While most newspapers and magazines devote December to the Best Films of 2007 (and sometimes the worst too), the LA Times has gone one step further and polled its contributors on the highlights and misses when it comes to the 60 second Cliff notes version of the film meant to entice the masses to the megaplex. The one they liked the least was Speed Racer:
This trailer is clearly made for movie novices — those young folk (perhaps age 7 and below) who have not yet learned that if a movie includes a monkey, lines like “You think you can drive a car and win a race and change the world? It doesn’t work that way!” and John Goodman AND it is not directed by the Coen brothers who can make just about anything work, then that movie is certainly doomed to failure. Add some horrible looking graphics and a seizure inducing pace, and this is hands-down the worst trailer of the year.
It is worth flicking through the rest of the ‘winners’ just for the categories (‘Best trailer for a mediocre movie’). With the WGA threatening to boycott the Oscars and Golden Globes, it is good to see print journalists picking up the baton for most entertaining award presentation instead.
Monday night the film industry may have figured out a way to combat a growing problem faced by most television advertisers; time shifting. Wikipedia, that bastion of all things completely true and accurate, defines “time shifting” as:
“the recording of programming to a storage medium to be viewed or listened to at a time more convenient to the consumer. Typically, this refers to TV programming but can also refer to radio shows via podcasts.”
While time shifting may be all the rage these days, I’ve been doing it since September of 2003 when I first purchased Tivo. Ever since, it is the rare television show that I will watch live. Anyone who has ever owned a Tivo or DVR knows the luxury of being able to record your favorite television shows, and even live events, so that you can watch them whenever you want. And for those of you who don’t know what I am talking about, you might want to join the 21st century as soon as humanly possible by taking a trip to your local electronics store to pick up one of God’s gifts to couch potatoes.
One of the greatest features of Tivo and DVRs is their ability to allow viewers to skip over commercials either through fast forwarding through them, or jumping ahead 30 seconds. While consumers may be saving millions of hours by jumping past plugs for the latest laundry detergent or gas guzzling SUV, advertisers have been griping quite loudly about their commercials being “zapped” for some time now.
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