Planning Our Own Oscar Party
When it comes to movies, we’re serious men and women. When you walk into a theater, we don’t want you to be blindsided or suffer a locker full of hurt. Yes, some of these films can leave you feeling up, but others can sequester you in a district of misery. So we serve as your […]
Movie Monday: Cop Out
Sure, Shutter Island may have lost nearly 50% of its box-office take in a week. Sure, it might’ve made just $22.2 million—less than Avatar has probably earned through themed lunchbox sales. But it was still enough to push the Martin Scorsese thriller to the top of the movie heap again, besting newcomers Cop Out ($18.6 […]
The Sounds of Success
So, what’s the most enticing sound you can think of? Birds singing? The engine of a Ferrari 458 Italia? Rain spattering on your window? How about … a buzzing cell phone? According to neuromarketing research expert Martin Lindstrom, we love the soft hum of a silenced cell phone—or, at the very least, we can’t ignore […]
The Agony of De Camera
I like the Olympics. I like almost everything about them. I like the snowboard cross. I like bobsledding. I like it when figure skaters hit the perfect quad and when short-track speed skaters careen into walls. I even like the biathalon, for goodness’ sake. Every night for the last week, my family has postponed its […]
‘The Wolfman’ is One Ruff Film
Halfway through The Wolfman, I began wondering, “Would the werewolf be quite so murderous if someone just gave him some Milk Bones?” I know Milk Bones always cheer my dog up. Really, you’d think someone would’ve tried to formulate a better strategy for dealing with the film’s rampaging werewolves. Perhaps if they’d brought in Cesar […]
Movie Monday: Valentine’s Day
Did you do something special with your significant other this weekend? Give them flowers? Chocolates? A new crescent wrench? Or did you celebrate Valentine’s Day like much of America apparently did, and buy your sweetie … some movie tickets? A trio of new films dominated the box office this weekend, bumping poor ol’ Avatar to […]
TD for Tim T?
So I was sitting on my couch yesterday, munching on nachos and sipping a carbonated beverage when I saw Tim Tebow tackle his mother. It was a clean hit—no flags were thrown, no fines were levied. And it was, I must admit, a clever turn for what at first appeared to be a slick-but-standard advertising […]
Just Wait ‘Til They See the Ad!
It’s amazing what dust an eensy-weensy Super Bowl ad can stir up. As some of you may have heard, Focus on the Family (Plugged In’s parent organization) will be airing a commercial during the Big Game this weekend. The ad—featuring former Florida Gators quarterback Tim Tebow and his mom—has become a pretty big deal around […]
Movie Monday: When in Rome
Someday, I will write this Monday blog and announce that Avatar has fallen to No. 2. But today is not that day. Avatar continued to hold a convincing lead on the weekend’s box office charts, pulling down another $30 million to continue its march to becoming North America’s top-grossing film of all time. Mel Gibson’s […]
Alba’s Fair in Love and Gore
We’ve read stories on how celebrities influence us. We’ve read stories on how we’re growing more obsessed with how we look. We’ve even read stories on how celebrities affect that obsession. But I’ve never read a story quite like this. There’s a woman in China (London’s Daily Mail just calls her Xiaoqing) who desperately wants […]