge of being sent to the gulags or even taken outside and shot.
But like his literary colleague Mikhail Bulgakov, he escaped the worst punishments because Stalin harboured a sneaking respect for his work. The compromises he was forced to make to stay alive and free, however, took a terrible toll on his mental health. Despite this he still created some of the most important musical works of the 20th century. If you want the quick version, read Barnes’s book; you will not be disappointed.
THE STATEMENT, by Brian Moore
A German war criminal has been hiding out in France since the end of the war, only able to do so because of the protection of a Catholic Church who think that deep down, he isn’t such a bad man. But a group of nazi hunters feel otherwise, and bypassing a stultified state that isn’t really interested in crimes committed forty years ago, takes matters into its own hands. Assassins are sent to kill him, but our antihero didn’t live this long without being on guard every moment of the day and night...
I was aware of the work of this prolific English writer for a long time without ever giving him a try. I’m glad I did. This is a superior thriller, well written and told with great pace and flair. Recommended.
GENESIS, by Sebastiao Salgado
Born in 1944 and scarcely without a camera in his hands ever since, Salgado started travelling the world in his 20s, recording its trouble spots, its war zones and famines, its wildernesses and those who live in it: the plants the animals and the tribes who live in some of the most remote and inaccessible places on the planet. In so doing he has gained the respect and admiration of human rights and environmental groups around the world for his work in publicising the plight of these endangered cultures.
The book itself is massive, lavishly produced coffee-table production of the kind I rarely indulge myself in these days. But I’m glad I did this time. There are over 500 monochrome pictures, beautifully printed and every one a revelation of the incredible diversity and fragility of the planet we call home. Go on, treat yourself.
SOUL MOUNTAIN, by Gao Xingjian
In the 80s, as China slowly climbs out of the pit of the Cultural Revolution and begins to rebuild itself, a young man goes in search of a mystical mountain that may provide some meaning to his life. Robert Louis Stevenson once said “It is better to travel hopefully than to arrive”, which might be the subtitle for this extraordinary book, which helped secure the Nobel Prize for literature for Xingjian in 2000.
Using a bewildering and extremely skilful array of literary techniques, telling his story in the first person, 2nd and third, in order express different facets of his personality, and discussing history, politics, mysticism and magic along the way, our “hero” wanders around a China which seems to be waking as if from a deep sleep. But all along, there is the quest for “Soul Mountain” which nags away at him whatever he is doing. Will he find it? Does it matter? Read on...
Please see subsequent blogs for movie review.
BOOKS
THE NOISE OF SILENCE, by Julian Barnes
Being the life and times of one of Russia’s greatest composers, Dimitri Shostakovich. Written in the form of a biographical novel, and drawing deeply on Elizabeth Wilson’s definitive study, Shostakovich: A Life Remembered, here Julian Barnes has written what many feel is one of his best books.
Born in 1906, Dimitri lived his entire adult life under communism, and much of it under the baleful eye of uncle Jo Stalin. Hence his work was constantly subject to the scrutiny of his censors, who often pronounced his work reactionary and working against the spirit of the glorious revolution. Time and again some of his greatest achievements were proscribed and suppressed, and he often teetered on the edge of being sent to the gulags or even taken outside and shot.
But like his literary colleague Mikhail Bulgakov, he escaped the worst punishments because Stalin harboured a sneaking respect for his work. The compromises he was forced to make to stay alive and free, however, took a terrible toll on his mental health. Despite this he still created some of the most important musical works of the 20th century. If you want the quick version, read Barnes’s book; you will not be disappointed.
THE STATEMENT, by Brian Moore
A German war criminal has been hiding out in France since the end of the war, only able to do so because of the protection of a Catholic Church who think that deep down, he isn’t such a bad man. But a group of nazi hunters feel otherwise, and bypassing a stultified state that isn’t really interested in crimes committed forty years ago, takes matters into its own hands. Assassins are sent to kill him, but our antihero didn’t live this long without being on guard every moment of the day and night...
I was aware of the work of this prolific English writer for a long time without ever giving him a try. I’m glad I did. This is a superior thriller, well written and told with great pace and flair. Recommended.
GENESIS, by Sebastiao Salgado
Born in 1944 and scarcely without a camera in his hands ever since, Salgado started travelling the world in his 20s, recording its trouble spots, its war zones and famines, its wildernesses and those who live in it: the plants the animals and the tribes who live in some of the most remote and inaccessible places on the planet. In so doing he has gained the respect and admiration of human rights and environmental groups around the world for his work in publicising the plight of these endangered cultures.
The book itself is massive, lavishly produced coffee-table production of the kind I rarely indulge myself in these days. But I’m glad I did this time. There are over 500 monochrome pictures, beautifully printed and every one a revelation of the incredible diversity and fragility of the planet we call home. Go on, treat yourself.
SOUL MOUNTAIN, by Gao Xingjian
In the 80s, as China slowly climbs out of the pit of the Cultural Revolution and begins to rebuild itself, a young man goes in search of a mystical mountain that may provide some meaning to his life. Robert Louis Stevenson once said “It is better to travel hopefully than to arrive”, which might be the subtitle for this extraordinary book, which helped secure the Nobel Prize for literature for Xingjian in 2000.
Using a bewildering and extremely skilful array of literary techniques, telling his story in the first person, 2nd and third, in order express different facets of his personality, and discussing history, politics, mysticism and magic along the way, our “hero” wanders around a China which seems to be waking as if from a deep sleep. But all along, there is the quest for “Soul Mountain” which nags away at him whatever he is doing. Will he find it? Does it matter? Read on...
Please see subsequent blogs for movie review.
Tuesday, 26 September 2017
Trump upsets the wrong guys
Yesterday Donald Trump tweeted it was basically Pueto Rico's fault that Hurricane Maria had virtually destroyed its infrastructure because its economy was in a mess to start with, so they had no one to blame but themselves. Doubtless the citizens of that beleaguered nation are hurt by this travesty, but they have far bigger problems on their hands right now, and besides, who cares what they think, right Donald?
We have seen him excoriate Meryl Streep when she had the temerity to criticize his policies (calling her the "most overrated actress in Hollywood" as I recall), and then we heard him say there were many "fine people" among the numbers of the white supremacists at Charlottesville, people who only hours before the confrontation with protestors had been seen holding torches and chanting "Blacks wil not replace us! Jews will not replace us!". It made us worry that he, the leader of the Free World, might actually be a racist himself, deep down. Now we know this to be true.
But when he took on the entire NFL for their protests about racism within the US, saying they were disrespecting the Flag and ignoring the real reason for their protest, he took on one of the most powerful lobbies in America. Not just the black players, but even some of the billionaire white owners of these clubs, people who have supported Trump in the past, and why not, his tax changes have been targeted at benefiting the rich, even these people have joined the protest.
I think this is marvellous. It gives me hope for America when I see all these disparate groups coming together to point up one of the most pressing problems afflicting it to this day. Trump has taken on his own supporters in a way that can only hurt him in the short and longer term. What next? Will he attack the National Rifle Association for being unAmerican? That sounds ridiculous, but if you'd told me a week ago he'd be trashing the entire NFL I'd have said that was ridiculous.
What I'm most worried about is that Trump will win the election in 2020 and feel mandated to launch a war with North Korea and/or Iran, while presiding over the destruction of the environment of his own beautiful land and the rest of the world too. But when I see him make such a disastrous mistake as he has with attacking the NFL protest, I feel a bit better. Slowly but surely the American people are beginning to realize what a terrible error they made when they voted him in. And surely, surely, they won't make the same error again. Will they?
We have seen him excoriate Meryl Streep when she had the temerity to criticize his policies (calling her the "most overrated actress in Hollywood" as I recall), and then we heard him say there were many "fine people" among the numbers of the white supremacists at Charlottesville, people who only hours before the confrontation with protestors had been seen holding torches and chanting "Blacks wil not replace us! Jews will not replace us!". It made us worry that he, the leader of the Free World, might actually be a racist himself, deep down. Now we know this to be true.
