The Screening Room

According to Variety (by way of /film), we just may see more of the mysterious Cloverfield on screen:

Matt Reeves is in early talks with Paramount to direct a "Cloverfield" sequel, and he has also made a deal with GreeneStreet Films to direct "The Invisible Woman." (Read more)

I'm torn. As much as I enjoyed the original (and plan to see it again and perhaps again), can they really sustain the momentum of the original? Most of the draw for seeing Cloverfield was the "OMG what was that?" factor, which is gone. And do we face another instance of 28 Days Later vs. 28 Weeks Later? Does the new version lose what made the original so cool?

So, early days yet, but what do you think? Would you fork out to see the sequel? Would you prefer a prequel? What would it take to get you back in the seats for Cloverfield 2?

If you live near Plano and you dig on Oscar-winning epics, here's an event for you. The Angelika Plano continues its series of classic Oscar favorites every Thursday night at 7:30 for the next month. The fun starts Tomorrow night with Lawrence of Arabia. Feb. 7 brings All About Eve, followed by Gone With the Wind (Feb. 14, good Valentine's Day date) and Ben Hur (wager on chariot race, Feb. 21). Tickets are nine clams. Get 'em here.

No, we're not talking golf. A Fair to Remember, Allen Mondell and Cynthia Salzman Mondell's ode to the Texas State Fair, has won the prestigious CINE Golden Eagle Award, recognized internationally as a symbol of the highest production standards in filmmaking and videography. Huzzah to it and them. Find out more about the company behind the film, Media Projects, here.

It's 40 years old, it's black and white, and it's scarier than Britney on bender. We speak of Night of the Living Dead , the original 1968 zombiefest that's heading to the Inwood for a one-night stand Feb. 21.

A send-up stands up
It looks as if you are all in on the joke. Meet the Spartans, the spoof of last year’s 300, among others, topped the box office with $18.5 million, edging out Rambo by about $300,000. Spartans’ opening weekend is right in line with the openings of the last two year’s similarly minded spoofs, Date Movie ($19 million) and Epic Movie ($18.6 million).

Now that Sylvester Stallone has released long-unawaited sequels to Rambo and Rocky, what's the next 20-year old flick that he should follow up on.
Share your thoughts below. Here are some suggestions:
Cobra
Over the Top
Tango & Cash
Rhinestone

Tekken, the film adaptation of the popular video game, will hold a casting call on Sunday in Dallas. The film is looking for extras 18 and older of Japanese ancestry to work on the production, which will shoot in Shreveport in February. If you fit the bill, stop by the Embassy Suites Hotel, 3880 W. Northwest Highway, between 9 a.m. and 5 p.m. If you get picked, you’ll earn $200 a day plus hotel room. For more info, go to www.gloriosocasting.com.

Local members of the Screen Actors Guild will host a SAG Awards watching party, and you’re invited. The event will be held Sunday at 6:30 p.m. at the Dallas Angelika, 5321 E. Mockingbird Lane. Mitch Carr of 98.7 KLUV will MC the event that will feature local celebs, contests and door prizes. Tickets are $10; proceeds benefit the Texas Motion Picture Alliance.

Rambo's back and ready for more action - 20 years after his last on-screen appearance. First Die Hard's John McClane came back last summer, followed by Indiana Jones this summer, both after 19 years, and let's not forget Rocky Balboa. When is it too much? Are you rejoicing to see the heroes of your youth back on the big screen? Or is it to time to pass the torch to the next cast of characters?

A monster opening
Cloverfield, armed with an effective viral marketing campaign and a devoted fanboy crowd, easily vanquished the competition over the holiday weekend. Its $46 million opening weekend was good for the best January debut on record.

Accoring to msnbc.com:

The radical Baptist church known for picketing the funerals of American soldiers who lost their lives in Iraq has announced that they intend to protest Heath Ledger’s stateside memorial service because he played a gay character in Brokeback Mountain.

Read the full story.

IVER HEATH, England — Quantum of Solace is the title of the
new James Bond film, the 22nd Bond adventure.

Read more.

Also, have you gotten used to Daniel Craig as Agent 007?

Chuck Palahniuk fans rejoice. Fox Searchlight has scooped up the film adaptation of Choke, a popular novel by the Fight Club author. Searchlight, which has a hit (and Oscar player) on its hands with Juno, paid a reported $5 million for the film at the Sundance Film Festival. For the New York Times' piece on the latest flurry of Sundance acquisitions, click here. For a plot summary of Choke, keep reading.

