BLOOD DIAMOND (2006)

MyRating: YYYYY

Director: Edward Zwick
Cast: Leonardo DiCaprio, Djimon Hounsou, Jennifer Connelly, Kagiso Kuypers, Arnold Vosloo
MPAA: Rated R for strong violence and language
US Gross: US$ 57.4 Million
Worldwide Gross: US$ 171.4 Million

Set during the civil war and political chaos in Sierra Leone in 1996-1999, the movie told about a story of Danny Archer, an ex-mercenary and a smuggler from Zimbabwe, who smuggles conflict diamonds (called as 'blood diamonds') from Sierra Leone into Liberia, then to be sold to the Great Britain. Fate brings him to Solomon Vandy (Hounsou), a fisherman in Sierra Leone, whose dreams are shattered when the rebels invade his village and force him to work in the diamond fields, and separate him from his wife and children.

While working in the mines, Solomon finds a huge pink diamond and hides it, just before the rebels who kidnapped him are being attacked by the government army, and he ends up being arrested by the army. Archer, who somehow knows this secret, comes to release Solomon and proposes to exchange the diamond with finding his missing family. With the help of Maddy Bowen (Connelly), a beautiful and idealistic American journalist who changes Archer's life and perspective, Archer finally can locate Solomon's wife and daughters in a refugee camp, except for his son, who has been kidnapped and recruited by the rebels to become their soldier. So, Archer and Salomon embark on a mission together to save Solomon's son and find the hidden pink diamond. That mission is also the second chance for Archer to make peace with his life and to find redemption from all the wrongdoings that he has done in the past.

I really loved this movie, which has a very captivating story with solid performances by the actors, Leonardo DiCaprio and Djimon Hounsou. The intriguing story, together with a good direction by Edward Zwick, makes us want to know what will happen next, while the engaging characters make us care enough to know what fate will follow them. The locales and settings were exotic. This movie has a good balance between drama and suspenseful actions, including gun firing, explosions and brutal bloodshed. It shows us that somewhere on this earth (maybe everywhere), 'greed' is so destructive, that it will sacrifice millions of innocent people just for the sake of the fortune of a small amount of rich people. This movie was also touching. The ending scene when Archer has to shoot many enemy soldiers from the higher ground was very powerful and still leaves me with chills.

Leo successfully personified his character as Danny Archer, who has a strong survival instinct and a nature of opportunist in his heart, but didn't really care for the victims of the civil war at the beginning of the movie. However at the end, after going through a series of events, he finally shows his hidden self, who has a heart of sacrifice. Leo's charming and smart performance, with his natural expressions and convinced (but relax) acting, made his character becoming very likable. And it made us care for what will happen to him. On the other hand, Hounsou also showed his wonderful performance as Solomon. He gave 'life' to his character with his deep expressions of fear, angry, panic and desperation. And as a result for their winning performances, both of them got nomination for Best Actor and Best Supporting Actor by The Academy. Jennifer Connelly also gave a good performance as Maddy, with his idealistic views about war, which contradicted with Archer's at the beginning. And her love attraction with Archer gave us some spare moments to breath and enjoy this suspenseful drama.

For me, this was the best movie of 2006. I even liked it more than The Departed, which won Best Picture Oscar for 2006. The reason was simply I liked the story of Blood Diamond more. Another reason maybe because I have watched Infernal Affairs (2002), the original Hong Kong version of The Departed, which has the same par in terms of quality of the story and performances by the actors, as compared with the Scorsese's remake. Therefore, the story did not surprise me anymore as it surprised me when I watched the original Hong Kong version, since basically the stories were the same.

This was also the first movie that made me began to really like Leo DiCaprio as an actor. Not before that. I like Titanic (1997) mostly because of its spectacular disaster theme (even though I also like the performances of Leo and Kate there). Gangs of New York (2002) marked his successful comeback after some years of drawback, but I was certainly not a fan of him. And I didn't care much for him in Catch Me If You Can (2002), because at that time I was a big fan of Tom Hanks, and I remember I didn't really feel satisfied with the movie, since Hanks was being overshadowed by Leo there. He was great in The Aviator (2004), but again he was not in my favorite list yet. I even liked the character of Matt Damon more in The Departed (2006), like I liked the character of Andy Lau (one of my favorite Hong Kong stars) more than Tony Leung in the original version. Only in Blood Diamond, Leo finally got me with his charming performance. And this movie will mark one of many great performances of Leo in his career. This is one great movie. (MJ)

The Way Home

Early on in The Way Home, real estate agent Mindy Kramer eats dinner in a Thai restaurant and neglects to tip the waitress. In less than a couple of pages, the author allows us a tiny peak into the resentment Mindy’s waitress, Toi, feels towards the ungrateful customers she has to smile at every day as part of her working life. Much later in the book, Mindy has a tense confrontation in the same restaurant with the novel’s central protagonist, Chris Flynn, that leaves her in tears. Toi looks on, taking sadistic satisfaction in the way “the tall blond man (has) humbled the bitch and made her cry”. These are the only times we meet Toi, but it gives you an idea of the depth George Pelecanos gives to even bit-part characters in this superior thriller.

