Let the hype rumpus start!

October 17, 2009 6:01 PM

Where the wild marketing is ...

Last week, we wrote about Digg testing a new kind of ad that allowed sponsors to find previously submitted Digg content and and wrap it in their own ad unit. The first such ad just went live for everyone this morning. And it seems like a really great idea.

But is the movie actually any good?

posted by philip-random (32 comments total)

But, if we ignore ads on the internet, filter them out, and never click on links, does it matter what the algorithm is that puts them in front of us?
posted by HuronBob at 6:12 PM on October 17, 2009 [4 favorites]

Is this something I would need to turn off Adblock in order to appreciate?
posted by mark242 at 6:13 PM on October 17, 2009 [12 favorites]

But is the movie actually any good?

69% and the main complaint is that it's not a feel-good movie? Sounds like it's pretty good to me.
posted by effbot at 6:17 PM on October 17, 2009 [1 favorite]

From one of the reviews from the Rotten Tomatoes link:

While not quite the horror show that the movie of The Cat In The Hat turned out to be, this is a far cry from feel-good family entertainment

Daniel M. Kimmel of New England Movies Weekly appears to think that movies you could see with your children should not confront them with anything concrete. (E.g., feeling, being scared, conflict.) That, or he thought Where the Wild Things Are was going to be a different film entirely. I can understand the latter, so I hope it wasn't a case of the former.
posted by Mikey-San at 6:18 PM on October 17, 2009 [1 favorite]

Clicking on the last two links of the italicized text did not show me sponsored content such as the example cited in a graphic callout in the "we wrote" link. Lame post, poorly constructed.
posted by mwhybark at 6:21 PM on October 17, 2009

Lame post, poorly constructed

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Are You Living in a Lemon?
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posted by maxwelton at 6:32 PM on October 17, 2009 [6 favorites]

What's a Digg?
posted by Balisong at 6:49 PM on October 17, 2009

GOOGLE SPIKE JONZE
posted by hifiparasol at 6:56 PM on October 17, 2009 [2 favorites]

HuronBob: "But, if we ignore ads on the internet, filter them out, and never click on links, does it matter what the algorithm is that puts them in front of us?"

No, but it will likely speed the trend of integrating ads with content to the point that they're unavoidable.
posted by Rhaomi at 7:03 PM on October 17, 2009 [1 favorite]

So, if you're advertising ads, is that a meta-ad?

But then what do you call the ads on Metafilter for those non-registered folks?
posted by Askiba at 7:03 PM on October 17, 2009

After reading Digg for the last month, I am now no longer able to see the third post on any blog. Sorry mark242.
posted by chortly at 7:22 PM on October 17, 2009

Following the press for this film over the past several months, it's been increasingly clear that Where The Wild Things Are will be the same unsettling mix of fantasy, wonder, and dread which have fill both of Jonze's other two films. It will not be a children's film any more than Willy Wonka And The Chocolate Factory or The Wizard Of Oz, and it will have a good quantity of the postmodernism mindset we've come to expect from quality early 21st century cinema. Reading any smattering of reviews show repeatedly the same thing: it's beautiful, it's amazing, it is just barely based on the book, and it is unsettling and not a "feel good family entertainment" in any respect.

This is not a surprise to most.
posted by hippybear at 7:25 PM on October 17, 2009 [1 favorite]

This post is making me thirsty. You know what I could go for right now?

        .-"`` _``"-.
       /'.   '.(##)'\
       |  `'----'`  |
       |        ----|
       |        . .-|
       | .::::. |_| |
       |::::''':.-. |
       |;,,;;;;;|_|_|
       | ';;;;' . . |
       |        |_|_|
       |  BLUE  .-. |
       \        |_|_/
        `.________.'

posted by killdevil at 7:31 PM on October 17, 2009 [12 favorites]

I really want to see this film but I've been somewhat baffled by some of the marketing. For a movie based on what I consider to be a really sweet, sincere book, the marketing is remarkably cynical, see the Urban Outfitters line. I mean, $28 t-shirts, movie stills, key-chains, pillows(!?) and dubious womens' fashion now flash through my mind whenever I see the little boy running through the woods.

I'm still going to see it, and odds are that I'll like it but I just wish I could have gone into it without seeing the marketing.
posted by Partario at 7:41 PM on October 17, 2009 [1 favorite]

I have an Urban Outfitters Where the While Things Are tee-shirt from maybe two or three years ago . . . pre-movie. Odd.
posted by Peach at 7:51 PM on October 17, 2009

Why'd they change the names of the monsters?
posted by box at 7:53 PM on October 17, 2009

But is the movie actually any good?

Just saw it, it's effing fantastic.

It might not have been a feel-good movie for whoever wrote that review, but my head was through the ceiling with happiness by the end. It can be psychologically draining at points, shifting moods kind of wildly but always with a point. And yea, once it gets where it's going it's unique and awesome.

I think part of why there is some negativity surrounding the movie is that its trailer a bit of mis-direction on par with that joke Shining trailer. Watching it now a lot of what's played as fun in the trailer is actually a lot more ambiguous in context. It's not a light movie by any measure, and if you know that going in it's a lot better movie.

So yea, you should see it. It's a deep, thick sludge of a movie but totally worth getting through.
posted by The Devil Tesla at 8:10 PM on October 17, 2009

Rhaomi: "HuronBob: "But, if we ignore ads on the internet, filter them out, and never click on links, does it matter what the algorithm is that puts them in front of us?"

