Super Bowl Movie Ad Report Card: Super 8, Captain America and 12 More

I know. As you dragged yourself out of bed this morning and went for the Asprin, one burning question clawed it’s way through the post-superbowl haze: “Did I drink way too many beers or was that Transformers 3 spot actually kind of awesome?” It’s actually a fair question! Now, since all fifteen movie advertisements that aired last night are online, let’s take a sober look at each one and see how they fair on the Movieline Superbowl Ad Report Card.

Transformers: The Dark of the Moon Wow. Just when I thought there was absolutely no way that people would be tricked into shelling out money for another two-and-a-half hour assault on coherence, eardrums and intelligence, this slick promo actually got even me a little pumped. Grade: A


J.J. Abrams loves his Mystery Box, so I can't tell you anything about Super 8 that you can't learn from the clip below (or by scrutinizing the first teaser frame by frame.)

It is produced by Steven Spielberg and seems to be tapping into the Close Encounters or E.T. vibe. (Only with a little lens flare, naturally.)

All I can tell is that something serious is happening in suburbia, probably because something escaped from that derailed train. I'm guessing that kid videotaped a secret (I don't want to get too hopeful and say he actually shot Super 8 film) and now the government is after him. And also after whoever gets yanked by that mysterious force in the supermarket near the Crisco cans.

Oh, heck, let's watch the 30 second clip again. It was, for me, the best thing that came out of the Super Bowl this year.




Super 8 Based on the music and the storyline of this preview, you may have also wondered this morning whether Steven Spielberg commissioned an action-packed remake of E.T. from J.J. Abrams. Upon closer inspection, this is actually a new movie…I think?Grade: C





Cowboys and Aliens Some clever editor found a way to sneak in some footage of Olivia Wilde naked here! Otherwise, this ad for this apparently very serious film about cowboys fighting aliens wasn’t anywhere near as effective as the first trailer.Grade: C





Fast 5 I feel like the music should have been much louder in this trailer. Grade: C+





Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides This one looks like a welcome return to the humor and adventure that first made the series popular. On the other hand, it’s twice as long as most of the other spots, which doesn’t bode well for the whole economy-of-story thing. Grade: B





Rango This spot gives a nice feel for the movie’s tone without using it’s entire running time to flash-cut a billion images together. Nice work. Grade - B+





Rio As far as CGI animal movies that being with the letter “R” go, Rango looks much better. Grade: C-






Battle: Los Angeles Nothing new here, but this alien invasion-flick still looks solid. If it’s not broken, don’t fix it. Grade: B





Drive Angry 3-D Just what a 3-D action movie about Nicolas Cage escaping from hell needed: Critical review blurbs!Grade: C+



Limitless It seems like they could have gone a much more creative route here and perhaps made another fake advertisement? Instead the marketing team went with this bland spot that just made me wonder why we still haven’t gotten a White Noise adaptation.Grade: D






Priest A few points for the ironic Depeche Mode song used in what looks like another man-fights-God’s army movie from Legion director Scott Charles Stuart. Not enough sad faces though.Grade: C-





Just Go with It Weird. I could have sworn this was a beer commercial. Apparently it’s an ad for the new Adam Sandler movie? I still find this very strange. Grade: F



The Adjustment Bureau Is this movie actually coming out? Anyway, here’s more of the same footage that we’ve been seeing in previews for what feels like two years.Grade: D