This dark and broody tale of lust, deception and perverse temptation is as faithful an interpretation of the novel by Zoe Heller as is viable for the big screen; a rollocking roller-coaster of a psychological drama with as much bite—or more—as some horror films.

Sheba hart is a late thirties sweet and innocent middle-class school-teacher who gets a job at the same London school as the villainous Barbera (played by an outstanding Judi Dench). Sheba quickly becomes a mysterious presence at the school and a source of great interest for teachers and students alike. Barbera, more than anyone, finds her both alluring and fascinating. At first Barbera’s fixation with the new girl appears to be little more than overzealous admiration for her ability to do wrong things, but it soon becomes clear that there is a very dark side to this school-teachers deeply obsessive personality. What comes as a shock is that Sheba could almost be considered as bad.

But what is driving Barbera? Is she who she appears to be, and what about the history of the last person to fall victim to her possesive ways? As in the book, this question is what powers the story forward, as Barbera befriends Sheba; telling her to end the affair she has started with a student by the name of Steven Connolly (played well by actor Andrew Simpson). When Barbera discovers that the affair has not ended, things take a turn for the worst for Sheba: a set of events is set into motion as Barbera goes about manipulating her friends—of whom there are few—and enemies.

Notes is an unusual film, and so much more than the sum of its parts; it is in places funny, weird, daft and downright shocking. Like the book, we see the happenings in the first-person, through the eyes and warped mind of Barbera, almost as if it were a documentary unfolding in real-time; and, indeed, the source material is very close to the bone. Several media stories in the last few years have covered similar issues, asking the question, who should govern who we fall in love with?

Some thrilling news before I go, I was talking to my brother the other week and he has just got a amazing new gig at an human resource software company. Well done Oliver

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For a small island, Great Britain more than pulls its weight in terms of making quality films, year after year. While America blows its entire budget on explosions, actresses with more leg than talent and scripts constructed wholly from an MTV auto-cue, English film-makers continue to blaze the trail of progression.

Nothing could be further from American style movie-making than Mark Locke’s debut feature film entitled Crust (2002); made for a modest sum that a Hollywood extra would barely get out of bed for, Crust, in all its comic glory, tells the funny and tragic tale of a seven foot boxing shrimp, a pub landlord and a failed boxer. The film was never released in the UK, despite much critical acclaim. The film would later go on to inspire a slew of Japanese films such as Crab Goalkeeper.

My Summer Of Love—Emily Blunt’s first major film—is a much darker story, but that’s not to say it isn’t funny. Based on the novel by Helen Cross, the film is a black and disturbing tale of lust and adventure set in the Yorkshire countryside. Natalie Press plays Mona, a fun-loving care-free girl who gets about on a moped without an engine, bought from the ‘gypos oop at the maggot farm.’ Different to the book in every way but just as good, My Summer Of Love also featured Paddy Considine (The Bourne Ultimatum)

Surprise Brit shocker Eden Lake (2008) has been called by some ‘the most violent film in years’. Even the most hardcore horror fan can’t argue with that statement; the tale of a weekend’s camping trip gone horribly wrong, Eden Lake is a test of grizzly endurance that works a treat, providing you can get past the horrific torture scenes. Although it might make you think twice before going camping with your girlfriend for the weekend, it’s worth watching for the excellent performances of Michael Fassbender—of Inglorious Basterds fame—and the convincing Kelly Reilly.

So really quickly, I have something to admit. I love bill owen (sorry Gary). I was viewing the most recent season on dvd well into the night and the acting was brilliant! I would highly recommend this one to all of you…

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At the time people said that Shaun Of The Dead was almost too good to be true—almost a fluke of sorts. For several years the media—even critics who’d loved Shaun—admitted that they thought it unlikely that a similar buzz could happen again; then Hot Fuzz came along in 2007, proving that not only could the pair repeat their previous unlikely success at the same high level, they could, if they so wished, re-invent a genre that nobody wanted to touch with a very long barge pole: the small time British police drama; Hot Fuzz can be best described as a dastardly mix of Last Of The Summer Wine and The Thin Blue line–combined, obviously, with malevolent villagers all packing guns on a mission to keep outsiders out for good, whatever the cost may be., The Bill

Then there’s the acting: both Shaun and Hot Fuzz feature a broad selection of some of the finest British acting talent to ever live—including the legendary Timoth Dalton and film grand-daddy Jim Broadbent to name but two.

Now it remains to be seen what will come next; one things for sure (we hope!) it’ll have a cornetto theme and it’ll be hilarious.