There's going to be shock anytime someone 28 dies unexpectedly, and when it's someone famous and talented that reaction is magnified in the media. But it will be interesting to see what the results of today's autospy on Heath Ledger and the findings of the toxicology report (whenever they are released) tell us, not just about the cause of Heath Ledger's death, but the caws around his death.

OMG, Paris Hilton was in Highland Park on Tuesday, and we've got video to prove it. The celebutante is in town for a screening of her new movie, cleverly titled The Hottie and the Nottie. Did you go to the screening? What did you think?

Brad Loper / DMN

Slideshow: Heath Ledger 1979-2008

From the New York Times: Actor Heath Ledger Is Found Dead

Read reviews of Heath Ledger's recent films:
Lords of Dogtown (2005)
The Brothers Grimm (2005)
Brokeback Mountain (2005)
Casanova (2005)
Candy (2006)
I'm Not There (2007)

Among last year’s 20 acting nominees, there were five black actors (Eddie Murphy, Will Smith Djimon Hounsou and winners Forest Whitaker and Jennifer Hudston), two Latin nominees (Penélope Cruz and Adriana Barraza) and one Asian (Rinko Kikuchi). But this year, the diversity trend seems to have reversed itself: Ruby Dee and Javier Bardem are the only non-white actors nominated this year.

Every Oscar race has its showdowns, those one-on-one match-ups that transcend the field of five. Wanna know which ones we find most intriguing? Keep reading, oh loyal blog peruser.

I'm going to try to address some of the many snub comments/questions in one bulk posting. Here goes:

American Gangster: I think a lot of people just don't know what to make or do with it. It's a big, fairly mainstream entertainment with a morally ambiguous antihero, and it's a bit on the slick side. Denzel has had his Oscar glory recently (and has two awards), and his performance might have reminded some too much of Training Day. I will still steadfastly defend it, and him. The guy's got charisma and screen presence to burn.

Eddie Vedder: He got caught up in the surprising indifference to Into the Wild. His songs were the highlight of the film for me. I wonder if there's some Sean Penn hating afoot....

Ryan Gosling: I wasn't a big Lars fan; I could never get over the nagging feeling that everyone in it was slightly daft. I liked Half Nelson a lot more. In any case, he's going to be around for years, and he'll he part of the Oscar conversation for as long as he wants to be.

Here's a look at the nomination leaders, how much they've made at the box office and where you can see them:
Noms. Title Box office Where to see?
8 No Country for Old Men $48.6 mil. In theaters
There Will be Blood $8.7 mil. In theaters
7 Atonement $31.8 mil. In theaters
Michael Clayton $39.3 mil. In theaters
5 Ratatouille $206 mil. On DVD
4 The Diving Bell and the Butterfly $2.6 mil. In theaters
Juno $85.3 mil. In theaters

If at first you don't succeed, try, try again And again. And again. And again.

Sound mixer Kevin O'Connell picked up his 20th Oscar nomination, for Transformers. He has yet to win. Somewhere, Susan Lucci is smiling ear to ear.

It's now official: Juno is this year's Little Miss Sunshine, the boutique studio (Fox Searchlight) crossover that slayed the box office and scored nods aplenty. It has now made $87 million domestically on fewer screens than a lot of major releases. Jason Reitman, Ellen Page and Diablo Cody earned nominations to go with the best picture nod. I was especially happy to see Reitman get his - Cody has gotten endless, well-earned buzz for her screenplay, but Reitman has such a deft comic touch, as he showed with Thank You for Smoking. At 30, he's got plenty of plaudits ahead.

Looks like Sicko, Michale Moore's deconstruction of the American healthcare system, is one of the five nominees in the documentary category. Oddly enough, he may be rooting for another nominee in the field, No End in Sight. It's a lot more critical of Moore's favorite punching bag, Pres. Bush, than Sicko.

Cate Blanchett manages the rare double nomination, one in the lead category for Elizabeth: The Golden Age and one in the supporting category for I'm Not There. Many prognosticators felt that her frontrunner status in the supporting category meant that she'd be left off the lead actress list, but apparently Oscar voters can't get enough Cate. The last person to score two acting nominations in the same year was Terrell's own Jamie Foxx in 2004, for Collateral (supporting) and Ray (lead, which he won). The last time an actress turned the trick was 2002, when Julianne Moore scored for Far From Heaven (lead) and The Hours (supporting). She walked away with neither.

