Anomalisa is not an easy movie to watch. Well...it is easy to watch but it’s not easy to fully comprehend. That made it a particularly hard movie to sell to all but the most hardcore film festival-type audience. The story follows Michael (voiced by David Thewlis), an expert in customer service training who’s flying to … Continue reading After the Campaign: Anomalisa
After the Campaign: Miss You Already
When Miss You Already was being sold to the audience back in November of 2015 the studio seemed to be specifically targeting 30- or 40-something females with a story of lifelong friendship that endures even through the harshest downs life can throw at someone. The reality is a bit different, though. In the movie Drew … Continue reading After the Campaign: Miss You Already
After the Campaign: Miss Stevens
Miss Stevens got a small but charming campaign late last year that emphasized star Lily Rabe in the title role. The promise to the audience was that we would follow Miss Stevens in a low-key and charming story about growing up, whether that means you’re 18 or 29. The story follows Stevens as she chaperones … Continue reading After the Campaign: Miss Stevens
After the Campaign: Girl Asleep
The Australian import Girl Asleep didn’t receive a huge campaign, at least not here in the U.S. And what there was seemed intent on selling it as being spiritually akin to Wes Anderson’s tone and style, albeit with more of a fantasy twist. Unfortunately there’s not much more to it than that. Bethany Whitmore plays … Continue reading After the Campaign: Girl Asleep
After the Campaign: The Fits
The marketing for The Fits sold the audience on an offbeat story featuring a group of unknown actors. The movie itself delivers on this promise and so much more. Royalty Hightower plays Toni, a young girl who seems to be training to be a boxer and works out in the same gym as her older … Continue reading After the Campaign: The Fits
After the Campaign: Sausage Party
There wasn’t a whole lot of nuance to the marketing of Sausage Party last August. It came down to selling this as another entry in the Seth Rogen franchise, a foul-mouthed stoner comedy that was exactly what the audience was likely expecting from a movie from him and his group of friends/regular collaborators. Frank (Rogen) … Continue reading After the Campaign: Sausage Party
After the Campaign: Swiss Army Man
The key point coming away from early reviews of Swiss Army Man was that it was the “Daniel Radcliffe as a farting corpse” movie. The marketing that sold the movie months after that buzz started circulating didn’t stray too far from that and, in doing so, pretty accurately sold the movie. The story follows Hank … Continue reading After the Campaign: Swiss Army Man
After The Campaign: Kubo and the Two Strings
The marketing for Kubo and the Two Strings sold a movie that the audience would love, despite it being a bit out of the ordinary. It sold a story that was familiar - a child travels into danger to achieve some personal goal - and promised to tell it in a new and interesting way. … Continue reading After The Campaign: Kubo and the Two Strings
After the Campaign: 13 Hours
The marketing campaign for 13 Hours sold the movie based on the apparent allure of grimy, sweaty professional soldiers carrying around guns and achieving the impossible. The movie, I found, delivers on that promise but has a depth that was unexpected. The story is set in 2012 Benghazi, Libya. Yes, that Benghazi. The focus is … Continue reading After the Campaign: 13 Hours
After the Campaign: Blue Jay
My main conclusion in my review of the campaign for Blue Jay was that it was worth watching if, for no other reason, the performances from Mark Duplass and Sarah Paulson. That was spot-on. Duplass stars as Jim, a middle-aged guy who in the wake of his mother’s death is working on cleaning up and … Continue reading After the Campaign: Blue Jay
