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Post by Rachelle on Jan 2, 2007 17:07:22 GMT -5
"Blood Diamond" Rated R for strong language and graphic violence. Set against the backdrop of the chaos and civil war that enveloped 1990s Sierra Leone, "Blood Diamond" is the story of Danny Archer (Leonardo DiCaprio), an ex-mercenary from Zimbabwe, and Solomon Vandy (Djimon Hounsou), a Mende fisherman. Both men are African, but their histories and their circumstances are as different as any can be until their fates become joined in a common quest to recover a rare pink diamond, the kind of stone that can transform a life...or end it. Solomon, who has been taken from his family and forced to work in the diamond fields, finds the extraordinary gem and hides it at great risk, knowing if he is discovered, he will be killed instantly. But he also knows the diamond could not only provide the means to save his wife and daughters from a life as refugees but also help rescue his son, Dia, from an even worse fate as a child soldier. Archer, who has made his living trading diamonds for arms, learns of Solomon's hidden stone while in prison for smuggling. He knows a diamond like this is a once-in-a-lifetime find—valuable enough to be his ticket out of Africa and away from the cycle of violence and corruption in which he has been a willing player. Enter Maddy Bowen (Jennifer Connelly), an idealistic American journalist who is in Sierra Leone to uncover the truth behind conflict diamonds, exposing the complicity of diamond industry leaders who have chosen profits over principles. Maddy seeks out Archer as a source for her article, but soon finds it is he who needs her even more. With Maddy's help, Archer and Solomon embark on a dangerous trek through rebel territory. Archer needs Solomon to find and recover the valuable pink diamond, but Solomon seeks something far more precious...his son. Directed by Edward Zwick, the action drama "Blood Diamond" stars Academy Award nominee Leonardo DiCaprio ("The Aviator"), Academy Award winner Jennifer Connelly ("A Beautiful Mind") and Academy Award nominee Djimon Hounsou ("In America"). The screenplay was written by Charles Leavitt, from a story by Leavitt and C. Gaby Mitchell. Warner Bros. Pictures presents, in association with Virtual Studios, "Blood Diamond," a Spring Creek / Bedford Falls production, in association with Initial Entertainment Group, released by Warner Bros. Pictures, a Warner Bros. Entertainment Company. "Blood Diamond" is produced by Paula Weinstein, Edward Zwick, Marshall Herskovitz, Graham King and Gillian Gorfil. The executive producers are Len Amato, Kevin De La Noy and Benjamin Waisbren. The film also stars Michael Sheen, Arnold Vosloo, David Harewood, Basil Wallace and introduces Kagiso Kuypers as Dia. Collaborating with Zwick behind the scenes were director of photography Eduardo Serra, production designer Dan Weil, costume designer Ngila Dickson, and editor Steven Rosenblum. James Newton Howard composed the score. (courtesy of blooddiamondmovie.warnerbros.com/)This movie will certainly open your eyes and reveal the unbelieveable truth about what went on in the Diamond Industry in Africa. I will admit, at times it was hard to watch the film but the ending is truly inspiring.
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Post by achebeautiful on Jan 2, 2007 18:20:21 GMT -5
Thanks Rachelle! I am very interested in seeing this film! Okay, I love Jennifer Connelly (what a babe!) Ha Ha! But besides that, it sounds great!
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ashja
Full Member
"There's nothing like your smile made of sun..."
Posts: 183
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Post by ashja on Jan 5, 2007 6:53:34 GMT -5
"The Truth About Love": A simple Valentine's Day card leads a couple to ponder the strength of their love in this romantic comedy starring Jennifer Love Hewitt, Dougray Scott, and Jim Mistry. When Alice (Hewitt) receives a Valentine's Day card from her husband Sam's (Mistry) best friend, Archie (Scott) -- who harbors a lingering crush on his lifelong pal's beautiful wife -- she mistakenly assumes it to be from her husband, and playfully responds with an anonymous card of her own. Suspicions rise however, when Sam hides the anonymous card from his wife and she begins to suspect that he may have a secret mistress. Could a simple prank have the power to unravel years of marital bliss and shake the foundation of Alice and Sam's loving relationship, or will Sam's lovelorn pal Archie be able to help his old friend save his marriage despite his growing feelings for Alice? Great film
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Post by achebeautiful on Jan 5, 2007 17:38:27 GMT -5
Sounds great, Joanna! I will definately check it out. Thanks for sharing!
