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damalc 
"last watched: Sausage Party"
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 Posted - 02/15/2007 : 19:25:18
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quote:
Originally posted by Salopian
quote:
Originally posted by damalc
that's just they way it is with all based-on-a-true-story movies.
To differing degrees, though, and I still dislike all the instances of it that are not for good reason.
so what constitutes a good reason? directors and studios will say that portraying the character in a different light, time, fitting with the overall theme of the picture, and legal liability are all good reasons. btw, i think the worst example i've seen of creative license was in "Stuey," Stu Ungar's biopic. so many inconsistencies from the printed bio, it was ridiculous. |
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Demisemicenturian 
"Four ever European"
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Posted - 02/15/2007 : 19:33:47
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quote:
Originally posted by damalc
so what constitutes a good reason?
I'm quite strict in this regard. I find it O.K. to change things for legal or practical reasons (e.g. a location is unavailable) so long as it really doesn't affect one's judgment of the characters or events. I don't like minor characters being amalgamated, timelines being changed, ages being changed etc. etc. I'd rather the film were not made than that. True stories do not need to appear in films; they can be represented in books perfectly well. Such changes would probably be the worst thing for me about any film, short of immorality being endorsed. |
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MisterBadIdea 
"PLZ GET MILK, KTHXBYE"
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Posted - 04/26/2007 : 19:52:14
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"You're in a conundrum, my friend. You know what that means? It means you have no choice."
--Leonardo DiCaprio, Blood Diamond
Note: That's not what "conundrum" means at all. |
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ChocolateLady
"500 Chocolate Delights"
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Posted - 04/27/2007 : 07:57:01
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quote:
Originally posted by MisterBadIdea
"You're in a conundrum, my friend. You know what that means? It means you have no choice."
--Leonardo DiCaprio, Blood Diamond
AAARRRRGGGG!!!!
I haven't seen this film but if I do, I'll try to ignore this line, since it will drive me nuts. If I can't control myself, I'll be shouting at the screen at that line.
(Just like I can't listen to Alanis Morissette's song "Ironic" without yelling at the CD player or radio that NONE of the things in that song are ironic!)
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BaftaBaby 
"Always entranced by cinema."
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Posted - 04/27/2007 : 08:15:08
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quote:
Originally posted by ChocolateLady
quote:
Originally posted by MisterBadIdea
"You're in a conundrum, my friend. You know what that means? It means you have no choice."
--Leonardo DiCaprio, Blood Diamond
AAARRRRGGGG!!!!
I haven't seen this film but if I do, I'll try to ignore this line, since it will drive me nuts. If I can't control myself, I'll be shouting at the screen at that line.
(Just like I can't listen to Alanis Morissette's song "Ironic" without yelling at the CD player or radio that NONE of the things in that song are ironic!)
Hang about, hang about! It's entirely clear from Leo's delivery of this line that not only the writer and the actor, but the character knows very well that conundrum doesn't mean one has no choice. It's a FUNNY line. Not only I but everyone else in the cinema laughed when he said it. [it's among several other bon mots he gets to say throughout the film]
So go to see it, CL, with no fear of a sore throat putting a crimp on your dialogue with the screen! 
It's a flawed film, certainly, but worth a look.
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MisterBadIdea
"PLZ GET MILK, KTHXBYE"
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Posted - 04/27/2007 : 14:58:01
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| That's not the impression I got from that line at all, BaftaBabe. I laughed at this movie several times. But I didn't laugh with it once, I'm pretty sure. This movie is pretty bad. |
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BaftaBaby
"Always entranced by cinema."
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Posted - 04/27/2007 : 15:22:17
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quote:
Originally posted by MisterBadIdea
That's not the impression I got from that line at all, BaftaBabe. I laughed at this movie several times. But I didn't laugh with it once, I'm pretty sure. This movie is pretty bad.
Guess we'll have to agree to differ about the nature of humour 
FWIW ... my review:
Blood Diamond
Set in and around the diamond trade of a conflict-weary Sierra Leone in the 1990s, it's a shame that Edward Zwick's powerful film splits focus so distractingly, especially in the run-up to a holiday which will probably see expensive jewellery nestled innocently under the tree. For that more socially relevant strand of the story leaves no doubt about why a diamond might be so tainted as to deserve its bloody epithet. The pursuit of that narrative stars Benin-born former catwalk model Djimon Hounsou as Solomon, a hard-working dedicated rural family man whose life is ripped apart when he's captured by a band of ruthless rebels to pan for rough diamonds, while his wife is incarcerated in a refugee camp with the two younger children, and his pre-teen son Dia is groomed by the rebels for one of those child armies still rampant in various African countries. When word gets out that Solomon's absconded with a stone as big as a bird's egg, he winds up in jail alongside Danny Archer, a morally-challenged white Zimbabwean mercenary, played with astonishing menace by Leonardo DiCaprio, making a decent stab at the accent.
This set-up offers the film a choice: to follow the trail of how complicit the west is in fuelling the international trade of sparkling gems in an obscene backing of regional chaos, brutality, and horror. How that very chaos is encouraged by the west, fomented so that very rich people become even richer, even as innocent black people are murdered, raped, have their limbs chopped off, have their children turned into drug addicts and encouraged to fire automatic weapons into villages to underscore a reign of terror. Alternatively, the film's other option is to concentrate on the thriller with romantic overtones. Hollywood being Hollywood, of course it's this narrative that the film pursues. Yes, we get glimpses into that other story, but only as it serves to move the thriller plot along.
Archer's determined to get his hands on the diamond; Solomon's buried it up in the rebel-held hills, and he convinces him to retrieve it in order to reunite his family and buy them out of Africa and into safety. But they need help. There to provide it is Jennifer Connolly as journalist Maggie Bowden, whom Danny meets in passing. Yes, of course, they're chalk and cheese, but yes, of double course, there's the obligatory uRST [unresolved sexual tension], and yes of triple course, it will be Maggie who ties together Danny's spiritual progress toward humanization and Solomon's more material salvation.
The west and rich white men are implicated in the film, but it's difficult to make that the focus for mainstream America, and increasingly for mainstream Europe. The trouble is, the thriller aspects of Blood Diamond don't sustain, despite the interminable length of the film. Still, that doesn't mean you shouldn't see it. The remarkably beautiful setting counterpoints the horrors going on beneath the jungle canopy, and the real story, equally protected by more commercial considerations, is worth being reminded of. Both male leads are excellent; someday someone will give Connolly a role worthy of her undeniable talent.
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randall
"I like to watch."
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Posted - 04/27/2007 : 22:29:26
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My review can be found as the first post in this thread.
As for Connolly, wasn't HOUSE OF SAND AND FOG quite the nice role? |
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Blood Diamond
