Blood Diamond (2006)

Blood Diamond (2006)

I can’t quite put my finger on it, but Leonardo DiCaprio is just one of those actors that I don’t like for some inexplicable reason. He falls into the same category in my mind as someone like Johnny Depp. I don’t like them, but I find myself enjoying their movies. Go figure.

And that’s largely how I feel about Blood Diamond. It follows the ongoing saga of conflict diamonds in Africa (Sierra Leone, specifically) and how there is so much blood lost over the bling that our society seems to demand. Leo’s depiction of a diamond smuggler and gunrunner is conflicted and flat, at best, but I was drawn to the incredibly human and “real” performance of Djimon Hounsou, who plays a simple fisherman caught up in one giant mess.

The scene were he is (temporarily) reunited with his wife and daughter, for instance, is particularly powerful, giving some almost real faces to an increasingly troubling region and conflict. For my part, I actually gained more from the documentary-style special features than the movie itself. And yes, the ring I gave to my fiance contains a conflict-free diamond.

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Resident Evil: Degeneration (2008)

Resident Evil: Degeneration (2008)

Unlike the other Resident Evil movies that have come out in recent years, this is not a live action movie and it does not star Milla Jovovich as Alice.

Instead, it’s an animated film with a similar kind of CG as that used in Final Fantasy: The Spirits Within. Degeneration does share many elements with its other Resident Evil movies, though. The story isn’t particularly deep and the characters aren’t all that captivating, but you get some half decent zombie-blasting action. And that’s about it.

The film is ultimately forgettable, but it’s not a terrible way to waste an hour and a half.

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