June 2009 Archives

IT'S been a bit of a mad day catching up with preview screenings of these too highly-anticipated new movies.

What you really want to know is how many stars they will be getting.

Answer: a big fat five.

I should qualify that, though, by pointing out that it will be only five between them.

See my Public Enemies (15) review on Friday in the Birmingham Mail and you'll be able to work out the balance for next week's Brüno (18) on the fingers of one hand.

Certainly on this form, star Johnny Depp really ought to be playing Michael Jackson as soon as, viz my weekend blog after the King of Pop's death.

And the best film I've seen this week?

Actually it's The Private Lives of Pippa Lee (15), written and directed by Rebecca Miller, the Connecticut-bornwife of Daniel Day-Lewis, the double Oscar-winining son of Birmingham-born filmmaking genius Sir Michael Balcon.

Pippa Lee, which stars Robin Wright Penn and Keanu Reeves, will be out on July 10 when it will be reviewed in the Birmingham Mail.

Good to see the Balcon genes are in good hands, eh.

VUE Star City is going up market in the next few days.

Tales of Beatrix Potter (U) will be brought to life by The Royal Ballet on Sunday for 73 minutes from 2pm tomorrow, Sunday.

Frederick Ashton's spectacular choreography will feature Mrs Tiggy-Winkle joining Peter Rabbit, Mr Jeremy Fisher and many more in a charming one-act ballet.

Tales of Beatrix Potter was created in 1971 for a film, bringing alive with astonishing accuracy the famous images and stories of Beatrix Potter. The dancers of The Royal Ballet will be dressed and masked to look just as we know them from the illustrations.

Running for 192 minutes from 7pm on Tuesday will be La Traviata (PG).

The live performance of Verdi's most famous work will be beamed in from the Royal Opera House.

The Great American soprano Renée Fleming takes on the role of doomed courtesan Violetta, with Joseph Calleja as her young lover Alfredo and Thomas Hampson as his unyielding father.

Details from 08712 240 240 or www.myvue.com

I WENT to the first screening in the Midlands of Ice Age 3 Dawn of the Dinosaurs in 3D today at Cineworld on Broad Street and really enjoyed it.

Look out out for my review in Friday's Birmingham Mail.

In the meantime, far important will be the verdicts of two sisters from Birmingham, Ebony and Eloise Evans.

Since the film is aimed at their sort of age group, what they think will count for a lot as to how well Ice Age 3 might do at the box office.

Ebony and Eloise were our special guests today after winning a great Mail competition and they're going to let me have their full assessments tomorrow.

All things being equal, their reviews will be in the Mail before the film opens on July 1.

....WELL, that would be my sales pitch if I was a Hollywood studio chief!

At just turned 46, he's the right age to play the last ten years of the late star's career.

Not sure if Johnny can do the dances, but if he's an actor who is still interested in challenging himself, why not try?

Maybe we'll find out next week if he would fancy playing the title role in Wacko Jacko - The Movie.

He'll be in London on Tuesday ready to meet my colleague Roz Laws.

Through Roz, that means he'll be talking to the Mail next Friday about the release of his new movie, Michael Mann's Public Enemies.

He's the biggest star that even we have had the chance to meet for a while, so how could I refuse her the chance to drool?

I met Johnny myself just before Sleepy Hollow became the first major film release of the new millennium in January 2000.

As you'd expect, he was very relaxed and charming. And, of course, not bad looking.

Click here to read my feature - and how Johnny Depp has a surprisingly close link, by association through his work, with Birmingham. Let's call it two degrees of separation...

A NEW film about the lives of people having to cope with a terminal illness will receive its premiere at Birmingham's Electric Cinema on Station Street at 6.30pm on Monday...

Night And Day documents the highs and lows of six patients and their families from the Birmingham area as they come to terms with impending death.

The film explores how illness affects relationships when spouses become the primary carer.

Patients, families and friends talk candidly about the impact on them from both a practical and psychological perspective, as well as the support they need from palliative care teams in the community.

Night and Day has been produced by the arts-based organisation Rosetta Life as part of a wider Let's Talk about Living campaign.

Chris Rawlence, director of media at Rosetta Life, says: "Birmingham and neighbouring parts of the West Midlands are leading the way in enabling people to talk about subjects that have traditionally been taboo in the British psyche.

"This new film will inject compassion and understanding into the debate about the best ways of helping the individuals and families affected."

The film and associated campaign has been funded by grants from Birmingham East and North Primary Care Trust (BEN PCT).

Melanie Young, senior commissioner at BEN PCT, said: "All those who have worked on Night and Day are to be congratulated for their innovative approach to this difficult subject.

"The patients and families involved should be applauded for their courage in telling their stories in this film.

"They are true stars who will provide inspiration to countless others who find themselves in the same position in years to come."

The patients and family members featured in Night and Day are: John and Margaret Trueman; Elias and Doreen Pharaoh; Zoey, Garry and Zac Hill; Joy and Sav Minogna, Sally Coulter and Eve Crocker.

Other parts of the Let's Talk About Living campaing include a new play set to tour venues in and around Birmingham; musical, poetry and photographic workshops; a children's concert at the CBSO centre; the launch of a specially choreographed dance programme; and publication of a digital book.

For more details see: www.rosettalive.org

CONGRATULATIONS to our Ice Age 3 competition winners - the Evans family from Great Barr who entered by post.

Their two daughters will be able to review the film after attending our screening on Saturday for publication in the Birmingham Mail on Friday, July 3.

Our runners up include Jay Wain, Mathew Jenkinson and Lilly-anna Dainter who entered via this site.