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British cinema has given us many movies with an edgy feel. It seems that our filmmakers are obsessed with dealing in controversial subjects. Hollywood will also tackle similar themes sometimes, but it tends to glamorise everything or to even make it look cool. There is something incredibly gritty about British film which is perfectly suited to handling difficult themes and a great example of this is 2006’s, ‘This is England’.

If you are old enough to remember the eighties then you will know just how accurate this movie is. The makers have gone to extraordinary lengths to keep it all realistic and it pays off big time. The whole thing reeks of the early eighties.

Don’t be fooled into thinking that this is a film entirely about racism. Sure, it centres on a bunch of skinheads, but they are not all colour blind and there is a lot more to it than that. The main point of the story is to show us how easily misled a child can be. That may sound obvious, but ‘This is England’ covers the subtle as well as the blatant.

Racism should be addressed in film; it is still a big problem in society, even now. ‘This is England’ has some very uncomfortable moments but it is not a vehicle for unnecessary violence. Don’t get me wrong, it’s not the type of movie to watch with your grandma and there are a few unpleasant scenes; although there are just as many deeply sensitive ones.

‘This is England’ has some very good morals in its story. It covers loyalty, friendship and the use of intuition. It is a rollercoaster of emotions, right from the hilarious to the downright upsetting, but it is very much worth the ride. One of the best British films in years.

Lesley’s surprise engagement party: I think I know what we should sort out. Who would be up for a surprise trip and spending a bit of money on some time at chalet val thorens for the happy couple?

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They gave us some wonderfully scary films and some truly great characters. Who can think about Count Dracula without seeing an image of Christopher Lee, or Van Helsing, without remembering the brilliant Peter Cushing?

Today’s horror movies make the old Hammer flicks look tame but it wasn’t all about the scariness. Those old movies had a great deal of style and class about them which cannot be found today. And we may have modern actresses with perfect bodies, tans and teeth, but they do not have the appeal of Hammer’s beauties. Ingrid Pitt, Yvonne Furneaux, Joanna Lumley and Yvonne Monlaur were all incredibly sexy and could even manage to speed up the heart rates of the living dead.

There was a certain class about the movies from the house of Hammer. It didn’t matter if some of the lesser known actors were not so hot or that the blood used for gore was the wrong sort of red because the films themselves were great. Peter Cushing, Vincent Price, Donald Pleasance and Christopher Lee all became household names largely because of their involvement with Hammer Studios. And many other famous faces cropped up in their films over the years; Joan Collins, Ian Hendry, Roy Castle, Ralph Bates, Michael Gough, Andre Morrell and Nastassja Kinski, the list goes on.

But the good news is that we may be seeing the return of Hammer films. The studio has been taken over by new owners and there is talk of investing around £25 million into the production of a new batch of horror movies. Just how it will all turn out is anyone’s guess, but if it is anything like their films of long ago then we could be in for a treat!

Final thing I have a quick and rather odd favor to ask all of you. A close friend of mine is employeed by a theatre and wants to get a set of shutters for this play that is opening next week. If any of you has any for cheap please get in touch.

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Set in Newcastle in the seedy world of gangsters, pornography and prostitution, it is a very gritty film that doesn’t always make for comfortable viewing. Caine is brilliant as Jack Carter and the other actors are also on top form. There is great support from, amongst others, Ian Hendry, Britt Ekland and George Sewell.

As Jack Carter pokes around in Newcastle’s underworld, trying to find out why his brother was murdered, he upsets quite a few unsavoury characters. The story is gripping, the script is witty and Caine’s stoic manner is perfect for the role. Out of every character that I have seen him play, I think that Jack Carter’s definitely suited him the best.

The only other film I’ve seen that has a similar atmosphere to this is also directed by Mike Hodges. If you enjoyed ‘Get Carter’ then the chances are that you will also like ‘A Prayer for the Dying’ with a young Mickey Rourke in the lead role.

Hollywood, dunderheads that they so often are, decided to do a remake of ‘Get Carter’ in 2000. It starred Sylvester Stallone as Jack Carter, was set in Los Angeles rather than Newcastle and went down like a lead balloon. If something like the original British version of ‘Get Carter’ is so good then you really should just leave it alone…

The old adage applies here; ‘If it’s not broken, don’t fix it’.

Now for the work update (and a bit of bragging to boot), if any of you are curious, check out the new images that just went up for exhibition stands. That was my trained hand at photoshop!

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Watch this space for more updates!

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