I can't say American Gangster's solo nod (for supporting actress Ruby Dee) is a shock; I think the movie was under-appreciated from the start, and I think time will treat it very well. (Nice to see it's still getting love over at IMDB).

Once again we see the value (not much) of a Golden Globe win in the musical/comedy category. Dreamgirls didn't get nominated, and neither did Sweeney Todd. It's hard out there for a demon barber.

And what about Into the Wild? Some experts predicted nods for Sean Penn, Emile Hirsch and Catherine Keener. Zip, zip and zip.

As some of you know, I've been tracking the possible nominees week by week since October, so today is the I was going to finally get to show the world how smart I am. Instead, I would say this is the day I showed the world how sorta smart I am. Of the 30 nominees in the major categories, I correctly predicted 22, giving me a batting average of 73 percent. If you're curious about my exact misses, read on...

So this is what life looks like before 8 a.m. Fascinating.

Tommy Lee Jones and Laura Linney are both considered surprises, but to me both are no-brainers. I said TLJ's Elah performance was the best of his career when the film came out, and I still think so. So much of his acting is in his face, very appropriate for a character who can't admit to himself that he's in a lot of pain. It's a luminous portrait of stifled grief. As for Linney, she can do no wrong in my book (her other great performance of the year, in Breach, has been all but forgotten by now). She makes deeply flawed people appealing and human.

Here are the nominees in the major categories:
Best Picture: “Atonement,” “Juno,” “Michael Clayton,” “No Country for Old Men,” “There Will Be Blood.”
Actor: George Clooney, “Michael Clayton”; Daniel Day-Lewis, “There Will Be Blood”; Johnny Depp, “Sweeney Todd the Demon Barber of Fleet Street”; Tommy Lee Jones, “In the Valley of Elah”; Viggo Mortensen, “Eastern Promises.”
Actress: Cate Blanchett, “Elizabeth: The Golden Age”; Julie Christie, “Away From Her”; Marion Cotillard, “La Vie en Rose”; Laura Linney, “The Savages”; Ellen Page, “Juno.”
Supporting Actor: Casey Affleck, “The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford”; Javier Bardem, “No Country for Old Men”; Hal Holbrook, “Into the Wild”; Philip Seymour Hoffman, “Charlie Wilson’s War”; Tom Wilkinson, “Michael Clayton.”
Supporting Actress: Cate Blanchett, “I’m Not There”; Ruby Dee, “American Gangster”; Saoirse Ronan, “Atonement”; Amy Ryan, “Gone Baby Gone”; Tilda Swinton, “Michael Clayton.”
Director: Julian Schnabel, “The Diving Bell and the Butterfly”; Jason Reitman, “Juno”; Tony Gilroy, “Michael Clayton”; Joel Coen and Ethan Coen, “No Country for Old Men”; Paul Thomas Anderson, “There Will Be Blood.”

Should be getting the nominees any minute. Interesting that ABC decided it would be a good idea to show an ad for the Oscars, without knowing that they're definitely even having a show.

We’ve all seen Paris Hilton on TV and in magazines, but how does she look in the flesh? Find out Tuesday, as the celebutante conducts a whirlwind publicity tour in Dallas for her new film, The Hottie and the Nottie. Your first chance at a live sighting comes at 6 p.m. at the Regent Highland Park Village movie theater, where she will walk the red carpet at the movie’s Dallas premiere. Then it’s off to the Ghostbar at the W for an after party. Say, “hi” to Tinkerbell for us if you see her.

Academy of Motion Pictures Arts and Sciences

Do you agree? Disagree? Share your thoughts and your picks.

Fellow fanboy (fanperson? fan...atic?) Dave Hiott points out this rather shaky look at the Star Trek XI Teaser trailer:

Usually I would be blogging from the Sundance Film Festival right about now. Not this year. And I gotta say, I'm fine with being home.

I've made the trip the last nine years, and have enjoyed it immensely (despite my tendency to get a cold every other year, kind of like the way the Spurs win NBA titles). But lodging gets more costly every time - more attendees + ski hamlet that can't hold everyone = high prices - and this year my usual roommate decided not to go either. Plus, I've often wondered how much value the trip is to the paper, and to my time as a critic. Example: One of my favorite films from last year's fest, Grace is Gone, opens here next week - a mere 11 months after the fact. It even picked up a new Clint Eastwood score along the way.

