Drama > D Drama > Z

Advantages: Good action sequences (Better enjoyed on a big screen)
Disadvantages: Inconsistant/ underdeveloped characters

On paper this film has everything: An engaging storyline, big-name actors, a director with a great pedigree and a good high-tempo plot - but, for me at least, its lacking something. The opening scenes primed me to fall in love with this movie as a point of empathy for the plight of Djimon Hounsou's likeable character was quickly established, while at the same time Leonardo DiCaprio's "Danny Archer" was set-up as a sharp but clearly vulnerable man ...
..."Catch Me If You Can"). The more-than-capable Jennifer Connelly provides Leo's love interest in this action/adventure tale, set in the War-torn African nation of Sierra Leone at the end of the 20th century. Sad to say though, overall, this film failed to live up to my (high) expectations. I found the "one-on-one" scenes shared by DiCaprio and Connelly to be tiresome and boring rather than anything else while the picture relied too heavily on its ... Read review

Advantages: An excellent, well made and gripping story
Disadvantages: Not for the faint hearted

...recently offered the loan of Blood Diamond though I thought I couldn’t really go wrong. As I wasn’t buying it, there wouldn’t really be a problem if I didn’t actually like it. So with the worry of Di Caprio and what seemed to be a decent story I sat down to watch the movie. When a group of rebels attack a small village in Sierra Leone, one man is separated from the rest of his family as hundreds are shot and killed. Soloman (Djimon Housou) is then ...
...he finds a Blood Diamond but when the camp is raided he has to hide the stone so he can come back for it later. The local Army take him to a police cell where he meets South African Danny Archer (Leonardo Di Caprio), who finds out about the diamond and eventually after a lot of work convinces Soloman to show him where it is. With the local militia and the Army tearing the place apart Soloman and Archer must run for their lives to find the Blood diamond. ... Read review

Advantages: A solid action movie with a serious subtext.
Disadvantages: It's not quite as intellectual as it thinks.

Solomon is a man snatched away from his family and sent to work in a diamond mine in Sierra Leone. He finds a precious stone and hides it, knowing he will be killed if it is found. But he also realises it could save his wife and daughters from a life as refugees and his son from an even worse fate; that of child soldier. Danny Archer is a mercenary-turned-diamond-smuggler who learns of Solomon's find while in prison. He sees it as his ticket out ...
...in hot pursuit, he sets out on a perilous quest with Solomon to recover the gem. Edward Zwick is a reliable director who likes to give a human face to large-scale conflict, as in "Glory" and "The Last Samurai". With "Blood Diamond" he turns his attention to the illegal trade of so-called "conflict diamonds", which are mined with slave labour by the warlike militias of central Africa. It is an issue that needs attention to be drawn to it, but this ... Read review

Advantages: Good acting, gr8 storyline.
Disadvantages: Upsetting.

When I first heard about Blood Diamond, I was like not another Leonardo DiCaprio movie. I'm probably one of the only people who can't stand one of his first movies, Titanic. Titanic came out in 1997 and DiCaprio was young and quite juvenile in his acting. His acting in 'What's Eating Gilbert Grape' is fantastic, but when I first watched Titanic I was slightly disappointed, so when we rented this film from Blockbusters I was slightly worried. It's ...
...THE PLOT Blood Diamond is about two men, Danny Archer (DiCaprio) and Solomon Vandy (Hounson), Archer is a South African mercenary and Vandy is a Mende Fisherman. The film is set in the 1990's is Sierra Leone where the chaos and the civil war was going on. Vandy and his son are taken, Dia becomes a little soldier and is brainwashed against his family and Solomon is taken to work as a slave, made to find diamonds. When he finds a big pink diamond, ... Read review

Advantages: Fantastic Show
Disadvantages: NONE

Life on Mars was definitely my favourite TV programme and probably still is. Series one was fantastic and series two simply picked up from where it left off ********NB: I apologise now if you feel I have included too many quotes, I just wanted to highlight how good I feel the show is.******** Life on Mars tells the story of Sam Tyler, a police officer, who after being hit by a car woke up in 1973. He constantly questions his own sanity and at the ...
...the title track David Bowie's Life On Mars. All of the songs are authentic to the period and combined with the costumes, hairstyles, buildings and mannerisms of the show the feeling that you are in the 1970's is always prominent (and I wasn't even born then). The show itself is very well written and filmed. It is comical and satirical but also manages to hit the nail on the head on more than one occasion. The best thing however about this comedy ... Read review