The Family Fang

With movies like this there’s often an implicit understanding that the best stuff isn’t going to be found in the marketing and I’m banking on that being true here too. By that I mean the real draw isn’t in the broad story beats that are portrayed in a trailer but in the smaller moments in between those beats that add shading and contrast to the story. I’m guessing that’s going to be the case here as well. Yes, this is part of the “privileged white people problems” genre that I’ve criticized recently and many of my objections apply here too. But I’m hoping the story at least has something original to say.

A Bigger Splash

What’s sold is a drama with lots of big emotional moments. It’s all about the performances, particularly from Swinton and Fiennes, that are on display here and the campaign is meant to appeal to those who are attracted to that kind of element. So in that regard it’s pretty good. But like I said, it just never really comes together fully for me. I think if there were a stronger press push I’d think it was a bit more cohesive, but I can’t actually fault the elements that are here.

Captain America: Civil War

captain america civil war pic 3

Everything an existing fan of the Marvel Cinematic Universe needs to see is on display here, from the characters to the snappy dialogue to the action sequences and especially things like Spider-Man, Ant-Man riding Hawkeye’s arrow and more. The campaign sells a bright and shiny collection of fight scenes that stands in stark contrast to the dour and gloomy campaign for Batman v Superman. Marvel and Disney clearly want to sell it on that premise and, between that and playing up RDJ’s role in the movie they’re sticking with what works and hoping this isn’t the moment the foundation supporting their movies gives way.

Being Charlie

being-charlie-926115

…the marketing plays up an emotional character drama but what it doesn’t seem to do well is setup the stakes for Charlie. We get that he’s going to disappoint his parents if he doesn’t get clean, but there’s never really a sense that he’s in danger because of that. Sure, there’s a shot of him getting thrown out of a car and some speeches from his father but that’s about it. With the lack of other definable hook it would have been more compelling to lean more on what kind of consequences would be if Charlie continues down the dark path and maybe show less of him using comedy as an outlet for his struggles.