Movie and Television Reviews

My friend thought I was nuts: "Why are you taking notes during the game," he asked.

"When you blog, you never rest."

Hyundai:

Humor: C. Moderately clever line about remembering name.
Effectiveness: B. It compares Hyundai to big manufacturers around the world except, notably, American ones.

Follow up:

Denny's free Breakfast:

Humor: B. I like the stereotypes. The whipped cream surprised me.
Effectiveness: A. Nothing will stop me from going to Denny's on Tuesday.

Bud Light 1: Drinkability meeting:

Humor: D. This kind of joke is old hat, where people over-react to a comment about a product. At least Axe has girls.
Effectiveness: D.

Toyota Venza:

Humor: N/A
Effectiveness: Vague, insulting to cynics.

Career Builder:

Humor: A. It just keeps getting better and better. Love the guy calling employee, "dummy."
Effectiveness: B. Nothing to distinguish it from Monster.

Coca Cola Avatar:

Humor: A. People can indeed be anybody. Tasteful and didn't go for cheap laughs.
Effectiveness: A great affinity-type ad. Zeroea in on nerd subculture without offending anybody else.

Budweiser Circus:

Humor: C. Anthropomorphic ads are old hat. I didn't think the romance is too funny. Lame ending line.
Effectiveness: B. Horses distinguish Bud.

Year One Trailer:

Humor: C. It looks like it should be a funny movie, but none of the jokes in the trailer are funny, especially the "hilt" one.
Effectiveness: C. Doesn't excite me about the movie. I still might see it.

Coca Cola Heist:

Humor: A. Visually stunning and the most creative ad of the night.
Effectiveness: A. I like that Coke went for a low key approach this year.

Heroes, the Gridiron:

Humor: B. I like seeing super powers, what can I say?
Effectiveness: B. I saw one episode and it didn't grab me. It's probably much worse now.

Budweiser Fetch Stick:

Humor: D. Lame.
Effectiveness: D.

Race to Witch Mountain trailer:

Humor: C. The Rock in another lighthearted action hero roll. No thanks.
Effectiveness: It's a kid's movie so I still might see it.

Fast and Furious 3 trailer:

Humor: D. Vin Diesel tries to return to a time before he went the lighthearted route a la Rock (above). Sorry, there's no coming back from Pacifier.
Effectiveness: D. I'd like to keep my perfect record of never having seen a F&F movie, intact.

The Pacifier (Widescreen Edition)

Bud Light Lime:

Humor: D. Another "look how I can manipulate scenery with my cool scenery manipulation app" commercial.
Effectiveness: D. Isn't there such a thing as "too convenient?" I can get the lime myself.

Sobe:

Humor: C. Works on two subversion-of-expectation levels: Football players dancing (sublevel 1: white guy dancing) and hip hop interrupting ballet. Neither very funny.
Effectiveness; B. I probably won't drink it, but now at least I know what it is.

Pedigree:

Humor: C. After the first animal, I don't want to see any more. "Get a dog" not funny.
Effectiveness: C. Is this like a charity gimmick to get hits on a website?

Castrol Edge:
[video:youtube7uilSZhVZ8]
Humor: To get an "F," you have to offend me. This does it.
Effectiveness: D. They mention the product.

Coke Zero:

Humor: D. I think the lawyer ones are funnier. This is awkward.
Effectiveness: D. I don't think anybody cares.

Budweiser Clydesdale Generations:

Humor: D. Not very.
Effectiveness: F. If the horse is a third-generation American, why does he still speak with a Scottish Accent? He went to a Scottish horse private school? Too stupid for my dollar.

Power of the Crunch, Doritos:

Humor: D. Smoking hot babe saves this from an "F." Tired joke.
Effectiveness: D. No impact.

Cash for Gold:

Humor: D. I don't like seeing people humiliated. Where's the Different Strokes guy?
Effectiveness: D. I'll be sending gold through the mail real soon.

GE Focuses on Smart Grid:

Humor: F. One grade lower for gratuitous animal cruelty.
Effectiveness: F. And they're telling me because... I don't care how electricity works. Just hook it up to my house.

LMAO:

Humor: C. I snickered.
Effectiveness: C. Maybe people who like sit-coms would find it funny. I don't.

Go Daddy Enhanced:

Humor: F. Painfully unfunny.
Effectiveness. A. Bbbbbreasts.

Toyota Tundra:

Humor: N/A. If it were GM, I'd ask for my bailout money back. Does that guy sound like a truck owner or what?
Effectiveness: F. Is this truck more fireproof than any other one?

The Chase- Audi

Humor: B. It would have been better had it gone back to the sixties with a Cadillac, but maybe American cars are unworthy of respect these days. Still good.
Effectiveness: A. The car is beautiful and I like the way that the ad makes the Audi seem like the inevitable successor to the other great cars. It's not true, but I can hear people saying, "Every decade has it's primo luxury car. The Audi's next."

Angels and Demons:

Humor: A. Hilarious that people take this seriously.
Effectiveness. F. I like Hanks, but his soul is in danger.

Pepsi. Forever Young.