But when he took on the entire NFL for their protests about racism within the US, saying they were disrespecting the Flag and ignoring the real reason for their protest, he took on one of the most powerful lobbies in America. Not just the black players, but even some of the billionaire white owners of these clubs, people who have supported Trump in the past, and why not, his tax changes have been targeted at benefiting the rich, even these people have joined the protest.
I think this is marvellous. It gives me hope for America when I see all these disparate groups coming together to point up one of the most pressing problems afflicting it to this day. Trump has taken on his own supporters in a way that can only hurt him in the short and longer term. What next? Will he attack the National Rifle Association for being unAmerican? That sounds ridiculous, but if you'd told me a week ago he'd be trashing the entire NFL I'd have said that was ridiculous.
What I'm most worried about is that Trump will win the election in 2020 and feel mandated to launch a war with North Korea and/or Iran, while presiding over the destruction of the environment of his own beautiful land and the rest of the world too. But when I see him make such a disastrous mistake as he has with attacking the NFL protest, I feel a bit better. Slowly but surely the American people are beginning to realize what a terrible error they made when they voted him in. And surely, surely, they won't make the same error again. Will they?
Monday, 11 September 2017
I guess "A Boy Named Sue" isn't their favourite song
A couple in the Isle of Wight have withdrawn their 6-year-old son from school because he came home one day expressing his confusion over the fact that one of his classmates turned up in boy's clothes one day, then the next in a dress.
They felt it was wrong to have their child confused in such a way, even though the school, a Christian one, was carrying out the church's guidelines of promoting gender equality. They have said they are now going to home-school their son, and part of their teaching will doubtless be along the lines of:
"God created Adam and Eve, not Adam and Steve, and He certainly didn't make anyone who was Adam one day and Eve the next."
They have form. They did the same thing with the child's older brother not long ago, for similar reasons. "Boys are boys and girls are girls", is their position.
I can understand their little boy being confused. It's a confusing world. Even tiny babies find the world confusing: that's why they cry their eyes out when they don't get something they want. Slowly they learn that the world is not a perfectly ordered place where everything happens exactly the way they want it.
For as long as there have been human beings, there have been those who wish to have sex with their own gender group, and those who have not been happy in the gender nature appears to have chosen for them. And for almost as long, certain groups have reviled these people. Homosexual sex was a serious crime in Britain as recently as 1967, and in some parts of the world it remains a capital offence. But slowly the world is becoming a more tolerant, accepting world. But not everywhere. Donald Trump recently announced that transgender people have no place in the US armed forces.
And then we have families like the Rowes, who want to inculcate their child, not with the fact that the world is indeed a complex, confusing place which it is our duty to come to terms with, but a place of black and white, where only heterosexual sex is OK, and there is no place in it for someone who wishes to change their sex. Just one thing: where in the Bible does it say anything about transgender issues?
They felt it was wrong to have their child confused in such a way, even though the school, a Christian one, was carrying out the church's guidelines of promoting gender equality. They have said they are now going to home-school their son, and part of their teaching will doubtless be along the lines of:
"God created Adam and Eve, not Adam and Steve, and He certainly didn't make anyone who was Adam one day and Eve the next."
They have form. They did the same thing with the child's older brother not long ago, for similar reasons. "Boys are boys and girls are girls", is their position.
I can understand their little boy being confused. It's a confusing world. Even tiny babies find the world confusing: that's why they cry their eyes out when they don't get something they want. Slowly they learn that the world is not a perfectly ordered place where everything happens exactly the way they want it.
For as long as there have been human beings, there have been those who wish to have sex with their own gender group, and those who have not been happy in the gender nature appears to have chosen for them. And for almost as long, certain groups have reviled these people. Homosexual sex was a serious crime in Britain as recently as 1967, and in some parts of the world it remains a capital offence. But slowly the world is becoming a more tolerant, accepting world. But not everywhere. Donald Trump recently announced that transgender people have no place in the US armed forces.
And then we have families like the Rowes, who want to inculcate their child, not with the fact that the world is indeed a complex, confusing place which it is our duty to come to terms with, but a place of black and white, where only heterosexual sex is OK, and there is no place in it for someone who wishes to change their sex. Just one thing: where in the Bible does it say anything about transgender issues?
Sunday, 3 September 2017
August 2017 media review part three
ARRIVAL (2016) D- Denis Villeneuve.
A number of alien spacecraft position themselves over various locations across the world. But unlike in Independence Day or War of the Worlds, these guys aren't out to subjugate the Earth, but to learn about our world and its inhabitants. The problem is, how to communicate in an alien language? Enter Amy Adams, a philologist with a flair for lateral thinking, who is recruited to attempt to start a dialogue with them. But others, including, predictably, the military, are suspicious and would be just as happy to blow them to oblivion.
There has been a slew of movies on this subject, Including Contact and 2001: A Space Odyssey, but this film does find a new angle to explore. Amy Adams is excellent as the linguistics guru, and is well supported by Jeremy Renner. Definitely watchable.
INNOCENCE OF MEMORIES (2016) D- Grant Gee.
A few years ago Turkish Nobel Prize winner Orhan Pamuk wrote a strange, surreal love story set in Istanbul called "Innocence of Memories" and later created a museum called "The Museum of Memories" which housed many artefacts mentioned in its pages. Grant Gee's fascinating movie wanders the streets of Istanbul, re-tracing the steps of the protagonists in the book and also examining the museum exhibits themselves, creating in the process a unique take on a famous book.
Grant Gee has form. In his film "Patience" he dissects out W.G. Sebald's seminal text The Rings of Saturn, in which the author describes a number of hikes around Norfolk and Suffolk, allowing his mind to wander over a number of apparently unconnected themes. Both films have a curious, languorous quality which is really rather hypnotic. Which book will he tackle next? Intriguing.
DETROIT (2017) D- Kathryn Bigelow.
In 1967 Detroit, racial tensions boil over into destructive and lethal rioting. The Detroit police, known for their institutional racism and brutality, put down the blacks in the traditional manner: with billy-clubs, waters cannon and live rounds from rifles and shotguns. And when they think sniper-fire is coming from a down-market apartment house, they roil in and threaten the tenants with death unless they reveal the name of the shooter. They know there was a shooter, but he was only using a starting pistol to scare the cops. No matter. What follows is a harrowing account of apparently true events, as the residents are subjected to the most appalling violence.
Kathryn Bigelow is one of the most skilful directors in America, and here she shows with horrifying realism the extent of racial hatred that was endemic in the police at that time. Perhaps most horrifying of all is the fact that as recent events have shown, in some ways not a lot seems to have changed in 50 years...
A number of alien spacecraft position themselves over various locations across the world. But unlike in Independence Day or War of the Worlds, these guys aren't out to subjugate the Earth, but to learn about our world and its inhabitants. The problem is, how to communicate in an alien language? Enter Amy Adams, a philologist with a flair for lateral thinking, who is recruited to attempt to start a dialogue with them. But others, including, predictably, the military, are suspicious and would be just as happy to blow them to oblivion.
There has been a slew of movies on this subject, Including Contact and 2001: A Space Odyssey, but this film does find a new angle to explore. Amy Adams is excellent as the linguistics guru, and is well supported by Jeremy Renner. Definitely watchable.
INNOCENCE OF MEMORIES (2016) D- Grant Gee.
A few years ago Turkish Nobel Prize winner Orhan Pamuk wrote a strange, surreal love story set in Istanbul called "Innocence of Memories" and later created a museum called "The Museum of Memories" which housed many artefacts mentioned in its pages. Grant Gee's fascinating movie wanders the streets of Istanbul, re-tracing the steps of the protagonists in the book and also examining the museum exhibits themselves, creating in the process a unique take on a famous book.
Grant Gee has form. In his film "Patience" he dissects out W.G. Sebald's seminal text The Rings of Saturn, in which the author describes a number of hikes around Norfolk and Suffolk, allowing his mind to wander over a number of apparently unconnected themes. Both films have a curious, languorous quality which is really rather hypnotic. Which book will he tackle next? Intriguing.
DETROIT (2017) D- Kathryn Bigelow.
