When I saw the blackjack drama 21 at South By Southwest, I was instantly struck by its major flaws: It's full of clichés, and its supposedly brilliant main characters do a lot of stupid things. I had no idea I was missing another flaw, too -- that most of the real-life people who pulled off the scheme were Asian-American, while almost everyone in the movie is white.

People commenting on my review of the film mentioned this fact, and some subsequent Internet browsing confirms that it's been a hot topic among some observers ever since the film was announced. (I confess not having paid the film any attention until the marketing campaign kicked into high gear around the first of the year.) The character played by Jim Sturgess in the movie was named Jeff Ma in real life, and he and most of his teammates were Asian. In the movie, only two minor characters are still Asian, played by Aaron Yoo and Liza Lapira.

So the question is: Is the ethnicity-swapping the result of racism? Is it something else? Does it matter?

(Note: We're re-posting our 21 review from SXSW to coincide with the film's theatrical release this weekend.)

In 21, an M.I.T. math whiz joins a secret cabal of card-counters who fly to Vegas on the weekends to make a killing at the blackjack tables. That's the hook, the part you may not have seen in a thousand other films. But the rest is as generic as the title (21? Really? That's the best you could come up with?), a story about a nobody who becomes a somebody, forsakes his friends, and learns What's Really Important.

Yawn is right. This is a prime example of a movie that isn't bad, per se, just unnecessary, a competently made but wholly unremarkable trifle. It trades exclusively in clichés and stock characters -- and yet, strangely, director Robert Luketic (Legally Blonde) seems to believe he has made something compelling and original. And I have to think, if I've seen lots of movies exactly like this one, then shouldn't Luketic have as well?

Yesterday, Eric D. Snider mentioned an interesting exercise by The New Republic's Christopher Orr. Annoyed at the recent glut of trailers that give away the entire film, he decided to write a review of 21 (which hits theaters today) based only on the trailer. Eric thought the "review" was actually pretty accurate, and I agree. I also agree that the trailer is egregiously inconsiderate of people who'd have liked to go into the movie unspoiled at least as to the third act. It's a shame.

But I'm sure you agree that it doesn't have to be that way. Trailers don't have to give away the game, and they don't have to be tacky and ham-fisted either. They're a marketing tool, of course, but trailers are also -- or can be -- an art form in their own right. Sometimes a trailer is such a skillful composition of images, sounds, words and music that it winds up having more of an effect on me than the movie I'm in the theater to see. (Often, too, the trailer turns out to be better than the movie it's advertising, which is always a disappointment.)

So while yesterday Eric asked you for examples of trailers that pissed you off because they revealed too much, I'd like to know which recent trailers you've loved. Not necessarily which ones you think advertised their movie in the optimal way, but which ones have been great in themselves -- scary, rousing, moving, beautiful. Take a look at some of my favorites and sound off after the jump.

"She really found me at a point when I needed to be found." -- Jim Sturgess on Julie Taymor:

In 21, which hits theaters tomorrow, Jim Sturgess plays Ben Campbell, an M.I.T. student who's recruited into a group of Vegas card counters by a fellow student. In fact, the entire group is made up of students and its leader, Micky Rosa (Kevin Spacey), also happens to be a professor at the University. The fact-based film was inspired by the book Bringing Down the House by Ben Mezrich, and most of what you will see in 21 really happened -- with certain faces, places, names and events changed to fit a more Hollywood-ized mold. Directed by Robert Luketic, 21 also stars Kate Bosworth, Laurence Fishburne, Aaron Yoo and Liza Lapira.

Sturgess is a relatively new face to Hollywood. His first major film role only came last year, when director Julie Taymor cast the soft-spoken Brit opposite Evan Rachel Wood in Across the Universe. From there, this musician-turned-actor appeared in the recent The Other Boleyn Girl before taking on his first lead role in a major Hollywood film, 21. Upon meeting him, one can immediately tell this boy has the looks and charm to carry him real far. He's already scheduled to appear in the star-studded Crossing Over and the flick Fifty Dead Men Walking. Cinematical sat down with Sturgess in New York recently to talk about 21, as well as his blossoming career.

