Co-written and directed by Julian Gilbey, Plastic (2014) is a decent caper film that was largely met with negative reviews upon it's release. The story concerns a group of young British credit card scammers that steal a briefcase from the wrong sadistic crime boss, and are forced to pull off a multi-million dollar diamond heist in order to pay off the debt. Although it is supposedly based on a true story, much of the plot line seems too far-fetched and at best is borderline-feasible. The cast of lesser known young actors look hip, but have a tall order to fill, including Ed Speleers, Alfie Allen, Will Poulter, Sebastian de Souza, Emma Rigby, Mem Freda, Graham McTavish and Thomas Kretschmann.
Directed by Frank Marshall, based on the novel by Michael Crichton, Congo (1995) brought viewers on a scary adventure into the jungle. The story concerns a covert technology company, on assignment deep in the Congo, seeking a rare diamond to be used in a new laser communication device. One of the party discovers the diamond-filled lost ancient city of Zinj in the jungle. The thought-to-be mythical and archaeologically rich ruins were created by King Solomon to protect his diamond mine… which happens to be guarded by killer gorillas. The huge disappointment comes in the lack of CGI effects, where the filmmakers relied on humans in bad gorilla suits and robotic features to portray the animals. The cast is hit or miss, including Dylan Walsh, Laura Linney, Ernie Hudson, Delroy Lindo and Tim Curry.
