UNDER THE SAME MOON

Pictures courtesty of Fox Searchlight A young boy travels across the border in search of his birth mother in the Mexican film, UNDER THE SAME MOON. Carlitos, a nine-year old Mexican boy, lives with his elderly grandmother and dreams of someday reuniting with his mother Rosario, who is residing in the United States. Rosario sends money weekly to support Carlitos, and calls him every Sunday morning, but the distance is still much more than either mother or son can handle. After Carlitos’s grandmother passes away in her sleep, the young boy sets out on a journey across the Mexico-United States border in search of his mother, a Los Angeles, California resident.

An intimate emotional tale is wrapped around the controversial issue of illegal immigration in UNDER THE SAME MOON. The Mexican made picture isn’t balanced in its view on the hotbed issue, but it is a seemingly fair and honest portrayal of what hundreds, if not thousands of Mexicans strive for in an attempt to better the lives of themselves and their families. Politics aside, UNDER THE SAME MOON is an easy film to embrace with a storyline centered on the reunion of a loving mother and ambitious son. When analyzing the steps young Carlitos must make to find his mother, the script sounds contrived, but director Patricia Riggen allows time for the events to unfold in a realistic manner. Riggen’s careful touch is aided by two terrific central performances from young Adrian Alonso, and Kate del Castillo. Alonso’s Carlitos is a cute kid, but he doesn’t play the role as such, instead focusing on the drive, determination and passion of reuniting with his mother. Del Castillo is equally effective, conveying an adult torn by the distance between her youngster and the benefits she can provide her son by earning a living thousands of miles away. UNDER THE SAME MOON presents this tale of perseverance effectively around the argumentative issue of illegal immigration, and punctuates it with a clever and riveting final shot.

Grade: B

SMART PEOPLE

Pictures c ourtesy of Miramax
An intellectual father and daughter are academic successes, but failures in the social scene in the comedy-drama SMART PEOPLE. Dennis Quaid is widowed professor Lawrence Wetherhold, an English professor who is attempting to get his book publicized, and is having as much trouble getting his car out of the impound lot. In the midst of scaling the impound lot’s fence, Lawrence has a minor seizure that lands him in the emergency room. Dr. Janet Hartigan, played by Sarah Jessica Parker, is Lawrence’s physician in the ER, and also an old student of his. He begins seeing Janet, which makes his daughter Vanessa, played by Ellen Page, very agitated.

Many of the characters in SMART PEOPLE operate on their own island. That is to say, they function well on their own, but when it comes to relations with others they become withdrawn, awkward and often angered. Lawrence, Vanessa and Lawrence’s adopted brother Chuck, played by Thomas Haden Church, all provide compelling and intriguing individuals, but when they are called upon to interact with one another, the reality of SMART PEOPLE falls short. Part of the problem comes from the screenplay, penned by Mark Poirer. Poirer’s carefully constructed examination of these individuals only goes so far, establishing their own strengths and deficiencies, but fails when it comes to the quintessential portion of the picture, their relationships. Most of, if not all of these encounters are a tough sell. An attractive and successful doctor falling for an old, overweight, unattractive curmudgeon like Lawrence is quite a stretch, and the storyline between Vanessa and her adoptive uncle attempts to play as dark and edgy, but ends up far closer to awkwardness. SMART PEOPLE is a fairly focused study of fractured individuals, but is as seemingly clueless about social interaction as the characters its attempting to bring together.

Grade: C

21

Pictures courtesty of Sony Pictures
A group of MIT students utilize their means of deduction on the blackjack tables in Sin City in the movie 21. Ben Campbell is a brilliant MIT student hoping to land a scholarship to Harvard’s medical school, because money is the only thing standing between Ben and the Ivy League school. His chance at landing the scholarship is slim, and Ben isn’t making nearly enough working at a fine men’s clothing store. Luck may have just turned Ben’s way, when he is recruited to join a secret blackjack club at MIT, composed of fellow students and run by a professor. The group develops a system of counting cards, and codes, and with their team system in place, they’re able to make tens of thousands of dollars at Vegas’s finest casinos.


This wild fantasy of MIT students going from honor students to high stakes hustlers is the kind of story built for Hollywood. 21 is based on the real-life story of Ben Campbell, a 20-something MIT student, who finds the art of counting cards to be a lucrative enterprise. Although based on actual events, 21 wisely, or should I say fairly, never eludes to the fact that it is based on a true story. This a calculated and rational decision by director Robert Luketic, since I presume several liberties were taken with characters and events involved. By skirting the factual aspects, 21 can simply serve as escapist fun, a sometimes thrilling, often engaging romp where fair-minded college students turn into major Vegas players. The performances are standard, but deliver enough realism to overcome the inadequacies in the screenplay. One of these inadequacies has the brilliant Ben stashing hundreds of thousands of dollars in his dorm room’s drop ceiling, instead of several other safe spots. A wizard with mathematics, odds and probability, one would think Ben could have deducted the probability of these riches being stolen from his ceiling as opposed to a high security bank. This qualm aside, 21 delivers a fairly entertaining, and mainly forgettable thriller.

Grade: B-

STOP-LOSS

Pictures courtesy of MTV Films
Iraq war veterans receive their marching orders just after returning home from a tour of duty in the war zone in the drama, STOP-LOSS. STOP-LOSS refers to the practice the United States military utilizes requiring certain soldiers to continue serving their country in battle. As defined by Wikipedia, stop-loss is an “involuntary extension of a service member's enlistment contract in order to retain them beyond the normal end term of service or the ceasing of a permanent change of station move for a member still in military service”. In STOP LOSS, Ryan Phillippe’s Brandon King, purple-heart, bronze-star wearing Iraq War veteran, is stop-lossed and ordered back to Iraq. Not agreeing to the terms of service, Brandon flees his hometown and becomes a fugitive of the United States military.

The practice of stop-loss is a controversial one, one which director Kimberly Pierce is dead against. There’s a reasonable and rational argument against the use of stop-loss, but Pierce does not deliver it. Her passionate criticism against the procedure has blinded her sense of realism and ability in storytelling. The characters in the film, excluding Brandon, are poorly drawn caricatures of what many anti-war activists view as the American military. Brandon’s pals are short-tempered, muscle-bound idiots who’s machoism supercedes their intellect. By painting those willing to serve their country in a derogatory light, Pierce undermines her legitmacy and those she is seemingly seeking to protect. Her general tackling of the issue is heavy-handed and poorly presented, but the intimate moments between Brandon and his fellow soldiers work. Despite his transparent Texas accent, Phillipe delivers some nice emotional scenes surrounding the sacrifices made by those that serve. Not only is Phillipe good, but Pierce demonstrates a wonderful touch allowing the drama of the scenes to unfold. In spite of these moments, the highly contentious and highly charged issue of stop-loss is more than Pierce can handle.

Grade: C-