In 1967 Detroit, racial tensions boil over into destructive and lethal rioting. The Detroit police, known for their institutional racism and brutality, put down the blacks in the traditional manner: with billy-clubs, waters cannon and live rounds from rifles and shotguns. And when they think sniper-fire is coming from a down-market apartment house, they roil in and threaten the tenants with death unless they reveal the name of the shooter. They know there was a shooter, but he was only using a starting pistol to scare the cops. No matter. What follows is a harrowing account of apparently true events, as the residents are subjected to the most appalling violence.
Kathryn Bigelow is one of the most skilful directors in America, and here she shows with horrifying realism the extent of racial hatred that was endemic in the police at that time. Perhaps most horrifying of all is the fact that as recent events have shown, in some ways not a lot seems to have changed in 50 years...
August 2017 media review part two
MOVIES
DUNKIRK (2017) D- Christopher Nolan.
May 1940. The British Expeditionary Force, numbering nearly 400,000 men, is being driven into the sea, literally, by an advancing and relentless enemy. I say enemy, because at no time during this exceptionally fine war film, is the word "German" ever used. Shows how times change. One soldier, cut off from his comrades, finds his way to the beach and tries to secure his place on a boat to take him home. This proves trickier than he had anticipated...
Christopher Nolan's recent films have been characterised by intricate and sometimes labyrinthine plots (Inception, Interstellar), but here he has opted for an eminently simple story of survival. This film can be understood, and enjoyed, by a six-year-old: one guy among hundreds of thousands, trying to escape from a beach where an enemy is doing its best to kill him, and everyone else.
There are comparisons to be made with the very good 1958 film of the same name, directed by Barry Norman's dad, Leslie. In both the focus is on the grunts, the ordinary privates, as they struggle to escape the hell of the beaches, and also on the civilians back home who mount an armada of small boats to take the trip across the Channel to rescue them. Nolan's film enjoyed a far larger budget, and we see it all on the screen, but both have a vividly authentic feel, and both do a very good job of putting us in the shoes of the soldiers on the sand, waiting, waiting, for rescue. See both if you can.
DOCTOR STRANGE (2016) D- Scott Derrickson.
A full-of-himself surgeon (Benedict Cumberbatch) is forced to re-evaluate his life when a car crash leaves him unable to operate. He seeks help from an obscure group of zen-like monks, only to find that they are engaged in a battle to the death against dark forces (led by Madds Mickelsen) who are bent on destroying everything that is good in the Universe. Will he assist them in their great struggle, or do the selfish thing and concentrate on his own career? Come on, you know what he's gonna do...
Benedict Cumberbatch has joined that small elite of British actors (Patrick Stuart, Ian McKellen, Judi Dench for example) who are classically trained and so damned good they grace any project they're associated with, even if it's an overblown superhero blockbuster. Which this is. I saw it on TV, though it would probably have been better on the big screen (though not in 3D, which would only have spoilt it) where we could have seen exactly how all that money got spent. I thought it was all a bit too much, though my wife enjoyed it hugely, so I leave it to you to decide.
CASQUE D'OR (1952) D- Jacques Becker.
In the Paris of the 1890s, an ex-con with an array of nefarious skills is quickly recruited into a criminal gang. He is attracted to charismatic "Casque D'or" ("Golden Helmet"), a prostitute, played by an exceedingly sultry Simone Signoret, currently dallying with one of the other gang members. She likes the cut of his jib too, and he steals her, much to the other guy's ire. But the gang's leader also would like to snag her for himself, and that may be a problem...
This film caused a storm at the time, with its amoral narrative and naturalistic feel, and some say it was the film that launched the famous "New Wave" in France which changed cinema forever. And it is certainly true that it casts its spell without any need to spend hundreds of millions on special effects. Brilliant.
MOANA (2016) D- Ron Clements and John Musker.
A young girl living on a Pacific island is selected by the Ocean itself to go in search of a precious amulet stolen from a goddess by a naughty demigod. Without it their island is cursed and all the crops begin to die. So it's kind of an urgent thing... Various obstacles stand in her way. The demigod has himself lost it, and a fire god now has it, and it isn't about to give it up without a fight.
Computer animation, it is fair to say, has completely transformed the "cartoon movie" and today most of them use the technique, which has reached astonishing heights. Moana looks good from first frame to last, and even more importantly, the story line is strong and the voice characterisations live up to it. I have to say I was entranced.
DUNKIRK (2017) D- Christopher Nolan.
May 1940. The British Expeditionary Force, numbering nearly 400,000 men, is being driven into the sea, literally, by an advancing and relentless enemy. I say enemy, because at no time during this exceptionally fine war film, is the word "German" ever used. Shows how times change. One soldier, cut off from his comrades, finds his way to the beach and tries to secure his place on a boat to take him home. This proves trickier than he had anticipated...
Christopher Nolan's recent films have been characterised by intricate and sometimes labyrinthine plots (Inception, Interstellar), but here he has opted for an eminently simple story of survival. This film can be understood, and enjoyed, by a six-year-old: one guy among hundreds of thousands, trying to escape from a beach where an enemy is doing its best to kill him, and everyone else.
There are comparisons to be made with the very good 1958 film of the same name, directed by Barry Norman's dad, Leslie. In both the focus is on the grunts, the ordinary privates, as they struggle to escape the hell of the beaches, and also on the civilians back home who mount an armada of small boats to take the trip across the Channel to rescue them. Nolan's film enjoyed a far larger budget, and we see it all on the screen, but both have a vividly authentic feel, and both do a very good job of putting us in the shoes of the soldiers on the sand, waiting, waiting, for rescue. See both if you can.
DOCTOR STRANGE (2016) D- Scott Derrickson.
A full-of-himself surgeon (Benedict Cumberbatch) is forced to re-evaluate his life when a car crash leaves him unable to operate. He seeks help from an obscure group of zen-like monks, only to find that they are engaged in a battle to the death against dark forces (led by Madds Mickelsen) who are bent on destroying everything that is good in the Universe. Will he assist them in their great struggle, or do the selfish thing and concentrate on his own career? Come on, you know what he's gonna do...
Benedict Cumberbatch has joined that small elite of British actors (Patrick Stuart, Ian McKellen, Judi Dench for example) who are classically trained and so damned good they grace any project they're associated with, even if it's an overblown superhero blockbuster. Which this is. I saw it on TV, though it would probably have been better on the big screen (though not in 3D, which would only have spoilt it) where we could have seen exactly how all that money got spent. I thought it was all a bit too much, though my wife enjoyed it hugely, so I leave it to you to decide.
CASQUE D'OR (1952) D- Jacques Becker.
In the Paris of the 1890s, an ex-con with an array of nefarious skills is quickly recruited into a criminal gang. He is attracted to charismatic "Casque D'or" ("Golden Helmet"), a prostitute, played by an exceedingly sultry Simone Signoret, currently dallying with one of the other gang members. She likes the cut of his jib too, and he steals her, much to the other guy's ire. But the gang's leader also would like to snag her for himself, and that may be a problem...
This film caused a storm at the time, with its amoral narrative and naturalistic feel, and some say it was the film that launched the famous "New Wave" in France which changed cinema forever. And it is certainly true that it casts its spell without any need to spend hundreds of millions on special effects. Brilliant.
MOANA (2016) D- Ron Clements and John Musker.
A young girl living on a Pacific island is selected by the Ocean itself to go in search of a precious amulet stolen from a goddess by a naughty demigod. Without it their island is cursed and all the crops begin to die. So it's kind of an urgent thing... Various obstacles stand in her way. The demigod has himself lost it, and a fire god now has it, and it isn't about to give it up without a fight.
Computer animation, it is fair to say, has completely transformed the "cartoon movie" and today most of them use the technique, which has reached astonishing heights. Moana looks good from first frame to last, and even more importantly, the story line is strong and the voice characterisations live up to it. I have to say I was entranced.
August 2017 book and film review
Welcome to this month's media blog. Apologies for my reduced number of posts: life has intervened, and I am concentrating more of my energies on writing a book. There has still been time, however, to read some books and see a few movies.
BOOKS
GUERRILLAS, by V.S. Naipaul
In an unspecified (though it has to be Trinidad), newly independent island in the West Indies during the 1970s, an idealistic white man and his girlfriend work with the locals to make a better life for them. But the place is something of a tinder-box: all it needs is a little spark and the whole country might descend into bloody revolution against the corrupt government. Our hero fears he might be the unwitting spark himself, as he is manipulated both by the establishment and the radical elements.
