Cinematic Slant

Cinematic Slant is where I write about movies, including the campaign recaps I’ve been doing since 2004 along with other news and opinions.

The Record Player Will Take You Three Hours and Four Beers to Build: There’s no movie industry connection to the news that IKEA will begin selling its own record players as part of a new selection of music-related items. It does allow me, though, to share one of my favorite clips from A Mighty Wind because 100% if IKEA sold records you’d have to punch your own hole in them.

a mighty wind pic

Love, Simon – Marketing Recap: While it’s not exactly a “love story” that’s on display in this campaign the idea that it’s about a gay character grappling with his feeling in the same way a straight character would is fairly unique among major releases. Sometimes that’s presented very earnestly (the trailers) and sometimes with more of a collegial chuckle (the posters) but you certainly can’t say it’s being pushed into the background.

love simon pic

Tomb Raider – Marketing Recap: It’s a solid campaign and I love the brand consistency that runs across all the elements with the repeated use of the big red typeface and other elements. Vikander is also charming as all get-out, obviously having a bit of fun playing an action-adventure role as opposed to once more squeeze into a corset and portray someone struggling with 18th-century cultural morals and gender roles. So that’s all great.

tomb raider pic

Why So Many Movies Featuring the Secret Service in the Early 90s?: Why was the job of protecting the president so very much on the minds of screenwriters in the early 1990s?

Flower – Marketing Recap: Just how this is going to be received by the target audience of young women I have no idea. There’s a concerted effort, both in the style of the trailers and in the content posted to the social profiles, to make it seem as hip and stylish as possible but I don’t have the kind of insights needed to know if that’s actually going to resonate or be seen as the studio trying way too hard.

flower pic

Quick Takes – Movie News Recap 3/15/18: I have some brief thoughts on a few of the movie-related news tidbits from the last couple weeks.

star wars logo

Dear Dictator – Marketing Recap: Totally forgettable but for a few laughs, it’s 100% obvious why this is getting such a small campaign before a VOD release.

dear dictator pic

Chris Thilk is a freelance writer and content strategist who lives in the Chicago suburbs.