I'll be at SXSW in March, and I may very well return to snowy, cold as a (fill in your witch's anatomy part) Utah in 2009. But this year I'm more than happy to sleep in my own bed.

Dreaming and scheming: Ewan McGregor and Colin Farrell (The Weinstein Company)

Cinematographer Vilmos Zsigmond, whose gray tones dominate the film's visual style, is one of the best in the business. His credits include The Deer Hunter, Close Encounters of the Third Kind and McCabe and Mrs. Miller. However, none of his recent choices scream of such quality.

This is hardly the first blue period for the Woodman. Go back to the late '70s and into the '80s, when he was still trying to be Ingmar Bergman, and you'll find the likes of Interiors, September and Another Woman. Makes you think of the space aliens that arrived at the end of Stardust Memories talking about how much the liked "the early, funny ones."

Lots of critics were down on Cassandra, but not all of 'em. For a dissenting review, check out Manohla Dargis in the New York Times.

28 Weeks Later's virus + Mad Max's apocalyptic society x Underworld's heroine in black leather + xXx's car and gadgetry =

The Doomsday trailer

Don't know about you, but I'm pretty underwhelmed by Apple's entry into the let's-beat-Netflix sweepstakes. If you download the latest version of iTunes (available in Windows and Mac formats), you'll discover that, after yesterday's big announcements at the Mac World convention, Apple is now renting movies on its iTunes Music Store. But it all looked lame to me. Virtually none of the titles jumped out at me. I don't know ... maybe you differ? I like the idea; I just can't applaud the execution. At least not now.

Well, God and everyone saw Cloverfield at the sneak preview last night. Or so the IMDb.com boards would have me believe. And yes, I was one of the lucky few. And what would the Internets be without one more fangirl chiming in.

(I'm a big believer in not spoiling a movie, so if you want the Big Reveal, look elsewhere. Really. It's not hard to find anymore.)

1. Take your $8 and head to the theaters Thursday night. Seriously. Just ... go.
1a. Take your Dramamine first. The whole thing looks like some dude shot it on a handheld while running for his life (hence that whole "plot" thing). I'm not prone to motion sickness, and I had a headache in the first 5 minutes. In fact, it was worst for me before all the action started. The girl next to me actually got up and left.
2b. Yes, Blair Witch did it first, but J.J. did it right.

2. Lesson learned: Sneakers and jeans are smart attire. If you're running for your life, you don't want to do it in 4-inch Manolos and a mini-dress. I'm just sayin'.

3. I had built this movie up a lot in my head, and I wasn't disappointed. There were plenty of "[gasp] [jump] OMG!" moments - possibly enough to annoy my neighbor.

4. That is one heck of a camera to survive everything its put through *and* film for 90 minutes.
4a. 90 minutes? The movie takes place over more than seven hours (according to a character near the end), and dude only shot 90 minutes? Riiiiight.

5. Pay attention to the upper corners of the screen at the very last scene. Or so I've been told.

6. Stay through the credits, as any good fangirl knows.

7. The cast of unknowns works. You're not sitting there thinking, 'oh, Nathan Fillion will get out of this!' You really feel like you're watching a random group of strangers.

The ‘Bucket’ does the kicking
After three weeks at the top of the charts, National Treasure: Book of Secrets was finally taken down by a couple of old guys. The Bucket List, starring Jack Nicholson and Morgan Freeeman as terminal cancer patients, won the weekend with $19.3 million in it first week in wide release.

The good folks at Variety report that Charlize Theron will join Viggo Mortensen in The Road, which will be produced by the Cuban/Wagner enterprise 2929 Entertainment. (Read about it here). You may know The Road as The Minimalist and Powerfully Depressing Cormac McCarthy Novel That Oprah Flipped For. Encouraging sign: Aussie John Hillcoat is directing, and his last film, The Proposition, was downright McCarthy-esque.

It had to happen. Some nefarious YouTube geniuses have created a video mash-up of Daniel Day-Lewis' "I drink your milkshake!" rant from There Will be Blood and Kelis' booty dance anthem "Milkshake." Short, but in my opinion pretty darn brilliant. Check it out (courtesy of New York Magazine) here.

