The greatest advertising opportunity of the year, aka the Super Bowl, is over, and one highly priced team of players beat another highly priced team of players. But as always, it's the ads everyone is talking about anyway, and this year, Hollywood dropped a bunch of cash hoping to lure football lovers to theaters over the next few months.
It's the blockbuster movies that tend to be the splashiest, and this year is no different. Universal continues to shamelessly push "Battleship" as "Transformers 4: Rihanna Vs The Space Aliens" and we can't blame them. Everything from the sound effects to the color palette to the creature design wreaks of the Hasbro franchise, but it still remains to be seen if this is worth getting wet over. Meanwhile, Disney positioned "John Carter" as an "Avatar" meets "Dune" meets 'The Phantom Menace' sort of thing, to middling effect. For all its epic scope, we still have no idea what that movie is about.
Winning the prize for best movie trailer is Marvel, whose one-minute spot for "The Avengers" is pretty goosebump raising. Yes, it's kind of ridicuous and still looks a bit overstuffed, but you gotta admit, that 360 shot of the the superhero team standing shoulder-to-shoulder is pretty badass, as is Hulk leaping over Manhattan skyscrapers. Good work, marketing team.
In other ads vying for your attention: "21 Jump Street" drops another tease for the highly buzzed comedy; "Ghost Rider: Spirit of Vengeance" continues to look atrocious; "Act of Valor" nails the patriotic flag waving vibe they're going for; and "The Lorax" probably impressed kids and baffled Vampire Weekend fans. Meanwhile, Chrysler coralled Clint Eastwood for a pretty moving spot that will melt even the most cynical of hearts. And in a final related note, "Battleship" director Peter Berg also helmed that fucking weird "The Voice" ad that for some reason includes Betty White. Enough with Betty White America!
In case you missed it, click on the titles for "G.I. Joe: Retaliation" and "The Dictator" for their game day spots. Watch the rest below, and drink some Pepto Bismol before you go to bed.
These car commercials are obnoxious. It sucks that Detroit is inching ever-closer to being a third-world country, it really does, but the auto industry has no one else but themselves to blame for their current troubles. They've made shit cars for years and years while the Japanese were winning over people's trust. To be fair they're good now but its hard to win back people's trust after years of garbage.
Why is the whole approach behind "Act of Valor" so insulting to me? I have a number of friends who have served overseas these past few years, and one of the last things they'd like in their name is an action movie that claims to be all about authenticity, but looks like The Expendables with non-actors and dubstep drops during action scenes.
The Avengers ad is all kinds of kick ass. Can't wait.
Also, I feel bad for Andrew Stanton because John Carter looks like a heap of shit. I was hoping for better for these Pixar directors making the leap to live action.
Seems David Gordon Green directed that Chrysler ad.