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ashja
Full Member
"There's nothing like your smile made of sun..."
Posts: 183
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Post by ashja on Jan 18, 2007 5:05:51 GMT -5
Hej! Yesterday I've watched a film... a very beautiful, touching, romantic film... Great story, great actors, great pictures... I really advice this movie... "The lake house"
"When two people "connect" the bond between them can be so pure and simple as to stir hearts in heaven. When they connect in all the right places at all the wrong times, heaven weeps for broken hearts. To heal these broken hearts, heaven breaks time"
The movie centers around lonely Dr. Kate Forster (Sandra Bullock) who, on a winter morning in 2006, reluctantly leaves the beautiful lake house where she has been living for a job in a Chicago hospital. On her way to Chicago, she leaves a note for the lake house's new tenant asking him to kindly forward her mail and telling him about the paw prints by the front door and the box in the attic.
However, Alex Wyler (Keanu Reeves), the new tenant, sees a different lake house, one which was neglected, dirty, and there were certainly no paw prints. He disregards Kate's letter until a few days later; he is painting the walkway to the house and a stray dog runs across the fresh paint leaving paw prints where Kate said they would be. He writes back to Kate, only to discover that they are separated in time by two years, with Alex living in 2004 and Kate living in 2006
P.S. If you have watch it then what was your impression?
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Post by achebeautiful on Jan 18, 2007 18:30:17 GMT -5
Hey Joanna, this is what is great about this forum! There you are in Poland, and you see a movie that you like and share about it with us here. I read about it, and go get the movie and watch it for myself here in the USA!
So, I have just finished watching it and want to thank you very much for recommending it. I thought it was a great film! I loved the message, and the feeling it left you with. Well worth watching!
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Post by achebeautiful on Jan 20, 2007 17:33:59 GMT -5
Geez, Joanna! You certainly are a romantic, aren't you? Ha ha! After enjoying the recommendation you made with "The Lake House" very much, I decided to go get "The Truth About Love" as well. I absolutely loved it!! What a cool film! Thanks for letting me know about it!
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ashja
Full Member
"There's nothing like your smile made of sun..."
Posts: 183
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Post by ashja on Jan 20, 2007 17:47:36 GMT -5
Hej! You're welcome! Yes, I am romantic And I like these films very much. My boyfriend also liked "The truth about love" Even very much. Hm, I would also recommend you "Imagine me & you" - great movie
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Post by lapayin on Jan 20, 2007 22:48:57 GMT -5
"Freedom Writers"
A really good and intense movie about a woman (Hilary Swank) who wanted to make a difference helping kids in gangs. She decided that by being the lawyer, she went to school for, it would be too late to help them. So she became a teacher instead.
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Post by achebeautiful on Jan 22, 2007 15:56:04 GMT -5
Sounds like a great film, Paula, and one that I would enjoy very much. Thank you for sharing, I will have to check it out.
And Joanna, I will be looking into your recommendation of "Imagine Me & You" as well, being that the first two films you suggested turned out to be so good! Thanks!
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Post by achebeautiful on Jan 27, 2007 16:28:47 GMT -5
I think this film has been mentioned already, and it's not a new release so I'm sure all of you have seen it. But I have just watched it for the first time and highly recommend it: "Under The Tuscan Sun" What a superbly made film! It has a very gentle, subtle yet strong, powerful message that really inspires and lifts you up! The story is well crafted with an equal amount of funny and sad moments, and the characters are truly engaging. The acting is great and the rich culture and beautiful scenery in Italy is just amazing! You've probably seen this film already, but if you haven't you just have to get it!
