It was the most jam packed half hour of radio in From The Basement history, and it went off without a hitch last night on the mighty Radio NL 610 AM Kamloops. And whether you heard it or not, you'll want to tune in to this, the podcast version of said show. Why? Because we've got even more of our interview with writer/director Ben Rood, who made the great, low-budget horror flick Don't Run. Ben discusses the film's origins, how he started filming with just a buck to his name, and what he's got next for audiences. How do you make your passion project a reality? Stick with us! And stick around you shall, because Jason and Shawn have two movies to put on the chopping block this week. The first is Netflix's latest offering, Da 5 Bloods, from director Spike Lee. This is as much about racial tensions as it is war and the impact fighting in Vietnam had on young, black soldiers. But is it a good movie? The Basement Boys also have the new horror flick The Lurin...

Wow. Just wow. It's a rare thing to watch a movie and realize part way through that it's going to be the flick to beat that year. But that's exactly what happened to me while watching Spike Lee and Netflix's latest, Da 5 Bloods. Rare is the film that mixes an important messages, and pure entertainment, that doesn't feel preachy, or hit you over the head with it. Spike Lee is one of the few filmmakers who can do that, and he does it brilliantly here. On the one hand, Da 5 Bloods is about a group of Vietnam Veterans who venture back to their former battlefield in search of a cache of gold and the body of their fallen commander. Along the way they revisit old friendships and rivalries, and explore how the war impacted them when they returned home. This alone is powerful stuff. Add a layer where all five vets are black, and that brings up a whole level of race relations and how black people were treated by the United States, and still are. Thirty five percent ...

The world is in chaos, or at least parts of it are. Some folks are trapped at home, while others take to the streets to fight for human rights. It feels like the right time to release a movie focused on African Americans made by an Oscar-winning director of colour, who never holds back from the subject on many people's minds today. Spike Lee's Da 5 Bloods lands on Netflix next Friday, and it focuses on five Vietnam veterans who return to their former battlefield to claim the body of their squad leader, and any treasures he might have hid. No, this movie wasn't cobbled together in a week. Sometimes the stars just align this way. Almost like it was meant to be... The cast is pure talent too, with Delroy Lindo (The Good Fight), Clarke Peters (The Wire), Norm Lewis (Mrs. American), and Isiah Whitlock Jr. (BlackKklansman) as the soldiers. Chadwick Boseman (Black Panther) plays the squad leader. Spike Lee revealed the poster on Twitter yesterday, and we present it for...

Jason here. Last week Mike S revisited the 1987 Vietnam War movie Hamburger Hill, and wrote this great review . His best actually. Reading it, I was compelled to watch the movie again, as it'd been a good 30 years since my last viewing. Having experienced John Irvin's flick again, only now with virgin eyes, I was able to appreciate it a lot more than when I originally saw it. Hamburger Hill was released among a slew of Vietnam War movies. Platoon had come out a year before, and nabbed a Best Picture award at the Oscars. That meant everyone and their dog was making Vietnam-themed movies. Yup, Hollywood hasn't changed much.

It's almost impossible not to think of this film when thinking about the 80s. With one movie, Sylvester Stallone and director George P. Cosmatos tapped into a post- Vietnam war consciousness,  Cold War fears of Russia and gave birth to the cinematic one-man army. Impressive, no? But how does it stand up almost 30 years later? Stick with me. John Rambo is released from prison by the government for a top-secret covert mission in the last place on Earth he'd want to return -- the jungles of Vietnam .