Tag Archives: Leonardo DiCaprio

Inception – A review by Film Nerd

Posted on by
Reply

Director: Christopher Nolan

Cast: Leonardo DiCaprio, Joseph Gordon-Levitt, Ellen Page, Marion Cotillard, Ken Watanabe, Tom Hardy, Cillian Murphy, Michael Caine

Synopsis: The first movie to come onto our screens in a long time where the audience really has no idea what to expect.   Who am I to destroy this opportunity by filling in plot points here???

A review by Film Nerd.

Okay, so it was only a week ago that I complained about the stresses of reduced disposable income, restricting myself to writing reviews for my DVD collection for the near future.   But I am not a self-declared film nerd for nothing.   Hence, the allure of this film was too strong for me to resist.   This is one of those few occasions I actually feel rewarded by a lack of resolve.

Well, a reward in entertainment that becomes a hell to review.   About as much plot as I am willing to give away I can provide from the first 5 or 10 minutes of the two and a half hour running time.   DiCaprio’s character Cobb is an extractor, able to enter the dreams of people and extract information they are trying to keep secret.   That is until he is hired to plant an idea in a target’s mind rather than steal one, which many say can’t be done.

So clearly, we are in the world of the mind, with the only limits to the visual spectacle on-screen being imagination.   So why all the fuss??

The fuss is because we are in the world of the mind, combatting between conscious and subconscious thought.   It is a dream world that eschews the classic hazy edged image and grasps the fact that dreams have their own internal logic, that in terms of the real world makes no sense whatsoever.   Dreams are not linear, your location can change in a blink of an eye and yet all this is unnoticed by the dreamer.   To portray this on-screen successfully requires grasp of the material and a visual style that can pull it off.   This is the great success fo Nolan’s film.

Which could have gone to mud if the cast could not handle it.   DiCaprio has really reinvented himself over the last few years, and his trajectory continues its exponential climb here.   The film hinges on him and his relationship with Marion Cotillard, another absolute class performer who can do no wrong.   Watanabe has always impressed me (see my review for The Last Samurai), and both Page and Gordon-Levitt have both only recently hit star status, but have not put a foot wrong in their comparatively short careers since.   Then of course we have Nolan veterans Murphy and Caine, their standard never to be disputed.   For me though the performance that surprised me was Tom Hardy.   Last time I saw him in a major role, it was as Praetor Shinzon in Star Trek: Nemesis.   I was not a big fan of the film, being a lesser addition to the franchise, and in particular I had issues with the character Hardy played.   I am now tempted to rewatch it though and determine whether the mis-steps observed could have been more faults in direction than in the choices of the actor.

There is little left to say.   Prepare for a mind-blowing, and what at times feels like a mind-altering, experience.   You leave the cinema thinking, or even proclaiming, WTF???   But don’t get me wrong, it is WTF in a good way!!

5 stars (out of a possible 5)

Inception on IMDB

Inception on Rotten Tomatoes

Trailer

Blood Diamond (2006)

Posted on by
Reply

Director: Edward Zwick

Cast: Leonardo DiCaprio, Djimon Hounsou, Jennifer Connelly

Synopsis: A fictional story based in the very real conflict resulting from the diamond trade in Africa.   Smugglers resort to any means to obtain the diamonds and sell them to the diamond markets in Western civilisation.   The people are at the whim of tyrants and dictators.   This tale follows three characters.    Solomon Vardy (Hounsou) is an African man whose family is torn apart by the conflict, until he finds a large rare diamond which he hopes to use as a bargaining chip to reunite with his wife and children.   Danny Archer (DiCaprio) is a weapons smuggler looking to escape the continent, and considers Vardy’s diamond as his ticket out.   Finally, Maddy Bowen (Connelly) is a journalist covering the conflict whose path intersects that of the other two men.

A review by Film Nerd.

This film is a class act, bearing a message that is a bitter pill to swallow.   How would you feel paying top dollar for an engagement ring rock knowing that this small piece of jewellery cost many African people, including women and children their lives??   But the simple fact is that as little as 10 years ago, any diamond you bought could indeed have been at that price.   African “Conflict” or “Blood” diamonds were not distinguished from diamonds obtained by more honest means, and only by revealing the travesties occurring in Africa to the global power was a stop put to this trade.

This film highlights the devastation this conflict caused for everyone involved.   We follow Solomon Vardy as he is removed from his family to mine diamonds, while his son is indoctrinated into the army of an invading warlord.    He discovered an exceptionally large pink diamond, and manages to barely escape with it with his life.    Hounsou is a brilliant actor in any setting (I really should write a review for the film In America, which first brought my attention to him).    He is practical, and focussed on his goal, but the sheer pain of the journey is truly disturbing, and it really should not be anything else.   DiCaprio’s Archer is also a jewel of a role, a seemingly self-preserving cad ready to betray Vardy in an instant if it gets him out of Africa…. at least at first.   Occasionally his Afrikaans accent does slip, but that is forgivable given that most of the time he nails it, and admittedly it would be one of the harder accents to learn.   By comparison to these two, Connelly’s Maddy Bowen lacks a bit of power, but she doesn’t need it.   She bring a conscience to these proceedings, showing an indignation at these atrocities that you would hope the rest of the developed world would reciprocate.

This is a hard review to write.   anyone who follows my other reviews may detect a sense of humour throughout.   But the simple fact is there can be no humour about a subject like this.   As such, it can make for difficult viewing.   But if you are interested in cinema as not just a method of escapism, and can accept it as a vehicle to enlighten you on dark chapters of human history that should not be forgotten, this is a must watch film.   It will certainly have you considering any major purchase you make with greater depth, knowing it can bear a greater cost than the lightness of your wallet.

5 stars (out of a possible 5)

Blood Diamond on IMDB

Blood Diamond on Rotten Tomatoes

Trailer