This movie actually sat on our DVR for a long time before we finally got around to watching it. In fact, we recorded it months ago and it was only after my cousin piqued my interest when he soberly said that it was a powerful film. That got my attention.
Watch Trailer.
WIFEY'S REVIEW
This movie was an eye opener. If you plan on buying a diamond any time soon watch this movie and you won’t want to get one! I thought this movie was well written and I was so shocked on how they brainwash these innocent kids into killing people.
Danny Archer (Leonardo DiCaprio) played a very powerful role as well as Salomon Vandy (Djimon Hounsou) who team up together to try and get the biggest diamond ever found so they can sell it and make a ton of money.
It starts with one of the main characters and his family in a small village doing nothing wrong and out of nowhere they get ambushed by some terrorists and they start shooting men, women, and children (this was a very graphic movie). After taking all the men that would be good diamond finders they take them to a river and start looking for these priceless diamonds. If you're caught stealing any diamonds and get caught they kill will kill you. The kids were taken and forced into being terrorist in the militia.
I guess this movie really moved me seeing I’m a mom and I wouldn’t know what to do if they took my children and brainwashed them into killing people for no reason at all. Danny Archer starts out being kind of a bad person and only thinking about himself, but then turns around and becomes this very passionate man, wanting to help out Salomon and his family, only to result in a very sad ending.
I really enjoyed watching this movie and would recommend this to everyone.
4 out of 5 Ben & Jerry’s for me.
HUBBY'S REVIEW
Our Anniversary is coming up and Wifey’s been bugging me for a new wedding band to match the one she already has. This is the type of movie that should keep her off my back for a bit.
We are given a glimpse of the ruthless African Diamond Trade Industry and it’s not pretty at all.
The first 10 minutes of this film will leave you absolutely speechless for it’s mind-numbing content. It’s easily one of the most disturbing works I’ve seen especially in the past year.
An excellent cast got to work with an equally excellent script for a completely unique and original story. It’s original, smart, relevant, emotionally gut-wrenching, important, and provides a social commentary without being too preachy.
However, at one point (after the film of course given the topic) I found myself almost laughing when I wondered to myself if Hollywood was trying to send the message that fits the current lifestyle of many of its inhabitants - - “Don’t get married, and, if you do, don’t do it traditionally by buying a diamond ring!” Sad, but I wouldn’t put it past them being as agenda driven as they are.
There was one line by Leonardo DiCaprio’s character that sums things up quite nicely, “In America it’s bling-bling, but here it’s bling-bang.”
Plus, I can’t remember the last time that Wifey and I watched a movie together at home without much talking between us (perhaps it was World Trade Center).
So, despite the depressing nature of this film this is exactly the type of creativity that Hollywood needs to tap into - - strong story, strong characters, strong moral message.
How did this movie not get nominated for (and win) Best Picture in 2006? It did get 5 nominations that year, but sadly failed to win a single statue.
I give it 4.5 Ben & Jerry’s, which means we have a high OMD Rating here of 4.25 Ben & Jerry's.
Monday, March 24, 2008
Bruce Willis + Big Budget + Action & Adventure = An Entertaining 2 Hours. At least, that's the theory anyway, right?
Watch Trailer.
WIFEY'S REVIEW
I’ve always liked action packed movies and for all of you that have seen the Die Hard movies this is another good one!
Bruce Willis does another fine job in this movie and he resumes the role of a very funny/serious guy all packed into one.
Let me just say up front that in any and all action films I have a really hard time telling who's who seeing they move so fast so I don’t know if I’m rooting on the good guys or the bad guys. This one was easier for me to folow.
It's all based on cyber skills and hacking into the government's databases. This is a real nail biting film.
The only downfall was that 50 minutes into this movie you had no clue what they were after because all you knew was that Matt Ferrell (Justin Long) was a very important kid who new a lot about the cyber world. And nothing could happen to him and it was up to Detective John McClane to get this kid to safety and he had a lot of obstacles to go through!
I had to stop and think how scary it would be if there were people out there that could successfully hack into the government's system and take everything down.
At times during this film I had to laugh because the logic they used was not smart, some of the stunts where so unrealistic that I could of thought of something better to use! (Hubby, help me out on this one you know what I mean.)
Overall, I enjoyed this movie and would rate it a 3.75 out of 5 Ben & Jerry’s.
HUBBY'S REVIEW
“Yipee Kiyeah Mother%$#*@!!!” Yes, John McClane is back in this 4th installment of this action-packed series and this time the threat is cyber terrorism.