No, but it will likely speed the trend of integrating ads with content to the point that they're unavoidable."

Oh man that Family Guy thing could be even worse than their party ads. I'm now convinced that Microsoft's purposely making crummy ads so they'll go viral. They always seem to make FP here.
posted by aerotive at 8:14 PM on October 17, 2009

You know what I could go for right now?

Did they make Pepsi Blue in cans? Cause I would drink that so hard.
posted by The Devil Tesla at 8:20 PM on October 17, 2009

Some may find its dark tone and slender narrative off-putting

This is basically exactly what reviewers wrote about Sendak's book when it came out. They thought it was too dark to ever be popular with children (and their parents.)

Heh.
posted by dersins at 9:56 PM on October 17, 2009

I can't wait for this. The previews look fantastic. I just can't work out why I have to wait for a month and a half for it to start screening in my country. I thought we were past that kinda thing these days.

That's gonna mean at least a month I have to resist downloading a pirated version of it.

Not that I'd ever do that.

Oh... right, this post was about the advertising. Umm... I haven't seen any, but then ... I don't watch much TV, and don't often read Digg, but I looked at the links in the OP, and, really, they seemed like reasonable, interesting stories about the movie. If that's the future of advertising, then it's not as bad as it could be.
posted by Diag at 10:34 PM on October 17, 2009 [1 favorite]

Yeah, the movie was spectacular overall. It had a brilliant script that just put right out there everything that sucks about being a kid and growing up. Just two things, though, that are nagging at me:

(1) The score was at times so painfully and ostentatiously indie that it really took me out of the movie. The orchestration was great, but every time Karen O started singing I felt like I was suddenly watching some ultra-precious Michael Cera movie circa 2008-2009. The worst of this occurred in the scene when Max first ran away from home and his mother was yelling at him; Karen O was yelling something like "animal, animal" over and over, while Catherine Keener was yelling "Max, Max." There's got to be a rule against that sort of thing somewhere.

(2) This really has nothing to do with the movie, but can someone else help me feel like I'm not going crazy and agree that "Max Records" sounds like a made-up name? I know he's the son of this guy, and that might be their real family name stretching back generations -- in which case, fine, OK, I'll shut up now -- but it really does sound kind of affected and twee.*

Anyway, I'ma stop being such a hater. WTWTA was a great movie and everyone should see it.

*Affected and twee on the part of the dad, that is. I'm not about to bitch out an 8-year-old kid for having a silly name. Although that would be kind of fun, if I could do it in person, in front of an audience of people who would laugh and encourage me.
posted by hifiparasol at 10:36 PM on October 17, 2009 [3 favorites]

I don't have Digg.
posted by hermitosis at 11:44 PM on October 17, 2009

Karen O was yelling something like "animal, animal" over and over, while Catherine Keener was yelling "Max, Max."

Hua, I kind of liked that. I know I know, it shouldn't have worked, but it felt disorienting and crazy and totally appropriate, to me at least.
posted by The Devil Tesla at 12:09 AM on October 18, 2009

and in case you missed it, the FORT CONTEST winners have been announced.
posted by philip-random at 12:17 AM on October 18, 2009

I just can't believe they turned a 10-sentence children's book into a full-length feature film.

I'm not going to see this movie. I'm holding out for the full-length adaptation of Dr. Seuss's "Too Many Daves".
posted by King Bee at 7:46 AM on October 18, 2009

This is basically exactly what reviewers wrote about Sendak's book when it came out. They thought it was too dark to ever be popular with children (and their parents.)

Bringing ‘Where the Wild Things Are’ to the Screen:

The book was published to much controversy, with many librarians and reviewers pronouncing it too scary for children. A writer for one educational journal cautioned against leaving it “where a sensitive child might find it to pore over in the twilight.” What worried adults weren’t just the wild things, with their unreadable expressions and steak-knife teeth, but also the boy, Max, with his wild behavior, his wild emotions, his refusal to listen to his mother. “I’ll eat you up!” he shouts at her — and soon kids were eating up the book. It has now sold more than 10 million copies.
posted by effbot at 9:04 AM on October 18, 2009

I just can't believe they turned a 10-sentence children's book into a full-length feature film.

Really embarrassing what people will do for a buck. And this is Mr. Spiegel Catalog Heir directing this. Doesn't he have enough money?
posted by Zambrano at 6:06 PM on October 18, 2009

Really embarrassing what people will do for a buck. And this is Mr. Spiegel Catalog Heir directing this. Doesn't he have enough money?

Um... what? His father is a distant relative of the person who started the catalog... not sure how that figures into anything. Plus, it isn't like this is the first thing he's directed. Perhaps you may have seen some of the music videos or commercials he's done, or maybe one of his other two feature films, both of which were highly acclaimed (or loathed, or both) upon release?

And even if he was heir to the fortune, which he isn't, shouldn't children be allowed to form their own careers based on their own merits? Or has MetaFilter suddenly embraced the notion of capitalist dynastic rule of the American economy?
posted by hippybear at 6:46 PM on October 18, 2009 [1 favorite]

I haven't even seen the movie yet but I'm going to vote that it rules. Same goes for the upcoming adaptation of 'The Road'.

I want to believe.
posted by Bageena at 7:10 PM on October 18, 2009

Unfortunately it is beginning to look like The Road is not so hot.
posted by shakespeherian at 7:29 AM on October 19, 2009

A Talk With the 'Wild Things' Creators
posted by homunculus at 12:34 PM on October 19, 2009