Pelecanos worked as one of the principal writers on The Wire, and fans of that show won't be disappointed by his work here. There’s that same gritty detail, a terrific ear for urban dialogue, and a plot that refuses to follow a predictable genre path. When a carpet-fitting ex-con trying to go straight finds a big bag of cash under the floorboards, you think you know exactly what’s in store. When he puts the money back and goes on with his working day, it’s the first in a series of surprises that keep you guessing right up to the final page. Unlike many crime novels, this isn’t a story of black and white – it’s a story with lots and lots of grey. Characters that do stupid, bad, wrong-headed things one moment… then try their hardest to make amends. Characters who find themselves risking everything they’ve gained for bloodthirsty revenge, then plausibly change their minds and do their best to put an end to the cycle of violence they find themselves caught up in. It's refreshing and inspirational plotting, well worth your time.

PREDATORS (2010)

MyRating: YY

Director: Nimrod Antal
Cast: Adrien Brody, Topher Grace, Alice Braga, Walton Goggins, Oleg Taktarov, Laurence Fishburne, Danny Trejo, Louis Ozawa Changchien, Mahershalalhashbaz Ali
MPAA: Rated R for strong creature violence and gore, and pervasive language

Royce (Brody) finds himself falling fast from the sky with a parachute to be opened behind his back. He lands in a jungle he does not know where. First of all, he doesn't even know how he suddenly fell from the sky. But he is not the only one, as he meets with a number of people who also experience the same thing. They all don't know each other and they don't know where they are. And why they are here.

As a mercenary, Royce quickly knows that this group of people are mostly professional soldiers and mean killers; an Israeli markswoman (Braga), a Russian soldier (Taktarov), a cartel bandit (Trejo), a murderer (Goggins), an African warlord (Ali), a Japanese yakuza (Ozawa), and a doctor (Grace), the only person who doesn't seem to fit into the group profile. When they explore the planet, they find out many strange things and they come into a conclusion that this is not their planet. They also find out that there are many empty cages, which were being dropped in this planet in the same way, with let loose beasts that are now roaming the jungle. And when they start to get attacked, not only by the beasts, but also by other mysterious unseen predators, they know that they are in the hunting ground, and they are actually chosen to be there for a reason.

Everybody knows that Predator is one of the iconic movies of Arnold Schwarzenegger back in 1987 and the beginning of the Predator's franchise, followed by Predator 2 (1990), Alien vs. Predator (2004) and Aliens vs. Predator - Requiem (2007). And this movie is the direct sequel of the original one. The film has a very promising start. Putting a group of people into a mysterious place, without their knowledges, is always a good start for a story. And when one by one of the (interesting) characters were being introduced, I told myself that this will be interesting, as it is better to know your characters well, before you see them one by one being killed by the predators. It's the connection with the characters, that the audiences need, before you throw them into actions.

But somehow this movie fell into the same old routine pit of this kind of movies. I have seen so many Predators, Aliens and other similar monsters like movies, and this one offered nothing special. The actions were quite intense in some parts, but it was predictable, as you will see one by one of the characters was finally being killed, leaving the ones who you know that will not be killed. You may say, "What did you expect? It's a Predator movie." But I still think that the script was not good enough. The promising start of the story was turned out to be a mediocre one as the story rolled, and never recovered till the end. Halfway through the film, I actually started to feel boring. The thing that differentiated this with AVP and AVP2, besides a slightly better story, was the higher profile stars, with Adrien Brody in the lead, and Topher Grace and Laurence Fishburne in the supporting. That was the most selling point that made this movie look interesting.

I also felt that the scene of the predator fighting the predator near the end of the movie was absolutely unneccesary. What's the point? I don't think we need to see a 'good' predator fighting a 'bad' one. It was dumb. And the scene when the Japanese yakuza fighting a predator with a samurai, yes, it was something new and interesting, but I felt that it was like a ninja movie and a bit too force.