While I thought the premise was very timely and creative there were a few instances late in the film where the plot begs you to suspend disbelief a little too much for my taste.
Don’t get me wrong, the action was phenomenal and entertaining (you certainly get what you expect from this franchise!) and there was even one of the most bad-ass scenes I’ve ever seen from a “tough guy” character in a movie, but it just got too smart for its own good and left some big holes in the storyline.
Plus, I didn’t like the fact that - - once again - - Hollywood decided to go with the “home-grown terrorist” character to avoid political controversy when having some foreign national play that role would’ve been more believable. I mean, when was the last time a White Male Terrorist from the U.S. attacked this country and it’s people on such a grand scale and in such terrifying fasion?
And if you tell me Timothy McVeigh I'll respectfully ask you to try again given the fact that new evidence is making it clear that foreign terrorists were most likely involved as well. Besides, even if they weren't, that's ONLY ONE case in the past 40 years of "mainstream" terrorism. Exactly.
But hey, CCR’s “Fortunate Son” closed out the film and led us to the credits so all’s well that ends well I guess.
Since Wifey likes giving ratings in fractions of points I'll give it a 2.5 bringing a total OMD Rating to 3.125.
Boy, have we been slacking on staying current on this site! To our few loyal readers - - THANK YOU for your patience! We actually watched this movie back on February 9th so you do the math.
WIFEY'S REVIEW
We originally started this movie at 9:20pm, but realized that our fish (swimming in a fish tank that's just below our TV on the entertainment center) had some problems and with my OCD I had to fix our floating sideways fish! Now, with that problem out of the way, we started our movie at 10:20pm instead of an hour earlier as planned.
Westerns aren’t my thing, but everyone we talked to said that this movie was a must see! They are so hard to follow in my opinion seeing as how you really don’t know who the good guys vs. the bad guys are!
Ok, so Russell Crowe being Ben Wade is the bad guy. Wade is in a lot of trouble with the law and finally it catches up to him and he gets caught by the marshals. Dan Evans (Christian Bale) needs to get some cash for his farm and family so he decides to help transport Mr. Wade to the 3:10 train to Yuma (hence the title of the movie)!
The movie really begins when they try to trick Wade's group by switching hats to throw them off and now they have to travel by horse to the train station and that forces them to overcome lots of obstacles without getting killed by Wade's group.
Talk about a lot of shooting, it was like every 5 minutes somebody was getting killed (I guess that’s what Westerns are all about).
Dan’s son comes to the rescue at one point when Wade highjacks one of the guns along the way just about the point when Wade is going to go free he shows up and saves the day! It’s amazing how family is always important no matter how rich you are or how poor you are!
Ok, one other thing that I had to laugh about was how money was so different back in those days, seeing how Dan was so happy to get $200 and that would put food on their table, buy a couple of livestock, and rebuild their barn.
Anyway, the movie was hard to follow for me, but thanks to Hubby he kept me up to speed with it!
I really didn’t enjoy this movie so I would rate it only 1 Ben & Jerry’s out of 5.
HUBBY'S REVIEW
Traditionally, I’m not a big fan of Westerns. I’m like the only man who’s never seen a Dirty Harry movie and the extent of my exposure to these acquired tastes include Young Guns, and, most recently, Deadwood. Simply put, I guess I was born without the gene that allows you to appreciate these types of movies.
Even so, I was pleasantly surprised by this one! The Christian Bale character is phenomenal as he’s a principled man, a man of good character, a strong husband and a father. In other words, a man after my own heart.
He is in direct contrast with the character played by Russell Crowe and there’s something to be said for the Western genre in that they always seem to do an excellent job of clearly defining right and wrong. Rarely is there any middle ground and there are definitely consequences for every decision and action.
At times, both characters seem to resemble the extreme polar opposite of the other and it’s this duality that creates a dramatic tension throughout the film. As the story develops, we see that they are actually quite similar in a lot of ways or, at least in the ways that really matter.
In a strange way, both men share a mutual respect for one another even though they’ve chosen vastly different lifestyles.
In the end, I found myself engrossed in this film and pulling for both characters as they neared their fates.
The question we are left with at the moment of truth, the final judgment is what’s more important - - the lives of others or our lives?
Sometimes the answer depends on determining first what’s the “right” thing to do and what’s the “wrong” thing to do.
I give it 3 Ben & Jerry’s out of 5 giving this an OMD Rating of 2 thanks to Wifey's insanely low score.