Sects and ‘new left’ disillusionment. Mike Macnair reviews P Blackledge, N Davidson (eds) Alasdair MacIntyre’s engagement with Marxism: selected writings 1953-1974, Brill (Historical materialism series),... »
Film
Invictus (director: Clint Eastwood)
Who will build the nation? Alan Fox reviews Clint Eastwood’s ‘Invictus’ (on general release) This film has, understandably, had very mixed reviews. On the one hand, it plays on the viewer’s emotions by appealing to a liberal anti-racism and the simplistic notion of equality for all; on the other hand, it deals with... »
Avatar (director: James Cameron)
Delusion, distractions, dialectic. Mike Belbin reviews James Cameron’s new blockbuster ‘Avatar’. James Cameron first came to prominence as a superior special effects and action writer-director with Terminator, Aliens and Terminator 2. He went on to acquire even more fame with Titanic, combining the highest movie budget of all time with a frosting of social concern and... »
The day of the Triffids (director: Roland Emmerich); 2012 (director: Nick Copus)
Apocalypse: cop-out or engagement Jim Moody reviews ‘The day of the Triffids’ BBC1, December 28-29, Roland Emmerich (director); ‘2012′ general release, Nick Copus (director) Apocalyptic science fiction has been a staple of cinema for decades, though seldom rising above the level of sensationalist and thinly spread suspense, more or less evidently contrived. At the end of... »
London Film Festival preview
Jim Moody previews some of the offerings at this year’s London Film Festival Already a prize-winner at the Venice International Film Festival, Lebanon (director and writer: Samuel Maoz) is the most recent Israeli attempt on film to deal with what is a continuing festering sore: the 1982 Lebanon war. Despite a long-term Palestine Liberation Organisation ceasefire,... »
Capitalism: a love story – Michael Moore (director)
Searing indictment of US capitalism spoilt by nostalgia for Roosevelt’s New Deal Jim Creegan reviews Michael Moore’s (director) Capitalism: a love story 2009 (no UK release date yet) Reporting over a year ago in the Weekly Worker on the US presidential elections, I observed that ‘capitalism’ is a word seldom heard among the radical-liberals who comprise... »
Mike Leigh at the BBC (six-disc box set DVD)
Brilliant social commentator Jamie Moloney reviews Mike Leigh at the BBC (six-disc box set DVD), 2009, £43.95 Mike Leigh, like Ken Loach (Kes, The wind that shakes the barley) and Shane Meadows (Dead man’s shoes, This is England), is part of a progressive force within British cinema. His unorthodox method of building the script in collaboration with... »
The class
Off the streets Mike Belbin reviews Laurent Cantet’s The class French-speaking cinema of the last half century has been accused of only dealing with the middle class, even if they are young rebels or a small shopkeeper. One prominent exception being the wandering street youth of La haine (1995). On the other hand, British movies are... »
The Reader
Justice and shame Jim Moody reviews The Reader (dir: Stephen Daldry, 2008), on general release David Hare’s screenplay for The reader shines in the way that we have come to expect from him.1 He has masterfully adapted it from constitutional court judge Bernard Schlink’s partly autobiographical novel Der Vorleser. Only a bourgeois liberal in fear of... »
Slumdog millionaire
Alan Fox reviews Danny Boyle’s latest film, Slumdog millionaire (on general release) A “feel-good” romance or a devastating indictment of a system that condemns millions to grinding poverty? Well, neither actually. This film, which tells the story of Jamal Malik, a kid from the sprawling Mumbai slum of Bandra, may have 10 Oscar nominations, but it... »
London film festival 2008
This year’s London Film Festival, the 52nd, kicked off on October 15 and will run at the National Film Theatre until October 30. As usual, it has some of the past year’s best offerings gathered from around the world, including these highlights reviewed by Jim Moody Baader-Meinhof First off, Der Baader Meinhof Komplex (The Baader Meinhof... »