Movie Mom

Movie Mom

The ‘Traitor’ Commercial Gives Too Much Away

posted by Nell Minow | 8:00am Sunday August 10, 2008

It infuriates me when trailers and ads give away too much of the movie. This often happens when all the best jokes or special effects are strung together to get you to buy a ticket but once in a while an important plot twist is given away, too. I try very hard to be careful in my reviews not to give away anything I think the audience is better off discovering in the movie. If you have any plans to see the fine terrorism drama “Traitor,” starring Don Cheadle, please don’t watch the ads because they reveal an aspect of the plot I am sure the director and screenwriter wanted to be a surprise.



Previous Posts

Celebrate Abraham Lincoln's Birthday
Celebrate the birthday of our 16th President with some of the classic movies about his life. Ahead of us this are are the Steven Spielberg epic, based on Team of Rivals: The Political Genius of Abraham Lincoln by Doris Kearns Goodwin, with Daniel Day-Lewis and Sally Field, which will be out in Decem

posted 8:00:32am Feb. 12, 2012 | read full post »

Tribute: Whitney Houston
Was there ever anyone more gifted than Whitney Houston?  She had the face and voice of an angel.  She had beauty, talent, and success including an unprecedented seven number one songs in a row and with Dolly Parton's song "I Will Always Love You" the biggest selling single by a female artist in hi

posted 9:22:32pm Feb. 11, 2012 | read full post »

Trailer: Darling Companion
Kevin Kline, Diane Keaton, and Richard Jenkins star in the upcoming "Darling Companion," about a lost dog, coming in April.   [youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YYYoaspzzlg[/youtube]

posted 3:52:01pm Feb. 11, 2012 | read full post »

Maps of Enchanted Places
The Awl has a wonderful illustrated story by Victoria Johnson featuring maps of the imaginary worlds of children's literature.  The maps of The Phantom Tollbooth, The Princess Bride, Winnie the Pooh, The Wizard of Oz, The Hobbit, and more are as inviting as the stories that take place there.  And

posted 8:00:36am Feb. 11, 2012 | read full post »

Black Reel Awards Pay Tribute to "The Help"
It is an honor and a privilege to be invited to participate in one of my very favorite annual movie awards presentations, the Black Reel Awards, which pay tribute to the greatest achievements of the African-American community to the year in film.  For 2011, we are proud to recognize the extraordina

posted 3:47:45pm Feb. 10, 2012 | read full post »

Advertisement
Comments read comments(7)
post a comment
iorek

posted August 10, 2008 at 8:49 am


I don’t understand why the directors and producers don’t police this. You would think the marketers who make the commercials run the studio.



report abuse
 

jestrfyl

posted August 11, 2008 at 11:04 am


It often seems to be that when they give away the best stuff in the trailer, the rest of the movie is not worth much time, and less money.



report abuse
 

Alicia

posted August 11, 2008 at 1:30 pm


I hate this trend as well – practically showing the whole movie in the trailer. A trailer should be a teaser not a spoiler.



report abuse
 

mapleleafmagpie

posted August 27, 2008 at 4:35 pm


I just saw the trailer and I felt more compelled to see it. I found the official website (traitor-themovie.com/) and I anticipate its premier today in theaters.



report abuse
 

Nell Minow

posted August 27, 2008 at 5:35 pm


Thanks! I’d love to hear what you think about the movie and whether you agree with me that the trailer gives away one of the movie’s surprises.



report abuse
 

Toby Clark

posted October 17, 2008 at 7:32 pm


One of the questions on the Filmmakers Exam at http://www.rinkworks.com is “will the trailers and/or commercials for your movie be able to show every good scenes and still have room to show some of the bad ones?”
What annoys me though is when the voiceover to the trailer is totally inaccurate – in the trailer for “Friday the 13th: Part 2,” the voiceover guy either a) hasn’t seen the movie or the first one, or b) can’t count. “On a June night in 1980, Friday the 13th, 12 of her friends were murdered.” I checked, it was 7, not counting the killer and the two killed in the teaser.



report abuse
 

Ryan Kielly

posted April 8, 2009 at 4:12 pm


Man its stupid!! That god d*mn preview gave it away!! If I chouldtalk to the person who made the commercial I WOLUD KILL HIM!!! I wanted to find out in the movie… BUT NOOO they had to tell us in preview!!



report abuse
 

Post a Comment

By submitting these comments, I agree to the beliefnet.com terms of service, rules of conduct and privacy policy (the "agreements"). I understand and agree that any content I post is licensed to beliefnet.com and may be used by beliefnet.com in accordance with the agreements.

Share this story


About Beliefnet

Our mission is to help people like you find, and walk, a spiritual path that will bring comfort, hope, clarity, strength, and happiness. More about Beliefnet.

Help

Media Kit

Subscribe

Legal

Copyright © Beliefnet, Inc. and/or its licensors. All rights reserved. Use of this site is subject to Terms of Service and to our Privacy Policy. Constructed by Beliefnet.

Advertisement

Report as Inappropriate

You are reporting this content because it violates the Terms of Service.

All reported content is logged for investigation.