CarlGardner.co.uk - All Posts http://carlgardner.co.uk/ Opinions and reviews from CarlGardner.co.uk en carl@freelanceintellectual.com Copyright 2009 2009-10-28T16:20:01+00:00 Review: Son, aunt and mother http://carlgardner.co.uk/reviews/comments/son_aunt_and_mother/ http://carlgardner.co.uk/reviews/comments/son_aunt_and_mother/#When:19:36:01Z Nowhere Boy, directed by Sam Taylor-Wood

© Mars Distribution

Nowhere Boy is bound to attract interest because of its subject; and hardened fans of John Lennon will of course love it. It's important to ask about a film like this, though, how interesting it would be were its central character not a famous personality. The answer, I'm afraid, is that Nowhere Boy would not be of great interest. It covers a key period of John Lennon's life, from when he was fifteen until his departure with the Beatles for Hamburg. But music is in …

Continue Reading... ]]> Film, Cinema 2009-12-21T19:36:01+00:00 Review: Bump, clunk, scream! http://carlgardner.co.uk/reviews/comments/bump_clunk_scream/ http://carlgardner.co.uk/reviews/comments/bump_clunk_scream/#When:13:05:00Z Paranormal Activity directed by Oren Peli

Blumhouse Productions/Icon

Katie and Micah, a young couple in San Diego, hear strange bumps in the night; Micah buys a fancy video camera to capture evidence in case something weird is happening in their home. And it is. We, the audience, see through the lens as the video evidence accumulates, the bumps get bumpier and the nights get both stranger and scarier.

Paranormal Activity isn't your normal cinematic experience - although obviously a lot of work and editing has gone into it, it's very proudly a low-budget Blair …

Continue Reading... ]]> Film, Cinema 2009-11-22T13:05:00+00:00 Review: Chekhov and a chick-pea http://carlgardner.co.uk/reviews/comments/chekhov_and_a_chick_pea/ http://carlgardner.co.uk/reviews/comments/chekhov_and_a_chick_pea/#When:20:00:01Z Cold Souls directed by Sophie Barthes

Adam Bell | Samuel Goldwyn Films

Cold Souls is an entertaining watch, and amusing – though not hilarious, not especially satirical, and doing nothing very original. It's a bit like Being John Malkovich crossed with Eternal Sunshine, and not quite as interesting as either.

Paul Giamatti plays himself. Exhausted with anxiety during rehearsals of Uncle Vanya (there's a Woody Allenish feel about this, as about much of the film), he chances upon an article in the New Yorker about a new technique for lifting your psychic burdens …

Continue Reading... ]]> Film, Cinema 2009-11-16T20:00:01+00:00 Review: I’m scared, Harry http://carlgardner.co.uk/reviews/comments/im_scared_harry/ http://carlgardner.co.uk/reviews/comments/im_scared_harry/#When:14:51:01Z Harry Brown, directed by Daniel Barber

©Lionsgate

The director Daniel Barber and his cast and crew do well with this material. Harry Brown begins in a very artsy way – not that there's anything wrong with that - but becomes more straightforward as the action gets moving, while retaining some interest in visuals throughout. Performances are decent all round, Emily Mortimer and David Bradley I thought doing particularly well, she as the idealistic, perhaps naive Detective Inspector Frampton and he as Harry Brown's grumpy old mate Len - each making something of a part …

Continue Reading... ]]> Film, Cinema 2009-11-10T14:51:01+00:00 Opinion: The Pope’s English Gambit http://carlgardner.co.uk/opinion/comments/the_popes/ http://carlgardner.co.uk/opinion/comments/the_popes/#When:16:20:01Z An apostate's view

The Fire Window, Manchester Cathedral

We've heard a number of religious views about the Pope's extraordinary offer to allow Church of England priests who can't stomach women bishops to convert to Rome - even though some of them are married, and even being allowed to keep to some of their Anglican traditions. Some feminists have criticised it as predatory; some have predictably welcomed it, and some bishops look like taking it up. This is everybody's business, though, not just believers' business - just as much as …