V.S. Naipaul is that unusual animal: he has earned his living exclusively by writing all his adult life. And he has done that by being a master of his chosen discipline. This tale of lust and betrayal amongst the palm trees and slums of the Caribbean shines with truth and beauty on every page. No one creates such believable characters as Naipaul, and no one expresses the feel of the place, its heat, its humidity and the atmosphere of fear as well as he does. Splendid stuff.
ANGELA'S ASHES, by Frank McCourt
A family of Irish emigrants finds life in New York intolerable, so make the unusual step of returning to their homeland. There they find the poverty and opportunities for advancement even less than in the Land of the Free, and hover on the edge of starvation as Dad drinks the meagre money he makes and his family go hungry. The boy Frankie knows only one thing: there is no future for him in Ireland, and his only chance is to get back to America as soon as he can. He does have one thing: an American passport (he was born there, you see) but very little else.
Frank McCourt set new standards in the genre of "creative nonfiction" and the book has been a smash across the world, especially in the US where, having achieved his great ambition, he lived out his life. His descriptions of the grinding life of poverty lived by the majority of the Irish population in the 20s and 30s are graphic and often horrifying. There has been some criticism of the amount of creativity in his nonfiction, not least by his own mother, but nonetheless there is a loud ring of truth to his writing. One thing. At no point in the narrative is there any mention at all of Angela's ashes, as Frankie's mum, Angela, is very much alive by the end of the book. Perhaps I'm just being thick...
THE RED BADGE OF COURAGE, by Stephen Crane
At the height of the American Civil War, a young man, in truth scarcely more than a boy, decides it would be a great lark to join up and fight for the Yankees. He is soon revelling in his exciting new life with his new friends- until the fighting starts. Suddenly his comrades begin dropping around him and he realises with horrific force that war is dangerous: you could get a leg blown off, or half your face. You could get killed. With a display of logical thinking few of us could fail to identify with, he turns tail and runs. Then, away from the cannon-fire and musket bullets zinging past his head, he starts to have second thoughts...
The Red Badge of Courage is one of the most famous novellas ever to come out of America, and is without doubt an outstanding portrayal of the psychology of fear under fire. It was made into a highly successful film, starring Audie Murphy, who in real life was a fully paid-up war hero. Could he identify with the protagonist of this book? He never ran away from a fight, so it must have been something of a challenge. This notwithstanding, he makes a pretty good fist of it, and I recommend both the book and the film for your scrutiny.
See next blog for movies...
BOOKS
GUERRILLAS, by V.S. Naipaul
In an unspecified (though it has to be Trinidad), newly independent island in the West Indies during the 1970s, an idealistic white man and his girlfriend work with the locals to make a better life for them. But the place is something of a tinder-box: all it needs is a little spark and the whole country might descend into bloody revolution against the corrupt government. Our hero fears he might be the unwitting spark himself, as he is manipulated both by the establishment and the radical elements.
V.S. Naipaul is that unusual animal: he has earned his living exclusively by writing all his adult life. And he has done that by being a master of his chosen discipline. This tale of lust and betrayal amongst the palm trees and slums of the Caribbean shines with truth and beauty on every page. No one creates such believable characters as Naipaul, and no one expresses the feel of the place, its heat, its humidity and the atmosphere of fear as well as he does. Splendid stuff.
ANGELA'S ASHES, by Frank McCourt
A family of Irish emigrants finds life in New York intolerable, so make the unusual step of returning to their homeland. There they find the poverty and opportunities for advancement even less than in the Land of the Free, and hover on the edge of starvation as Dad drinks the meagre money he makes and his family go hungry. The boy Frankie knows only one thing: there is no future for him in Ireland, and his only chance is to get back to America as soon as he can. He does have one thing: an American passport (he was born there, you see) but very little else.
Frank McCourt set new standards in the genre of "creative nonfiction" and the book has been a smash across the world, especially in the US where, having achieved his great ambition, he lived out his life. His descriptions of the grinding life of poverty lived by the majority of the Irish population in the 20s and 30s are graphic and often horrifying. There has been some criticism of the amount of creativity in his nonfiction, not least by his own mother, but nonetheless there is a loud ring of truth to his writing. One thing. At no point in the narrative is there any mention at all of Angela's ashes, as Frankie's mum, Angela, is very much alive by the end of the book. Perhaps I'm just being thick...
THE RED BADGE OF COURAGE, by Stephen Crane
At the height of the American Civil War, a young man, in truth scarcely more than a boy, decides it would be a great lark to join up and fight for the Yankees. He is soon revelling in his exciting new life with his new friends- until the fighting starts. Suddenly his comrades begin dropping around him and he realises with horrific force that war is dangerous: you could get a leg blown off, or half your face. You could get killed. With a display of logical thinking few of us could fail to identify with, he turns tail and runs. Then, away from the cannon-fire and musket bullets zinging past his head, he starts to have second thoughts...
The Red Badge of Courage is one of the most famous novellas ever to come out of America, and is without doubt an outstanding portrayal of the psychology of fear under fire. It was made into a highly successful film, starring Audie Murphy, who in real life was a fully paid-up war hero. Could he identify with the protagonist of this book? He never ran away from a fight, so it must have been something of a challenge. This notwithstanding, he makes a pretty good fist of it, and I recommend both the book and the film for your scrutiny.
See next blog for movies...
Monday, 21 August 2017
American eclipse: fake news created by liberal media?
Today the American people are most fortunate in being able to see a total solar eclipse pass over their heads without them having do any more than stand out in their back yards. I've stood under the shadow 3 times in my life, and I had to travel great distances to do it.
The fact is 70% of the earth's surface is open ocean, and much of the land is uninhabited and remote from centres of population. Not this time. And as Bill Maher has pointed out, by an odd coincidence, 90% of the counties the track of totality will pass over in its track across the US voted for Trump. "That's what they need, right? To be even more in the dark than usual."
I don't blog about Trump much. He's kinda too easy a target. But when he said there was "equivalence" between the ultra right wing racists and the people who protested against their hate-filled rhetoric, he crossed a line. And not just for me, but even for a lot of pretty far right folk in America, who distanced themselves from his incredible views. "There were many fine people among that group", he said. "Fine people" in the KKK, the American Nazi party? And bad people among the protestors, who were just as bad as the worst elements in the groups they were protesting against. Again, as Bill Maher put it, "I mean, we killed a lot of people in World War 2, but at least we knew who the good guys were: us."
I'm not as witty as Bill, but when I heard what he had said last week I thought: say some Jews escaped from a concentration camp and killed some guards doing it. Would Trump say, hey there was violence on both sides here, and some fine people on both sides?
What really happened last week was that Mr. Trump showed the world how he really feels about his country. He knows the "alt right", or racist/fascist constituency was a significant part of him winning the election, and he was wary of upsetting them. This despite the fact that a number of Jews work in his administration, and are even his in-laws. I wonder how they feel right now, with the boss exonerating the people who would drive them into the sea if they could.
The fact is 70% of the earth's surface is open ocean, and much of the land is uninhabited and remote from centres of population. Not this time. And as Bill Maher has pointed out, by an odd coincidence, 90% of the counties the track of totality will pass over in its track across the US voted for Trump. "That's what they need, right? To be even more in the dark than usual."
I don't blog about Trump much. He's kinda too easy a target. But when he said there was "equivalence" between the ultra right wing racists and the people who protested against their hate-filled rhetoric, he crossed a line. And not just for me, but even for a lot of pretty far right folk in America, who distanced themselves from his incredible views. "There were many fine people among that group", he said. "Fine people" in the KKK, the American Nazi party? And bad people among the protestors, who were just as bad as the worst elements in the groups they were protesting against. Again, as Bill Maher put it, "I mean, we killed a lot of people in World War 2, but at least we knew who the good guys were: us."
I'm not as witty as Bill, but when I heard what he had said last week I thought: say some Jews escaped from a concentration camp and killed some guards doing it. Would Trump say, hey there was violence on both sides here, and some fine people on both sides?