I didn't like this movie as much as I thought I would. I enjoyed the first half, but not the second half when the same old routine rolled till the end. I think it was just another mediocre Predator movie, as it offered nothing new. (MJ)

Steve's Meme

Steve created his own 10 question meme. Because he didn't ask me to, I'm answering it...


1. God gives you a free ticket to spend the night with absolutely anybody in the world and the entirety of history – whom do you choose?

Surely it isn't God who needs to give me this free pass, but Louise?

Oh, I'm sorry, I've just been reminded - in this house, same thing.

Anyway, I'm sure it will come as no surprise to anybody that my answer is...



...though obviously, all we'd do is have a couple of games of scrabble and read a few Spider-Man comics. In the bath.*

2. Frankie Howard or Frankie Boyle? (This is a separate question and is not related to no. 1 above.)

Thank god for that.

Neither, ta.

3. What life skill or ability do you wish you possessed?

I wish I was more socially adept and self-confident.

4. If it takes Johnny three hours to fill a bath with water using a colander and a train travelling at 90mph takes 2 hours to reach it’s destination why does Britain no longer have the right to call itself Great?

Lettuce.

5. Have you ever genuinely wished to be a member of the opposite sex (or are you that already)?

I have a hard enough time being the sex I am.

6. Do you have any embarrassingly weird interests or hobbies – and if so please explain in detail?

All my interests and hobbies are embarrassingly weird and I go into great detail about them here on a regular basis.

7. Dance, Punk, Goth, Metal, Grunge, Pop, Country, Folk or Classical? The choice is yours.

Any but the first. Within reason.

8. If you could change anything about your current lifestyle / life situation, what would it be? And what would you keep?

My job. And my bank account. The rest I'd keep.

9. If you were a packet of crisps what flavour would you be?

Cheese and bastard.

10. Describe the sandwich of the gods.

At the moment, it would be tuna/mayo. I can't get enough tuna/mayo right now. I'm sure I'll get sick of it eventually.

*I'm kidding. Do you really think I'd risk damaging my comics by reading them in the bath?

Quote Me Unhappy

So my car insurance renewal letter arrives. As usual, it's gone up massively from what I paid last year for no reason whatsoever. So I'm straight online to find a cheaper quote... which I do, within minutes.

I then have to call up the old insurance company and tell them I'm not renewing.

"Oh... sorry to hear that... can I ask why?"

"Because I found a much cheaper quote elsewhere."

"Oh, so it's purely a cost decision? If we could reduce your quote, might you consider staying with us?"

"I doubt you'll reduce it by fifty quid."

"Oh... perhaps not... we could probably come down by thirty or forty..."

The thing is, if my renewal had come through £40 less and I'd gone online to find I could only save a tenner, I probably would have stayed with them. But now they've quoted my £40 more than they actually need to just because they're greedy, that boat has sailed.

And yet, this happens every single year. There must be enough people out there who just automatically renew their insurance, whatever the quote, to make it worthwhile for the robbing bastards to carry on like this. And the best of it is, they actually sound hurt when you tell them you're cancelling.

Thoughtballoons - Spider-Man

I got to choose this week's Thoughtballoons character. No prizes were given for guessing. If you don't know why I picked the Amazing Spider-Man, you can read this.

For everybody else, here's my one-page Spidey strip. Given this may well be my only "real" chance to write my favourite fictional character, I wanted to include everything I loved about the character... not strictly possible, but I did my best.

THE KARATE KID (1984)

MyRating: YYYY

Director: John G. Avildsen

Cast: Ralph Macchio, Noriyuki "Pat" Morita, Elisabeth Shue, Martin Kove, Randee Heller, William Zabka

MPAA: PG

US Gross: US$ 90.8 Million

This is one of the iconic movies of the 1980's. A winning and uplifting martial arts movie that captured both good critical acclaims and box office success upon its release in 1984, with memorable performances by both Ralph Macchio and Pat Morita.

I have hunted the DVD of this movie for so long, and just got and watched it recently, after I watched the new version of The Karate Kid (2010) in the theater. And after watching the original version, I just realized that the story of the new version was actually almost the same with the old one, with the differences in the actors, settings and the era of the story. The main story was the same, most of the plot details were also the same, even some of the dialogs were similar. Now I really understand why they should not name the new version with The Kung Fu Kid, because besides maintaining the old title will definitely give a higher success rate possibility in the box office, actually the story of the new version was just a copy and paste from the old one. And as I have said before, it was the wise thing that the producer of the new film maintained the title of The Karate Kid.

