Safe House

Prepare to see a lot more of director Daniel Espinosa in the next few years as his action-packed thriller Safe House, starring Ryan Reynolds and Denzel Washington, promises to please, writes guest reviewer Alison Devlin.

If you like fast car scenes, brutal fights and non-stop twists, Safe House is the film for you.

Matt Weston (Reynolds) is a normal guy. He has a girlfriend, a nine to five job and a good life. Doesn’t sound like an interesting thriller at first, but add in that he works for the CIA and that his office is a secret safe house and get ready for a film that keeps you on your toes.

One day the phone rings and Weston’s world is turned upside down when Tobin Frost (Washington) becomes his house guest. A newly captured rogue agent who has sold American intelligence all over the globe and who is currently holding one of the biggest secrets in the world, but what the CIA doesn’t know is others want his secrets, too.

Before the audience can blink, the safe house is compromised and Weston is drawn into a world of corruption and danger, followed by Frost in handcuffs.

“Rule number one – you are responsible for your house guest.”

During a recent interview Washington described his character as “the psychopath next door” and said his character, Frost, “would rather play with Matt, not kill him”.

Though Washington gives an amazing performance as usual, it is Reynolds who captivates the audience with an emotive performance throughout the film stealing the limelight from Washington. He begins the film as a boy, but ends it a man.

The film lacks a defining moment between Washington’s and Reynolds’ characters. They are both very secretive, but as their relationship develops, you expect and want them to open up more.

Unfortunately it never happens, and Espinosa makes up for that through explosions and gunfire.

So if you like to be put on the edge of your seat with your blood pumping and your heart pounding, this is a film for you.

The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel

Some fine British acting talents head up this comedy drama that rarely strays much from the Carry On Abroad template, thanks to a sugary coating that doesn’t do its talent justice.

A group of retirees head to India, believing they are going to spend time in a luxury resort.

Managed by the charming and engaging Dev Patel, it’s far from luxurious but, as you can guess, after initial disgust they let their prejudices slip away and the true India and the truth of their lives unfolds.

A nice film that is very sentimental, but thanks to its cast, including Dames Judi and Maggie, Bill Nighy and Tom Wilkinson, is always watchable.

Red Dog

Talking of sentimental, this is an Australian ‘true legend’ of a red dog who united a community in the Outback.

It’s fun and fluffy and really sugary, but the lead canine is adorable and charming. Move over Uggie from The Artist.

A LANDLORD believes he may have identified the woman who stole a chair from his pub.

Mick Owens rang the Gazette after the theft – which we reported with CCTV footage in our last edition of the paper. Now several people have told him they know the thief.

He said: “People have been horrified and disgusted – but now we think we know who the culprit is.”

Police say they are still investigating the crime.

A DOG owner is calling for street lights to be switched back on after he fell over while walking his four-legged friend.

Michael Sturman says all of the lighting has been turned off in the Grovehill cul-de-sac where he has lived for 29 years under money saving council cutbacks.

“There is not one light on. I would understand if they turned every other one off,” said Michael, of Ninian Road.

“It is just asking for trouble. They should leave some street lights on in a close.”

Herts County Council is switching 80 per cent of its lights to part-night lighting, which means they are turned off between midnight and 6am.

The 59-year-old, who uses a walking stick, was taking labrador Louie out to stretch his legs at around 12.30pm on Sunday, February 19, when he took a tumble.

Council spokesman Alice Newbon said: “The scheme is constantly under review and as a result of additional information being provided to us about particular areas, about 80 street lights which were converted to part-night lighting have been switched back and now remain on all night.

“A full review of the scheme will be carried out in the summer of 2013.”

A HOUSE that used to be owned by the aunt of Graham Greene is up for sale for £850,000.

The Berkhamsted High Street home has a swimming pool and four bedrooms, and is being sold through Fine and Country estate agency.

It was once home to Maudie Greene, aunt to the Brighton Rock author, who lived in Berkhamsted.

A MAN who proposed to his partner by taking out a newspaper advert got the answer he was hoping for.

Doug Drury popped the question the day after Valentine’s by paying for a half page ad in last week’s HeraldExpress, pictured above.

He took his partner of eight years, Stephanie Barnes, to stand outside the now closed Wishing Well pub, in Marlowes, Hemel Hempstead – the place where they first met – before showing her the proposal and getting down on one knee.

The couple got together after a mutual pal set them up on a blind date.

Doug, 39, said: “We always read the paper anyway. It was just something I came up with.”

He is believed to be the first person to propose using the pages of Hemel Hempstead’s free paper and advertising staff gave him a discounted rate to celebrate the occasion.

Bride-to-be Stephanie, of Fennycroft Road, Gadebridge, says it was the perfect gesture.

She said: “I knew it was coming because we have been together so long now. He asked me if I wanted a grand gesture or something quiet. After eight years I thought I deserved a grand gesture.

“It was right up my street – he knows me better than anyone on this planet.”

The pair are hoping to tie the knot towards the end of the year and are planning a Pagan wedding with the help of Stephanie’s daughter Kelsei, aged 14.