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Post by achebeautiful on Feb 10, 2007 18:02:13 GMT -5
"If Only"
An absolutely beautiful love story starring Jennifer Love Hewitt. A MUST SEE!
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Post by achebeautiful on Feb 11, 2007 18:59:48 GMT -5
"HUNT FOR JUSTICE" Synopsis When age-old hatreds in the Balkans ended in ethnic cleansing, mass killings and rape of civilians, the world watched in horror as war criminals went unpunished. The International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia, created by the United Nations was derided as a lame duck—that is, until the arrival of Louise Arbour (WENDY CREWSON). Hunt for Justice is a fictionalized account of her dramatic struggle to indict, arrest and convict war criminals, culminating in the imprisonment of former president Slobodan Milosevic in The Hague. The story begins in the spring of 1996, when an idealistic 47-year-old Canadian judge by the name of Louise Arbour is appointed Chief Prosecutor for the International War Crimes Tribunal in The Hague, where she is thwarted by bureaucracy and the “peacekeeping” efforts of NATO generals like British General Mortimer (WILLIAM HURT). Arbour’s only ally in the field is renegade Captain John Tanner (JOHN CORBETT). With the help of her legal team and her translator Pasko (STIPE ERCEG), a Bosnian Muslim, she summons all her legal cunning and issues secret indictments to sidestep NATO to make strategic arrests. Click here to access Hunt for Justice: The Louise Arbour Story Billing Block. First there was Nuremberg. That famous tribunal after WWII set a historical precedent for prosecuting war crimes. Then came the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia (ICTY). When age-old hatreds in the Balkans ended in genocide, the world watched, helpless, hoping that justice would be served. The ICTY, however, stalled, unable to live up to Nuremberg’s legacy. It seemed that political and military leaders and their henchmen would go unpunished, while grieving parents, wives and husbands had neither legal recourse nor closure. The ICTY and its parent the United Nations were derided as a lame duck—that is, until the arrival of Louise Arbour (WENDY CREWSON). Hunt for Justice is a fictionalized account of Arbour’s dramatic struggle to indict, arrest and convict war criminals, culminating in the imprisonment of Milosevic. While Arbour’s three-year struggle was very real, the film combines conflated characters with historical events to simplify the narrative. Hunt for Justice begins in the spring of 1996, when an idealistic 47-year-old Canadian judge by the name of Louise Arbour is appointed Chief Prosecutor for the International War Crimes Tribunal in The Hague. Her appointment isn’t popular. Louise Arbour has made bold but controversial decisions as a judge. Furthermore, she has neither experience nor status in the world of international politics. The bureaucrats at The Hague fear she is out of her league. Once at The Hague, Arbour is handed the daunting task of prosecuting the crimes committed in the former Yugoslavia, where racial and religious hatreds finally erupted into a savage 10-year war in the Balkans and Kosovo. It is Arbour’s job to investigate rape camps, ethnic cleansing and the displacement of two million citizens. She is assigned a translator, Pasko (STIPE ERCEG), a Bosnian Muslim whose wife is missing, and a legal team including Odon (NEVILLE EDWARDS), the initially reluctant Keller (HEINO FERCH), and her assistant Tina (CLAUDIA FERRI). With their help, Arbour hits the ground running, keen to go to trial. But why aren’t the indicted war criminals already apprehended? She is appalled to learn that high-level war criminals have been charged for their crimes, but not arrested! Her every question is mired in bureaucracy, her every action thwarted by the three generals who command the region’s NATO-controlled zones. British General Mortimer (WILLIAM HURT) explains that the war criminals remain at large in his NATO-controlled zone to keep peace with Milosevic. American General Salinski (MICHAEL MURPHY) doesn’t want a repeat of Mogadishu, where U.S. soldiers returned to the States in body bags. For his part, French NATO General Léveillé (JACQUES GODIN) does not want to upset China or Soviet leader Boris Yeltsin, the “big brother” of Milosevic. Arbour finds herself isolated—a prosecutor without a police force, her indictments meaningless without arrests. Arbour’s only ally in the field is Captain John Tanner (JOHN CORBETT) of