REEL CRITICS

‘Tortilla Soup’ pleases the palate

One of life’s terrible ironies is that bad movies are easy to write

about; brilliant movies make me very self-conscious. So here it goes

(deep breath). . . . With grainy, slightly overexposed cinematography and

natural performances, “Tortilla Soup” (directed by Maria Ripoll) captures

the everyday magic of a Mexican American family whose ties are strained

by change. Martin Naranjo (Hector Elizondo) is a widowed master chef who

has lost his sense of taste and smell. Every Sunday, he and his daughters

sit at the dinner table to eat dishes he creates from memory.

The oldest daughter, Leticia (Elizabeth Pena), is confused by the lust

and horror of receiving poetic missives from a secret admirer. Meanwhile,

daughter Carmen (Jacqueline Obradors) is caught in the struggle of

wanting to follow her dream of becoming a master chef or advancing her

corporate career. The youngest, Maribel (Tamara Mello), seeks to find her

place in the family and in the world. On top of all this, Martin also

contends with the flamboyant attentions of a nosy divorcee played by

Raquel Welch.

“Tortilla Soup” gets its soul from the cast. With the exception of a

vividly funny Welch, these actors often perform minor roles in bigger

movies. Elizondo is a magnetic, authoritative personality who in the end

delivers a shocking twist. Pena’s performance puts her in a class far

above most actresses whose salaries outweigh their talent.

Paul Rodriguez punctuates his scenes with goofy humor, while Obradors

and Mello are graceful, but smart, new screen presences.

Although based on Ang Lee’s “Eat Drink Man Woman,” “Tortilla Soup”

(directed by Maria Ripoll) is a standout addition to Mexican American

cinema. It’s an opportunity to eavesdrop on the Naranjo family, and you

leave the theater with a sense of a movie well savored.

o7 “Tortilla Soup” is rated PG-13 for sexual content.

f7 * MARY A. CASTILLO, 27, is a Costa Mesa resident.

‘Ghosts of Mars’: So bad it’s scary

It is sad for me to admit, but it appears that John Carpenter’s days

of glory may be long gone. I can hardly believe that the same director

who created the horror masterpiece “Halloween” and the campy cult classic

“Big Trouble in Little China” was responsible for the cinematic mess that

I witnessed on the silver screen Saturday.

Gone is the nail-biting suspense and creepy atmosphere of “Halloween”

and “The Fog.” Gone is the wacky humor of “Big Trouble in Little China.”

All that is left in “Ghosts of Mars” is a bad script, corny acting and

gratuitous violence.

“Ghosts of Mars” is a sci-fi thriller that borrows heavily from such

films as “Night of the Living Dead,””Aliens” and Carpenter’s own “Assault

on Precinct 13,” in which a group of people are under siege and must

learn to work together to survive.

Natasha Henstridge (“Species”) plays Lt. Melanie Ballard, who is part

of a small band of space cops sent to transport a dangerous prisoner

named James “Desolation” Williams, played by actor/rapper Ice Cube, from

a Martian colony. When Ballard’s group reaches the colony where Williams

is being held, via a futuristic train that looks like it is part of a

kid’s toy set, they discover that all of the colonists are either dead or

missing.

They soon learn that the missing colonists are possessed by Martian

ghosts and now look like rejects from a KISS or Marilyn Manson concert.

Only a small group of prisoners, including Williams, have managed to

avoid possession. Ballard’s group and the prisoners must then find a way

to survive until the toy train comes back to pick them up. Yep, folks,

that’s all there is to this highly unoriginal plot.

The story is told through annoying flashback sequences that left me

with the feeling of deja vu as scenes were repeated over and over again.

I can only assume that Carpenter did this for fear that he would lose his

audience during the disjointed telling of this cliched tale.

It also seems that Carpenter did not want to take any chances with a

developed plot or a back-story, as those too might only confuse the

audience. This movie should have made a short stop at video before

continuing on to film oblivion. Riding a kid’s toy train set no less!

o7 “Ghosts of Mars” is rated R for strong violence/gore, language and

some drug content.

f7

* RYAN GILMORE, 27, is a Costa Mesa resident.