DVD A CONFLICT 'DIAMOND' IN THE ROUGH.

Byline: Rob Lowman

Entertainment Editor

There is something admirable about Edward Zwick's "Blood Diamond."

Too bad a Hollywood movie was needed to publicize the horrendous practices, shady dealings and greed that created a market for conflict diamonds -- gems mined by slave labor, illegally smuggled out of Africa and used to finance a brutal civil war in Sierra Leone in the late '90s.

And too bad it wasn't a better movie.

In "Blood Diamond," Leonardo DiCaprio plays Danny Archer, a Rhodesian-born diamond smuggler. A bad guy at first -- sinister and hardened by his background -- Danny slowly moves toward the light.

When we first meet Danny, he's being arrested trying to smuggle a stash of diamonds -- hidden in goats -- out of Sierra Leone. In jail, he learns of a rare pink diamond that a former slave miner, Solomon Vandy (Djimon Hounsou), has unearthed and hidden. But Solomon's son has been taken by rebels, who have turned him into a boy soldier and killer.

The deal becomes one of Danny helping Solomon get his son back in exchange for the diamond. An American journalist, Maddy Bowen (Jennifer Connelly), piques Danny's romantic interest, but along the way she helps point him in the right moral direction.

There is a similar story of redemption in Zwick's previous film, "The Last Samurai, where an ex-Civil War soldier, played by Tom Cruise, is hired to modernize the Japanese army but eventually joins the country's righteous traditional warriors. The director clearly likes stories about men who have fallen but get up to become better men. And in the Oscar-nominated DiCaprio, Zwick is lucky enough to have an actor who carries it off well, almost making you forget the film's problems.

Unfortunately, "Blood Diamond" too often undercuts the important story it's trying to tell. While scenes of boy soldiers committing brutal acts and slave camps are both shocking and effective, the filmmakers have surrounded them with a breathless, unbelievable tale straight out of a disconnected Hollywood fantasy. Like too many studio films, "Blood Diamond" thinks that turning up the volume means importance and sappiness is a substitute for a real tragedy.

'Rocky Balboa'

Say it ain't so, Rocky.

Last week, Sylvester Stallone was charged with trying to bring vials of a muscle-building hormone into Australia, where it is restricted.

You gotta believe that the 60-year-old was using the stuff when he buffed up for "Rocky Balboa," the final (we hope) round for the iconic fictional fighter.

Probably as desperate as Stallone for a comeback, the widower Rocky is tired of running his upscale restaurant, and when a computer game has Rocky beating current champ Mason "The Line" Dixon, it's time to get the gloves out of the basement.

The film follows the usual Rocky arc, with plenty of pounding and muscle flexing, while the fighter tries to deal with his doubts and ghosts of the past.

'The Nativity Story'

Almost as well-known as Rocky's tale is "The Nativity Story." (That's a joke. No letters, e-mails or phone calls, please.)

But being so familiar is part of the strength of the film, directed by Catherine Hardwicke from a script by Mike Rich. "The Nativity Story" is almost like comfort food in the way it sticks to the basics, without trying to reinvent, deconstruct or modernize the events. And while this might make it seem a bit boring to some, it also avoided being too breathlessly reverential, with a down-to-earth approach.

One of the film's strengths was 16-year-old New Zealander Keisha Castle-Hughes (a best actress Oscar nominee for "Whale Rider"). She makes a lovely Mary -- the right mixture of innocence and young wisdom. As an unwed pregnant teen, she understands her predicament.

'Eragon'

Eragon" has the usual sword-and-sorcery film ingredients -- a young, callow hero (Ed Speleers in the title role) who will win the day; a cast of excellent actors (John Malkovich, Jeremy Irons, Robert Carlyle, Djimon Hounsou and the voice of Rachel Weisz) taking a paycheck to mouth banal and silly lines; and special effects, in this case, cool-looking dragons.

'The Naked City'

Weegee, the New York City photographer known for his gritty black-and-white crime-scene and street-life photos, published a book in 1945 called "Naked City." It was said to inspire Jules Dassin's 1948 black-and-white film-noir docudrama "The Naked City," which has been remastered by Criterion. Undoubtedly, there was a connection, but post-World War II cinema -- like Italy's neo-realist movement -- was also moving toward a grittier look and feel. Shot on the streets of New York City by Oscar-winning cinematographer William H. Daniels, "The Naked City" burst out of the studio backlot to capture life (and death) in the Big Apple as two detectives (one, veteran character actor Barry Fitzgerald) run around the city -- hitting all the social strata -- to investigate the murder of a playgirl.

TV

In "McHale's Navy" Ernest Borgnine played the wily captain of a World War II PT boat in the South Pacific. The comedy series (the first season out today) premiered in 1962 and, coincidentally the sitting president of the U.S. had a similar command during his military service.

It was a comedy for its time, and so was "Maude," which came a decade later. Played with a commanding presence by Bea Arthur, Maude was a strong-willed liberal, wealthy suburbanite, with Bill Macy as her fourth husband and Adrienne Barbeau as her sexy divorced daughter, Carol.

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CAPTION(S):

3 photos

Photo:

(1) Leonardo DiCaprio and Djimon Hounsou in a scene from "Blood Diamond.'

(2) no caption ("Rocky Balboa")

(3) no caption ("Eragon")