the British Special Forces, an American-born renegade with connections that exceed his rank. Flying below the radar, he helps Arbour navigate the thorny politics of peacekeeping so that she can uphold the legal and moral difference between soldiers and war criminals. Over the course of the next three years, Arbour makes an emotional journey in pursuit of her ultimate goal: to transform an ineffective tribunal into a force that cannot be ignored. Visiting mass gravesites, she witnesses the results of unspeakable atrocities described in her legal files. Arbour meets grieving mothers, whose tears fill Arbour with righteous indignation and resolve. She especially wants to help Pasko, her translator, as he grapples with news about his wife’s possible fate. Meanwhile, Arbour’s mother, Rose (LYNNE DERAGON), and her teenaged daughter Melanie, (GABRIELLE BONI), grow increasingly concerned about her nose-to-the-grindstone work ethic and, of course, the death threats. Working with coroner Camille Gilbert (LESLIE HOPE), Arbour painstakingly starts amassing the evidence she needs to indict. Her first targets are major Serbian ringleaders: Milan Kovacevic, responsible for the establishment of concentration camps in Bosnia where thousands of non-Serb civilians were raped, tortured and murdered; and Slavko Dokmanovic, the man behind the tragic Vukovar hospital slaughter. She decides to issue secret indictments, and sidesteps NATO commanders in carrying out these strategic arrests. Circumstances intervene, however, and both evade conviction. All seems lost. In 1999, Arbour is in her darkest hour when an unexpected ally appears, providing information about a new, unspeakable massacre in Kosovo at the hands of Milosevic. Finally, determined to dismantle the tradition of impunity for war crimes and the violations of international law, Arbour announces that a warrant has been issued for the unprecedented arrest of an active head of state. Thanks to Arbour’s tireless efforts, President Slobodan Milosevic would be held accountable for crimes against humanity — specifically murder, deportation and persecutions, and with violations of the laws and customs of war. Hunt for Justice is the story of an extraordinary woman’s courage and determination in the face of unexpected and unspeakable obstacles. I'm not recommending this film because it is necessarily great, but rather that it is a fact based movie about a remarkable woman. Louise Arbour's story is one that should be told.
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Post by achebeautiful on Feb 11, 2007 19:02:11 GMT -5
Here's a quote from Louise Arbour:
“If we can eradicate fear through institutions of democracy and justice, creating a safe environment, tolerant of dissent and difference, I believe that we will succeed in liberating both the oppressed and their oppressors.”
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ashja
Full Member
"There's nothing like your smile made of sun..."
Posts: 183
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Post by ashja on Feb 27, 2007 1:01:44 GMT -5
"CLICK" - I think you should watch this movie... No, I think you have to see it Another great film with Adam Sandler, as always funny but about importatnt things in your life and with great ending. Michael Newman (Adam Sandler) is a loving family man who just wants to be promoted to his boss' partner in an architectural firm so that he can spend more time with his wife and kids. Late one night, after arguing with his wife and having trouble locating his TV remote control, he gets angry and drives to Best Buy and Staples to buy a universal remote control. Finding both stores closed, he enters Bed Bath & Beyond. Being so tired from work and home, he collaps on a bed and ralaxes. Then,looking up, he makes his way to the "Beyond" section, where he meets Morty (Christopher Walken), an eccentric inventor. Morty takes Michael to the "way beyond" storeroom and gives him a one-of-a-kind universal remote control, which Michael believes to be an ordinary remote. He is warned by Morty that it is "non-returnable." To Michael's amazement, he finds out that the remote is literally universal: it controls the universe, and interprets his wishes, even learning to anticipate them. It allows him to alter time and reality. After having some fun with it, he decides to do something serious and fast-forward to the promotion that he thought to be 3 months away. When he fast-forwards, 14 months go by instead. Have a nice watching!
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