September 2009 Archives

TALENT scouts will be in Birmingham on Tuesday (Sept 29) in a bid to find some children of East African origin who could star in a new World Cup film called Africa United.

Children aged from nine to 16 from countries like Rwanda, DRC, Burundi and Southern Uganda are invited to audition at The Salvation Army Citadel, 24 St Chad's Queensway,
Birmingham from 4pm-7pm on Tuesday, September 28.

Potential actors should be from the Great Lakes Region of Africa, and will ideally have some experience of that area, even if they are British-born.

They need to be able to speak English with an authentic East African accent.
No acting experience is necessary - the producers are looking for unknown talents to star in the movie.

Director Debs Gardner-Paterson said: "Africa United will be a heart-warming adventure story of a raggle-taggle team of Rwandan kids who walk from Rwanda to the 2010 World Cup in South Africa.

"The story is basically going to be a love-letter to African kids."

Africa United will be shot on location in Africa later this year and is set for release in late summer 2010 to tie in with the World Cup.

The film will also launch a series of charitable initiatives to help the children and communities who inspired it, and will include a web community for viewers moved by the film.

East African teenagers from the West Midlands are invited to try out for the following roles:

Dudu (age 12-14) - a fun, smart, imaginative street kid.

Fabrice (age 14-16) - a slightly spoiled Rwandan middle-class kid, who is a great footballer.

Beatrice (age 9-11) - wise beyond her years, pragmatic and desperate to study but still a lot of fun, Dudu's sister.

Foreman George (15-17) - an ex-child soldier, strong and has had a hard life, but starting the road to recovery.

Celeste (15-17) - an ex-bar worker in Burundi, beautiful - she has royal blood and can be a bit proud.

Albino Pete (11-14) - as the name suggests, Pete is albino, and quite shy but a very important member of the cast!

For more information and to book an audition place email AUcastinglondon @gmail.com, or call 020 3369 1966. Please note all under 16's should be accompanied by a parent or guardian

Africa United is being produced by Footprint Films (www.footprintfilms.co.uk) and Link Media (Rwanda), and will be distributed by Pathe Pictures (www.pathe.co.uk)
For more details on the project www.africaunitedmovie.com

I WAS LUCKY enough to see the first screening in Birmingham of UP today, Pixar Animation Studios' tenth blockbuster after the likes of Toy Story, Finding Nemo, The Incredibles and Ratatouille.

And the great news is that it really is as fantastic as the near $300 million US box office would suggest.

This means you should really be spending tonight trying to find your Friday night copy of the Birmingham Mail from September 18 ready to enter our fabulous Up competition.

We have 40 tickets to give away as ten family packs of four tickets for an exclusive Disney gala screening of Up (U, 3D, 102 mins) in Birmingham on October 4 before the film opens here on October 9.

So, why not put yourself in with a chance of being the first to see the film... and for FREE!

If you win, you won't be disappointed.

Good luck. The deadline for entries is Thursday afternoon!

THE distributors of Cloudy With A Chance of Meatballs failed to organise a regional screening of this animation.

This meant, through no fault of our own, that it was not possible to review the film in time for today's edition of the Birmingham Mail.

Accordingly, I've been out to see it today and here's our big verdict!

CLOUDY WITH A CHANCE OF MEATBALLS 2D / 3D (U)
Verdict: +++

THE title of this inventive comedy fantasy animation sounds like a weather forecast you might expect to hear on BBC WM... if you were planning an overcast day out at the Swedish IKEA store and restaurant next to Junction 9 of the M6.

In reality, since this is a morality tale about western gluttony, it's also a bit like a cross between Morgan Spurlock's don't-eat-too-much documentary Super Size Me and Disney's hit-and-miss time-travelling, boy-inventor animation 'Meat' The Robinsons.

Or rather Meet The Robinsons, a film I generously concluded upon release in March 2007 as having 'a modern feel, a slightly dark side, a sense of humour and, best of all, a salutary intention to try to make science exciting'.

Much the same can be said of Meatballs, which has been adapted from the 1978 children's book by Judi and Ron Barrett (while Robinsons was based on William Joyce's 1990 book, A Day with Wilbur Robinson).

Set in a mid-Atlantic town reliant on the sardines it's soon to lose, the centre of attention is a young man called Flint Lockwood.

Voiced by Saturday Night Live star Bill Hader (General Custer in Night at the Museum 2), Flint's a natural-born clever clogs who tries to solve the lace-up crisis in schools by inventing spray-on shoes.

But, when his latest invention turns rain into food, the mayor of Swallow Falls sees it as a heaven-sent opportunity to eat more while making pots of money at the same time.

