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Recently by Alison Jones

The Winter Memorabilia Show at the NEC this month is offering a star-studded line from film, TV and sport.

Doctor Who/Torchwwod's Colin Baker (The Sixth Doctor), Arthur Darvill (Rory Williams), Kai Owen (Rhys Williams) and Sir Derek Jacobi (the Master) will be among the sci-fi special guests meeting fans and signing autographs.

mcm expo kai owen torchwood.jpgKai Owen (Rhys Williams) shows how it's done

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 


birds1.jpgSt Paul's Church in the Jewellery Quarter was transformed this week as the Jameson Cult Film Club arrived in Birmingham for a screening of The Birds.

The church became the Bodega Bay Chapel on Thursday evening as it hosted a pre-Halloween screening of Alfred Hitchcock's classic horror.

On arrival at the venue, guests were invited to explore the church and surrounding graveyard, where numerous crows lurked in the shadows.

birds465.jpgEntering the venue by candlelight, guests were greeted by the sound of a church organ, crows hiding in the rafters of the chapel and sinister images of birds projected onto the ceiling. 

The audience was also treated to free cocktails for the screening.

Jameson Cult Film Club is planning another visit to Birmingham next year.

For more information, visit the website at http://jamesoncultfilmclub.com or the Facebook page at www.facebook.com/jamesoncultfilmclub.

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Jameson_Cult2.jpgThe Jameson Cult Film Club will be screening Alfred Hitchcock's classic horror film The Birds at St Paul's Church, in the Jewellery Quarter, on Thursday.

The film club brings its screenings to life through actors, props and some surprises to give audiences a more involved experience.

Jameson_Cult.jpgTo celebrate its first film showing in Birmingham, Jameson Cult Film Club commissioned Victor X, creative director of the arts collective Graffiti4hire, to provide artwork inspired by The Birds.

For the Halloween special film night, St Paul's church will be transformed into the 'Bodega Bay Chapel' for one evening, when guests will be able to explore the church and surrounding graveyard, unaware of where demonic crows might be lurking.

For free tickets to this event, sign up to the Jameson Cult Film Club blog jamesoncultfilmclub.com or visit facebook.com/jamesoncultfilmclub.

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We can (all) be heroes

By Alison Jones on Oct 20, 11 07:04 PM

HERO MENS NAVY VISUAL-01.jpegIf you have been holding out for a hero(es) day, the first ever UK one happens tomorrow (Oct 21). Its intended to honour anyone who might be considered a hero, from soldiers to pioneers to parents. Schools and businesses are being invited to participate, coming to work or class dressed as their personal hero.

If you want to keep it simple, and have something you can wear all year round, invest in this Hero Tee Hee shirt. The loose fitting pop-art tee comes in cool blue and costs £19.99 from www.moretvicar.com

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Real-Steel.jpgAfter a short but undeniably sweet cameo in X-Men: First Class, Hugh Jackman is back on the big screen this week in Real Steel, a (slightly) futuristic tale about an ex-boxer in a time when robot fighters have replaced humans. Hugh's Charlie Kenton is a down-on-his-luck controller of battling 'bots who is forced to face up to the mistakes of his past when he is reunited with the son he abandoned.

The films is based on the short story Steel, by the horror/fantasy/sci fi writer Richard Matheson, whose work has proved to a fertile source for film and TV adaptations - among them The Incredible Shrinking Man, What Dreams May Come, Duel, A Stir of Echoes, Hell House, I Am Legend and Bid Time Return (filmed as Somewhere In Time)

Matheson also adapted Steel into an episode for The Twilight Zone, with Lee Marvin playing the unlucky scrapper, and penned the famous Nightmare at 20,000 Feet for the show. His Star Trek episode, The Enemy Within, is considered one of the best

Real Steel is aimed more at a family audience, its rather bleak story line given a little redemptive heart by introducing the character of Charlie's son Max (Dakota Goyo).

