Fast Five gets a Super Bowl ad that makes me nostalgic for a franchise where I have yet to see a single installment.

Universal did a bang-up job two years ago with Fast & Furious, selling the return of the primary cast members as cause for celebration rather than desperation. They are pulling the same trick yet again, and this spot highlight the new player, Dwayne Johnson. Irony of ironies, these teasers are making me nostalgic for the series. I say 'irony of ironies' because I've never actually seen one. Ever. Never saw the first four, may or may not see this one. I do enjoy the ending tag, proclaiming that 'Summer starts April 29th'. That's a pretty bold gambit, and one that Marvel and Paramount might disagree with. Point being, one of Thor's primary trump cards is the idea that it's the summer kick-off film for 2011. If Fast Five steals Thor's thunder (pardon the pun), then Marvel might be in serious trouble a week later. But please, Universal, you simply must title one of these things 'Faster and Furiouser'.

Scott Mendelson

Cowboys and Aliens gets a terrific Super Bowl teaser.

I'm not going to do a rundown of every single Super Bowl movie ad, primarily because there were just too many of them. One of the better spots of the night was another stellar showing by Universal for Jon Favreau's cult-comic book adaptation. Like the fantastic teaser, this one is selling the reality of its premise first (it's a real western, that happens to involve aliens), and holding off on the money shots until later. I've heard that much of the two teasers is mainly comprised of material from the first 40 minutes of the movie, so that's a promising sign. The nerds will already show up for this in droves. The key is convincing the general moviegoers who rediscovered their love of westerns through True Grit to buy a ticket on July 29th. So far, so good.

Scott Mendelson

Thor fails to bring the thunder (again) with a bland Super Bowl teaser.

I'm not going to do a rundown of every single Super Bowl movie ad, primarily because there were just too many of them. I know I've been bagging on Thor since last year's Comic Con, but the problems remain the same. The Asgard footage looks stilted and artificial, while the Earthbound stuff looks like something out of the first Universal Soldier. Having said that, I don't have any desire to see Kenneth Branagh fail. Hell, I'm the guy who loves Mary Shelly's Frankenstein. If Marvel is somehow hiding all of the knock-out footage, or if the film plays better as a whole than it does in 30-300 second chunks, then so be it. But this just doesn't look like the kind of epic tale that is going to get people excited about Thor or his place in The Avengers.

Scott Mendelson

Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides gets a Super Bowl ad, another mediocre tease for an unnecessary franchise continuation..

I'm not going to do a rundown of every single Super Bowl movie ad, primarily because there were just too many of them. I'm trying not to walk into this with my nose held, but this just doesn't look like very much fun. It lacks the surprise of the first picture, and the dense plotting of the underrated sequels. What it contains is forced whimsy and the unnatural sight of supporting foil Jack Sparrow somehow becoming a leading man. At least we get a reveal of how 'not Will Turner' and 'not Elizabeth Swan' fit into the picture. I just don't get why everyone thinks that the director of Memoirs Of a Geisha and Nine is somehow going to revamp the franchise. I'll be the first to eat crow if it's at least as good as the third picture, but as always, we'll see.

Scott Mendelson

Transformers: Dark of the Moon gets a dynamite Super Bowl teaser, every bit as good as the 2009 Transformers 2 Super Bowl spot. Fool me once...

I'm not going to do a rundown of every single Super Bowl movie ad, primarily because there were just too many of them. Next up is the fantastic teaser for Transformers: Dark of the Moon. If you recall, I was stunned by the sheer scope and intensity on display in the Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen teaser that aired during the 2009 Super Bowl. I exclaimed that it looked so epic and violent and almost frightening. Obviously, the teaser was a lie. Yet I feel the exact same way about this teaser, and the final extended shot of Optimus Prime tearing into his opponents with a long sword is a beauty. I'm sure 90% of what we see is from the third act, and we've been down this road before. So it is with extremely cautious optimism that I say that this looks like a terrific bit of science-fiction fantasy. Maybe the third time will be the charm, and we'll finally get the 'Godzilla, but with robots' carnage fest that I've always wanted. This one comes out on July 1st. We'll see...

Scott Mendelson

Kung Fu Panda 2 gets an action-packed Super Bowl commercial.

It's good to know that the makers have not forgotten what made the first film so unique. Jack Black humor aside, the original film succeeded because it was indeed a pretty terrific action picture. And extra kudos for keeping the 'furious five' front and center in the mayhem. There's a good chance that the best action set-pieces of the summer will not be found in Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides, Thor, Captain America, or Green Lantern, but in Kung Fu Panda 2. This one comes out May 26th.

