In 1962, Professor Edward O. Thorp authored a book called "Beat The Dealer", and in doing so became the first person to publish a system for playing Blackjack that actually worked - a disciplined player following his rules could gain a consistent edge over the casino. The system he developed involved the player remembering the number of high and low cards that had been played, and became known as "card-counting".

Fast-forward to the early 80s, and groups of sharp students from MIT and Harvard Business School were becoming interested in using card-counting to beat the casinos in Atlantic City and Las Vegas. They formed teams, found investors, practised the art and developed advanced team-play techniques. The best of these teams made huge profits for their investors and players, with various MIT Blackjack teams existing until the early 2000s.

21 is based on the book "Bringing Down the House", which itself is a heavily fictionalised account of one of the MIT Blackjack teams. It follows MIT student Ben Campbell (Jim Sturgess) as he catches the eye of mathematics professor and Blackjack team manager Mickey Rosa (Kevin Spacey) and is recruited into the team. Soon Ben is enjoying weekends in Vegas playing the high-roller, staying in luxury suites comped to him by the casinos and making money hand over fist, ; but needless to say the good times don't last.

The film is at its best in the casino scenes - away from the tables it's all laid on a little thick for my taste, with many of the characters being not much more than cariacturescaricatures that we've seen before. It's still worth a viewing though, particularly if the real life story piqued your interest.

While looking in a landfill for a toy for his son, a poor construction worker happens upon a strange rubber ball. He takes it home and names it 'CJ7' after the latest toy fad that his son wants to buy, but cannot afford. Unbeknownst to him, however, a dog-like alien emerges from the ball, forms a close friendship with the boy and even manages to impart some of life's lessons along the way.

CJ7 is the latest effort by Chinese actor-writer-director Stephen Chow, and again combines genres in the way that only he can, to hilarious result. A blend of special effects, exploited clich((eacute))s and, of course, Chow's unique brand of slapstick, the film is ultimately light on story but makes up for it in charm and quirkiness. After all, at a brisk 88 minutes, it doesn't have much time to waste.

Fans of Chow's previous films may find unusual the fact that Chow himself doesn't actually feature much in CJ7. Instead, he focuses his efforts behind the camera and in crafting the E.

T.-like relationship between the alien and his on-screen son. Nevertheless, there is no doubt that this is a Stephen Chow film as it is so unique that it arguably deserves a genre in unto itself.

If you haven't yet seen any of his work, do yourself a favour and give CJ7 a try. It's by no means his best work, but is certainly better than a lot of the similarly oriented fare out there.