What really happened last week was that Mr. Trump showed the world how he really feels about his country. He knows the "alt right", or racist/fascist constituency was a significant part of him winning the election, and he was wary of upsetting them. This despite the fact that a number of Jews work in his administration, and are even his in-laws. I wonder how they feel right now, with the boss exonerating the people who would drive them into the sea if they could.
Saturday, 29 July 2017
July 2017 movie review part 2.
MORE MOVIES
FREE FIRE (2017) D- Ben Wheatley.
In what appears to be early 70s LA, a group of felons go to a warehouse to buy an arsenal of weapons big enough to start a small revolution. The guns are there, they've got their briefcases stuffed with cash, but somewhere along the line it all goes wrong and everyone starts shooting at everyone else. One by one the protagonists take hits and fall to the ground, but they aren't killed. They start crawling about, bleeding but still highly dangerous to anyone dumb enough to show themselves. Bang bang. You're dead. Nearly.
Ben Wheatley has established himself, with films like A field in England and Sightseers, as one of the most talented young directors in Britain. Here he's taken the Hollywood dollar and made a very stylish, extremely violent (nothing new there then) movie which looks terrific but which lacks a certain something. Plot perhaps. What I have described above is indeed the whole movie; there's little opportunity for character development, and there's no real context we can place ourselves in. An interesting exercise certainly, but Ben needs a better script next time..
THE AMERICAN FRIEND (1977) D- Wim Wenders.
Tom Ripley has a friend who does excellent fakes of works of art, but someone who knows his stuff notices a problem with one of them. Psychopath that he is, Ripley decides to fuck with this guy's mind, just for fun, by exploiting his terminal illness by offering him a sack of money to murder one of his enemies.
Based on Patricia Highsmith's novel Ripley's Game, Wim Wenders produced one of the finest adaptations of Highsmith's work long before a later generation of film makers took their turn. Shot in a strange, surreal colour, with brilliant performances by Dennis Hopper as Ripley and Bruno Ganz as his puppet, this is a strange, beautiful and dark movie. Very strong.
EDVARD MUNCH (1974) D- Peter Watkins
The tortured life and turbulent times of Scandinavia's greatest artist. Growing up in a devout Christian family where one family member after another succumbed to consumption, poor Edvard grew to adopt an analysis of life characterised by pain, frustration and rejection. And his desperate attempts to understand himself and a world that could bring about such suffering came out on the canvas. Misunderstood by a public not ready for his revolutionary approach, he pressed on regardless of their contempt, and went on to become one of the most renowned artists of the past 300 years.
Peter Watkins made his name making "mocumantaries" for television, notably Culloden and The War Game. And he stayed with this "factional" style in making this, his greatest artistic creation. Neglected today, this film is extraordinary. Dwelling on the pain of Munch's existence in almost unendurable detail, we see how this pain is transformed through paint, woodcut and engravure into works of transcendent beauty and power. It is not an easy film (it's not far short of 4 hours long) but like many "difficult" films or books, the effort expended is richly rewarded. Unforgettable.
FREE FIRE (2017) D- Ben Wheatley.
In what appears to be early 70s LA, a group of felons go to a warehouse to buy an arsenal of weapons big enough to start a small revolution. The guns are there, they've got their briefcases stuffed with cash, but somewhere along the line it all goes wrong and everyone starts shooting at everyone else. One by one the protagonists take hits and fall to the ground, but they aren't killed. They start crawling about, bleeding but still highly dangerous to anyone dumb enough to show themselves. Bang bang. You're dead. Nearly.
Ben Wheatley has established himself, with films like A field in England and Sightseers, as one of the most talented young directors in Britain. Here he's taken the Hollywood dollar and made a very stylish, extremely violent (nothing new there then) movie which looks terrific but which lacks a certain something. Plot perhaps. What I have described above is indeed the whole movie; there's little opportunity for character development, and there's no real context we can place ourselves in. An interesting exercise certainly, but Ben needs a better script next time..
THE AMERICAN FRIEND (1977) D- Wim Wenders.
Tom Ripley has a friend who does excellent fakes of works of art, but someone who knows his stuff notices a problem with one of them. Psychopath that he is, Ripley decides to fuck with this guy's mind, just for fun, by exploiting his terminal illness by offering him a sack of money to murder one of his enemies.
Based on Patricia Highsmith's novel Ripley's Game, Wim Wenders produced one of the finest adaptations of Highsmith's work long before a later generation of film makers took their turn. Shot in a strange, surreal colour, with brilliant performances by Dennis Hopper as Ripley and Bruno Ganz as his puppet, this is a strange, beautiful and dark movie. Very strong.
EDVARD MUNCH (1974) D- Peter Watkins
The tortured life and turbulent times of Scandinavia's greatest artist. Growing up in a devout Christian family where one family member after another succumbed to consumption, poor Edvard grew to adopt an analysis of life characterised by pain, frustration and rejection. And his desperate attempts to understand himself and a world that could bring about such suffering came out on the canvas. Misunderstood by a public not ready for his revolutionary approach, he pressed on regardless of their contempt, and went on to become one of the most renowned artists of the past 300 years.
Peter Watkins made his name making "mocumantaries" for television, notably Culloden and The War Game. And he stayed with this "factional" style in making this, his greatest artistic creation. Neglected today, this film is extraordinary. Dwelling on the pain of Munch's existence in almost unendurable detail, we see how this pain is transformed through paint, woodcut and engravure into works of transcendent beauty and power. It is not an easy film (it's not far short of 4 hours long) but like many "difficult" films or books, the effort expended is richly rewarded. Unforgettable.
July 2017 movie review Part 1
FILMS
LIFE ON THE LINE (2015) D- David Hackl.
John Travolta plays a lineman (maintaining the power cables) somewhere in Texas who with his team has to keep the power flowing despite storms and internal wrangling within his workforce. In particular he objects to one of his men dating his gorgeous adopted daughter (Kate Bosworth). Yawn.
This review tries to be fair, and because I select the films I watch with considerable care, I find myself more often or not recommending them. Not this time. This movie sucks. Not for its production values which are excellent; there's plenty of money up on the screen for sure. But the acting is self conscious and the plot and script are execrable. Don't bother, people...
POP STAR: DON'T STOP NEVER STOPPING (2016) D- Akiva Schaffer.
Conner Friel (Andy Samberg, who also co-scripted) is one of those manufactured, talentless pop stars based on any number of real people currently clipping millions from a public who are told by people like Simon Cowell what to like and do so with astonishing obedience. But slowly, our man suffers an "Emperor's New Clothes" phenomenon and it all falls apart spectacularly.
Peppered with megastar cameos like a pizza with too many toppings, this film does have a certain charm. It laughs at itself in the way parodies are supposed to, but you find yourself reflecting that there is really only one "rockstar mocumantary" by which all others should be judged: This is Spinal Tap. And I'm afraid in this regard this movie comes up wanting.
Not bad if you have a couple of spare hours to hand...
THE BEGUILED (2017) D- Sofia Coppola.
In the dying days of the American Civil War, an injured confederate soldier stumbles into a girls' school and is protected by the teachers and pupils, who, as the title suggests, start to become somewhat beguiled by their unexpected guest. They are frightened, repelled, and attracted by him, almost simulataneously. But when his wounds begin to heal, he becomes less docile and more assertive. Temptation surrounds him on all sides, luscious, barely legal girls, sultry teachers (Kirsten Dunst) and gorgeous but surely unobtainable headmistress Nicole Kidman. One man, all that oestrogen, something's gotta give...
Here, Sofia Coppola, one of the most talented directors in Hollywood (The Virgin Suicides, Lost in Translation) has taken the risky move of doing a remake of a perfectly serviceable, if flawed, original. Don Siegel put his favourite actor Clint Eastwood into his 1971 movie, a film which has since achieved cult status. But despite the risks implicit in remaking famous movies, Coppola has made a fine update. The acting and directing is excellent, and the film has its own curious, dreamy atmosphere which is very powerful. Give it a go.
Please see next blog for more movies...
LIFE ON THE LINE (2015) D- David Hackl.
John Travolta plays a lineman (maintaining the power cables) somewhere in Texas who with his team has to keep the power flowing despite storms and internal wrangling within his workforce. In particular he objects to one of his men dating his gorgeous adopted daughter (Kate Bosworth). Yawn.
