Blood Diamond

Directed By: Edward Zwick

Written By: Charles Leavitt

Story By: Charles Leavitt & C. Gaby Mitchell

Starring:

Leonardo DiCaprio

Djimon Hounsou

Jennifer Connelly

David Harewood

Arnold Vosloo

Michael Sheen

Sometimes I wonder… will God ever forgive us for what we’ve done to each other? Then I look around and I realize… God left this place a long time ago. – Danny Archer

That diamond is my ticket out of this God forsaken continent. – Danny Archer

Blood Diamond follows the story of Solomon Vandy whose village is overrun by the African R.U.F.. His family espcape but he is sent to work in the mining camps. There he finds a pink diamond worth millions. After he is sent to prison when the mining camp is overrun, Danny Archer sees his chance to escape Africa and live a normal life. The two pair up to seek the diamond, find Solomon’s family and get out of Africa.

Although not quite popular, Edward Zwick I think does a decent job however maybe its the scenery clouding over poor direction.

In my opinion, Leonardo DiCaprio was completely robbed in 2006 whether you prefer The Departed or this, you have to agree. His accent is perfect and even changes the strength of his accent when he speaks to people who have stronger African accents which is exactly what a person would do. I believe that this was his best performance to date.

Djimon Hounsou gives the best performance of his career being particularly good in emotional scenes which are frequent.

Jennifer Connelly plays a different character to her usual distressed wife/girlfriend, which I think she is brilliant at playing, however in this film she show diversity as the independant journalist Maddy Bowen.

Overall I love Blood Diamond it is one of my favourite films, I can watch it over and over without tiring.

10/10 – Michael

8/10 – Cody

90%

 

The Wolf of Wall Street

Directed By: Martin Scorsese

Screenplay By: Terence Winter (Based on the Book “The Wolf of Wall Street” By: Jordan Belfort)

Starring:
Leonardo DiCaprio
Jonah Hill
Margot Robbie
Matthew McConaughey
Kyle Chandler
Rob Reiner
Jean Dujardin

 

The Wolf of Wall Street is Martin Scorsese’s new movie, written by Terence Winter based on the book by Jordan Belfort. The film depicts the crazy life of Wall Street stock broker Jordan Belfort.

He loves to party, to drink, drugs, women and making money, but the question is: was he making this money legally? Absolutely not!

Leonardo’s performance is amazing and if Leonardo doesn’t win the Oscar for Best Actor this time, I give up. He shows for the first time that he can pull off a great comedic performance aswell as serious.

Jonah Hill gives his best performance since Moneyball and he is hilarious as Donnie Azoff. Also, Matthew McConaughey is brilliantly funny as the mad mentor of Jordan Belfort, Mark Hanna.

Martin Scorsese directs this film with his usual excellence but because of nudity and drug taking throughout he may miss out on a deserved Oscar for Best Director.

The film may be 3 hours long but it flies by. I t is the most entertaining movie this year. It is surprisingly hilarious but also dramatic throughout.

I find it difficult to say that it is the best film of 2013 as 12 Years a Slave was monumental and a completely different film to The Wolf of Wall Street, so it is impossible to compare the two. It’s just too close to call.

10/10 – Michael
10/10 – Cody

100%

 

#2 On Michael’s list of favourite movies of 2013

#3 On Cody’s list of favourite movies of 2013