super bowl Tagged Articles at Cinematical

In about a month, some football team will be playing some other football team at the Super Bowl. I'm not sure who will be on the field, nor do I much care since my team is already out. But I'll still be spending my February 7 at a Super Bowl party. I'll just be concentrating more on the seven layer dip and waiting for the game to be interrupted by the real entertainment, the Super Bowl commercials. And since I'm a movie lover, I'm especially looking forward to any new trailers that show up that evening.

Advertising Age has a rundown of which companies have bought Super Bowl spots this year, including three movie studios. One of these, Paramount, has revealed that it will be promoting Shutter Island, The Last Airbender and Iron Man 2 during the first and second quarters of the big game. The other two studios, Universal and Walt Disney, are being a bit more secretive, though Advertising Age shares its ideas of what trailers we'll likely see. Given the inclusion of Up in last year's mix, the one certainty is that we'll see an ad for Disney/Pixar's Toy Story 3.

It's interesting to look at last year's spots, because some of the film's advertised, specifically Year One and Land of the Lost were big disappointments at the box office. Then, of course, there was the marketing travesty involving a 3D commercial for DreamWorks Animation's Monsters vs. Aliens. Besides misrepresenting the film in an antiquated type of 3D that doesn't do the movie or new technology justice, there were too many Super Bowl viewers who lacked 3D glasses, whether due to a shortage or complete unawareness of the necessary specs.

You know how all the movie geeks get all giddy and gooey every time the Super Bowl draws near? It's not because those guys like sports, believe me. (Movie nerds are actually SCARED of spectator sports. Yeah, I said it.) The reason is obvious: The Super Bowl always delivers lots of brand-new, mega-pricey, and occasionally effective TV commercials, and movie promos are always part of the mix.

This year, for example, we're all a-geeked about "all-new" films like Transformers 2, Star Trek, G.I. Joe, Land of the Lost, and Wild Hogs 2: Domestic Morons. (Just kidding about that last one. Good title though.) And that got me to thinking about the exceedingly transitional nature of this mini nerd-in. For example ... can anyone recall which Super Bowl movie ads they were pumped for in 2002? 1998? 1983? Lord knows I can't -- and I've been a movie-geek sports nut since, well, about 1983.

But a movie blog would be remiss for letting such a marketing day flit by without a discussion post. And so I ask you this: Do you even remember the Super Bowl movie promos from last year? Or any year? And what if a Super Bowl teaser is really amaaaaazing ... but the movie ends up sucking meatloaf? Do you feel impressed ... or duped? Anyway, please leave your favorites in the comments section, and then feel free to share your thoughts on this topic:

Does being a huge movie fan mean you have to be a huge movie marketing fan? (I say no.) Yes, there are some really awesome trailers sometimes, but overall ... meh.

Update: If you missed any of tonight's Superbowl movie promos, check them out over here and definitely tell us your favorites.

I guess that since the FCC determined that the sight of Janet Jackson's breast had traumatized families around the world during the Super Bowl, they have been pretty sensitive about the keeping a strict PG-vibe to the proceedings. Although I don't think anyone saw that Prince "shadow malfunction" coming. But in the end, this year's half-time show was relatively controversy free -- instead, there were complaints about the commercials. GLAAD first made a formal complaint about a Snickers commercial and the suicide prevention group, American Foundation for Suicide Prevention, rallied to have a GM commercial removed as well (Both commercials have since provided alternate endings.)

So it makes you wonder what it was about the commercial for Hannibal Rising that caused it to never even get to air. Considering what most people thought of the film (including our own James and Ryan) they probably could have used the hype. But in the age of the internet, nothing stays hidden for long. BDTV is now hosting the rejected commercial for the horror prequel. After watching it, I'm not sure why the commercial was rejected; it could be the "kids in peril" shots, or maybe it's just because it's a pretty lackluster commercial. In the end, it probably won't matter how many high-profile ads they cram the airwaves with when the movie they're promoting probably shouldn't have been made in the first place.

Like a handful of other studios, Pixar has revealed its big Super Bowl spot - an ad for Cars - a bit ahead of its appearance during the game. Though the always-enthusiastic folks at AICN have labeled the teaser the film's "best preview yet," I have to say that I beg to differ. If anything, it leaves me even more worried about the movie.

To this point, I've loved every single thing Pixar has done, so I'm really trying to reserve judgement on Cars. That said, though, it's getting harder and harder for me to stay hopeful. Pixar's films have always been uncommonly witty, endearing, and I daresay magical. But Cars? From everything the studio has shown us so far, it looks dumb, obvious, and totally lacking in the charm that has been such a key element of every other Pixar production. So what the hell is going on? And can some reassure me, please? Anyone? Bueller?

I searched this week for special screenings taking place at the same time as the Super Bowl, for Austinites who aren't into the football thing. There are a few alternatives: Alamo Drafthouse Downtown is screening the UT Film Loop monthly movie, The Man with Two Heads, and then the Spike & Mike animation fest that night. The Paramount has scheduled a double-feature of Before Sunrise and Before Sunset. Meanwhile, if your TV simply isn't large enough, the Alamo theaters at S. Lamar, Lake Creek, and Village each are dedicating a movie screen to showing the big game, with various food/drink specials and entertainment extras.

• The SXSW schedule of feature films is supposed to go public on Monday 2/6. You can view a list of world premieres on the Web site, but I'm looking forward to finding out about all the smaller films. The Austin Chronicle nabbed an advance list that contains more titles than the SXSW page. One they missed: local filmmaker Kat Candler's feature jumping off bridges.
• Austin Film Society seems to have taken over the Dobie Theatre: three AFS@Dobie films currently occupy the theater's screens this week. Darwin's Nightmare (photo above) is being held over for a third week, perhaps because it was nominated for a Best Documentary Oscar; Bubble is floating around for a second week; and Before the Fall, a 2004 German film about a teen at a Nazi academy, opens this week.