TO celebrate the 30th anniversary of a town’s annual running challenge, a fancy dress contest has been added to the event’s programme.

The Berkhamsted Half Marathon will begin at the town’s cricket club at 10am on Sunday, March 4, and a five-mile fun run will begin there 30 minutes later.

There will be £50, £30 and £20 prizes for those who wear the best fancy dress during the fun run.

The event is organised by the Rotary Club of Berkhamsted Bulbourne, which gives all profits from entry fees to charities.

Learn more – or sign up for either event before Friday – at tinyurl.com/85btveq

A footbridge is being repaired at a cost of £65,000.

Dacoum Borough Council will fit replacement timbers and new handrails to the Canal Fields footbridge in Berkhamsted to help keep it safe.

Work will begin on Monday, March 5, and take about five weeks. The bridge will be closed to the public in that time.

EIGHT “luxury camping pods” are being planned at Whipsnade Zoo as charity chiefs aim to make it a year-round attraction.

The Lookout Lodge pods are set to open up a new market for the 80 year-old hilltop attraction.

“Everything we do has mission overlay,” said Zoological Society of London (ZSL) director David Field. He explained that the zoo wants to give visitors experiences that turn them into champions of Whipsnade and to reconnect people with nature.

Mr Field became a champion of nature at a very young age and wants other people to have experiences that do the same for them.

ZSL aims to put 10 per cent of its turnover into conservation efforts around the world. In a good year that can add up to £10million.

Also on the cards this year are a sophisticated indoor play area and refurbishment of the sealion enclosure as the zoo aims to give visitors more of what they want from a day out in the Chilterns.

Last year, some 500,000 people went through the zoo’s gates, with more than ever during the warmer than average winter months.

“We want to encourage people to visit the zoo throughout the year, not just during bank holidays in August,” said Mr Field. He added that by encouraging people to make repeat visits, its conservation efforts can continue into the long term.

> See our video interview with David Field at www.hemeltoday.co.uk/news/business

Headteachers across the borough and an MP have backed a crackdown on parents who take pupils for school holidays during term time.

There was widespread support for Education Secretary Micheal Gove’s proposals, which call for headteachers to no longer be able to sanction up to two weeks a year of “authorised absence” during school term.

Hemel Hempstead MP Mike Penning said: “I am completely supportive. My headteachers at the schools have told me it is a nightmare for them.

“Kids have an awful lot of time off during holidays and when term time is on they should be in school.

“I appreciate holiday companies put prices up outside term time, but it has always been like that.

“I do not know if it is getting worse, but I know it is an issue headteachers have been talking about for some time.”

Kings Langley School headteacher Gary Lewis said: “I feel quite strongly about it but as with most things it is never black and white.

“Any headteacher in the world would not advocate parents taking children out of school in term time.

“We are very forthright in our treatment of parents who we feel are abusing the system, but having said that, I am understanding of genuine circumstances.

“The statistics are pretty stark that the children who do not attend regularly do not do as well in examinations.”

Tring School headteacher Susan Collings said: “Holidays are an active choice and should not be taken during term time.

“It is very important students attend school. We do not authorise holidays during term time.

“You just cannot have parents taking children out from their valuable time for learning. It is about children getting consistency of learning, enabling them to progress.

“Whatever the nature of the holiday, it actually has an impact and it is usually quite negative.

]]> 1.3546547 Wed, 22 Feb 2012 10:36:35 +0000 http://www.berkhamstedtoday.co.uk/it_s_the_final_countdown_the_big_strictly_dance_off_is_this_weekend_1_3545202

THE final countdown to the big Strictly dance-off has officially begun and, with just a few days to go, practice sessions have gone into overdrive.

I was pretty impressed when I totted up the hours dedicated to dancing last week – 40 minutes on Monday, two hours on Wednesday, an hour on Thursday, an hour on Saturday, an hour on Sunday morning followed by almost two hours at the regular Sunday night class with our fellow enthusiastic dancers.

But as my ever reluctant dance partner Michael Carillo has put little effort into dancing for the last five weeks – that’s when he’s not trying to get out of it all together – we had a lot to catch up on.

And there’s been plenty of help – a private lesson with dance teachers Shirley and Brian made a big difference and we’ve had the benefit of rehearsal space thanks to professional fighter Denniston Sutherland, who has allowed us to twirl around his Hemel Martial Arts gym, and Boxmoor Lodge Hotel owner Andrew Rickett who has offered up the venue’s dance floor whenever we require it. This has saved us from many bumps around the living room.

And it looks like the dancing drive is about to get ramped up further – Michael woke me at 5am on Monday morning to suggest we rehearse before he headed off to work. I won’t tell you the reply he received before I turned over and returned to my slumber.

So far this week, we’ve practised together on Monday night and then attended a jive class on Tuesday evening in a bid to pick up some fancy footwork.

Dancers were given a run down on how the big night at Berkhamsted’s Centenary Hall will work during Sunday’s practice, which set the nerves off but we were all given a boost with some kind words from the lady who will be the lead judge on Saturday – director of nursing and clinical governance at the Hospice of St Francis, Alison Briant.

She told us: “You have been transformed from clumsy ducklings into graceful swans.