The Seuss-abration continued as Horton Hears a Who held onto number one for the second consecutive week. Tyler Perry's Meet the Browns took second, but held the highest per screen average of the top five films ($10,011). The caveman spectacle 10,000 B.C. took fifth, clinging to the top five for the third week in a row. Here are the totals:

1. Dr. Seuss' Horton Hears a Who: $24.5 million
2. Tyler Perry's Meet the Browns: $20 million
3. Shutter: $10.4 million
4. Drillbit Taylor: $10.3 million
5. 10,000 B.C.: $8.9 million

Four new flicks going into wide release, with the movies being divided equally between comedy and drama.

21
What's It All About: A young man in dire need of money to pay for his education at M.I.T. takes part in a well-organized card counting ring with a fool-proof method for winning at blackjack. Based on a true story.
Why It Might Do Well: The combined cool factor of having Kevin Spacey and Laurence Fishburne in the same movie may make some people curious.
Why It Might Not Do Well: Rottentomatoes.com is giving this one a lackluster 54%, and personally watching people play cards bores me to tears.
Number of Theaters: 2,500
Prediction: $17 million

Just got back from the Sony offices here in New York, where Cinematical managed to sit down with Jim Sturgess (star of 21), as well as Ben Mezrich (author of Bringing Down the House, the book 21 is based on) and Jeff Ma (who Sturgess' character is based on). I have to say we all had a pretty damn cool conversation, which we'll post on the site at some point before the weekend, but in the meantime check out what Sturgess had to say about Spidey.

Now, remember back when we told you how Across the Universe director Julie Taymor was directing a Spider-Man: The Musical, with music and lyrics from U2's Bono and the Edge? Well, at the time, Taymor said she was interested in Sturgess playing Spider-Man, with Evan Rachel Wood playing Mary Jane. Not only is that true, but apparently Sturgess and Wood have already performed the roles. He says, "We actually have done a workshop for it, which is how this all kind of started. [Taymor] asked me and Evan to come down and do this workshop that she was doing, so it was a chance to work with Julie again and Evan again and, yeah, at that point I didn't know much more about it. We just did two weeks, and we kind of hung out with Bono and the Edge and sung songs about Spider-Man. As a young actor and musician, it was an incredible experience to be involved in that."

He continued, "We then sort of did a rough performance of the play -- like a read through where we sang through the songs and stuff. As ridiculous as it sounds, it's going to be an incredible piece of work." Cinematical asked Sturgess whether that meant he would be starring in the musical, to which he replied: "Um, I don't know. I haven't spoken to Julie since, and I don't know when she plans to do it. It's a timing thing, I guess. I don't know how long it's going to be before it comes to the surface."

More Spidey after the jump ...

I can't help but wonder if Kevin Spacey managed to score a 2 for 1 deal on the film rights to a Ben Mezrich book. 21 hasn't even hit theaters and Spacey has already picked up another property from the non-fiction writer. Variety reports that Spacey, in the form of Trigger Street Productions, has acquired to film rights to Mezrich's book, Rigged: The True Story of an Ivy League Kid Who Changed the World of Oil, From Wall Street to Dubai.

Rigged is the story of John D'Agostino, an Italian kid from Brooklyn who graduates from Harvard. After scoring a lucrative job on the Merc Exchange, he meets up with another ambitious young trader with shady connections to the Middle East. The two come up with a brilliant and dangerous scheme to revolutionize oil trading ... and of course make a butt-load of cash along the way. This is a common theme in Mezrich's books: the talented wunderkind led astray by corruption and greed. It also probably explains why Rigged is being touted as this generation's Wall Street.

Spacey's production house is already working on an adaptation of another of Mezrich's books, Ugly Americans: The True Story of the Ivy League Cowboys Who Raided the Asian Markets for Millions. This might be a little off topic, but what is it with this guy and the long titles? In fact, all of his books are like this (21 was originally known as Busting Vegas: The MIT Whiz Kid Who Brought the Casinos to Their Knees). Of course, this is probably why a name change will be in order for the big screen.