This review tries to be fair, and because I select the films I watch with considerable care, I find myself more often or not recommending them. Not this time. This movie sucks. Not for its production values which are excellent; there's plenty of money up on the screen for sure. But the acting is self conscious and the plot and script are execrable. Don't bother, people...
POP STAR: DON'T STOP NEVER STOPPING (2016) D- Akiva Schaffer.
Conner Friel (Andy Samberg, who also co-scripted) is one of those manufactured, talentless pop stars based on any number of real people currently clipping millions from a public who are told by people like Simon Cowell what to like and do so with astonishing obedience. But slowly, our man suffers an "Emperor's New Clothes" phenomenon and it all falls apart spectacularly.
Peppered with megastar cameos like a pizza with too many toppings, this film does have a certain charm. It laughs at itself in the way parodies are supposed to, but you find yourself reflecting that there is really only one "rockstar mocumantary" by which all others should be judged: This is Spinal Tap. And I'm afraid in this regard this movie comes up wanting.
Not bad if you have a couple of spare hours to hand...
THE BEGUILED (2017) D- Sofia Coppola.
In the dying days of the American Civil War, an injured confederate soldier stumbles into a girls' school and is protected by the teachers and pupils, who, as the title suggests, start to become somewhat beguiled by their unexpected guest. They are frightened, repelled, and attracted by him, almost simulataneously. But when his wounds begin to heal, he becomes less docile and more assertive. Temptation surrounds him on all sides, luscious, barely legal girls, sultry teachers (Kirsten Dunst) and gorgeous but surely unobtainable headmistress Nicole Kidman. One man, all that oestrogen, something's gotta give...
Here, Sofia Coppola, one of the most talented directors in Hollywood (The Virgin Suicides, Lost in Translation) has taken the risky move of doing a remake of a perfectly serviceable, if flawed, original. Don Siegel put his favourite actor Clint Eastwood into his 1971 movie, a film which has since achieved cult status. But despite the risks implicit in remaking famous movies, Coppola has made a fine update. The acting and directing is excellent, and the film has its own curious, dreamy atmosphere which is very powerful. Give it a go.
Please see next blog for more movies...
July 2017 book and film review
Welcome to this month's media review. I haven't read as much as usual this month, mainly because I have been preparing a "nonfiction novel" about the problems I currently face. I have written over 35,000 words, which represents my most intense output in any one month of my life. Shows you what doing a master's in creative writing can do for you...
BOOKS
THE BLACK SPIDER, by Jeremiah Gotthelf.
In mid 19th century Switzerland, a little village does its best to thrive despite the predations of a tyrannical overlord. And when he makes impossible demands of them, they seek the devil's help to fulfil them. Sure, they have to give the devil an unbaptised child in payment, but surely they can find a way to trick him out of what they promised him...
Of course the devil will not be thwarted, and when no unbaptised child is forthcoming, he unleashes a terrible punishment on the villagers; hence the title of this truly terrifying tale.
Written by parish priest, this is both a parable on resisting temptation and an allegory of the plague; whatever, it remains a minor classic of European literature. Highly recommended, though not for those of a nervous disposition...
DEMONS, by Fyodor Dostoyevsky.
Being an everyday story of provincial life in mid 19th century Russia, its nobility, poor and wealthy, the middle classes and the peasants.
As Csar Alexander II attempted to drag Russia into the modern era by emancipating the serfs, socio-political thinkers divided themselves into two camps: the "Westernisers" who wanted to adopt the more liberal attitudes of Western Europe, and the "Slavophiles" who loved Mother Russia and wanted to maintain its traditional identity in the face of these hated "modernisers". Dostoyevsky uses his characters to debate these and other issues in the course of this demanding yet absorbing epic tale.
The strength of Dostoyevsky's writing lies not only in the intricate plotting, but in the totally believable dialogue he puts into his characters' mouths. In this way we can enter this world and become lost in the fields, farms and towns of a Russia at the dawn of a new era.
Give it a go, but only if you have plenty of time on your hands...
Please see next blog for movie reviews
BOOKS
THE BLACK SPIDER, by Jeremiah Gotthelf.
In mid 19th century Switzerland, a little village does its best to thrive despite the predations of a tyrannical overlord. And when he makes impossible demands of them, they seek the devil's help to fulfil them. Sure, they have to give the devil an unbaptised child in payment, but surely they can find a way to trick him out of what they promised him...
Of course the devil will not be thwarted, and when no unbaptised child is forthcoming, he unleashes a terrible punishment on the villagers; hence the title of this truly terrifying tale.
Written by parish priest, this is both a parable on resisting temptation and an allegory of the plague; whatever, it remains a minor classic of European literature. Highly recommended, though not for those of a nervous disposition...
DEMONS, by Fyodor Dostoyevsky.
Being an everyday story of provincial life in mid 19th century Russia, its nobility, poor and wealthy, the middle classes and the peasants.
As Csar Alexander II attempted to drag Russia into the modern era by emancipating the serfs, socio-political thinkers divided themselves into two camps: the "Westernisers" who wanted to adopt the more liberal attitudes of Western Europe, and the "Slavophiles" who loved Mother Russia and wanted to maintain its traditional identity in the face of these hated "modernisers". Dostoyevsky uses his characters to debate these and other issues in the course of this demanding yet absorbing epic tale.
The strength of Dostoyevsky's writing lies not only in the intricate plotting, but in the totally believable dialogue he puts into his characters' mouths. In this way we can enter this world and become lost in the fields, farms and towns of a Russia at the dawn of a new era.
Give it a go, but only if you have plenty of time on your hands...
Please see next blog for movie reviews
Wednesday, 19 July 2017
Radiohead to Palestine: Fuck you
At a concert in Glasgow last week, Radiohead lead singer Thom York was seen to look in the direction of a few people waving Palestinian flags and give them the middle finger. That, it would appear, is what he thinks of the Palestinian people and the BDS (Boycott, Divest, Sanction) movement which aspires to isolate Zionist Israel for its apartheid policy towards the Palestinian population.
Lady Gaga, Britney Spears, Justin Bieber, Elton John, The Rolling Stones. The list of massive names who have taken the Israeli Shekel and played in Israel is long and despressing. But for Radiohead to add their names to "The List of Shame" is puzzling. Radiohead has long championed Human Rights causes, notably supporting Tibet in its struggle to liberate itself from Chinese hegemony. But Tibet's kinda trendy, huh Thom? Whereas who cares about Palestine? Palestine isn't cool, right Thom?
Tell you what, Thom York and anyone else who treads on the aspirations of a whole people to free themselves of the yolk imposed on them by Israel: fuck you. You're on the wrong side of history, and people won't forget.
Lady Gaga, Britney Spears, Justin Bieber, Elton John, The Rolling Stones. The list of massive names who have taken the Israeli Shekel and played in Israel is long and despressing. But for Radiohead to add their names to "The List of Shame" is puzzling. Radiohead has long championed Human Rights causes, notably supporting Tibet in its struggle to liberate itself from Chinese hegemony. But Tibet's kinda trendy, huh Thom? Whereas who cares about Palestine? Palestine isn't cool, right Thom?
Tell you what, Thom York and anyone else who treads on the aspirations of a whole people to free themselves of the yolk imposed on them by Israel: fuck you. You're on the wrong side of history, and people won't forget.
Thursday, 6 July 2017
My ally right or wrong
"I'm with you, whatever."
The words of Tony Blair to his "boss", George W. Bush in 2002.
"You can't say that!" Said Sir Joh Chilcott today, speaking for the first time in a while about his report, which at the time, appeared to vindicate Blair. He didn't lie deliberately, was the conclusion at the time, and he re-iterated that today. But, Chilcott reminded us, Blair is above all an advocate, hardly surprising considering his background in the law, and his peruasive powers are, apparently, legendary. (Pity he couldn't have used it to greater effect in Palestine, instead of sitting on his arse in the American Colony hotel in Jerusalem and banking those fat cheques he got for his job as Middle East "Peace Envoy"). He talked the cabinet, the government and eventually the House into doing what he wanted- sorry- what his boss wanted. But he cannot be said to have taken the country with him. The guy on the Clapham omnibus remained skeptical- and he was right to be so.
