The Raid (a.k.a The Raid: Redemption), 2011. Written and Directed by Gareth Evans. Starring Iko Uwais, Ananda George, Yayan Ruhian, Doni Alamsyah, Joe Taslim and Ray Sahetapy. SYNOPSIS: A SWAT team attempts to covertly raid a tenement run by a ruthless mobster (Ray Sahetapy) that serves as a barracks for his private army of the […]

D.J. Haza presents the next entry in his series of films to watch before you die… Saving Private Ryan, 1998. Directed by Steven Spielberg. Starring Tom Hanks, Edward Burns, Matt Damon, Barry Pepper, Tom Sizemore, Giovanni Ribisi, Vin Diesel, Jeremy Davies, Ted Danson, Dennis Farina and Paul Giamatti. Saving Private Ryan is the epic war […]

I Love You, Man, 2009. Directed by John Hamburg. Starring Jason Segel, Paul Rudd, Rashida Jones, Greg Levine, Jaime Pressly, Jon Favreau, J.K. Simmons and Andy Samberg. SYNOPSIS: Peter Klaven (Rudd) is due to get married, and he’s come to the realisation that since being in a relationship with his other half, Zooey (Jones), he […]

The Deadly Spawn, 1983. Directed by Douglas McKeown. Starring Tom DeFranco, Charles George Hildebrandt, Ethel Michelson and John Schmerling. SYNOPSIS: A crashed meteorite brings hostile alien life to Earth. The Deadly Spawn is upfront about its inspirations, taking lead from and citing monster movies from the 1950s such as The Thing from Another World (1951), […]

D.J. Haza presents the next entry in his series of films to watch before you die… Pulp Fiction, 1994. Directed by Quentin Tarantino. Starring John Travolta, Samuel L. Jackson, Uma Thurman, Harvey Keitel, Tim Roth, Amanda Plummer, Ving Rhames, Rosanna Arquette, Eric Stoltz, Christopher Walken and Bruce Willis. Pulp Fiction is the dazzling, highly-stylised and […]

Trevor Hogg chats with Academy Award-winning filmmaker Brad Bird… “In the period before The Iron Giant [1999], when I was trying to get movies made, and running against all the walls a lot of filmmakers run up against, half the projects I had on the runway were live-action,” reveals Oscar-winning American filmmaker Brad Bird who […]

The Grey, 2012. Directed by Joe Carnahan. Starring Liam Neeson, Frank Grillo, Dallas Roberts, Dermot Mulroney, Nonso Anozie, Joe Anderson, Ben Bray and James Badge Dale. SYNOPSIS: In Alaska, an oil drilling team flying home crash on the frozen tundra. Stranded, wounded, freezing and starving – they’re hunted by pack of wolves that see them […]

D.J. Haza presents the next entry in his series of films to watch before you die… Goodfellas, 1990. Directed by Martin Scorsese. Starring Ray Liotta, Robert De Niro, Joe Pesci, Lorraine Bracco and Paul Sorvino. Goodfellas is Martin Scorsese’s big screen adaptation of Nicholas Pileggi’s non-fiction book Wiseguy. The film chronicles the story of Lucchese […]

High School Musical, 2006. Directed by Kenny Ortega. Starring Zac Efron, Vanessa Hudgens, Ashley Tisdale and Corbin Bleu. SYNOPSIS: Two teens decide to buck the status quo and audition for their school musical. Being a mid-twenties heterosexual male who is at least mildly cineliterate, the title High School Musical should result in my top lip […]

Contraband, 2012. Directed by Baltasar Kormákur. Starring Mark Wahlberg, Caleb Landry Jones, Giovanni Ribisi, Lukas Haas, Ben Foster and Kate Beckinsale. SYNOPSIS: Mark Wahlberg is Chris Farraday, an expert in the field of smuggling, who left the profession for the sake of his family, but finds himself pulled back in by his brother-in-law Andy (Caleb […]