Notro Films
‘Fermat’s Room‘ is a diluted Spanish version of ‘Cube‘. Four mathematicians are bought together by an unknown outsider ‘Fermat‘, with the goal of solving the most difficult enigma ever set.
The individuals all experts in their relative fields are invited to a room in a disused warehouse in the middle or nowhere. Here they are challenged to complete puzzles in order to prevent the room walls from closing in and killing them all.
So do these four brilliant brains crack the enigma? Well this is where the film starts to become a bit tedious and predictable. Gradually and weakly the story unfolds, creating minuscule amounts of tension which are unfortunately over acted and wrapped in a sort of unnecessary murder mystery cliché. This is unfortunate because we see good murder mystery on television practically every day, I mean look at ‘Jonathan Creek’, ‘Miss Marple‘ and ‘Poirot‘, you’d think Spain would have an equivalent televised production.
Even the puzzles that are set out for the “great minds” are ones we’re all familiar with, it never feels as clever or puzzling or even simple as it should be. Which means that all the possible tension that should be building never really does. Even after we work out what’s going on (pretty early in) it seems all too average, the ending becomes more disappointing as we realise that actually, there is nothing more to the puzzle than an overly basic whodunit, in fact, there was no real puzzle to begin with.
I found that one of the film’s key problems was that you just don’t care about the characters, which is why the inevitable unveiling lacked the tension and dramatic impact these films require. ‘Fermat’s Room’ just feels like a tired mash-up of a ‘Miss Marple’ meets (the brilliant) ‘Cube’. It would be better suited as a one off television drama, as it’s not as exciting or as clever as it thinks it is and is essentially sub-par ‘Jonathan Creek’.
Emily Paget
Taken from their debut album, ‘Adult Nights’, California On My Mind is an irresistible taster from New Hampshire band Wildlight. Having supported Arcade Fire and LCD Soundsystem the band have been making a name for themselves over the last year, topped off with winning Outstanding Rock Out at the Boston Music Awards, and its little wonder with tracks like this.
I don’t know about you but am I am crazy about all things supernatural and paranormal; ghosts, possessions, haunted houses, aliens and everything that goes bump in the night. So when the opportunity arose to see two of the most well know supernatural flicks out in the open at Somerset House and talk to horror experts and noted writers Anne Billson, Christopher Fowler and Alan Jones about their love of horror in a discussion called ‘No One Can Hear You Scream‘, I couldn’t resist the occasion.
Anne believes horror films should be able to give you goose pimples, like the Asian horror films did for her, while Chris believes a good tragedy is always effective. He also feels the locality of a film can be meaningful, something happening on your own doorstep. When Raw Meat first met his eye “I had to go to Russell Square Station“. It is films like this and Creep that bring the horror elements a little closer to home.
When discussing one of the films from the screening, Ridley Scott’s Alien, we were all in agreement that this was a film of its time. Upon its release back in 1979 it became a sensation, spawning a successful Hollywood Sci-fi franchise. Chris explains, “even though I worked on it (on set), I didn’t know anything about it. They withheld everything. You went to a screening knowing only that it would be a sci-fi film“. Alan continues by explaining that it “shocked everyone. It’s regarded as a movie landmark. I knew the producer and was desperate to see it. The expectations were staggering.” At the time of release, Anne considered seeing it as a “right of passage. There was an amazing buzz. The trailer was terrifying and never gave anything away.” Alien proved to be pioneering, as it was the first of its kind to feature a strong female heroine, Ripley (Sigourney Weaver). The depiction of this character as fearless made a significant impression, particularly in futuristic science fiction.
My first memory of skateboarding took place in Bromley. Two kids were weaving in and out of pedestrians on old plastic boards outside of Allders.
New York’s 
Anyways, in terms of goals, this is where it gets interesting: Matt’s goals wereoriginally just to fuck around and have fun. Mine were much serious. I’d been playing in bands since I was 11 or 12, and had always felt that being in a band was supposed to be part of my life in a larger sense (not just a hobby). So when Matt and I started Goes Cube, I was already thinking about touring and putting out records. Matt tempered me. I like to think I motivated him. Matt ended up dedicating 6 years of his life to Goes Cube and playing bass—things that were originally just a hobby. He and I are still best friends. And now he’s in better shape than everyone, and he drinks just as much beer as the rest of us. Not cool. 
There is opportunity in New York. And I do believe it forces you to work your ass off if you want to rise above. But for all the cultural diversity, it’s amazing how same-y the bands sound. And, you know what, the crowds seemed to love it like that. And the press.
“Saab Sonnet” is on the record that’s out now. Musically, writing that song was as close to stream of consciousness as you can get in terms of writing structured music. Again, though, the lyrics were separate. Those were about a time in my life where I had sort of resigned myself to something, and told myself I had different goals than I really did. “Goes Cube Song 57” is kind of a favorite of ours, too. That oneis about someone cutting off their nose to spite their face. Someone told our drummer once that they were pissed that I wrote that song about them. I hadn’t, but as the old saying goes, if the shoe fits…
Back in the shit-stenched rot of the Underworld for the second time in the last couple of years (someone must be able to do something about that rotten smell in that venue, unreal!), The Adolescents (with most of their original line-up in tact) proceed to tear through a set of punk rock perfection that puts bands half their age to shame.