Warrior, 2011. Directed by Gavin O’Connor. Starring Tom Hardy, Joel Edgerton, Jennifer Morrison and Nick Nolte. SYNOPSIS: Two brothers find themselves on a collision course in the biggest ‘winner takes all’ Mixed Martial Arts event in history. It would seem that about every year or so we get an inspirational sports movie. Some usually do […]

Goon, 2011. Directed by Michael Dowse. Starring Sean William Scott, Jay Baruchel, Alison Pill, Liev Schreiber, Kim Coates and Eugene Levy. SYNOPSIS: A bouncer undergoes a change of career to become the star enforcer of an underachieving ice hockey team. Let’s get the Rocky reference out of the way to begin with. It’s a sports […]

The Descendants, 2011. Directed by Alexander Payne. Starring George Clooney, Shailene Woodley, Amara Miller, Judy Greer, Beau Bridges, Matthew Lillard and Robert Forster. SYNOPSIS: Matt King is a Hawaiian property lawyer who just so happens to be a descendent of the original native royalty of Hawaii. His family has inherited some of the most valuable […]

D.J. Haza presents the next entry in his series of films to watch before you die… Philadelphia, 1993. Directed by Jonathan Demme. Starring Tom Hanks, Denzel Washington, Jason Robards, Mary Steenburgen and Antonio Banderas. Philadelphia is one of the first Hollywood films to deal with the sensitive subject of homosexuality, homophobia and the gay community’s […]

War Horse, 2011. Directed by Steven Spielberg. Starring Jeremy Irvine, Emily Watson, David Thewlis, Peter Mullan, Benedict Cumberbatch, Tom Hiddleston and Toby Kebbell. SYNOPSIS: A horse is sold to the calvary and sent to the front during World War I. The poster for War Horse tells us that horse and boy are ‘Separated by war. […]

Oli Davis presents five of the very best film-related uploads from around the world wide web… 5. Horrible Aftermaths Implied By Movies With Happy Endings Cracked are always good for oddly numbered, irrelevant countdowns (Top 6, Top 23, etc). Here is an exercise in extreme geekdom, plotting out what would occur after a film’s climax. […]

Red State, 2011. Written and Directed by Kevin Smith. Starring Michael Parks, John Goodman, Melissa Leo, Kyle Gallner, Kerry Bishé, Ralph Garma,n Michael Angarano, Stephen Root, Nicholas Braun and Kevin Pollak. SYNOPSIS: After responding to an online sex invitation, three horny young friends find themselves held captive by a group of ultra right-wing Christian extremists […]

D.J. Haza presents the next entry in his series of films to watch before you die… The Silence of the Lambs, 1991. Directed by Jonathan Demme. Starring Jodie Foster, Anthony Hopkins, Scott Glen and Ted Levine. The Silence of the Lambs is the chilling cinematic story based on Thomas Harris’ novel of the same name. […]

The Artist, 2011. Directed by Michel Hazanavicius. Starring Jean Dujardin, Bérénice Bejo, John Goodman, James Cromwell, Malcolm McDowell, Penelope Anne Miller, Missi Pyle and Uggie. SYNOPSIS: A silent movie star faces up to the advent of sound. Modern audiences may struggle to realise the medium they are watching at the multiplex started without the aid […]

To most, John Madden will always be the director of such period classics as Mrs Brown and Shakespeare in Love. Oscar-nominated for Best Director on the latter, he steered the film to a staggering 13 Academy Award nominations and seven wins, including Best Picture, Best Actress for Gwyneth Paltrow and Best Actress in a Supporting […]