I want you to think all the way back to February of '07 when Sony first announced that they would be making a feature film out of the best-selling game, Metal Gear Solid. Everything seemed on track, then the writer's strike happened and it seemed Solid was going to fade away to obscurity ... or then again, maybe not. Coming Soon recently got the chance to speak with producer Michael De Luca during a press event for 21, when they scored a little tidbit about the future of the big-screen Metal Gear. According to De Luca, the project is not only back on, but they are already on the lookout for someone to write the script – namely, Kurt Wimmer.

Metal Gear Solid is a stealth game released by Konami back in 1998. The story, or what little there was in the beginning, focused on a genetically enhanced soldier named Snake taking down the evil FOXHOUND. As the franchise continued, more attention was paid to the story in the game. By the third installment there was a much richer mythology surrounding political conspiracies and state of the art warfare included in the game.

When it comes to the feature film, Wimmer's involvement is far from a done deal. According to De Luca, Columbia Pictures will be meeting with Wimmer over the next few weeks to see if he is interested in taking on the script. Wimmer was the writer and director behind Equilibrium and Ultraviolet, both of which might as well have been video games, so he seems like a good fit. CS also hinted that Wimmer could be taking over directing duties for MGS as well, so stay tuned to Cinematical for any news that comes our way.

Where was this scene in the movie?

This has been one looooong day, but the first two big films of the South by Southwest Film Fest are out of the way, and I have to say one was good and one, well, wasn't. After it took hours for the print to arrive at the theater, Harold and Kumar Escape from Guantanamo Bay (full review forthcoming) premiered to the press at the very awesome South Alamo Theater. Folks, if you haven't ever been to an Alamo theater (today I popped my Alamo cherry), it was quite possibly the greatest moviegoing experience EVAH! Picture a regular movie theater, but with long tables in front of each row of seats. Then you get a full menu, you get to chow down during the movie ... and all of it just completely rocks. Loving Alamo right now.

Harold and Kumar 2 was exactly what you'd expect it to be -- and though it's not as solid and well-defined as the first film, it's still chock-full of silly laughs, nudity (bottomless party was the best scene of the entire film) and tons of pot jokes. NPH is also back and badder than ever. 21, on the other hand, was a real disappointment. It was upsetting to see how they took a very cool story and completely Hollywood-ized it -- to the point where whatever awesomeness there was disappeared as soon as Kate Bosworth opened up her boring mouth. The Paramount theater was packed, though, and a majority of the crowd seemed into it. Our crowd, though, walked out angry, bitter and itching for some good (free) beer ... which we got at the opening night party.

There, we met up with tons of other bloggers, filmmakers and other random SXSW nuts. John Campea (God bless him) from The Movie Blog was there, attempting to pick up girls while taking everyone's picture. Had a great chat with Arin Crumley (of Four Eyed Monsters and From Here to Awesome fame), and watched Alex from First Showing get absolutely sloshed. Long day. Fun day. Look for our reviews to start pouring in tomorrow.

It's a little bit cold and a little bit country. Yes, the Cinematical team has officially landed in Austin and we're about to begin covering the hell out of this year's South by Southwest Festival. Today was check-in day; we headed over to the convention center to pick up our badges, chatted up a few friends, grabbed our pocket schedules and began to plan out our weeks. Right off the bat, an afternoon screening of Harold and Kumar Escape from Guantanamo Bay was pushed back because the print never showed up, and so we're now killing time in Weinberg's hotel room watching SXSW screeners (Bi the Way, Cook County) until it's time to head on over to one of the Alamo theaters for HK2.

