Tag Archives: TV commercials

The Super Bowl XLIX Movie Spot Roundup

February 1, 2015 By in Movies/Films/Flicks Tags: , , , , , , , , Leave a comment
Tomorrowland!

George Clooney and director Brad Bird welcome you to the World of Tomorrow!

Longtime MCC readers know sports aren’t really my thing, and Super Bowl XLIX is no exception. My wife and I spent the evening dining out, trying new foods, and wandering a deserted downtown Indianapolis to our heart’s content with virtually no other humans around. And then I came home and waited patiently for the internet to tell me which new movie spots I missed.

Please join me in sampling the following summer action blockbuster EXPLOSIONS-filled mini-teaser trailers that apparently aired during the Big Game. Leaving out Seth MacFarlane’s Ted 2 (bleah) and the one infamous gargantuan big-budget slashfic adaptation (zero intention of watching a single trailer for it, let alone the movie), the internet notified me of six different contenders that may or may not make zillions this year at the box office:

Right this way for potential movie awesomeness! Plus a very special party-ruining appearance by the Nationwide Kid!

The Super Bowl XLVIII Movie Trailer Explosion Roundup

February 2, 2014 By in Movies/Films/Flicks, TV/DVD Tags: , , , , , , , , 2 Comments

I’d rather not spend my evening typing a thousand words that no one will read because they’re drunk, hung over, or avoiding the internet’s two-pronged takeover by Super Bowl XLVIII and #EsuranceSave30. (If you don’t know what that is, you probably don’t want to know. You have to be a greedy resident of the continental U.S., a registered Twitter user, and not opposed to irritating the heck out of all your followers for the chance to win bucks. I’d rather not perpetuate that, beyond what damage I’ve already done there for purely comedic purposes.)

To that end, please enjoy the following summer action blockbuster EXPLOSIONS-filled trailers that either aired during the Big Game, or had tiny teasers aired for them during the Big Game that directed fans to jump online for the full-length extravaganza. (Compatibility warning: if these aren’t cleared for viewing outside the U.S. or on smartphones, my sincerest apologies. Hopefully a quick search would turn them up at other locations.)

Leaving out Seth MacFarlane’s A Million Ways to Die in the West, the internet notified me of four viable specimens that may or may not make zillions this year at the box office. Enjoy!

1. 30-second teaser for Transformers: Age of Extinction, in which Mark Wahlberg has replaced Shia LeBeouf as the guy who runs away from killer robots. But the image of Autobots riding Dinobots will rule the hearts and minds of fans for the next two days.

This way for more ACTION…

How the CALM Act Promises to End Our Regular Games of TV Volume-Control Teeter-Totter

December 13, 2012 By in TV/DVD Tags: , , , , , , , 2 Comments

TV volume control, CALM Act

“Left! Left! GO LEFT! The Cialis spokesman will wake the baby!”

As a habitual night-owl who does his best to permit his normalized family their precious circadian rhythms, I’ve found that watching TV in the evening requires continuous vigilance to ensure that my programs don’t detonate a virtual sonic bomb in the living room when they go to commercial. Some channels have been better than others. It took me a fair amount of trial-and-error to determine the exact volume numbers to use as my thresholds while watching NBC’s Revolution on our set — up to 19 during the show, down to 14 during commercial breaks — to minimize my disturbance of others. Up and down, back and forth, ping and pong, I’d keep dragging the onscreen cursor in a tricky balancing act, lest I invoke the wrath of the rudely awakened if I failed to compensate quickly enough.

Last weekend we found one basic-cable channel that was far more egregious about it. Some senseless marketing department apparently asserted authority over the ad volume and insisted on a difference of dozens of degrees between it and the volume level of the actual show. I enjoy Dean Winters in those GEICO skits as much as the next Sarah Connor Chronicles fan, but bludgeoning my eardrums with his insurance pitch will not clinch a GEICO sale in our household.

Thankfully, the FCC decided last year that enough was enough, that this irritation merited official government interference. Effective December 13, 2012, the Commercial Advertisement Loudness Mitigation Act will finally take effect after a one-year grace period that a few companies obviously didn’t take seriously. The new rule according to the FCC’s official site states as follows:

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