Continue Reading... ]]> Religion, Society, Equality 2009-10-28T16:20:01+00:00 Opinion: Dream no small dreams http://carlgardner.co.uk/opinion/comments/dream_no_small_dreams/ http://carlgardner.co.uk/opinion/comments/dream_no_small_dreams/#When:16:15:01Z Gordon Brown's conference speech

It wasn't the game-changer Labour was crying out for - but Gordon Brown's speech to the Labour conference today was a much better effort than many expected, and approaches, at least, the kind of argument and the kind of vision he needs to set out if next year's election is to be a contest.

He opened by talking of changing the world: it was good, for Labour supporters, to see him lift his vision. But the bread and butter of winning for Labour is to flesh out that vision in a …

Continue Reading... ]]> 2009-09-29T16:15:01+00:00 Opinion: Blog break http://carlgardner.co.uk/opinion/comments/blog_break/ http://carlgardner.co.uk/opinion/comments/blog_break/#When:10:45:01Z You've not heard much from me recently - I've been taking advantage of the silly season to catch up on other things. And my blog break is going to continue for another week. I'm taking a complete break, getting away from everything, even the intarwebs thingy, and plan to recharge.

See you later in September.

]]> 2009-09-14T10:45:01+00:00 Review: Inglourious, stupid and objectionable http://carlgardner.co.uk/reviews/comments/inglourious_stupid_and_objectionable/ http://carlgardner.co.uk/reviews/comments/inglourious_stupid_and_objectionable/#When:10:12:01Z Inglourious Basterds, directed by Quentin Tarantino

© François Duhamel/The Weinstein Company

In this stupid and objectionable film, Brad Pitt plays Lieutenant Aldo Raine, a rhetorically and morally challenged Tennessee tough who, in advance of D-Day, recruits emigré German and Austrian Jews to form an irregular band of marauders to torture and murder German soldiers in occupied France. They plan to blow up Hitler and his Nazi high command at a film premiere in Paris: unfortunately, British intelligence has the same plan, as does the young, secretly Jewish woman who will welcome the Führer to …

Continue Reading... ]]> Film, Cinema 2009-09-07T10:12:01+00:00 Opinion: Equality, not merit http://carlgardner.co.uk/opinion/comments/equality_not_merit/ http://carlgardner.co.uk/opinion/comments/equality_not_merit/#When:11:29:03Z The past decade has seen widening differences in income and wealth, which taxation and regulation have failed to address. When New Labour was first elected, it established the Low Pay Commission to measure the claims of workers for a higher minimum wage against the wider economic impact, particularly on employment. There is now a compelling case for a high pay commission to measure the claims of top earners that their rewards are justified and necessary, even if they offend natural justice and our sense of fairness.

So wrote Vince Cable in yesterday's Guardian, supporting
Continue Reading... ]]> Economy, Politics, Responses, Society, Equality 2009-08-18T11:29:03+00:00 Review: A French folly http://carlgardner.co.uk/reviews/comments/a_french_folly/ http://carlgardner.co.uk/reviews/comments/a_french_folly/#When:00:13:01Z Les Demoiselles de Rochefort directed by Jacques Demy

Hélène Jeanbrau/Ciné Tamaris

Jacques Demy’s 1967 musical is sheer nonsense. Enjoyable nonsense, undoubtedly, but nonsense through and through. Catherine Deneuve and Françoise Dorléac, sisters in real life, play twins here. Delphine Garnier teaches ballet while Solange composes concerti at her piano. Each dreams of Paris, and meeting her dream man. We get to know them and their circle, inhabitants of Rochefort each with his or her sad story – until a fair comes to town and, with a romantic sailor and Gene Kelly thrown in, magical …

Continue Reading... ]]> Film, DVD, Cinema 2009-08-16T00:13:01+00:00 Review: Programmes and people http://carlgardner.co.uk/reviews/comments/programmes_and_people/ http://carlgardner.co.uk/reviews/comments/programmes_and_people/#When:06:26:01Z Moon, directed by Duncan Jones

© Sony Pictures Classics

Sam Rockwell plays Sam Bell, an astronaut living alone on the far side of the Moon working out his contract with Lunar Industries, a company that mines material to make alternative energy on earth. Sam’s looking forward to coming home soon: his contract’s nearly up. But as he watches taped messages from his wife and daughter, strange things begin to happen; following an accident, he begins to wonder how alone he really is.