Following that screening, we'll jet it over to the Paramount (the theater where all the major premieres take place) for the premiere of 21. I'm most looking forward to my first trip to an Alamo theater after hearing so much about them from my fellow Cinematical writers. "You mean, you sit on benches and order food that's delivered while the movie is playing?" Weinberg replied, "Yup, it's awesome!" In the meantime we just finished watching a documentary on bi-sexuality in America. Can one exist as a bi-sexual? How is it different to be bi-sexual for a man and for a woman? And was that really a threesome thrown in at the end? Eh. The film didn't do much for me -- not because I'm against bi-sexuality, but because I'm against films that bore the hell out of me.

Tonight: Alamo. Paramount. Parties. SXSW is on! Keep it here all week for more updates from one of the cooler festivals this great country has to offer.

A movie about card counting? It could so easily be yawn-worthy, but then again, there have been some sweet card-playing flicks in the past, so anything is possible. 21, based on those MIT peeps who made news for their speedy, mental card counting, is coming out this month (we'll have an early review from SXSW), and Cinema Blend has 8 clips up to whet your appetite -- ones that make things a bit more interesting than the earlier trailer.

Granted, this isn't any sort of documentary on these guys, but a Hollywoodized drama. And, as Jessica stated last month, a bit white-washed. Nevertheless, it's got the lights of Sin City, and that irresistible money allure. In the clips, you can check out the suit-cost scene that works much better outside of the trailer, lots of practicing, the inevitable fissures of cockiness and working for someone outside of the law, and some introductions, although unfortunately, the sound doesn't seem to be working on that clip (numbered 8, but really 7).

It's flashy, it's Hollywood, and it's directed by the guy behind Tad Hamilton and Legally Blonde, so you decide. Still, even with the fanciness, I kinda like seeing smart number crunchers on screen. We see so many idiots these days, ones that make you wonder if they even know how to tie their shoes, that it's nice to see someone who can do math in their head.

As much as a film like No Country for Old Men can impress with the barren sounds of music-free silence, many films thrive on the careful selection of songs -- sometimes catapulting a movie to even bigger fame. Garden State. Pulp Fiction. What would either be without the music that energized each scene and made many moviegoers run to their local music store? Sometimes the collections are lesser-known but still impressive, like the '90s beats of Hal Hartley's Amateur, or the electronic and retro melodies of Gregg Araki's Splendor.

Columbia Records has issued a press release stating that SXSW will not only host the release of the high stakes Vegas flick 21, but also the film's soundtrack. 21 is the film based on those M.I.T. students who broke Vegas with their brainy ways, and it stars Jim Sturgess, Kevin Spacey, and Kate Bosworth. The feature is based on the book Bringing Down the House, and while I wish I could say that there would be a wacky, re-named cover of "Burning Down the House" on the upcoming CD, there is not.

However, the soundtrack is looking like a pretty interesting set of tunes, headlined by a cover of The Rolling Stones' "You Can't Always Get What You Want," performed by the Belgian alt-rock band Soulwax. But it's certainly not a collection of all like-minded tunes. There's some R&B with Rihanna, Amon Tobin's funky "Always," and a tune from The Aliens -- which includes 2 guys from The Beta Band. You can hit the jump to see what else is on the 15-track CD.

So even if you choose to ignore the somewhat 'white-washed' casting for the big-screen version of Bringing Down the House, if you are a fan of the book you can't help but notice that there seems to be very little that remains of the original (and fascinating) story of a group of 'math nerds' who became high stakes card sharks. Sony has just launched the official site for 21 starring Jim Sturgess, Kate Bosworth, and Kevin Spacey. Their site offers plenty of small video clips to watch and the usual downloadable offerings, but inexplicably they never give you the chance to play a little black jack of your own.

21 centers on "Six MIT students, in a blackjack team, [who] train to become experts in card counting and subsequently take Vegas casinos for millions in winnings. However, casino workers become suspicious and attempt to take down the team, using any means necessary." Sturgess plays Ben Campell, a numbers genius who is struggling to pay his bills. He is recruited into a team of card counters by his professor (as played by Spacey) and as to be expected, the good times don't last long. Ben starts to lose control and his mentor and friends turn on him just as the casinos are starting to catch on to the scam.

