Skip to main content

Movie Review: Notes On A Scandal



I didn't pay much attention to this film until I found out that it was set in a high school - a feature which you will understand, piqued my curiosity.

I also won't give away any of the plot, at the risk of spoiling what is nothing short of a superb movie. Dame Judi Dench chews the scenery as though her life depended on it and Cate Blanchett isn't far behind in the acting stakes. In fact, the entire cast is uniformly first rate.

Patrick Marber's smart, funny script bristles along, unfolding Zoe Heller's novel in a compelling and mesmerising manner. In fact, I would give this movie a full five star rating were it not for Philip Glass's frequently overbearing score which provides unnecessary melodrama, hindering rather than enhancing the pretty intense storyline.

Aside from this little discrepancy, Notes On A Scandal is a must see movie and I guarantee that you will be glued to the screen for the entire 92 minutes running time (ok, maybe 82, granted the end credits).

Don't miss.

**** 1/2 (sorry Phil)
Labels:

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Ten Jewberry Muds

To get the full effect, this message should be read out loud. You will understand what 'tenjewberrymuds' means by the end of the conversation. This has been nominated for the best email of 2005. The following is a telephone exchange between a hotel guest and room-service at a hotel in Asia, which was recorded and published in the FarEast Economic Review: Room Service (RS): "Morrin. Roon sirbees." Guest (G): "Sorry, I thought I dialed room-service." RS: "Rye..Roon sirbees..morrin! Jewish to oddor sunteen??" G: "Uh..yes..I'd like some bacon and eggs." RS: "Ow July den?" G: "What??" RS: "Ow July den?...pryed, boyud, poochd?" G: "Oh, the eggs! How do I like them? Sorry, scrambled please." RS: "Ow July dee baykem? Crease?" G: "Crisp will be fine." RS: "Hokay. An Sahn toes?" G: "What?" RS: "An toes. July Sahn toes?" G: "I don't think so."...
3 comments
Read more

Bye Bye University

I can't quite believe it but today is in fact my last as a student. My course ends when I walk out of school at 13.15 I've now fulfilled the statutory days demanded of me as a student teacher. From Monday, I will be effectively unemployed - until Thursday, so I reckon we'll survive. That's it folks, my course is over. I have yet to hear whether or not I've passed, although between you and me ( shhhh don't tell anyone ) I am now a newly qualified teacher in everything but name. The exam board meets Mid-July to make those all important decisions and that's when I expect to get my congratulatory letter through the post. It's been an interesting year, to say the least. There have been ups and downs although the positive has vastly outweighed the negative. I find standing in a classroom less daunting and if anything, I now have the confidence to teach, which I didn't have when I started. I know I've only been doing this lark since September (and teach...
3 comments
Read more

Magic Moments

At the end of a sunny day, Dana decided to start a water fight. She sprinkled a bit of tap water in my direction. Then her eyes lit up and she ran out of the room. I of course thought nothing of it, until she returned with a filled water pistol! That was it - The race was on to remember where I'd hidden the other three unopened packets. With pistols at the ready, the kids got in on the act and what could have been a ginormous water fight was almost immediately curtailed as Shira did not appreciate being spritzed in the face. The sheer impulsiveness of the moment was Dana all over and it's one of the things that I love so much about her. The pistols have been seized and are ready, waiting for another day when I predict we are all seriously going to have the most amazing and floodworthy water-fight. I can't wait (and neither can the kids).
Post a Comment
Read more