Big IF London Rally Against Global Hunger

The Big IF London took place on Saturday in Hyde Park as 45,000 people joined the rally to support the campaign to have the G8 leaders tackle the causes of hunger and end global food poverty for good.

Oscar winning Director Danny Boyle  and billionaire philanthropist Bill Gates where among those who spoke to the vast  crowds of volunteers, activists and representatives of a coalition of over 200 UK organisations. The mass demonstration of public support, organised by Enough Food For Everyone IF, marks the start of a 10 day countdown to the G8 summit in Northern Ireland, 17-18th June.

The former Archbishop of Canterbury and Chair of Christian Aid Rowan Williams also addressed the 45,000 strong crowd, as did a number of activists from developing countries and high profile supporters including actor David Harewood and broadcaster Natasha Kaplinksy.

The event was hosted by Myleene Klass and Gethin Jones and specially recorded messages from David Beckham, John Bishop, Miranda Hart and Eddie Izzard were also broadcast to the crowd. There were also musical performances from Grammy Award winning singer Angelique Kidjo and Lucy Rose.

Celebrities and the public alike helped to create a huge visual petition at the event to demonstrate the scale of public support for the IF campaign. The petition was made up of 250,000 spinning flowers, their petals representing the millions of children who die because of malnutrition each year – lives that can be saved if world leaders take action at the G8.

Danny Boyle addressed the crowd by saying:

“Anyone who says that we can’t crack the hunger crisis is wrong. This is my dream – it’s a passionate dream – that in Olympics to come there will be no-one dying of hunger in any of the countries whose wonderful flags wave in the wind. And it is a fight that will be won. We expect our government and other world leaders to fight with all the energy and cunning and determination of Chris Hoy and Mo Farah and Jessica Ennis and Bradley Wiggins – to fight and fight and fight to end Hunger until they win.”

Microsoft founder Bill Gates also gave an impassioned plea, adding:

“The great travesty of our time is that one in eight people do not have enough to eat. If babies do not get the right nutrition in the first 1000 days of their life, they will never be able to achieve their full potential.Providing developing countries with the means to feed their people is a vital part of lifting these communities out of the cycle of hunger and poverty. This is particularly critical as we await the G8 later this month. ”

White House Down Extended Trailer

After delaying it’s release to avoid uncomfortable comparisons with Gerrard Butler’s similarly plotted action effort Olympus Has Fallen, it’s finally time for director Roland Emmerich to start pushing his own White House under seige movie White House Down.

This time it’s up to a wannabe secret service agent (Channing Tatum) and a surprisingly gun totting president (Jamie Foxx) to save the country from a villain who has apparently figured out how to use computers to make Washington landmarks blow up.

The latest trailer enthusiastically delivers over 4 minutes of  footage, mostly accompanied by explosions and a rousing rock soundtrack. It actually verges on being an abridged version of the entire film as opposed to merely a trailer; showcasing what looks like every major plot point, action sequences and key piece of dialogue. It even manages to fit an entire job interview in!

Aggressively marketing itself as a buddy action comedy, the film also takes the brave step of having Channing Tatum openly dressed as Bruce Willis in Die Hard. Calling his character John and having Tatum run around in a wife beater vest glibly delivering one liners to himself isn’t the best wake to shake  such obvious comparisons.

Dumb And Dumber Sequel Still Has A Chance

Despite the fact that original stars Jim Carrey and Jeff Daniels have both jumped on board  plans for a long delayed sequel to the Farrelly Bros 1994 comedy hit Dumb and Dumber, Warner Bros remains unconvinced and the project has officially stalled. The studio seems uncertain about audience appetites for a sequel, particularly after the poor performance of a horribly misguided attempt at a 2003 prequel Dumb and Dumberer: When Harry Met Lloyd.

The plot of the sequel would apparently feature the moronic duo back out on the road, as they try and track down Harry’s illegitimate daughter in order to ask for a kidney transplant. The Farrelly Brothers have confirmed plans to direct themselves with Daniel and Carrey set to play an older but not necessarily wiser Harry and Lloyd.

Despite the fact Warner Bros has poured cold water on the productions plans, the sequel may still eventually find it’s ways to the big screen, as the Farrelly Brothers are now reportedly beginning to shop it around to other studios in search of financing and distribution. It’s presumed Warners may in part have been feeling cautious having seen their recent big budget comedy The Incredible Burt Wonderstone severely under-perform.

The Hobbit The Desolation Of Smaug Poster

Check out the first Official Poster for the next chapter in the Middle Earth Hobbit saga, The Hobbit – The Desolation of Smaug. The film is set for a Christmas release on 13th December and sees Martin Freeman reprising his role as diminutive Hobbit Hero Bilbo Baggins, on a quest to help a band of Dwarves reclaims their homeland from the clutches of a fire breathing dragon with a lust for Gold.

Stephen Merchant Hello Ladies TV Show Trailer

Here’s the first official teaser trailer for Hello ladies the new HBO sitcom from Stephen Merchant, co-creator of The Office and Extras. The new show is Merchant’s first series without the involvement of his long-time comedy collaborator Ricky Gervais and is loosely inspired by some of his own experiences of love, life and dating.

Check out the trailer below and what he had to say about the show when we caught up with him recently in London. Hello Ladies will premiere on HBO on 29th September.