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.

What’s Your Favorite Book Scene That Didn’t Make It Into the Movie?: As I was writing two recent posts, one on whether or not we need to reevaluate The Circle in light of our current discussion of how powerful and intrusive tech companies have become and another on recent movies where scientists are held accountable in some manner for their actions, I started thinking about scenes from novels that didn’t make it into their film adaptations.

CinemaCon 2018 Narratives: Amidst all the reports that came out of CinemaCon, the annual gathering where studios show off what’s coming soon to exhibition industry executives as well as the press, there were a few common or otherwise notable themes that emerged. These show where everyone’s head is at and how they are (or aren’t) planning for the future in various ways.

Tully – Marketing Recap: In case you missed it, though I’m not sure how, this movie is coming at you from the same team behind Juno and Young Adult, the latter of which doesn’t get the recognition it deserves. Focus Features wants to make sure you’re assigning whatever appreciation you have for those films to this one and that you choose to see it in theaters as a result.

We All Slept on The Circle Because It Was a Year Early: What struck me as I watched it, though, was how much the world has changed in the year since it came out. In April 2017 we weren’t yet fully dealing with how technology companies have impacted society and what sort of influence they have on everyone’s lives, as well as what sort of insights they have on people’s privacy.

“Depleted Natural Resources” Should Be Its Own Netflix Movie Genre: Based on a few of its recent original films it seems Netflix not only has a “Earth is running out of resources” sub-category but it’s trying to corner the market on that particular story.

Overboard – Marketing Recap: I kind of expected this movie to get a slightly more robust marketing and publicity push. Everything here is more or less fine, though some elements like the poster convey a minimum viable effort approach being taken here. It’s not that the original Overboard is an unabashed comedy classic on the level of Caddyshack or something, but it has a decent enough reputation that trading on the name is seen as a positive, so why not just try a little harder? The campaign is funny enough in spots, but could have done much more to bring out the real comedy of the story.

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