The Man From UNCLE Movie Review

As some of you may know there is a supposed curse that anybody who has played Superman in a movie or TV has either died or had his career die. So the question is, can Henry Cavil, the new Superman, break this curse? Well, the low grosses for his latest film, The Man From UNCLE might suggest no. However, his performance in that movie makes me want to hope for the best.

This movie is an adaptation of a 1960s spy TV show, directed by Guy Ritchie, director of Lock, Stock, and Two Smoking Barrels; Snatch; and the new Sherlock Holmes movies. Ritchie was the main reason I was excited for this movie, because his style is different from most other directors, and is almost always entertaining. Sure enough, his style is prominent in many scenes throughout the movie, and it is very fun to watch. There are plenty of exciting, stylized action sequences, and moments of dark humor.

The plot revolves around Cavil, a professional thief turned CIA agent, who is forced to team up with a KGB agent (Armie Hammer) to take down a group of Nazi sympathizers who are trying to get a nuclear weapon. Unfortunately, the plot of this movie is pretty generic, and adds little to the formula of other spy movies.

However, what this movie may lack in originality story-wise, it makes up for in directing, as mentioned above, but also from the charisma of its lead actors. Henry Cavil gives an interesting performance, which I personally think is more memorable than his portrayal of Superman. Armie Hammer also gives a good performance, though at times his Russian accent sounds a little fake.

So, in conclusion, The Man From UNCLE is a highly entertaining movie, that makes up for its plots shortcomings with an interesting style and good performances from its main characters. This may not be as good as Lock, Stock, and Two Smoking Barrels; or Snatch, but it is a very fun time at the movies.

3.5 out of 5 stars

Straight Outta Compton Review

Straight Outta Compton effectively tells the story of one of the greatest and most influential rap groups of all time: NWA. It chronicles the rise and fall of the group, as well as the controversy surrounding them.

While I am not the closest follower of the group, I do enjoy their work a lot, as well as the other rappers of the late eighties and nineties. So I greatly enjoyed the feel of the movie, and it's soundtrack very much. But I think that there are plenty of things in here for people who don't like their music as well.

The movie's cast of mostly unknown actors are great at portraying the members of NWA. They all look like their respective characters (Ice Cube is played by the son of the real Ice Cube), and for the most part act like them very well. Paul Giamati also gives a good performance as their manager. Throughout the movie, he rips off the members of the group, but at the same time you get an idea that he still cares for them.

This movie never feels boring at any point in its lengthy two and a half hour run-time. It has a driving plot, which shows their fast-paced lives, and has a thriving energy throughout. There are a few sequences of the racial profiling that their songs have spoken out against, which are upsetting, and do a good job of justifying the controversial nature of their music. There are also a few emotional sequences that contrast with the group's violent persona, and are interesting to watch.

I went to see this movie with my roommate. He is a foreign exchange student from Norway, and says that he had never heard of NWA. However, when we got back, he told me to turn on some of their music. I think that it is great how a very well-done movie like this can have such an impact on people.

4.5 out of 5 stars

Top 5 Worst Cases of Movie Marketing Gone Wrong

Selling a movie to audiences can be difficult. It isn't always easy to grab somebody's attention with an ad. So, many movie studios have done some pretty ambitious things to get their movie in the spotlight. But it doesn't always work, and some of them actually backfire on the advertiser. This post will focus on those rare instances.

I have decided to research the worst instances of  movie marketing backfiring, and rank them based on how bad the backlash was. Though it is rare for an ad campaign to get a response as bad as these, I did manage to find five of them that were about movies.

So remember, while not every marketing campaign is successful, at least most are not as bad as...

5. Spider-Man 2 - MLB Advertising

 

 Anybody who has ever been to a professional sports game knows that stadiums and advertisements go hand in hand. It is almost impossible to go to a professional stadium and not have some brand name shoved in your face. However, in 2004, Sony Pictures decided to take it one step further, and actually put their name on the baseball diamond. They signed a deal to place the logo for Spider-Man 2 on the bases and on-deck circles of fifteen stadiums. However, this did not blow over well with many baseball fans who saw it as overly commercializing the game. There was a huge outcry from baseball fans around the country, including the film's director, Sam Raimi. The plan was cancelled at the last second.

