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Days out: Chocolate empire is as good as ever at Cadbury

IT DIDN’T take long to persuade our three children that our latest Days Out adventure might be a good idea.Read

Film Review: The Road (15) * * * *

THEY SAY “the postman always rings twice” so here’s Viggo Mortensen’s take on Kevin Costner’s journey down a similar, er, road.Read

Voting opens for the best film of 2009

THE year 2009 looks set to post the highest cinema attendances since 2002 – and that’s despite the recession plunging many other industries into chaos.Read

Film Review: Sex & Drugs & Rock & Roll (15) * *

IF IAN Dury hadn’t been such a success, it’s possible the politically correct brigade would have had to invent him in order to ensure that a polio victim had been a chart topper.Read

Film Review: It's Complicated (15) * * * *

WRITER-director Nancy Meyer is unlikely to ever win a best picture Oscar.Read

Film Review: Daybreakers (15) * * *

VAMPIRE hunters have never had it so good, since barely a month goes by without there being another major release for those who like fangs that go bite in the night.Read

BOLLYWOOD: Mail Bollywood correspondent Manish Gajjar looks back at 2009 and ahead to 2010 in a special two-part report.

LAST year was Bollywood’s worst for box office gains thanks to the protracted strike over film rental charges.Read

Walk in The Park: Graham Young visits the Highgate area of Birmingham.

STATISTICS would tell you that Highgate is one of the poorest, most underprivileged areas of Birmingham.Read

Film Review: Cold Souls (12A) * * *

THE NEXT time you are having a tricky spell in your life, imagine being able to store your soul – ready for its safe return when the good times roll.Read

Cheap as Chips: Perfect Fryer & Pizza, King Edwards Road, Lady Wood

EVEN when you are running a business in what is said to be one of Birmingham’s most impoverished wards, why not reach for the stars?Read

Cheap as Chips: The Diner, 61-63 Raddlebarn Road, Selly Park

THIS new multi-purpose fast food shop is on such a busy road that I had to drive past three times in order to spot its exact whereabouts after a friend had tipped me off.Read

DVD Review: The Hurt Locker (15) *****

THE steady procession of service fatalities, and of seriously injured soldiers being flown to Selly Oak Hospital from Afghanistan, gives this exceptional drama a really human edge.Read

Theatre Review: Cinderella at Solihull Arts Complex ****

MALCOLM Stent’s 19th year in residence at Solihull Arts Complex delivers exactly what it says on the tickets – music, dance and silliness.Read

Film Review: Sherlock Holmes (12A) ****

AND SO the decade is set to end exactly as it began – with the thundering, wonderful sound of a horse and carriage rushing along.Read

Film Review: Glorious 39 (12A) ***

STEPHEN Poliakoff often strikes me as being a writer-director who’s a touch too clever for his own good.Read

Film Review: Nowhere Boy (15) ****

THIS John Lennon biopic is like a TV movie blown up for the silver screen, but it still manages to be a sympathetic, highly watchable film with a raw, emotional edge.Read

Gary Newbon pays tribute to his 'driven' mother who has died aged 84.

SPORTS presenter Gary Newbon today revealed the heartache of losing his mother – who died aged 84 in the same week that he learned he was to be given a place on Broad Street’s Walk of Stars.Read

Film Review: Avatar: An IMax 3D Experience (12A) *****

SINCE Titanic opened on January 23, 1997, directors Tim Burton and Martin Scorsese have each released six movies.Read

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