« The Return of the Seventies (II) | Main | Obama's Veep »

Reviewing The Trailer

28 Mar 2008 09:00 am

Manohla Dargis attempts a novel gimmick, writing her review of the new blackjack flick 21 based on the trailer, rather than the actual movie.

Oh, wait - sorry, it was Chris Orr whose review did that. Hard to tell the difference ...

:: Comments (7) ::

Share This

Comments (7)

Is the movie supposed to be loosely based on Ed Thorp's story?

Posted by Fred | March 28, 2008 10:08 AM

Is the movie supposed to be loosely based on Ed Thorp's story?

Nope, this one. Though Thorp is mentioned in the book, and his original research formed the basis of the MIT Blackjack Team's tactics.

Posted by Phaedrus | March 28, 2008 10:53 AM

You know, you don't need to do complicated math, at all, to count cards. You keep track of a single number, and you add one or subtract one from it for each card depending on its face value. You don't need Rain Man or an MIT math whiz. I know that this is based on an actual MIT team, but that doesn't change the fact. The popular conception of card counting is pretty far off the mark.

Posted by Freddie | March 28, 2008 11:04 AM

Yeah, trailers are starting to get really annoying. It's to the point that if there's a movie I REALLY want to see, I don't want to see the trailer. One of my most enjoyable movie experiences was the Matrix, which I hadn't seen anything beyond the TV ads.

But on the other hand, then there's those movies that are completely NOT like their trailers. I'm looking at you Bridge to Terabithia.

Posted by Dean | March 28, 2008 11:04 AM

Aye, I did this once in my review for the Black Crowes' latest album, didn't even listen to it. Nobody seemed to notice!

Posted by Maxim magazine | March 28, 2008 11:23 AM

Card counting doesn't work all that well in Vegas casinos anyway as they have gone to multiple decks, and shuffling after each hand, in order to defeat it.

Just as, after The Eudaemonic Pie came out, they went to extreme lengths to level their roulette tables.

Posted by wiredog | March 28, 2008 11:26 AM

When I lived in the Middle East, one of the channels that ran American programs would preview shows and movies by simply showing one 15-30 second scene rather than a conventional ad or trailer of a series of cuts and editing of short scenes. I don't know if it was that they were too lazy or incompetent to edit or their choice, but it made for 10x more appealing and less revealing promos.

Posted by Mike | March 29, 2008 1:31 AM