Nick Reding Movies
A South African mercenary and a Mende fisherman find their fates forever intertwined as they embark on a quest to obtain a rare and highly coveted pink diamond in director Edward Zwick's frantic adventure drama. Ripped from his family farm and forced to toil away in the sweltering South African diamond fields, Solomon Vandy (Djimon Hounsou) discovered an extraordinary rough stone of immeasurable value. Danny Archer (Leonardo DiCaprio) is a hired gun who specializes in the sale of so-called "blood diamonds" that are used to finance rebellions and terrorist organizations, and is currently serving time for smuggling. As a bloody civil war rages in Sierra Leone and Archer learns that Vandy has safely hidden the diamond in a place where no one would ever suspect, the pair enlist the aid of disillusioned American journalist Maddy Bowen (Jennifer Connelly) in recovering the treasure that has the power to save Vandy's family and provide the desperate Archer with a much-needed chance for redemption. ~ Jason Buchanan, Rovi
- Starring:
- Leonardo DiCaprio, Jennifer Connelly, (more)
- 1998
This made-for-TV mystery was originally telecast over BBC1 on April 23, 1998 as an extra-length episode of the long-running British crime series Silent Witness. Amanda Burton heads the cast as forensic pathologist Dr. Sam Ryan, who in anticipation of all of America's "CSI-ers" is able to track down murderers and other such reprobates by using the "silent" testimony of deceased "witnesses." In this instance, Dr. Sam is called upon the scene when the blades of a harvesting machine are blocked up by a dead body. The police are at first willing to write off the tragedy as an accident, but our heroine is quick to see that the corpse bears a wound that was administered long before it was deposited in the field. The ensuing investigation takes Sam all the way to Northern Ireland, where she digs up secrets that many people would prefer remain buried. The fourth episode of Silent Witness' third season, Silent Witness: Brothers in Arms made its America bow via cable's A&E network on December 12, 2000. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi
- Starring:
- Amanda Burton, William Armstrong, (more)
Director Bruce Beresford followed up his Academy Award-winning Driving Miss Daisy with another meditation on race, Mister Johnson. Set in West Africa in 1923, Johnson (Maynard Eziashi), the clerk of British administrator Harry Rudbeck (Pierce Brosnan), attempts everything within his power to ingratiate himself into white society. Johnson hatches a plan to juggle the books so that Rudbeck will have the capital necessary to achieve his ultimate dream of a "great northern road," but when his scheme is uncovered, he is fired. After finding another job with a shopkeeper named Gollop (Edward Woodward), he is again fired for his "creative" financing skills; however, Rudbeck hires him back to oversee the road construction project. When funds are cut off, Johnson convinces workers to do their jobs for free to ensure the project's completion. Once again, he is caught embezzling, and once again, he is let go; in a fit of desperation, he robs and kills Gollup. After confessing to the crime, he begs Rudbeck to kill him, sparing him the humiliation of public execution. ~ Jason Ankeny, Rovi
- Starring:
- Maynard Eziashi, Pierce Brosnan, (more)
- 1986
- R
Paul Mayersberg wrote and directed this sleek thriller about a bored rich girl, abducted by kidnappers, who begins to love her abductors. Beautiful Rowena Le Vay (Irina Brook) is the pampered daughter of a rich international tycoon, Gregory Le Vay (Oliver Reed), who, heartbroken at the death of his wife, tries to re-create her through Rowena. Rowena drinks and mopes around her mansion all day, unaware that she is being observed by a trio of abductors -- a stylish Frenchman who calls himself D (Xavier Deluc); a charming young Japanese man named Hiro (Hiro Arai); and an attractive radical-chic garbed woman named Bryony (Corinne Dacla). Rowena is imprisoned by the three in a cavernous garage where she is drugged, handcuffed, blindfolded and gagged. After that, so as not to clash with the decor, she is housed in a white box for the night. It becomes apparent that the kidnappers have carried out their crime, not for ransom or captive sexual favors, but simply for the joy of committing the crime. Not only that, but they seek to mold Rowena (who is already half way there) to their lifestyle. Rowena willingly assents. ~ Paul Brenner, Rovi
- Starring:
- Irina Brook, Oliver Reed, (more)
