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 […]

D.J. Haza presents the next entry in his series of films to watch before you die… Heat, 1995. Directed by Michael Mann. Starring Al Pacino, Robert De Niro, Val Kilmer, Jon Voight, Tom Sizemore, Ashley Judd, Mykelti Williamson, Wes Studi, Ted Levine, Dennis Haysbert, William Fichtner, Natalie Portman, Danny Trejo and Jeremy Piven. Heat is […]

John Carter, 2012. Directed by Andrew Stanton. Starring Taylor Kitsch, Lynn Collins, Willem Dafoe, Mark Strong, Samantha Morton, Ciarán Hinds, Dominic West, Thomas Haden Church, James Purefoy and Bryan Cranston. SYNOPSIS: Former Confederate Captain John Carter (Taylor Kitsch) has abandoned civilization for life alone on the American frontier searching for gold. He’s confronted by a […]

Blake Howard on the first two seasons of the BBC crime drama Luther… Luther follows the cases of a troubled yet brilliant English police detective, DCI John Luther (Idris Elba), and his squad assigned to serial / unusual murders. Now I know that when you hear about another detective show / crime procedural your initial […]

D.J. Haza presents the next entry in his series of films to watch before you die… Once Upon a Time in America, 1984. Directed by Sergio Leone. Starring Robert De Niro, James Woods, Elizabeth McGovern, William Forsythe, James Hayden, Tuesday Weld, Treat Williams, Joe Pesci, Burt Young and Jennifer Connelly. Once Upon a Time in […]

Commenting on the critics with Simon Columb… Steven Poole writes for The Guardian on March 11th about the financial success of the gaming industry… “The fastest-selling cultural product in history was created by people you’ve probably never heard of. While this year’s Oscars honoured films in which the movie business sweetly congratulates itself on its […]

Our weekly round-up of all the big news stories from the world of movie superheroes… With less than two months to go before its release, The Avengers continues to dominate much of the superhero headlines and director Joss Whedon has been very active this past week, taking part in a several interviews to discuss the […]

More than thirty-five years after his breakthrough turn as the Italian Stallion in 1976’s Rocky, Sylvester Stallone remains one the biggest names in the action genre, having dragged himself out of a mid-career slump in recent years with hits such as Rocky Balboa, Rambo and The Expendables. Despite the fact he’s now pushing 66 years […]

Special Forces (France: Forces spéciales), 2011. Directed by Stéphane Rybojad. Starring Diane Kruger, Djimon Hounsou and Benoît Magimel. SYNOPSIS: A female journalist finds herself held captive by the Taliban in Afghanistan. The release of this film is somewhat timely, or untimely depending on your viewpoint, following the death in Syria of noted journalist Marie Colvin. […]