To be honest, as much as I enjoyed the book, I don't think I will be first in line for this one. Part of what made the book so interesting to me was that these were just regular people who became 'criminals'. The film seems to want to take a more Ocean's 11 approach right down to the music in the trailer, and, frankly, it's been done before. 21 hits theaters on March 28th.

It seems like just a few months ago we were enjoying the sights, the sounds, the smells and the cinema of South By Southwest 2007, but guess what? Now that it's January, the festival's only about nine weeks away! Awesome! So today we caught some slightly early news on what SXSW is cooking up for this March, and I must say I'm pretty impressed with what they snagged for their opening night film.

And that film is: Robert Luketic's 21, which is based on the book Bringing Down the House: The Inside Story of Six M.I.T. Students Who Took Vegas for Millions. (You may remember Mr. Luketic from flicks like Legally Blonde, Win a Date with Tad Hamilton!, and Monster-in-Law.) Adapted by Ben Mezrich's book by screenwriters Peter Steinfeld and Allan Loeb, 21 stars Kevin Spacey, Laurence Fishburne, Kate Bosworth and Jim Sturgess. (Check out the trailer right here.)

And if that world premiere isn't cool enough, festival chief Matt Dentler has also divulged the following titles for SXSW '08:

At the Death House Door (Steve James & Peter Gilbert) "A sobering and powerful story of the wrongful execution of Carlos DeLuna and the Death House Chaplain, Pastor Carroll Pickett, who spent the last day of DeLuna's life with him."

Dreams with Sharp Teeth (Erik Nelson) "A documentary portrait of acclaimed author Harlan Ellison, as he looks back on his fabled and influential career as one of the world's top science fiction writers."

Flawless (Michael Radford) "In 1960s London, a talented but overlooked diamond executive (Demi Moore) is convinced to participate in a jewelry heist when a veteran janitor (Michael Caine) hatches a plan."

Run Fatboy Run (David Schwimmer) "An out-of-shape divorced father (Simon Pegg) makes one last attempt to win back the respect of his son, his ex-wife (Thandie Newton), and the community around him. All he has to do is finish his first marathon."

Wild Blue Yonder (Celia Maysles) "Celia Maysles had no idea her father and his brother Albert were pioneers of verite documentary filmmaking. Determined to uncover the secrets surrounding her background, Celia sets out on a quest to rediscover her father by using his own artistic process."

Expect a few more flashy surprises before the full SXSW slate is announced on February 5! Until then, feel free to browse through the SXSW website and decide if THIS is the year you're finally going to take my advice and attend the dang festival. (You do know it's a movie AND music fest, right? Interactive, too, and I do believe I've mentioned the indigenous BBQ more than once.)

Hope everyone's Thanksgiving was a good one. Why not grab yourself a turkey sandwich (might I suggest Italian bread with stuffing and perhaps a little mayo) and join me as we explore wildlife (in every sense of the word) in modern cinema.

Cloverfield
A giant monster rampaging through New York? Life doesn't get much wilder than that. While this full length trailer has more footage than we saw with the teaser that premiered last Summer with Transformers, we still don't get to see the monster that decapitates the statue of liberty. J.J. Abrams is obviously playing it close to the vest, and I doubt there will be an official look at the monster until the movie hits theaters on January 18. After all the buildup, though, how can anything live up to the hype? Anyway, the Quicktime version is up on the Apple website, and it's presumably much nicer looking than the bootlegged Youtube version Erik was warning people away from a few days ago.

Strange Wilderness
A badly produced TV wildlife show ("sharks can only be found in two places on earth: the Northern and Southern Hemispheres") is on the verge of cancellation, so its hosts go looking for the legendary Sasquatch to boost ratings. With a cast that includes Steve Zahn, Justin Long, and Superbad's Jonah Hill, this has the potential to be really funny, and that bit in the trailer with the laughing shark just kills me. The movie even has Ernest Borgnine who, based on the number of upcoming films IMDB lists for him, doesn't let the fact that he's 90 slow him down much.