Blair believed what he was doing was right, bought the fictitious tales that Saddam had WMDs- he didn't, and Hans Blix knew it, but his version was not what Blair and Bush wanted to hear.
Could it happen again today? Christ, I hope not, but do you know what? I think it could- watch out for Trump asking us to join him in a regime change operation in North Korea. We'd be insane to do that, but the US is our biggest ally, and there's that "special relationship", which to Blair meant being Bush's poodle, with him, "whatever"
Pelagius says: Never again! Never again should we follow the US down the road to war, however close our special relationship is. It doesn't mean we should go down the road of madness with a guy following his own twisted agenda. And if you don't think Trump has a twisted agenda, you haven't been paying attention.
The words of Tony Blair to his "boss", George W. Bush in 2002.
"You can't say that!" Said Sir Joh Chilcott today, speaking for the first time in a while about his report, which at the time, appeared to vindicate Blair. He didn't lie deliberately, was the conclusion at the time, and he re-iterated that today. But, Chilcott reminded us, Blair is above all an advocate, hardly surprising considering his background in the law, and his peruasive powers are, apparently, legendary. (Pity he couldn't have used it to greater effect in Palestine, instead of sitting on his arse in the American Colony hotel in Jerusalem and banking those fat cheques he got for his job as Middle East "Peace Envoy"). He talked the cabinet, the government and eventually the House into doing what he wanted- sorry- what his boss wanted. But he cannot be said to have taken the country with him. The guy on the Clapham omnibus remained skeptical- and he was right to be so.
Blair believed what he was doing was right, bought the fictitious tales that Saddam had WMDs- he didn't, and Hans Blix knew it, but his version was not what Blair and Bush wanted to hear.
Could it happen again today? Christ, I hope not, but do you know what? I think it could- watch out for Trump asking us to join him in a regime change operation in North Korea. We'd be insane to do that, but the US is our biggest ally, and there's that "special relationship", which to Blair meant being Bush's poodle, with him, "whatever"
Pelagius says: Never again! Never again should we follow the US down the road to war, however close our special relationship is. It doesn't mean we should go down the road of madness with a guy following his own twisted agenda. And if you don't think Trump has a twisted agenda, you haven't been paying attention.
Friday, 30 June 2017
June 2017 book and film review part 2
BOOKS
BOYS IN ZINC, by Svetlana Alexievich, continued from previous blog.
Try this little extract as a sample:
When a bullet hits someone you hear it; there's no way to forget it or confuse it with anything else - that distinctive wet splat. A young guy you know falls flat down in dust as bitter as ashes. You turn him over onto his back; the cigarette you just gave him still clutched in his teeth. It's still smoking... I wasn't prepared to shoot at anyone, I was still from ordinary life. From the normal world...
- A private, grenedier
What Alexievich shows us with this book is that the genre of "creative nonfiction" can, if it is good enough, ascend to the status of high art. Which this does. This book is not easy to read, not because of its style, which is eminently readable, but because of the relentless horror and almost unbearable poignancy of its content. Unforgettable.
FILMS
DESIERTA (2015) D- Jonas Cuaron.
On the border between the US and Mexico, human traffickers dump a crew of would-be immigrants in what seems to be the middle of a desert and say: "the border's that way. Off you go, and good luck." On the American side, a hunter equipped with a high-powered rifle and an ATV is waiting for them. There are few border guards in this remote area, so he works alone, picking them off one by one from his redoubt. Donald Trump would probably be proud of him. But these guys didn't come this far and go to this much trouble to be thwarted by a lone vigilante, and they keep running. And dodging the bullets...
This film enacts an ancient theme, the hunter versus the hunted, in a thrilling and often horrific manner. Terrifying but totally absorbing.
DISTURBIA (2007) D- D.J. Caruso.
A young lad (Shia Lebeouf) is driving the car when it crashes and his Dad is killed. He goes off the rails, punches out an unsympathetic teacher and his sentenced to house arrest. With nothing else to do for several months he observes his neighbors leading their lives: an obsessive gardener, a beautiful teenaged girl and... a murderer?
Ring any bells? It should do. This is the plot of Hitchcock's Rear Window, updated to the noughties and starring a teen idol at the height of his popularity at the time. It's a very good idea, and is very well done, though I fear it should have wound itself up about half an hour quicker than it did. Probably required watching for anyone under thirty.
THE CROW'S EGG (2014) D- M. Manikandan
A couple of street kids in Madras hear about a new pizza parlor that's just opened up and would give anything to go into its air-conditioned space, sit on its fake leather seats and enjoy a nice Hawaiian with a coke on the side. Thing is, this is about as far out of their financial reach as it would be for me to buy a mansion in Belgravia. But a boy can dream...
They consider stealing the money, but have moral reservations. They consider a variety of money-making schemes, none of which come to very much, certainly not enough for the handful of rupees required for such luxury. One day they think they have amassed enough, but when they turn up they're thrown out by a management who think they're too dirty. They even give them a cuff upside the head into the bargain, but someone films the incident on their mobile. If this film got out it could be very embarrassing for the pizza parlor owners...
A really rather charming and engaging little movie form India, skillfully made and with good acting (from largely amateurs as I understand it) all round. Hot stuff.
GO (1999) D- Chris Liman
A feisty young woman is approached to obtain some E for a group of heads about to go off to a rave, and realizes she can make a packet by adding her own markup. But when she takes the drugs to the group, she susses it might be a sting operation and throws the lot down the loo. Still thinking on her feet she decides to sell them a load of aspirins instead, so she still makes her money. Cute...
This tale-of-its-time is then explored from a number of POVs, a la Rashomon, and the whole is really very good. Starring Timothy Olyphant, Katie Holmes in one of her first big roles and a very good Sarah Polley as the amateur drug dealer and con artist, I really enjoyed this minor cult classic. Try it yourself.
BOYS IN ZINC, by Svetlana Alexievich, continued from previous blog.
Try this little extract as a sample:
When a bullet hits someone you hear it; there's no way to forget it or confuse it with anything else - that distinctive wet splat. A young guy you know falls flat down in dust as bitter as ashes. You turn him over onto his back; the cigarette you just gave him still clutched in his teeth. It's still smoking... I wasn't prepared to shoot at anyone, I was still from ordinary life. From the normal world...
- A private, grenedier
What Alexievich shows us with this book is that the genre of "creative nonfiction" can, if it is good enough, ascend to the status of high art. Which this does. This book is not easy to read, not because of its style, which is eminently readable, but because of the relentless horror and almost unbearable poignancy of its content. Unforgettable.
FILMS
DESIERTA (2015) D- Jonas Cuaron.
On the border between the US and Mexico, human traffickers dump a crew of would-be immigrants in what seems to be the middle of a desert and say: "the border's that way. Off you go, and good luck." On the American side, a hunter equipped with a high-powered rifle and an ATV is waiting for them. There are few border guards in this remote area, so he works alone, picking them off one by one from his redoubt. Donald Trump would probably be proud of him. But these guys didn't come this far and go to this much trouble to be thwarted by a lone vigilante, and they keep running. And dodging the bullets...
This film enacts an ancient theme, the hunter versus the hunted, in a thrilling and often horrific manner. Terrifying but totally absorbing.
DISTURBIA (2007) D- D.J. Caruso.
A young lad (Shia Lebeouf) is driving the car when it crashes and his Dad is killed. He goes off the rails, punches out an unsympathetic teacher and his sentenced to house arrest. With nothing else to do for several months he observes his neighbors leading their lives: an obsessive gardener, a beautiful teenaged girl and... a murderer?
Ring any bells? It should do. This is the plot of Hitchcock's Rear Window, updated to the noughties and starring a teen idol at the height of his popularity at the time. It's a very good idea, and is very well done, though I fear it should have wound itself up about half an hour quicker than it did. Probably required watching for anyone under thirty.
THE CROW'S EGG (2014) D- M. Manikandan
A couple of street kids in Madras hear about a new pizza parlor that's just opened up and would give anything to go into its air-conditioned space, sit on its fake leather seats and enjoy a nice Hawaiian with a coke on the side. Thing is, this is about as far out of their financial reach as it would be for me to buy a mansion in Belgravia. But a boy can dream...
