From CultureMap: My overview of Super Bowl movie ads

Super Bowl ad preview 2: Blast back to the future with Buzz Aldrin

I actually would like to sign up for a chance of winning a space on the rocket. Especially if Buzz Aldrin himself was on board. But, alas, I don't think I would meet the weight specs.

Super Bowl ad preview: Willem Dafoe is Satan (and Kate Upton is hot)

Look closely, and you'll see Kate Upton and Usher also went along for the ride. And speaking of Kate Upton: She gets behind the wheel here, too.

Coolest Super Bowl commercial ever... still

The only possible way they could have improved this: If Eminem would have said, "And by the way -- if you don't buy a Chrysler, you're a bitch-ass punk." And here's the runner-up. (Yeah, pretty much the one you'd expect.)

Clint Eastwood: "Re-elect Barack Obama!"

"Or at least don't vote for that tool who would have let the American auto industry fail." (Think about it.)

Eminem in Motor City

This is -- hand's down -- my favorite Super Bowl XLV commercial. Great use of guitar riff from Eminem's theme for 8 Mile. Great use of Eminem, too.

Another Super Bowl spot: Cowboys & Aliens

OK, I'm ready to buy my opening-day ticket for this right now.

The Force will be with Super Bowl XLV

Gee, do you think George Lucas got a free Volkswagen or two out of this? (Hat tip to John Guidry.)

Super commercials

During the days leading up to Super Bowl weekend, Advertising Age has been polling folks to determine the greatest Super Bowl commercial of all time. Here are the two finalists:



After what appears to have been a gruelling gridiron contest, Pittsburgh Steelers defensive lineman Mean Joe Greene gets "a Coke and a smile" from a young fan (Tommy Okon). Believe it or not, this 1979 spot (directed by Lee Lacy) was so phenomenally popular, it actually spawned a 1981 TV-movie about its production: The Steeler and the Pittsburgh Kid, directed by Lou Antonio, featuring a pre-E.T. Henry Thomas as the youngster who offers a soft drink to his favorite football star.



Two years after he unleashed Blade Runner, director Ridley Scott went all retro-futuristic again for this classic TV spot that launched the Apple McIntosh personal computer. Taking his cue from 1984, George Orwell's dystopian novel about surveillance and repression in a totalitarian tomorrow, Scott -- working from a concept developed by Steve Hayden, Lee Clow and Brent Thomas -- pits a hammer-wielding heroine (Anya Major) against the despotic Big Brother (David Graham) in a battle meant to symbolize the notion that owning a Macintosh (as opposed to, say, an IBM personal computer) was a great way to triumph over conformity and assert your individuality. Or something like that. Appropriately enough, the commercial first aired on Jan. 22, 1984 -- during the third quarter of Super Bowl XVII.

Final Super Bowl take

Is it just me, or was this the first time in a long time when the game was more entertaining than the commercials?

Pre-game peeks

From the look of the pre-game commercials, looks like Oscar winner Nicolas Cage will burn up the screen this month, and Oscar nominee Mark Wahlberg will do some serious ass-kicking in March. But would Eddie Murphy's Oscar chances be helped if folks didn't see commercials for his next film? (Is that the lamest Super Bowl posting on line today, or what?)

Speaking of the big game...

Looks like, once again, a horror flick is dominating the megaplexes on Super Bowl weekend.

Super Bowl counter-programming

The folks at Turner Classic Movies must figure that foreign film aficionados aren’t into sports, or that football fanatics don’t like to read subtitles. Whatever the reason, the network is offering Cinema Paradiso (with the late, great Philippe Noiret) and The Battle of Algiers (recently screened for decision-makers at the Pentagon) as counter-programming during Sunday’s telecast of the Super Bowl.

BTW: Why do I suspect I will never again use the words "Philippe Noiret" and "Super Bowl" in the same sentence?