We're all for intelligent movie talk here at the Screening Room. Sometimes we even provide it. So this announcement from the Dallas Institute of Humanities and Culture was met with a figurative thumbs up: The Institute will host a monthly discussion on current films with a critic or professor every first Monday of the next four months (that's Feb. 4, March 3, April 7 and May 5 if you're scoring at home, or even if you're alone). The action runs from 6 p.m. to 7:30 p.m. Tuition is $80 for members, $90 for nonmembers and $25 for teachers.

Yeah, your lives are tragic. But cheer up, Oscar's on the way (Focus Features)

I think the Oscars are looking like a best picture/director split between Atonement and the Coens. I just don't think Schnabel has enough skins on the wall to win the big one, though I'm sure he'll be nominated, and Joe Wright doesn't have the rep. I also think Bardem, Christie and Day-Lewis can give their victory speeches now. Blanchett? Not as sure.

Ok, so they're not anti-American in the traditional sense. But this year further proves that the Golden Globes cannot be taken seriously as a predictor of the Academy Awards for one simple reason: the Hollywood Foreign Press Association seeminly picks a foreigner whenever possible. A quick rundown: Drama actor Daniel Day-Lewis (British), drama actress Julie Christie (British), comedy or musical actress Marion Cotillard (French), supporting actor Javier Bardem (Spanish) and supporting actress Cate Blanchett (Australian). In fact, the only American to win a major acting award was Johnny Depp -- and he lives in France. The best drama winner was Atonement (made in England), the comedy or musical winner was Sweeney Todd (ditto) and the directing award went to Julian Schnabel, whose film is in French.
All of these winners are perfectly deserving on a case-by-case basis. But collectively, it sure seems as if the HFPA prefers the import.

It should be noted that, although the Writers Guild did not picket the new conference at the Beverly Hilton Hotel, about a dozen entertainment industry workers gathered outside to beg the writers and producers to return to the bargaining table. With many productions shutdown because they are out of scripts, the worker bees on those shows have found themselves out of jobs. Howard Keys, a set medic with the ABC show Private Practice, told the Associated Press, “We're the workers, the grunts of the industry. A grip, a camera operator, a set lighting technician — they can't work elsewhere. These are our full-time jobs, our careers.”

NBC has got to be royally furious. It's 8:38 and E! and the Golden Globes Web Site have already announced all the winners (congratulations Atonement, btw). Meanwhile, NBC plots along to the finish, announcing winners to an audience that can potentially see into the future. If there was a way for this news conference to be botched any further, this is it.

Bardem wins. Meanwhile, the Cowboys blog has 381 comments posted since the end of the game.

Strangely, the AP already seems to have the winners list. I'll refrain from posting it here, but note that the time is 8:21 and I am predicting Javier Bardem as the winner in the supporting actor category.

And the first winner announced, for Best Supporting Actress, movies, announced by Billy Bush was "Cate Blanchett for I'm Not There. And, sure enough, she wasn't there. Coming soon, the sequel, "I'm Not Here, Either."

How sweet would it be if all awards shows moved this fast? I think these striking writers are onto something here.

Can you feel the excitement? That Billy Bush is a firecracker.

It's been a tough day (unless you are a Cowboys hater like Vognar), but we will try to muster up the strength to blog tonight on the Golden Globes following the life-force-sucking loss of the Cowboys today.
So far, none of NBC's prepackaged junk has inspired me much to forget the game. Dated interviews with nominees and 15 minutes of Kathy Griffin being snarky have me wishing the network would just move up tonight's episode of American Gladiators. I'm sure things will pick up once the new conference gets here. (Has that sentence ever been written in the English language before?)

On the Over the Top blog, Lawson Taitte points us in the direction of a clip from local actress Denise Lee's appearance in Mad Money. Go here, click on character profiles, click on Bridget and pick the clip. (Yes, it's kind of a pain to find, but she's funny.)

You can also catch her in person starring in Lady Day at Emerson's Bar and Grill, opens Jan. 25 at Contemporary Theatre of Dallas.

There's one awards presentation the WGA will still participate in: its own. The scribes announced the nominees for this year's WGA awards today, and one local film made the cut: The Rape of Europa, co-produced by Dallasite Robert Edsel, snagged a nod for best documentary screenplay. Wanna know the rest? Keep reading.