They consider stealing the money, but have moral reservations. They consider a variety of money-making schemes, none of which come to very much, certainly not enough for the handful of rupees required for such luxury. One day they think they have amassed enough, but when they turn up they're thrown out by a management who think they're too dirty. They even give them a cuff upside the head into the bargain, but someone films the incident on their mobile. If this film got out it could be very embarrassing for the pizza parlor owners...
A really rather charming and engaging little movie form India, skillfully made and with good acting (from largely amateurs as I understand it) all round. Hot stuff.
GO (1999) D- Chris Liman
A feisty young woman is approached to obtain some E for a group of heads about to go off to a rave, and realizes she can make a packet by adding her own markup. But when she takes the drugs to the group, she susses it might be a sting operation and throws the lot down the loo. Still thinking on her feet she decides to sell them a load of aspirins instead, so she still makes her money. Cute...
This tale-of-its-time is then explored from a number of POVs, a la Rashomon, and the whole is really very good. Starring Timothy Olyphant, Katie Holmes in one of her first big roles and a very good Sarah Polley as the amateur drug dealer and con artist, I really enjoyed this minor cult classic. Try it yourself.
Book and film review June 2017
Welcome to this month's media blog. I apologise for my meagre output this month. What with helping my legal team prepare my defence against false allegations which could land me in prison for the rest of my life if they are believed by a jury, I have been a little preoccupied.
I could have blogged about the tragedy at Grenfell Tower, the austerity culture which directly led to it, and the shameful response of the local council who have behaved like little bullies hiding in the broom cupboard as soon as they are called to account for their actions, or lack of them.
I could have blogged about the cynical manner in which power is manipulated in government following the call for a strong and stable leadership which was in the event replaced by a weak and unstable leadership.
I have also been writing an account of the events of the previous twelve months, which, if good enough, I may try to get published one day.
But I have not stopped reading and watching movies, hence the following (please note the review will be split into 2 parts due to computer issues)
BOOKS
OBLOMOV, by Ivan Goncharov
A member of the Russian landed gentry in the early 19th century, Oblomov lives far from his estate in a rented flat in St Petersburg. He likes the regular cheque that arrives from there which funds his indolent lifestyle, and worries when the amount of the cheque falls each quarter. He should probably go there and kick a few behinds, but he can't summon the energy. In fact he can't summon the energy to do... anything at all. He lies on his sofa, barely bothers changing his clothes from week to week and lives in squalor which should be addressed by his manservant, but he has been infected by his master's sloth and does as little as possible himself.
What is wrong with Oblomov? Perhaps today he would be diagnosed with agoraphobia and social anxiety syndrome. Certainly there is something seriously wrong. Even when a charming and pretty young lady seems to take an unaccountable shine to him, he is unable to conduct a normal, healthy relationship with her and eventually drives her away.
In Oblomov Goncharov has created a unique and highly memorable character in Russian fiction. Meant to typify an archetype of minor Russian aristocrat perhaps prevalent at that time, Goncharov explains what was wrong with the class system in those days, and how it was inevitable it would crumble and die. A neglected classic, highly recommended.
HUNGER, by Kurt Hamson
In the Christiania (Oslo) of the 1890s, a young writer is starving in his garret, literally. If he can write a piece for the local paper he will be paid enough to keep the wolf from the door for a few days: trouble is, he's so hungry he can barely put pen to paper. He's in a kind of vicious circle, and there seems no way to snap out of it. Even when he gets a bit of money he gives it away to someone even poorer than himself, and when by an act of generosity he is given some food he eats it too eagerly and vomits the whole lot back up.
Why doesn't he leave the city, get an ordinary job, labouring or something, do anything really to avoid starving to death? Because this is his great project: write something outstanding, or die in the attempt.
Kurt Hamson won the Nobel prize for literature for his wonderful books, and this is his most famous: an extraordinary account of a man in extremis, an intelligent, sophisticated thinker who has decided on a course of action which may end his life, though even that is less important than his strange obsession with writing while on the edge of starvation. Fantastic.
BOYS IN ZINC, by Svetlana Alexievich
Being a series of interviews with men and women who have fought in Russia's war in Afghanistan and their loved ones who wait for them- sometimes in vain. Why is it called Boys in Zinc? Because that's what the coffins are made of, stupid.
What this remarkable collection of interviews illustrates is that wars are the same the world over and since time immemorial. Young, impressionable lads (and not a few women, this being a Russian war) believe the hype about fighting for the honor of the Motherland and go out to a desert hell where the only thing waiting for them is a population who resent their presence and do everything they can to murder them. The one's who aren't shot through the head or blown to bits come home minus limbs, suffering from post traumatic stress disorder which will never be treated or even acknowledged.
Please see next blog for the conclusion of this review.
I could have blogged about the tragedy at Grenfell Tower, the austerity culture which directly led to it, and the shameful response of the local council who have behaved like little bullies hiding in the broom cupboard as soon as they are called to account for their actions, or lack of them.
I could have blogged about the cynical manner in which power is manipulated in government following the call for a strong and stable leadership which was in the event replaced by a weak and unstable leadership.
I have also been writing an account of the events of the previous twelve months, which, if good enough, I may try to get published one day.
But I have not stopped reading and watching movies, hence the following (please note the review will be split into 2 parts due to computer issues)
BOOKS
OBLOMOV, by Ivan Goncharov
A member of the Russian landed gentry in the early 19th century, Oblomov lives far from his estate in a rented flat in St Petersburg. He likes the regular cheque that arrives from there which funds his indolent lifestyle, and worries when the amount of the cheque falls each quarter. He should probably go there and kick a few behinds, but he can't summon the energy. In fact he can't summon the energy to do... anything at all. He lies on his sofa, barely bothers changing his clothes from week to week and lives in squalor which should be addressed by his manservant, but he has been infected by his master's sloth and does as little as possible himself.
What is wrong with Oblomov? Perhaps today he would be diagnosed with agoraphobia and social anxiety syndrome. Certainly there is something seriously wrong. Even when a charming and pretty young lady seems to take an unaccountable shine to him, he is unable to conduct a normal, healthy relationship with her and eventually drives her away.
In Oblomov Goncharov has created a unique and highly memorable character in Russian fiction. Meant to typify an archetype of minor Russian aristocrat perhaps prevalent at that time, Goncharov explains what was wrong with the class system in those days, and how it was inevitable it would crumble and die. A neglected classic, highly recommended.
HUNGER, by Kurt Hamson
In the Christiania (Oslo) of the 1890s, a young writer is starving in his garret, literally. If he can write a piece for the local paper he will be paid enough to keep the wolf from the door for a few days: trouble is, he's so hungry he can barely put pen to paper. He's in a kind of vicious circle, and there seems no way to snap out of it. Even when he gets a bit of money he gives it away to someone even poorer than himself, and when by an act of generosity he is given some food he eats it too eagerly and vomits the whole lot back up.
Why doesn't he leave the city, get an ordinary job, labouring or something, do anything really to avoid starving to death? Because this is his great project: write something outstanding, or die in the attempt.
Kurt Hamson won the Nobel prize for literature for his wonderful books, and this is his most famous: an extraordinary account of a man in extremis, an intelligent, sophisticated thinker who has decided on a course of action which may end his life, though even that is less important than his strange obsession with writing while on the edge of starvation. Fantastic.
BOYS IN ZINC, by Svetlana Alexievich
Being a series of interviews with men and women who have fought in Russia's war in Afghanistan and their loved ones who wait for them- sometimes in vain. Why is it called Boys in Zinc? Because that's what the coffins are made of, stupid.
What this remarkable collection of interviews illustrates is that wars are the same the world over and since time immemorial. Young, impressionable lads (and not a few women, this being a Russian war) believe the hype about fighting for the honor of the Motherland and go out to a desert hell where the only thing waiting for them is a population who resent their presence and do everything they can to murder them. The one's who aren't shot through the head or blown to bits come home minus limbs, suffering from post traumatic stress disorder which will never be treated or even acknowledged.
Please see next blog for the conclusion of this review.
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