Cloudy... starts off really brightly before an occluded front soon sets in.

And that's despite the arrival of livewire TV girl Sam Sparks (voiced by Scary Movie star Anna Farris).

When there are two writer-directors on the case - Clone High TV series team Phil Lord and Chris Miller - it's perhaps understandable that they should apparently end up in two minds as to whether to make a comedy or a thriller.

Though peppered with (thankfully) scarcely-recognisable voicework by the likes of Mr T and James Caan, the film lurches away from its strong opening to become a bolognaise mishmash that's only sporadically flecked with colourful basil.

Children who naturally like intermittent bursts of entertainment won't mind the inconsistencies - as with recent release Shorts.

But adults will feel short-changed that this is a wafer-thin film which fails to develop a stronger storyline dynamic.

Made by Sony Pictures Animation (Surf's Up), Meatballs is showing in 3D in some cinemas and in good old 2D in others.

The technology version is used to add depth, not to thrust things towards you.

As with all 3D films, it seems pointless to me to take children under six because if the glasses slip off their little noses then the screen becomes a blur and is likely to provoke restlessness.

Website: www.sonypictures.com/movies/cloudywithachanceofmeatballs

A UNIQUE short film made by Birmingham-based director Phillip Pugh will help to close the city's Arts Fest this weekend.

ONE MINUTES is an ambitious collection of 60 films in 60 minutes.

Made with the help of local producer Martin Nigel Davey, the mammoth project took Phillip four years to write and film, using 60 actors playing 250 parts.

It will begin with a cast and crew introduction from 5.10pm on Sunday at the Crescent Theatre, Sheepcote St, Birmingham.

For more details see: http://www.uk.imdb.com/title/tt1124335/

+ Irrepresible Nigel has also been involved as a co-producer with TO CANCER AND BEYOND, a new stage play directed by Veronica Walsh and starring Finn Atkins, Jean Boht, Sarah Manners, Maggie Service and EastEnders' Hannah Waterman, daughter of Dennis.

The play will be on at Solihull Arts Complex on Thursday (7.30pm) and Friday (2.30pm / 7.30pm) September 17 and 18 in aid of Macmillan Cancer Support.

The whole emphasis of the production will be to empower people surviving cancer and to enlighten people who are living cancer free.

It's aimed at ages 11+ and runs to 1hr 40 minutes. Tickets £10.

For more details visit:
http://www.solihull.gov.uk/arts/artscomplex/eventDetails.asp?ID=1358

To learn more about Nigel's work, visit www.nigelmartindavey.co.uk
 

 

GREAT to see Meryl Streep on such top form again in Julie & Julia (12A) which I'll be reviewing in Friday's Birmingham Mail.

Having turned 60 in June she's putting the likes of Al Pacino and Robert De Niro to shame as they seemed to have almost given up the ghost by this point.

Watching this film about learning to cook earlier this week set me thinking... about other related movies.

Adapted from Julie Powell's own book and efficiently directed by Nora Ephron (Sleepless in Seattle / You've Got M@il / Bewitched), Julie & Julia is one of the great films about the joy of food and first we've had for some time if you overlook Ratatouille (2007).

If Julie & Julia puts you in the mood for other movies featuring food, try gangster thriller Dinner Rush or Gurinder Chadha's What's Cooking? from 2000 or German classic Bella Martha (aka Mostly Martha) from 2001.

But do avoid indigestion with lumpy puddings like Sarah Michelle Gellar's Simply Irresistible (1999) and Penelope Cruz's Woman on Top (2000).

Watching either of these two 'turkeys' struggling pitifully for life could put you off your dinner for a week.

PS. I'm hoping to meet John Lasseter tomorrow. The creator of Toy Story and the soon-to-be-seen 3D movie UP is the nearest thing to a 21st Century Walt Disney. And he always comes over in the most amazing Hawaiian shirts. Watch this space for more.

THE winners of our Funny People film competition from August 28 are as follows...
Mrs Michelle Delves from Erdington, Mrs F Ryan from Northfield and Mariel George from Kings Heath each win a limited edition collector's pack including a T-shirt, bag, cap and notebook.
First prize winner Hilary C Williams-Smith from Atherstone also wins a copy of the soundtrack as well.
All prizes will be sent out direct by Universal.
Well done to the four of you and many thanks to the many others who entered but were unlucky on this occasion.
We've got another great competiton in today's Birmingham Mail.
Don't miss the chance to be able to see the new Sam Mendes' film Away We Go - first and for free on September 14, when it's not due to open till September 18.
Mendes, remember, won the best director Oscar for American Beauty and Away We Go is only his fifth movie.