Scott Mendelson

JJ Abrams's Super 8 gets the best Super Bowl teaser of the night.

I'm not going to do a rundown of every single Super Bowl movie ad, primarily because there were just too many of them. But the best spot of the night was easily the 30-second teaser for JJ Abrams's Super 8. It's no secret that Abrams is aping the arch-typical late-70s/early-80s Steven Spielberg pictures (Spielberg is a producer), but a great teaser is a great teaser. No need to spoil what little is revealed, but this clip is rich in atmosphere, intensity, and just old-fashioned craftsmanship. This one opens on June 10th, and I have a sneaking suspicion that it's going to be a massive smash-hit, a bit of originality in a sea of sequels and comic book adaptations.

Scott Mendelson

Captain America gets an exciting, but poorly targeted Super Bowl teaser.

I'm not going to do a rundown of every single Super Bowl movie ad, primarily because there were just too many of them. But let's start with what was easily the most-anticipated preview of the night, Captain America: The First Avenger. Unfortunately, due to the way Marvel is selling this thing, we have to discuss the trailer on two levels. As far as the actual visual footage, it was pretty impressive. The battle footage looks real, with the exception of the 'flying into the sky' shot at 0:18, and the opening narration lent a tone of gravity to the proceedings (thank you Stanley Tucci). Aside from actually seeing Cap in action, the big tease was the reveal of Red Skull at 0:24. Technically the make-up looks better than that worn by Scott Paulin back in 1990, but it's still a guy with a red skull (my first thought was Tim Curry in Legend). The clip was exciting, even if there was no attempt made to establish the tone of this particular Marvel adventure.

Captain America: The First Avenger gets a moody, dour poster, apparently inspired by Ed Brubaker's terrific story arc.

Just two days until the teaser premieres during this Sunday's Super Bowl, Paramount has released this genuinely compelling teaser poster. The tagline 'Avenge' is a bit silly, since the plot elements relating to The Avengers are theoretically not going to come into play until the last act of the picture. Yes, we know that Marvel is desperately trying to tie in Thor and Captain America with The Avengers (and Captain America: The First Avenger will indeed be called merely 'The First Avenger' in several foreign markets), but I think most US moviegoers won't care about the six degrees of separation. They'll either line up to see a Captain America movie or they won't. Regardless, this poster is indeed modeled after the cover-art from the fourth issue of Ed Brubaker's dynamite Captain America run. The more I hear about the film using Brubaker's arc as the primary tonal basis for the picture, the more excited I get about the Joe Johnston picture. It's no secret that I'm a hardcore fan of Ed Brubaker, and let's all remember that the tone for Nolan's Batman Begins was based on the post-"No Man's Land" work from Ed Brubaker (Batman), Greg Rucka (Detective Comics), and Devin Grayson (Batman: Gotham Knights) as much as it was based on Frank Miller's Batman: Year One or Jeph Loeb's The Long Halloween. And as for his "uncredited work" on The Dark Knight, I dealt with that three years ago.

Scott Mendelson

Yup, Captain America trailer to premiere at Super Bowl. Selling Captain America to the political Right and the political Left.

Not to brag and/or scream "Toldja!", but at least Paramount is making the right call. Let's be honest, the best hope of making Captain America: The First Avenger into a crossover hit is to appeal to the... um.... overly nationalist audience members. It worked pretty well for GI Joe: the Rise of Cobra, where Paramount subtly sold an international and relatively apolitical action fantasy as some kind of 'action movie for us regular Americans'. It's a balancing act, as the film needs to make major international coin in order to turn any kind of profit, and the Marvel movie universe cannot survive on Robert Downey Jr. alone. On the plus side, the film is a 1940s World War II period piece. So it won't be hard trumpeting up an overly sentimental view of American might and righteousness during a period where, give or take an atom bomb or two, we actually were in the absolute moral right. Paramount will have to juggle marketing this 1940s American fable to both those on the Right (many of whom seem to forget or don't realize that the Nazis were defeated by a bunch of quasi-socialist liberals) and the Left (many of whom have been so turned off by the decades of Might = Right politics that even the suggestion of America's absolute moral authority in the realm of armed combat brings to mind Fox News banners). Of all the marketing campaigns being waged this summer, this will be the most interesting one to watch, if only for the theoretical political implications. And of course, all of this chat once again makes one wonder: why is Paramount not opening this thing over July 4th weekend?!?!

Scott Mendelson