The Big Apple is feeling Golden Delicious tonight as it celebrates the Giants 21-to-17 victory over the New England Patriots, but Hollywood is also getting a Gatorade shower. The Super Bowl is the biggest advertising day of the year, and the studios blitzed TV viewers with new looks at their coolest flicks.
It's also when different companies trot out serious big gun celebrities to pimp their rides. So are you feeling lucky, punk? We're chugging Pepto Bismol, recycling our empty beer bottles, and looking back at the best movie moments during this year's big game.
Welcome to Super Bowl… PSYCHE!
Universal Studios Hollywood pulled some ol' fakeout interrupted programming, with Optimus Prime and Megatron warning us that we'll perish if we don't hop on "Transformers: The Ride 3-D" this May. Hard sell, guys.
You Sunk My Studio!
"We're looking at an extinction-level event." That's the line from the "Battleship" trailer, which Universal execs are hoping doesn’t apply to their jobs once the mega-budget board game gamble splashes into theaters on May 18th. The trailer plays up the Hasbro/"Transformers" connection, and some of the really cool aliens look straight out of "Halo," so we're gonna put a peg in this one as full sail ahead.
John Carter Of Logos
Disney's sci-fi epic "John Carter" used the innovative technique of projecting multiple clips from the film inside its title typeface in a gradual pullback that culminated in the title character going toe-to-toe with that big white ape thing. An internet version expanded on the action, and had us leaping for joy that the March adventure is almost here.
Trailerpalooza
"The Lorax" has a Vampire Weekend track backing it up, "Act of Valor" used real active duty Navy SEALS for a 4th quarter entry into the game, and "The Phantom Menace 3-D" took a more holistic strategy in pitching this as just the first of the saga coming to the big screen in three eyeball gauging dimensions.
Cars Too
Volkswagen inserted Darth Vader into the famous cantina sequence that got us all choked-up with geek bliss. Meanwhile, Hyundai's spot had seemingly every employee of the car company singing Bill Conti's "Gonna Fly Now" from 1976's "Rocky," tagged with voiceover by their spokesdude Jeff Bridges.
Avengers Assemble On The Gridiron
The big kahuna trailer was undoubtedly Marvel's "The Avengers," which practically defines "buildup" having already released a "first look" at the 30-second ad which, upon airing, turned out to be a commercial in-and-of-itself for the minute-long super trailer on their Facebook page. Nick Fury still believes in heroes, and so do we after seeing Mark Ruffalo's Hulk sucker punch a helicopter in mid air. Hells yeah.
Halftime
Madonna is a marketing genius, hence her doing a Super Bowl Halftime show the same week her directorial effort "W.E." hits theaters. Synergy! While football fans might have to feign interest with their girlfriends to see the Duchess of York drama, the pop superstar took halftime to whole new surreal level. She performed a potpourri of her greatest hits, starting with "Vogue," in which she led a procession of Trojan warriors into Lucas Oil Stadium. A lot of other hallucinogenic shenanigans took place before the Material Girl evaporating in a puff of smoke, ostensibly in support of world peace. Wuh?
Clint Fights For America
Some of the commercials were good, some bad, some ugly, but then a familiar raspy voice echoed through America's living room. He was talking about the plight and perseverance of Detroit, the country's rustiest rust belt city. We had our inklings, and sure enough, from out of the shadows came Clint Frickin' Eastwood with his squinty stare that says, "You messed with the wrong town, Economic Downturn." It was a commercial for automotive giant Chrysler, and ended with, "It's halftime, America, and our second half is about to begin." Damn Clint, you make everything sound cool. Even Detroit.
Bueller Bueller Bowl
For years fans dreamed of a sequel to John Hughes' perennial ode to takin' it easy, "Ferris Bueller's Day Off," and in true Reagan-era fashion it took a car company to give it to us. The new Honda CR-V commercial gained instant popularity on the internet this week, with 12 million hits already on YouTube, and aired in truncated form during the game. Director Todd Phillips ("The Hangover") paid tribute to all the best moments of the 1986 classic, and possibly put Matthew Broderick back on the map.