Moviefone has come out with a list of the 38 most anticipated films of 2008 (why 38? your guess is as good as mine). But it is a list that gets my blood pumping a bit for this year. The top 10 are:
10) Star Trek XI (Dec. 25)
9) The Chronicles of Narnia: Prince Caspian (May 16)
8) Hancock (Will Smith superhero movie out July 2)
7) Speed Racer (May 9)
6) Sex and the City (May 30)
5) Iron Man (Comic book movie starring Robert Downey Jr. May 2)
5) Bond 22 (real name pending, hopefully before its Nov. 7 release)
3) Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince (Nov. 21)
2) The Dark Knight (July 18)
1) Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull (May 22)
For the compelte list, head over to here.
I'd say they picked most of the well-known biggies for 08, and there's no way anything out scores Indiana Jones on the anticipation meter.

The Golden Globes have already been reduced to a not-so-golden press conference. Might the Oscars suffer a similar fate? Check the Hollywood Reporter's update here.

Keep on keepin’ on
National Treasure: Book of Secrets maintained its stranglehold on the box office, earning another $20 million. That’s good for three-straight weeks at the top, and $170.8 million domestically. And let’s not forget the $102 mil. it’s earned abroad. No doubt Disney hasn’t.

Got an old formal dress in need of a new home? The first 27 women wearing a formal dress they are willing to donate to Thursday night's advance screening of 27 Dresses at the Cinemark Legacy in Plano will receive a Palm Centro smart phone and plum seats for the movie. The dresses will then be donated to the Princess Project, an organization that distributes prom dresses to high school girls who would not be able to afford them. The event starts at 6:30 p.m., and passes are available at the Sprint stores located at 921 N. Central Expressway; 7615 Campbell Road, Suite 100; 2811 Craig Dr., Suite 104; and 913 Preston Road, Suite 100.

The 2nd annual AFI-Dallas International Film Festival is right around the corner (March 27-April 6). Want to get involved and have access to screenings-a-plenty? Become a volunteer. Click here to find out how.

I'm an oilman and I'm OK: Day-Lewis gets bloody (Paramount Vantage)

Incidentally, both Blood and Country make excellent use of the arid Marfa landscape. Maybe the National Society will be vacationing there this year.

The Golden Globes have always been good for some wacky celebrity drinking escapades and a little Oscar prognosticating. But it looks like the party element is about to take a hit, courtesy of the writers strike. The latest word is that the stars won't show next Sunday when NBC broadcasts the show.

I usually watch the Globes only because I have to, but suddenly my interest level has shot up. What will the cameras do in lieu of a drunken Nicholson shot? Will any B-listers dare cross the picket line? Might Conan come by and spin his wedding ring form laughs? It should be interesting, and let's face it, that's not a word often associated with this dog and pony show.

Courtesy

Washington Post writer Jen Chaney breaks down a list of seven exceptional DVD moments from 2007, from Judd Apatow's entertaining commentaries to the thoroughness of Twin Peaks: The Gold Box Edition. Tell us your top picks -- or disappointments -- with this year in home entertainment.

Personally, I have to give props to MGM for its massive Stargate: SG-1 complete series box set. If nothing else, it wins hands down for Shiniest Packaging.

And for Best Use of Extra Space on a DVD: a shout out to BBC for Doctor Who: The Complete Second Series. Video commentaries (especially "The Girl in the Fireplace," with then-coupled co-stars David Tennant and Sophia Myles) that appear as picture-in-picture frames of the episode, and David Tennant's video diaries (think "The Real World" confessional with an actual engaging person inside).

Same ’ol, same ‘ol
National Treasure: Book of Secrets retained its stranglehold on the top spot, bringing in another $54.5 million over the extended, five-day weekend, for a total of $149.9 million. Meanwhile, Alvin and the Chipmunks proved it, too, is a juggernaut, earning $41 million to bring its total to $153.6 million in three weeks.

21, the film adaptation of Bringing Down the House: The Inside Story of Six M.I.T. Students Who Took Vegas for Millions, will open this year's SWSX Film Festival on March 7. The book (and movie by extension) follows the story of a group of students who used card counting to win millions. The film stars Jim Sturgess, Kate Bosworth, Kevin Spacey and Laurence Fishburne and comes out for reals on March 21.
To get you primed on the art of card counting (hey, it's not illegal, but it will get you booted from the casinos), check out this piece in this past Sunday's New York Times Style section.