Could Jay, Mathew and Lilly-anna please send an email to: graham.young@birminghammail.net to confirm your names and addresses etc and I'll arrange for the goodie bags to be posted out to you.

Look out for all of our coverage of Ice Age including this competition in the Mail on July 3 and thank you for entering.

Apologies for the slight delay in posting this notice after the M6 crash caused heavy traffic delays.

IT'S FIVE years since Jack Black starred in The School of Rock, so what's happened to him since then?

You won't believe he's the same guy when you read my review of Year One in the Birmingham Mail this Friday.

I SAW Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen: The IMAX Experience down at Millennium Point on the Midlands' biggest screen today.

Which means that it's the second time I've seen it in a week.

One leading national newspaper critic has today given what is set to be one of the summer's biggest hits a No Stars 'turkey' rating.

But I still stand by my decision to award it four stars for the Birmingham Mail.

Yes, the film is badly plotted, the dialogue is awful and it can be difficult to tell what's going on (which is why it won't get five stars from me even at IMAX).

But does it really matter with Transformers? I think not.

It is what it is, an often amazing visual spectacle, to the extent that its strengths overcome its weaknesses.

When you are in the mood it's sooooooooooooo good to be able to leave your brain at home on life support, ready to lap up an enjoyably 'bad' film.

Some adults will really hate Transformers 2, but most teenagers will certainly be blown away by the major action sequences.

For fans of Megan Fox, the giant IMAX screen turns her performance into 'A-Lot-O-Lips Now'.

During the extended climax, director Michael Bay unashamedly combines his predilection for slow motion action sequences with Megan frequently running towards the camera.

Between them they've created a bouncing bosom special effect which perhaps ought to be called 'Slo-mo-bo'.

Judging by her relatively sulky mood on Monday when I met her in London, I don't think she'll be doing it again, though!

Meanwhile, I don't think the scenes shot on the IMAX cameras do as much to improve this film as they did with the U2 concert or The Dark Knight, but they are still very impressive and incredibly clear... watch out for the picture enlarging at IMAX every time they kick in.

Few will know this, but Transformers 2 has been reclassified by the BBFC today and given a running time of 151m 16s, compared with a time of 149m 45s when it first posted the 12A classification on June 15.

When I saw it on Monday at London's Leicester Square Odeon, Michael Bay told me himself that I hadn't seen the finished version, as he'd been working on that up until Wednesday of last week.

Just when you might have been expecting him to trim, it seems he's put more in!

If the IMAX version is bigger, the Odeon screening was certainly louder (I was surprised by how quiet the first half was at IMAX today compared with the second half so the technicians are looking at that as I write).

Meanwhile, all three Transformers 2 shows at IMAX have sold out today (the queues were huge for the first public screening at 5pm) and more than 3,000 tickets had been sold by tea-time for the barrage of forthcoming shows.

So, if you want to see it here, get booking quickly as there's another blockbuster on its way.

Harry Potter And The Half-Blood Prince is set to hit 153 minutes when it opens at IMAX on July 15.

AFTER hard-hitting movies like Star Trek, Terminator Salvation and Transformers 2, it's almost time to roll out the next big family blockbuster.

ICE AGE 3 DAWN OF THE DINOSAURS (U) will not open nationwide until July 1, but you can see it first and for free with us thanks to our exclusive competition.

We are offering up to five tickets for a family to come and see an invitation-only 3D screening of ICE AGE 3 - DAWN OF THE DINOSAURS (U) somewhere in Birmingham at 3.30pm for 4pm on Saturday, June 27.

And, if you've got children aged under 12, we'll even publish their 250-word review in the Mail on Friday, July 3.

Five runners up will each win a collectors' goodie bag worth more than £50 with the contents of each including T-shirts for a boy and a girl, flip-flops, cooler bag, phone tags and a kite.

In Dawn of the Dinosaurs, Scrat is still trying to nab the elusive nut (while maybe finding true love), Manny and Ellie are awaiting the birth of their mini-mammoth, Diego the sabre-toothed tiger wonders if he's growing soft hanging about with his pals and Sid the sloth gets into trouble when he hijacks some dinosaur eggs.

As they bid to rescue Sid, the gang ventures into a mysterious underground world where they encounter dinosaurs and meet a one-eyed dino-hunting weasel named Buck (voiced by Simon Pegg).

To stand a chance of winning our competition ask your children to write a review of either the first or second Ice Age movie, summing up what it's about and why they liked it in no more than 100 words.

Post your review to: Graham Young, Mail Film Editor, Birmingham Mail, Floor Six, FortDunlop, Fort Parkway, Birmingham B24 9FF to arrive by first post on Wednesday, June 24, the closing date and time.

You must include your full name and address, daytime telephone number, email address and the ages of your children.

Or you can enter online here by posting a 100-word (maximum) review as a reply.

Do not leave any personal contact details on here.

And please do not enter if you will be unable to attend this exclusive screening or be unwilling to have your photograph taken for publication in the Birmingham Mail.

But do check this site from 6pm onwards on Wednesday, June 24 and follow the instructions if you've won.

Usual Trinity Mirror rules apply.

DON'T MISS today's Birmingham Mail for our unbeatable three-page, full-colour special on Transformers: Revenge Of The Fallen.

It includes a review, my interviews with director Michael Bay and stars Shia LaBeouf, Megan Fox, John Turturro and colleague Roz Laws' interview with Baggies' fan and former Coronation Street star Matthew Marsden (the boy done good!).

With some stunning pictures to include as well we just couldn't fit all of this wealth of material in.

So click here to read the full interview with John Turturro