To Steal a Diamond

It's amazing how fascinated people are by material things. Not to sound like I'm above it all. I'm right in there with the rest of the world. I think deep down, we're all a bit materialistic.

Which is why there are always a ton of movies about thieves and robberies and all that jazz. So today we're going to have a little chat about what I think are the 5 best films about stealing diamonds.

In no particular order:

A Fish Called Wanda (1988)

So I may have lied a bit when I said that this wasn't in order, because this film is absolutely my favorite film  that I'm putting here. The film follows an odd foursome - gangster and leader George Thomason (a twist on the name of the actor who plays him), crony Ken Pile (Michael Palin), con artist Wanda Gershwitz (Jamie Lee Curtis) and Otto West (Kevin Kline), the latter two having been brought in from the outside.

Honestly, the theft itself is not the focus of the movie, unlike most heist films. In fact, the heist is easy and goes without a glitch, except for one little old lady who happens to see them. So they hide the diamonds and walk away, only to have Wanda and Otto turn in George and try to take the loot for themselves).

The Truth is Out There

A dark corner. Something in the shadows. We are all fascinated by what we cannot understand. Ancient cultures tried to explain these phenomena by creating mythical gods that control the universe. Whether Zeus or Thor or Set, someone had to be controlling the lightning.

So now that science can explain a fair portion of our world (or so we think), what are we left to imagine? Can the world really be a series of chemical formulas, numbers and equations? What lies beyond the veil of modern science, things that will go unexplained for hundreds of years?

Thankfully, we have a little thing called film and television to help spark our imaginations and help us to see the possibilities of the world beyond science. Maybe they aren’t the most realistic of situations, but in 20 or 30 years, who knows? Maybe we’ll have unlocked some more of the universe’s mysteries. I know that I’ll be one of the first people to try to buy a teleportation device when it comes out! (Oh, the wonderful idea of having dinner in Italy and doing homework on a beach in Hawaii, after which I could go back to my bed at school. Not that I’ve thought about this constantly.)

So today, I’m going to focus in on our (and by our, I mostly mean my) fascination with the strange and possibly paranormal. Not that I actually believe in ghosts, but hey, I like to think of myself as open-minded. If a ghost floated down in front of me, would I deny it was there? No. Probably not.

Thrills that kill

So basically sometimes you can feel sad and bored.

Remember the days when everything in the world was new and exciting and everything you did was going to change your life and was a source of inspiration.

Like this kid riding his bike. Yeah, he fell.

But just look at that positive attitude. How many of us have that kind of attitude? Not very many I can tell you that. But what I also can tell you is to try and do something that after you're just kind of like

Whoa.

Can't hurt to have some thrills in your life. That's why I want to go skydiving. Really really badly. I was told not to do it and that it's dangerous and blah blah blah, but what mom doesn't know won't hurt her.

Just possibly me.