4. Captivity - Billboards

 

Captivity was a torture porn horror film from 2007, which is really only remembered for it's controversial ad campaign. Back then, the advertisements for any horror film needed to say only one thing: "This film is violent and messed up." And they succeeded in getting that message across with it's billboard, which showed four images of a young women going through four stages of the movie's plot: "abduction, confinement, torture, termination." However, most people weren't amused when they went up around Los Angeles and New York. Several people called it graphic and indecent, and some people, including Joss Whedon, campaigned for the movie to have the movies rating removed. The billboards were taken down, costing the studio that released the film a lot of money. The controversy did not even help the movie's sales, as it was a box office bomb.

3. Forgetting Sarah Marshall (2008) - You Suck Sarah Marshall

Judd Apatow's hit romantic comedy Forgetting Sarah Marshall had a creative way to get people interested in the movie before they even knew much about it. They put up several teaser posters around the country, that consisted of phrases like "You suck, Sarah Marshall" and "My mom always hated you, Sarah Marshall." The only issue was... well, people who actually were named Sarah Marshall. Yeah, people don't take well to seeing billboards that blatantly insult them to their face. This led to complaints, and some retaliation pictures featuring similar posters directed toward Judd Apatow. While there wasn't as much outcry as the last two, I'm giving this the higher spot because of how unforeseen it must have been.

2. Mission: Impossible 3 - Musical News Racks

Paramount Pictures had a seemingly safe and inoffensive way to promote their new movie Mission Impossible 3. They fitted musical equipment into over 4,000 Los Angeles Times news racks, which would play the Mission: Impossible theme song when opened. Sounds innocent, right? What could possibly go wrong? Well, many people saw wires from the player, and mistook it for an explosive device. As a result one of the news racks was destroyed by the Bomb Squad, and the rest were dismantled soon afterwards.

1. Aqua Teen Hunger Force Colon Movie Film for Theaters - 2007 Boston Bomb Scare

 

 You may be seeing a theme in the two highest entries.

Cartoon Network's Adult Swim decided to promote their hit series Aqua Teen Hunger Force, as well as the show's movie, using a guerrilla style marketing. Several LED signs were put up around Boston, which featured one of the shows characters giving the finger. However, like in the Mission Impossible 3 stunt, the creators of the sign did not do a good job of concealing the wires, so it had the same outcome. They also failed to notify the police of the purpose of these signs, even after learning they were mistaken for bombs. The signs caused a citywide panic, and led to the arrest of the people who put it up. Though no charges were pressed, Turner Broadcasting, Cartoon Network's parent company, needed to pay two million dollars to the Boston police and Homeland security to settle the matter. It also forced Cartoon Network vice president, Jim Samples, to quit. Well, at least you got the movie in the public's attention.

And those are the worst cases of movie marketing gone wrong. I guess the message to be taken from this is that not all publicity is good publicity.

Sources
http://www.ifc.com/fix/2009/11/when-viral-marketing-goes-wron
http://weburbanist.com/2008/05/06/5-great-examples-of-guerilla-marketing-gone-wrong-from-olympic-fumbles-to-bomb-scares/

Mission: Impossible - Rogue Nation Review

After a six week hiatus, I am finally back to reviewing movies again. So now, I bring you my thoughts on Mission Impossible: Rogue Nation.

This is the fifth movie in the Mission Impossible franchise, and it proves that even twenty years after the first, this franchise is still going strong.

The movie takes place after the events of the fourth film. It follows Tom Cruise's character as he fights and tries to prove the existence of the terrorist organization known as the Syndicate.

Tom Cruise gives this movie his best in terms of stunt-work. This movie has plenty of action sequences that are done excellently by Tom Cruise. Even if you don't care for him as an actor, you have to give him credit for doing his own stunts. And he does a lot of dangerous things in this movie, including the scene where he hangs from a plane during takeoff (as seen in pretty much every single comercial, trailer, or poster for this movie).

It also has a pretty interesting story. It isn't overly simplistic, but it also isn't as confusing as some of the other entries in the franchise. It has intriguing elements, and is sure to keep the audience's attention throughout. It also has some good acting, with a cast that also includes Jeremy Renner, Simon Pegg, and Alec Baldwin. There are several moments of comic relief, mostly delivered by Pegg, which hit most of the time. But there are also many moments of tension, which were pulled off very well.

Overall, this was a pretty good movie. I don't really have much else to say about it, so this may be a little bit shorter than my other reviews. However, I'll just say that this is a tense action-thriller with great stunt-work by Tom Cruise.

4.0 out of 5 stars.