The plot isn’t easy: Sam is confused by what’s going on for …

Continue Reading... ]]> Film, Cinema 2009-08-12T06:26:01+00:00 Opinion: Lord Mandelson and cross-dressing http://carlgardner.co.uk/opinion/comments/lord_mandelson_and_cross_dressing/ http://carlgardner.co.uk/opinion/comments/lord_mandelson_and_cross_dressing/#When:12:58:01Z He should shut up about it

Policy Network/CreativeCommons

Lord Mandelson has today accused the shadow chancellor George Osborne of "political cross-dressing". One one level, fair enough: if Osborne is claiming the Tories are the progressive party, then Mandelson is right to contest that. He is trying to steal Labour's clothes, to use a more traditional political phrase.

What worries me about Mandelson's choice of words, though, is the way it recalls Damian McBride's e-mail suggestion that the proposed website Red Rag should spread false rumours about there being photographs …

Continue Reading... ]]> Politics, Labour 2009-08-11T12:58:01+00:00 Opinion: Labour’s underdog strategy http://carlgardner.co.uk/opinion/comments/labours_underdog_strategy/ http://carlgardner.co.uk/opinion/comments/labours_underdog_strategy/#When:07:30:00Z What could it mean?

Pixel Addict/CreativeCommons

On television last week, Lord Mandelson accepted Labour are the "underdogs" in politics now; and that therefore they'll have to work harder than they're opponents. It sounds as though Mandelson's been reading Morey and Miller's 2004 book The Underdog Advantage, on "using the power of insurgent strategy". Or perhaps Malcolm Gladwell's May New Yorker article on how David beats Goliath. Morey and Miller stress the importance for competitiveness of imagining you're an underdog, and of being perceived as underdog; Mandelson's suggestion that …

Continue Reading... ]]> Politics, Labour 2009-08-04T07:30:00+00:00 Opinion: Totnes http://carlgardner.co.uk/opinion/comments/totnes/ http://carlgardner.co.uk/opinion/comments/totnes/#When:08:49:00Z The Tories' experiment deserves to succeed

Lawrie Cate/CreativeCommons

Needing to replace the ridiculous Anthony Steen, the Conservatives are choosing their candidate for his Totnes constituency by an open primary: all voters in Totnes have (in theory) been sent a voting pack with information about the would-be candidates and explaining how to vote by post. Michael Crick did an excellent report on the contest (beginning at 16.25 mins) on Tuesday's Newsnight, which is well worth watching. The process has had problems: Michael Crick suggested turnout may be very low, with …

Continue Reading... ]]> Politics, Conservative 2009-07-30T08:49:00+00:00 Review: Offensiv? Wassever http://carlgardner.co.uk/reviews/comments/offensiv_wassever/ http://carlgardner.co.uk/reviews/comments/offensiv_wassever/#When:06:00:01Z Brüno, directed by Larry Charles

© Universal Pictures

If there's a country that should love Brüno, then it's his home country Austria. It's famously stuffy in parts; but in contrast, Austrians love a good stunt - or Aktion - that punctures it all. So Vienna is the home of the absurd, ritualistic Neujahrskonzert, but also of the superb Vienna Vegetable Orchestra, whose version of the Radetzky March is the best you'll ever hear. I knew Sacha Baron-Cohen from his character Ali G, but had missed his previous film Borat: a friend …

