21: The Movie

*** Stars

I watched the History Channel documentary Breaking Vegas last year with my roommate in college. It was a few hours long and it was totally addicting. The story about six M.I.T taking down Vegas and making millions is certainly a pitch-perfect idea for a Hollywood film. LOOSELY based on Ben Mezrich's Bringing Down The House, 21 is flashy non-rhetoric entertainment. High-class, yet lacking substance, it holds the cards on the table long enough for us to be interested. Good Movie. Cool Movie.

The story revolves around the smartest card player of the six. Ben Campbell (Jim Sturgess, you'll probably recognize him from Across the Universe) is a brilliant student, top of his class at M.I.T. He has been offered to attend Harvard for graduate school, a wonderful honor, but at the price of over $300,000. To earn the cash, he is pushed to join an underground blackjack team, who heads to Vegas on the weekends to count cards and take down the most profitable and powerful casinos in the world. See what kids have to do to pay for school? Kevin Spacey plays Micky Rosa, the leader and coach of the team. Using codes, signals, and simple math, he manages to bring his team a fortune.

Let it be clear, counting cards is not illegal, but it is extremely frowned upon. If caught, one is thrown out of the casino and never allowed back again. In 21, they kick the asses of any of those caught, literally. Ben gets in way over his head, with night clubs, high-rollers, and the seduction of his beautiful teammate Jill Taylor (the smart and sexiness of Kate Bosworth). Through time, he learns the reality of limits, commitments, and the rules of reciprocation. Laurence Fishburne plays the casino security boss who focuses on one thing, to take them down.

Breaking Vegas is a much more in-debt study of this story. These players actually travel all across the globe, counting cards and disguising their identities. 21 focuses on Vegas, with a little too much glamor. Players practicing this trade are not greeted by bouncers and club owners publicly, as they do want to draw attention to themselves. The film has to use this because the plot's eye is fixed on entertainment. I wish the film had the strength to dig up more contingent dirt, rather than basking in the Ocean of George Clooney's slick eleven. Good thing I love that eleven.

Dr. Seuss' Horton Hears a Who!

*** Stars

Horton Hears a Who! is not really meant to be a feature length film. In fact, it feels like a cousin to the 1966 classic Grinch tale, which had a 26-minute running time. Horton runs at 88-minutes, longer than intended, but short enough to avoid checking your watch.

The story is sweet and simple. A very lovable elephant named Horton (a wonderfully restrained Jim Carrey) finds a spec attached to a flower in the heart of a nameless jungle. The spec is in fact a world of its own, the town of Whoville. The Mayor (voiced by Steve Carell) cannot believe that there is something bigger outside of their world. The problem lies in the severe climate changes the small town is witnessing. If it continues, their world may come to an end. Horton, being the nice guy he is, says that "a person's a person, no matter how small." He makes the journey to the top of a mountain to make sure the town is never bothered again.

I really don't have a lot to say about Horton. It's a short story that will thrill children and satisfy adults. It relies on slapstick when it runs out of ideas, but it still manages to conclude before you turn against Horton and the Mayor. The classic tale by Dr. Seuss is rendered into flashy animation and voiced with the class and energy Carrey and Carell are famous for.