New TV Ad for 'The American' with George Clooney

When we finally saw stuff for Anton Corbijn's The American with George Clooney, I thought it was misleading, meaning it looked like it was selling more action than there was. I'm getting the feeling that's not true, though.

Either Focus is going to disappoint everybody who sees the movie expecting something more pulse-pounding or it really is more than just an introspective look at a hitman at the crossroads. And I have to say, it actually looks really good and different from the Bourne, Bond, and Salt models we're getting used to. Here's the latest commercial for the film, which opens a week from Wednesday:

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Brand New 'Resident Evil: Afterlife' TV Ad

Latino Review has a brand new commercial for Resident Evil: Afterlife, the fourth in the series, and I'm going to go out on a limb here and see this will be the biggest movie in the franchise.

Part of that logic (go with me on that logic thing) is the 3-D and IMAX ticket prices, which haven't been around before for other Resident Evil movies, and part of it is that it actually looks entertaining. Could it be? Paul W.S. Anderson? Well, yeah, I think so. It's definitely a storyline he knows very well, it appears that he's taking the 3-D seriously (and it looks terrific in all the videos we've seen so far), and in terms of directing action, he's pretty good. The stories give him fits and he doesn't usually have a wealth of talent in front of the camera, but I've got to hand it to him; it looks like this movie may actually get the job done. So watch the new ad; Afterlife opens on September 10th.

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New Extended TV Ad for 'The Social Network'

I saw The Social Network trailer for the first time in a theater earlier this week. It plays better in that environment, and I guess it's supposed to, although trailers are a much bigger deal online now than at the cineplex. But this one certainly reaches out and grabs you.

Here's an extended TV commercial for the film, which changes the focus from the origins of Facebook to specifically Mark Zuckerberg, the co-creator of Facebook portrayed by Jesse Eisenberg. Though this ad doesn't specifically paint Zuckerberg as a bad guy, it is interesting that they've kind of zoomed in on him rather than going with the larger group, something the trailer does and does very well. You know one place you won't see ads for this: On Facebook.

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Video - 'Avatar' Re-Release TV Commercial

It was recently reported that James Cameron will earn $350 million from Avatar, based on what it's already brought in. Thank goodness, then, there's a chance to make even more with the extend-o-matic "special edition" re-release coming next month.

Honestly, $350 million seems low to me, given the way his deal was apparently structured, that everyone else got paid their percentages first and then The King of the World got his piece of the pie. Damn thing made almost $3 billion and he's only getting 13%? Don't agents get that much? If ever a case could be made for one person being solely responsible for the success of a film, it's this situation here. Cameron should get a billion dollars off this thing. Well, the re-release won't push it that far, but the next Blu-ray might, because it's 3-D. I wonder if that $350 million figure includes the Panasonic 3-D sets he's sold just by making a movie tailor made for that experience (as well as helping Panasonic develop and market the new tube). Here's a new commercial for the re-release, which opens on August 27th.

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Three New 'Inception' Commercials

So Iron Man 2 gave it its best effort, as did Toy Story 3 and Twilight: Eclipse, and that means the only summer movie left that's a major threat to this year's box office crown is Inception, the mysterious Christopher Nolan sci-fi riff that opens in two weeks.

It's not only the most intriguing movie of the year - because we still don't exactly have a handle on what's at stake in the story - but also the best-marketed flick of 2010, because Nolan and Leonardo DiCaprio et al have us right where they want us. There's anticipation for the film itself and a great curiosity about just how all the visuals we've seen fit together. Here are three new TV ads, all cool, all reinforcing that it's just not as easy as watching commercials to know what's what with Inception.

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