Continue Reading... ]]> Film, Cinema 2009-07-24T06:00:01+00:00 Opinion: A highly amusing turn http://carlgardner.co.uk/opinion/comments/a_highly_amusing_turn/ http://carlgardner.co.uk/opinion/comments/a_highly_amusing_turn/#When:06:00:03Z Slavoj Žižek

Andy Miah/CreativeCommons

Another Carl, the one at Raincoat Optimism, wrote this week about the possible application to "Red Toryism" of Slavoj Žižek's ideas about violence:

Early in 2008, philosopher Slavoj Žižek published a book entitled Violence: Six Sideways Reflections in which he aims to describe the differences between the violence we might see on the news in the form of thuggery and the violence incurred by the workings of the rogue bankers tweaking the economy. The difference, for Žižek, is the difference between “subjective” and “objective” violence. …

Continue Reading... ]]> Culture, Ideas, Politics, Responses 2009-07-23T06:00:03+00:00 Opinion: Arguing for equality http://carlgardner.co.uk/opinion/comments/arguing_for_equality/ http://carlgardner.co.uk/opinion/comments/arguing_for_equality/#When:10:38:00Z ... and why I'm on "the left"

The website for Open Left, the new Demos project directed by James Purnell, asks us to submit our own views of what it means to be "on the left". I've submitted my own effort, which you can read here. Why I went on so much about noise and Islam, I've no idea but I think I've managed more or less to convey what I think are the most important issues for social democracy today.

I’m not sure I believe in a simple “left vs. right” model of politics. But …

Continue Reading... ]]> Politics, Society, Equality 2009-07-22T10:38:00+00:00 Review: She really is good http://carlgardner.co.uk/reviews/comments/she_really_is_good/ http://carlgardner.co.uk/reviews/comments/she_really_is_good/#When:15:54:00Z Emmy the Great at the QEH

Aurélien/CreativeCommons

I don't often go to anything that could be called a "gig" - my idea of a concert often involves Mahler and my idea of a music festival is the Proms. But the Queen Elizabeth Hall is a pretty safe venue for the likes of me, free of "mosh pits" and the like, so I was happy to be dragged along to hear Emmy, the 24-year old British singer-songwriter whose debut album, First Love, was released this year. She must have a pretty broad …

Continue Reading... ]]> Music, Concerts 2009-07-20T15:54:00+00:00 Opinion: Truth, bias and blue taxis http://carlgardner.co.uk/opinion/comments/truth_bias_and_blue_taxis/ http://carlgardner.co.uk/opinion/comments/truth_bias_and_blue_taxis/#When:17:00:01Z Is "base rate neglect" a load of tosh?

Matt Adams/CreativeCommons

Reading a blogpost from Chris Dillow about Kevin Pietersen led me via Wikipedia to a couple of interesting psychological hypotheses by Amos Tversky and Daniel Kahneman about bias, and the way it affects our judgments. First, the "availability heuristic", which does seem to me to have some relevance to criticism of KP's approach to batting (and indeed Chris's whole theory seems to me neatly to explain why Pietersen's test record is so much better than that of Mark Ramprakash and …

Continue Reading... ]]> Ideas 2009-07-15T17:00:01+00:00 Opinion: My ZN5, and a hero http://carlgardner.co.uk/opinion/comments/my_zn5_and_a_hero/ http://carlgardner.co.uk/opinion/comments/my_zn5_and_a_hero/#When:14:57:01Z

My phone's a Motorola ZN5, which I have because I'm used to Motorola phones, the awful O2 offer me a good tariff, and I can't afford an iPhone.

It's far from perfect. The buttons are cleverly arranged so you keep unintentionally aborting texts or sending them unfinished, and are constantly going into the web browser without wanting to. Nor can you personalise the key functions. On the plus side, it does have a decent camera - quite a few of the photos on this site have been taken with it - so it …

Continue Reading... ]]> Responses 2009-07-01T14:57:01+00:00