“To be able to dance two complex dances within a few weeks’ practice is amazing – you should all rightly be very proud of yourselves.”

She reminded us that we are all doing this for a fantastic cause and encouraged dancers to enjoy the night.

Senior community fundraiser Fran Martin, who is in charge of organising the event, is also full of praise.

“Not only have our lovely dancers had to learn their steps, they’ve also had to raise sponsorship money for the Hospice of St Francis too, and I’m thrilled to say they’ve excelled in both.”

The others making up the judging panel are Linda Venables, a former winner – along with husband Frank – of world, European, British, UK and international championships, competing in both Latin and ballroom dancing; Katherine Coburn, who teaches dance across South Bucks and is studying for a BA in dance; and Daniel Fox, a morning presenter on Heart Breakfast.

> Sponsor Victoria at http://www.justgiving.com/victoriaandmichael

SO, our whole economic system is suffering from a massive hangover but it’s binge drinking that’s going to get sorted out.

You may wonder whether that nice Mr Cameron has got his priorities right – but there’s no denying that, if he can make some headway, he’ll have made as big a contribution to public health as his unlamented Labour predecessors did by introducing the smoking ban.

There’s a strategy on the way, of course, but for starters the PM has called for bars and supermarkets to help tackle a problem that costs the NHS £2.7bn a year.

But it shouldn’t be about money, and we shouldn’t even be thinking about a ban.

And the PM ought to be looking to recruit far beyond the pint-pullers and grog floggers to help achieve this admirable end.

It’s one of those issues – like seat belts and the smoking ban, which have been great successes, and the ban on using your mobile at the wheel, which is still a boil to be lanced – where the vast majority of us are just waiting for someone to take a sensible lead.

And the way to do it is to make life more difficult for the drinker – and when I say drinker, I don’t just mean the lager-fuelled lout or the alcopop addled teenager – I mean all of us.

I’m fed up of all sorts of expensive measures being put in place to pick up the pieces of other people’s lack of self-control. The aim has got to be to stop people regarding the act of getting completely hammered as an option for a night out, or even a night in.

So here are a few ideas to throw into the mix, for the PM to consider over a relaxing glass of wine one evening.

Number 1, ban all alcopops. Strong drink isn’t supposed to taste like lemonade.

Number 2, restrict the sale of all spirits to people over the age of 25. If I had my way I’d also make it illegal to use mixers to soften the taste of hard liquor, for the same reasons that alcopops have to go, but I do enjoy the occasional gin and tonic so that one will have to stay on the drawing board.

Number 3, by all means introduce a higher unit price for alcohol but don’t penalise those who enjoy a bracer but know when to stop – jack up the pub prices only after the first two drinks, introduce maximum purchase rules in supermarkets and the like just like they have for painkillers these days, and halt the sale of alcohol in containers larger than one litre, especially if we’re talking about super strength cider.

Number 4, forget street pastors and people being paid by the public purse to get drunk and incapable kids home safely. Employ them instead to wander town centres at closing time, corner people who have had a skinful, and paint their faces purple.

The paint should not be permanent, of course, but it should be pretty much immovable for a week or so as evidence of a bender that would last a lot longer, and be a lot more visible, to the world at large than a hangover.

Then it would be for the rest of us to bring peer pressure to bear, and sneer and snigger at the victims for long after whatever memory they had of a good night out had faded. Purple paint would make them pariahs, and we’d soon change their habits.

THE body of a Hemel Hempstead serviceman killed in action is due to be brought home to the UK on Thursday.

Senior Aircraftman Ryan Tomlin, 21, was fatally wounded by small arms fire from an insurgent attack while on patrol in Afghanistan on Monday, February 13.

The former Astley Cooper schoolboy was rushed to a field hospital at Camp Bastion by air but died of his wounds.

Ryan, pictured, joined the Royal Air Force in October 2008 after leaving school at the age of 16 in 2006.

His form tutor, Bex Howe, who is now deputy headteacher at Astley Cooper School, paid tribute to the much-loved pupil who was due to return to the classroom during his next visit home to talk to youngsters about his front line experiences.

>For the full report pick up a copy of this week’s Gazette.

NEIGHBOURS have described their escape from a smoke-filled block of flats after a fire broke out just before 6.30am on Sunday.

Some leapt from a first-floor window to escape, while others braved the corridors to the smoky exit – two being rushed to hospital suffering from smoke inhalation.

Read all about the fire in Pheasant Close, Berkhamsted, in this week’s Gazette, out tomorrow.

AN INQUEST has been opened following the death of a student on Hemel Hempstead Road.

Craig Burns, 18, of Keats Close, Hemel Hempstead, was a pedestrian when he was hit by a Citreon C3 near the junction with Appspond Lane and Beechtree Lane last Wednesday at 4.55pm.

The provisional cause of death is multiple traumatic injuries.

Craig was a student at West Herts College and tributes have been posted on Twitter and YouTube.

College principal Gill Worgan said: “To hear that a young life has been cut short in such tragic circumstances is always difficult.

“The thoughts of everyone at the college are with Craig’s family and friends.”

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