The story is about Daniel Larusso (Macchio), who moves from New Jersey to California with his mom, but finds himself being the target of a gang of bullies, when he falls in love with a beautiful blond girl, Ali Mills (Shue), his new school mate. Daniel is continually being bullied and beaten by the gang, who happens to learn karate from a karate school, until Mr. Miyagi (Morita), his building apartment's handyman, who is apparently also mastering karate, comes to help him and become his defender. When Miyagi and Daniel have to encounter with the gang's karate teacher, John Kreese (Kove), who teaches his students the wrong essense of karate with violence, Miyagi has to accept the challenge to let Daniel fights with John's students in a tournament. And to prepare Daniel, Miyagi teaches him karate, but with a strange approach, including telling the kid to wash cars, wipe floors and paint fences. But from that strange approach, Daniel learns the best of the karate. And both of them enter a relationship not only as a student and a teacher, but also as best friends who understands and supports each other.

Watching this movie brought back the vibe of 1980's. The music, the song, the dress, the hair. This is a feel good movie with a great inspiring underdog story. A movie with a very good performance from both Ralph Macchio and Pat Morita. The solid chemistry and friendship between Macchio and Morita will definitely touch and warm your heart. Morita even got nominated for Best Supporting Actor by both The Academy Awards and The Golden Globes. This movie was also fresh with the appearance of the beautiful Elisabeth Shue (we later know her in Leaving Las Vegas). Her sweet love relationship with Macchio in this movie makes us want to revisit our 'youth' time. Many memorable scenes, including Mr. Miyagi who tries to catch a fly with chopsticks, and Daniel with his 'crane' martial arts moves, when fighting with his main rival in the tournament.

Reviewing this old version after watching the new one first, is difficult without comparing both the movies. So, if I have to compare, then I will put both in a match (of 5 rounds) :

ROUND ONE : THE STORY

I like the new version. It's a good fun movie. But in overall, I like the old version more. It's something difficult to explain. Even though the old version is more than 25 year-old now, it is still very enjoyable to watch. The story and the performance was great. And I really got the feeling of this movie. So, I would like to give one point to the old version.

SCORE: (OLD VERSION, 1984) 1 : 0 (NEW VERSION, 2010)

ROUND TWO : THE MARTIAL ARTS

In terms of martial arts, the new version is definitely the winner, with more real (and more brutal) fighting scenes, as compare to the old version, which seemed to be a bit clumsy if we watch it with current standard. And we have Jackie Chan in the new movie, and Pat Morita was no Jackie Chan. In real life, Morita didn't even know karate.

SCORE: (OLD VERSION, 1984) 0 : 1 (NEW VERSION, 2010)

CUMMULATIVE SCORE: 1 : 1

ROUND THREE : THE KID

Ralph Macchio was good, but Jaden Smith was also good and funny as the 'new' kid. I think both of them gave different colors to their characters. And both of them performed well. The different in age and skin color also made them difficult to compare. I would say it's a tie.

SCORE: (OLD, Ralph Macchio) 1 : 1 (NEW, Jaden Smith)

CUMMULATIVE SCORE: 2 : 2

ROUND FOUR : THE TEACHER

Jackie Chan was good as Mr. Han, one of the best performances of his career, but I still like Pat Morita as Mr. Miyagi more. I think this is partly because Mr. Miyagi's character was so strong and so memorable, that this character was difficult to be replaced, even though with a new character with different name. I also enjoyed Mr. Miyagi more because of his fun but firm character, while Mr. Han was much more serious. I have to say Pat Morita is the winner.

SCORE: (OLD, Pat Morita) 1 : 0 (NEW, Jackie Chan)

CUMMULATIVE SCORE: 3 : 2

ROUND FIVE : THE CHEMISTRY

The chemistry between Chan & Smith was good, but again, I think the chemistry between Morita and Macchio was better. The chemistry of 'the teacher' and 'the student' in this old version was so great that it gave a powerful impact to the overall movie, and the relationship was developed much better than the new version. So to wrap the match, I have to give the final point to the old version.

SCORE: (OLD, Morita & Macchio) 1 : 0 (NEW, Chan & Smith)

CUMMULATIVE SCORE: 4 : 2

And, the old version is the official winner! Don't be discouraged if you like/want to see the new version, because it's a good movie too. I just happened to love the old version slightly more than the new one, but I like them both. And all the 'rounds and scores' writing above was just for fun. The old 'The Karate Kid' is a movie that you should watch and revisit. (MJ)