Alison Jones met Hugh on his recent visit to London.

 

The writer Alan Moore

Image via Wikipedia

Comic book legend Alan Moore, 57, will read from his work Mirror Of Love with rock band The Enid (theenid.co.uk) at Birmingham's Symphony Hall on Saturday, Oct 15.

Best known for his 1986 comic book series Watchmen, the creator of V For Vendetta and From Hell, took 60 seconds in the Metro to talk about his career, his conflicted feelings about his earlier works and the fallout of his turbulent relationship with publisher DC Comics.


 

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RedState_packshot.jpgKevin Smith, director of Clerks, Dogma and the man who gave the world Jay and Silent Bob, returns to the screen with controversial new film Red State.

Self-distributed by Smith, it is a horror about three teens who accept an online invitation to get frisky with a mysterious woman, only to find it's a set up and be taken captive by a group of religious extremists.

The films stars John Goodman as an FBI agent sent in to clean up the problem, by any means necessary.

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IMG_1996.JPGStill bereft over the end of Harry Potter? The world become a little too muggle for you?

The exploits of the boy wizard were celebrated in this unusual tribute at the recent Nailympics at Olympia Beauty in London. Fantasy Nail Art is an admittedly niche extension of the manicurists' craft where practitioners can create the most elaborately-themed creations on little more than a fingertip.

These totally whacky talons are impressive to look out but probably not recommended for people whose lifestyle requires them to use a keyboard or...you know...their hands.

 

TrollHunterStill pg.jpg

André Øvredal has reinvented the creature feature with his darkly comic mock-documentary about a lonely hunter in search of trolls, trailed by student camera crew. A monster (sorry) hit in Norway, it is now up for an American remake. André, a director of commercials who has made his full-length feature debut with Troll Hunter, told us about his inspirations, how he wrangled a "confession" out of a PM and why he said no to directing the remake.

 

What made you pick trolls as the subject for your first film?

I have a love for this kind of monster movie. The only time I have ever dropped my jaw in that kind of cliché way is when I was watching the T. rex come out of the forest in Jurassic Park. It was so awesome it made a huge impact on me and I was 20 when I saw that, I wasn't a 10-year-old kid. 

So that was really influential on me wanting to do a film like this. Obviously fairy tales are the basis of the film. As a kid I grew up with these fairy tales and I always loved those drawings that depicted monsters in our own forests. 

Our family had property in the woods, so I have always been close to nature somehow. 

Did you do research into the folklore of trolls?

I didn't really do much research. I wanted to be so general that the audience would recognise it. 

If I went into the fairy tales and really found details there, the audience wouldn't know what I was talking about basically. I would have spent lots of time explaining stuff. 

It was much easier to use stuff that everyone in Norway knows about. Those big ideas that stick to your mind. Trolls under bridges and the blood of a Christian man.


jonfavreau.jpgDirector Jon Favreau thinks that the Cowboys and Aliens film is his "finest work".

However, his cautious post script of "whether it is something that is the most commercially accessible I don't know" has proved to be rather prophetic.

The mash up of Old West gunslingers vs technologically superior, multi armed ETs has met with somewhat lukewarm reviews and rather lacklustre box office.

Jon says he has no regret about taking the project in as it gave him a chance to breakaway from the superhero genre in which he's had most success.

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Authors

Paul Cole

Paul Cole - Paul Cole - Lost, Torchwood, Sci-fi, Dr Who and anything worth getting the Anorak on for

Steve Wollaston

Steve Wollaston - Wookie-loving Star Wars fanatic with a love of all things Dharma and sci-fi. Our resident You-Tube trawler.

Daniel Smith

Daniel Smith - Would-be scientist who can't add up. Believes Sisko is the best captain and Ronald D Moore is some sort of god.

Jaymeetee

Jaymeetee - Marty Mcfly loving film buff, on a mission to watch and review all of the imdb.com top 250 movies

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