An urban street is overrun with great mountains of white foam on the move, people running through it, staring at it, taking pictures of it and then diving right into it.

A series of pregnant women screams through the pain of childbirth -- the screams come faster and ever more urgent and anguished.

A jolly dolt of a fellow dances around the kitchen with his friend, a ragdoll puppet monkey, making cups of tea.

These are just three of the sometimes disarming, often shocking and consistently amazing TV ads featured as part of the "British Television Advertising Awards 2009" being presented at the Detroit Film Theatre this weekend and next.

If a society is reflected in its advertising -- as it surely must be -- our British counterparts would seem to be both a bit more silly and a lot more serious when it comes to TV commercials. Overall, these ads seem to assume quite a bit more intelligence on the part of viewers as compared to American ads.

One Guinness spot, for example, goes through vignettes with a famed movie sound editor, set designer and special effects coordinator, keying in on their specialties. It is simply assumed that the viewer will know what these job titles mean; it's hard to imagine Coors making a similar ad.

Another thing that's striking is the stark brutality of the public service ads. The most stunning include a series of open knife wounds with accompanying lecture on how to treat them (for an anti-knife carrying campaign) and a bloody look at what would happen if bullets came out of our fingers (in an anti-gun campaign).

These and many others are unlike anything American television has ever seen in terms of grace, risk, scope and aspiration.

Sure there's plain sentiment and foolishness here and there, but by the end of this parade of TV commercials, you have to wonder if we Yanks would be so quick to fast-forward through our ads if they were this good.

tlong@detnews.com (313) 222-8879

Some of the best sports films have little to do with sports.

Such is the case with "The Damned United," which is based on the true story of hotshot soccer manager Brian Clough (Michael Sheen) taking over the reins of his archrival, the perennial powerhouse Leeds United, when that team's longtime manager Don Revie (Colm Meany) left to take charge of the national team in the early 1970s.

You would think there'd be little excitement here for Yanks, who overwhelmingly don't give a farthing about British soccer. But director Tom Hooper ("John Adams") and screenwriter Peter Morgan ("The Queen," "Frost/Nixon"), working from David Peace's novel, spend very little time on the soccer field.

This is a movie about power and friendship, and how the two don't necessarily mix, and it mostly plays out between Clough and his longtime, in-the-shadows assistant, Peter Taylor (Timothy Spall).

The two are just getting started with an out-of-the-way soccer club when they first encounter the mighty Don Revie. Or almost encounter the man -- his team comes in and mashes theirs, and then he completely ignores Clough, himself a former soccer star.

Clough sets out to prove he's a better manager than Revie, and soon he's a champion. But he becomes so obsessed he eventually alienates Taylor, even though he wins the United job.

Sheen is a modern acting wonder. This is the third high-profile film he's done with writer Morgan, having played both Tony Blair and David Frost to perfection. He's just as seamless as the far different Clough.

"The Damned United" is a thoughtful and entertaining study on the perils of ambition that has little to do with soccer and a lot to do with being human. Well-played.

tlong@detnews.com (313) 222-8879

Expertly orchestrated and unavoidably moving, "More Than a Game" is nevertheless your standard inspirational sports story about spunky kids who defy the odds to become champions.

That one of those spunky kids is now full-blown NBA superstar LeBron James gives the film a fairly high profile, of course, and there's no denying there's a great deal of footage of the not-much younger LeBron doing gravity-defying stunts. The guy is clearly amazing.

And so is the story of how LeBron and four other kids from Akron, Ohio, became the top high school team in the nation. But first-time writer-director Kristopher Belman glosses over reality in favor of easily consumed fantasy too often.

We hear that these kids -- especially LeBron -- grew up in trying circumstances, but few specifics are offered. And none of them seem to have any personal life beyond basketball.

What -- they never dated, got in fights, struggled in school? Doubtful. If life is indeed more than the game, you wouldn't know it by this film.

Still, the basics are undeniable. A runty kid named Dru Joyce wanted to play basketball so his dad starts assembling a team, working out at the local Salvation Army.

LeBron joins the team early, and by the eighth grade the kids are making national waves. By the time they hit high school they're near-undefeatable. Heads swell, humility is learned, small things like LeBron getting a $50,000 Hummer for his 18th birthday are tolerated.

If you love the game -- especially the dream of the game -- you'll probably like the movie; and even if you don't, there are nice little moral lessons trotted out. But a bit more reality would have helped.