Humor: N/A.
Effectiveness: F. Is this supposed to be profound in some way? Pepsi's been around for forty years. So what? So has Marlboro and Rosie O'Donnell. It seems like Pepsi just wanted to use up some vintage footage.

Death and Taxes: H & R Block.

Humor: C. I get it- death and taxes. Mediocre.
Effectiveness: C. The message gets lost in the joke.

Bridgestone Moon ad.

Humor: C. The joke illuminates nothing about the product. What does Hip Hop have to do with tires? Still, I snickered at the buggy on blocks.
Effectiveness: D. For reason above.

Land of the Lost trailer:

Humor: C. I would have liked a more serious tone, perhaps.
Effectiveness: Do I really want to see Will Ferrell play the same character- the guy with no sense of social grace- for the sixth time in a row? Eh.

Bridgestone Potato Head.

Humor: B. I like when her mouth falls off.
Effectiveness: B. Ummm, I think many of us can relate.

Frosted Flakes Plant a Seed:

Humor: N/A
Effectiveness: It's obnoxious enough when people list their charity, but do they have to tie it into a gimmick, like "Tell us where you want them built." Hey, Kellog, most people will probably want them where they live! Check the list of the biggest cities and figure it out yourselves.

MacGruber/Pepsuber:

Humor: A. It bothers me that Colonel O'Neill- I mean, Richard Dean Anderson- seems ashamed of Stargate SG-1. Still, this was a hilarious commercial. I like the ending when the guy needs a little more Pepsi. It makes up for the dumb "Forever Young" ad above.
Effectiveness: A. I remembered that it was Pepsi.

Stargate SG-1 - The Complete Series Collection

Conan O'Brien Swedish:

Humor: A. Making fun of Sweden makes me happy, for some reason.
Effectiveness: C. I'm blogging at that hour.

Monster Doubletake:

Humor: C. The other job site above beat them.
Effectiveness: C. Nothing particularly memorable.

David Abernathy Cars.com

Humor: A. Funny. I liked the part where he tells the girl, "Call me."
Effectiveness: B. During the ad, I was wondering what company it was.

Cheetos Spoiled/Stuck up girl.

Humor: C. For girls, I think. They like this kind of stuff.
Effectiveness: Unknown. Do any women over 18 eat Cheetos? Do they watch the Super Bowl?

Pepsi Max I'm Good:

Humor: B. Funny premise.
Effectiveness: C. A cola for men. Who asked for that?

Teleflora Talking Flowers:

Humor: A. Good insults. "What they say about you" justifies them.
Effectiveness: A. My friend, who seems to be a better husband than me, immediately pointed out that the rival flower delivery service, ProFlowers, sends their flowers in boxes.

Pixar Up Trailer:

Humor: A. It's Pixar.
Effectiveness: A. See above.

Nextel: What if Rodies Ran the World:
[video:youtubeCJLoie5EGg]
Humor: C. What if ad people vetted their ads with non-music squids?
Effectiveness: B. Walkie Talkie is a feature that people don't talk about too much. Differentiating.

Free Doritos:

Humor: C. "Ohhh, that's so outrageous." "Telling the future" is kind of an OK set up.
Effectiveness: D. I'm sorry. No desire for Doritos.

E-Trade Singing Baby:

Humor: B. Because of the visuals, this commercial is automatically funny- it has a funny "floor," so to speak. The joke doesn't add anything.
Effectiveness: B. Acknowledges that the economy is in the dumps.

Bud Light Drawing Skier:

Humor: D. Nope.
Effectiveness: C. Are people really going to think that Bud is inherently more "drinkable" than Miller?

Hulu:

Humor: A. Not only funny, but actually thoughtful, self-reflective.
Effectiveness: A. I immediately wanted to get up, go to the computer, and type in "Hulu."

Jay Leno:

Humor: N/A
Effectiveness: N/A: I don't watch comedy shows.

AshleyMadison.com:

Humor: B. I'm sure people will relate to this- besides my happily married self, of course.
Effectiveness: A. Made me curious. The "Divorce is not an option" is interesting too. Is this a Catholic outfit?

**Update**

This site allows married people to "hook up" with other attached people. Disgusting. Suggests that variety is more important than fidelity. I know it goes on, but his sort of thing shouldn't be advertised. It mainstreams immoral behavior.

Go Daddy Danica Patrick Showers:

Humor: F. Not funny.
Effectiveness: Unknown. Bi-sexual/lesbian stuff is hip now. I think it's amateurish and cheap. Demeaning for Danica.

Hyundai Assurance:
[youtube]PgTaqBD8MO8[/youtube[
Humor: N/A
Effectiveness: A. It's new. It sets Hyundai apart. Strikes a good tone in today's economy.

Have you tried Conana O'Brien?

Humor: B. I'm supposed to know most of these people, I presume.
Effectiveness: N/A.

High Life 1 second ad:

Humor: C. I want that second back.
Effectiveness. Good "bang for the buck."

Tags: 2009 commercials, all superbowl ads, best super bowl commercial, funniest super bowl commercial, obrian, obrien, review super bowl commercials, superbowl, top ten super bowl ads, xl111