Jim Sturgess in "21"
courtesy of Sony Home Entertainment
“Counting Cards”

Did you know there are people who can actually keep up with the cards dealt in a Blackjack hand? And if they are discovered in a gambling mecca, well they are not welcomed there. If this premise interests you then you should watch the new movie on DVD, “21,” is a movie about gambling. 

In real life gambling is exciting; on movie screens it generally is not. Watching cards being dealt is about as entertaining as watching paint dry. So wisely the makers of this movie concentrate on the story behind the gambling and not the gambling itself. They tell the tale, based on a true story, of five students and their mentor who take on the casinos of Las Vegas.

Ben Campbell (Jim Sturgess) is a human calculator. His mind just works that way. He has his heart set on attending Harvard medical school but tuition at MIT has sapped his funds and that of his single mother. He needs three hundred thousand to pay for the next few years of school (can you believe that?).

Enter Mickey Rosa (Kevin Spacey) a professor at MIT and a man with a plan. He collects his brightest students and uses them to beat the odds at the “21” tables in Vegas. He does it with hand signals, key words and counting cards. Counting cards is not illegal but if you get caught you will be banned from the casinos for life.

Cole Williams (Laurence Fishbourne) is a security guard at one of the casinos. He studies the video cameras looking for “card counters,” etc. It is he who becomes suspicious of Ben and his cohorts.

Since this is a movie there has to be romance of sorts so one is contrived (or that is how it feels) between Ben and one of the members of the team, Jill Taylor (Kate Bosworth). He has long worshipped her from afar and them being selected for Rosa’s crew gives them a chance to relate.

Chances are you got to know Burgess through the film “Across the Universe.” In that movie he used his natural British accent. In this one he is one hundred per cent Yank. He looks and acts the part of an American college student with total believability.

There is a touch of suspense in the film, as well as that hint of romance. Still the enjoyment of the movie is going to come from how much you like Ben and are excited about his chance at winning big. All of the other characters don’t really matter; it is the audience’s relationship to Ben that will make the film a hit or a miss. The odds are it could go either way.

Another DVD that might pique your interest this week is the dance sensation, “Step Up To the Streets.” In 2006 a little movie titled "Step Up" came out of nowhere and found an audience. It also introduced Channing Tatum to the world and propelled his career forward. Now there is this sequel of sorts - "Step Up 2 The Streets." It too should find an audience, especially on DVD, not because of the performers but because of the dancing in the film. When the dancing starts the movie comes alive, and when the dancing stops the movie dies.

Sadly a movie like this one has to have a plot to occupy time between dance numbers. This time out the writers borrowed from the first film and also "Fame" and maybe a little of "Flashdance." A girl named Andie (Briana Evigan) is an orphan. She lives with her mother's best friend Sarah (Sonja Sohn) and is a bit rebellious. She is a member of a "dance crew" named "The 410" which goes around the city causing disturbances with their dancing.

Sarah has finally had it and plans to ship Andie off to Texas to live with her aunt. Tyler Gage (Channing Tatum) is a friend of Sarah's and begs her to let Andie audition for the Maryland School of the Arts, which is where he went in the original film. Andie passes the audition and starts attending classes there.

Chase Collins (Robert Hoffman) is the brother of the Director of the school and also a student. He prefers street dancing to ballet and so he thinks of Andie as a kindred spirit. Together the two of them form their own "crew" and plan to challenge the 410 to a dance off. And you all know how that is going to end.

Both Evigan and Hoffman are pretty bland actors but when they dance they shine. They have some pretty athletic moves as they perform dances that look like Michael Jackson originals. But there is also a salsa dance in which Andie wears a dress that is beautiful in its execution.

This is a movie to watch for the dance numbers, Oh there is some comedy and some romance but these parts are not outstanding. The dancing is. And yes it does seem that Michael Jackson was ahead of his time. Go back and look at his early videos and you will see numbers just like these. The leans, the arm waving, the staccato moves, the crotch grabbing - it is all there.

The plot and the acting pull the movie down but the musical numbers lift it up allowing the film to be good entertainment if not great.

If you want to have some good drama – but no dancing – watch “Dallas: The Complete Ninth Season.” This TV series/soap opera is the best of all the shows of its ilk. This season has thirty-one episodes and all are included on this DVD plus extras. This was also a crucial season as Bobby Ewing (Patrick Duffy) had just died.

If you are familiar with the “Dallas” saga you know why Bobby’s death was so important. If you don’t know then you are in for a shock and a half. But then that is what made this TV melodrama so much fun. You never knew what was going to happen next.

So put this one in your DVD p layer and let the years wash over you. It is “Dallas” time once again, and the DVD even comes with some special “extras.” You don’t want to miss any of the fun.

Clashes of culture always produce some humorous situations, and that is exactly what happens in the quirky comedy “Big Dreams Little Tokyo.” Dave Boyle and Jayson Watabe play two men who have a plan to make their fortune in Tokyo, but things do not turn out as they have planned.

This is a funny film about cultural identity and other mishaps in the land of Japan. Boyle wrote, directed and stars in the film. He put his heart and soul in to it and it shows. He is a man on a mission to entertain us.
 

 

 

 

 

©2008 Jackie K. Cooper

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