John Foster is a screenwriter whose credits include many episodes for TV series such as Z-Cars, Softly Softly, Crown Court, Juliet Bravo, Rockliffe, Saracen, The Bill. He also wrote a BAFTA award-winning BBC Omnibus on Raymond Chandler and the screenplay of Letters from a Killer, a thriller movie starring Patrick Swayze. He is a contributor to the award-winning crime collection, Mean Time.

My apologies for a non-existent film column over the past two months.  I seem to have watched a lot of movies, but pressure of work prevented me from writing about them.  However, here is a bumper set of reviews which I hope will cover the period. 

Clearly the major releases of these past weeks has been the mesmerising THERE WILL BE BLOOD and the equally impactive NO COUNTRY FOR OLD MEN, both of which are reviewed here.  The Coens, following a period where their films suffered smugness and a clever-clever shallowness, have bounced back on-form, but it is THERE WILL BE BLOOD which may change the course of cinema. 

All eight films reviewed here are American and British productions.  Sadly, no foreign language films are included.  Normally I like to review a good selection of foreign language productions, but there is no room this time.  Many of the greatest movies currently come from World Cinema.  Next month, however, I will be looking at the excellent German movie YELLA, the French movies ANNA M and THE SERPENT, the latter adapted from a Ted Lewis story.  I will also be reviewing a rather remarkable American indie portmanteau movie, THE DEAD GIRL. 

Although this is a column dedicated to mainly thriller movies, I think that definition can be extended to the western, especially where they are as brilliant as THE ASSASSINATION OF JESSE JAMES BY THE COWARD ROBERT FORD, released on DVD shortly.  I will also be looking at a very gripping version of the Elmore Leonard western short story 3.10 TO YUMA, also out on DVD, a rare example where a remake is an improvement upon the original movie.