#FIRSTLOOK: 2022 SUPER BOWL COMMERCIAL PREVIEW

Super Bowl LVI kicks off at 6:30 p.m. ET on Sunday, February 13, 2022 and in keeping with tradition, here is a first look at some of this year’s most star-studded TV Spots to air during the broadcast. Our faves so far are Amazon Alexa‘s brilliant pairing of real-life couple Colin Jost and Scarlett Johansson, and UberEats‘ teaming-up of Jennifer Coolidge, Nicholas Braun, Trevor Noah and Gwyneth Paltrow. Hilarious!

AMAZON ALEXA – Colin Jost & Scarlett Johansson

HELLMAN’S – Pete Davidson

BUDWEISER – A CLYDESDALE’S JOURNEY

PEPSI – EMINEM, MARY J. BLIGE, KENDRICK LAMAR, DR. DRE and SNOOP DOGG

BMW – Arnold Schwarzenegger & Salma Hayek

NISSAN – Eugene Levy, Brie Larson, Dave Bautista and Danai Gurira

UBEREATS – Jennifer Coolidge, Trevor Noah, Gwyneth Paltrow, and Nicholas Braun

GENERAL MOTORS – Mike Myers, Rob Lowe and Seth Green

DORITOS FLAMIN’ HOT

T-MOBILE – MILEY CYRUS & DOLLY PARTON (TEASER)

#FIRSTLOOK: “SINGLE ALL THE WAY” TRAILER

“The gays just know how to do stuff.”. Just leave it to Jennifer Coolidge for the best insights! This looks so cute, a same-sex relationship Holiday Movie starring Michael Urie and Philemon Chambers, SINGLE ALL THE WAY.

Synopsis:

Desperate to avoid his family’s judgment about his perpetual single status, Peter (Michael Urie) convinces his best friend Nick (Philemon Chambers) to join him for the holidays and pretend that they’re now in a relationship. But when Peter’s mother (Kathy Najimy) sets him up on a blind date with her handsome trainer James (Luke Macfarlane)— the plan goes awry. SINGLE ALL THE WAY also stars Jennifer Coolidge, Barry Bostwick, and Jennifer Robertson.

SINGLE ALL THE WAY arrives on Netflix December 2, 2021.

(Photo/video credit: Netflix)

#SXSW: “SWAN SONG”

Review by David Baldwin

Pat Pitsenbarger (legendary character actor Udo Kier) used to be a popular hairdresser in Sandusky, Ohio. Now he lives his remaining years in a nursing home, folding napkins and sneaking a smoke or two when the nurses are not looking. When Pat discovers that one of his former clients has died and that her dying wish was for him to style her hair for the funeral, he escapes the home and sets his sights on rediscovering his roots.

SWAN SONG was one of my most anticipated films going into SXSW, and I was sadly left disappointed after watching it. Writer/Director Todd Stephens has constructed an intensely personal film about a larger than life character (based on a real person), and tells his story through a dream-like haze of memories, grief and regret. His intentions making the film are sincere, but it never feels like he is sure of himself or the story he wants to tell. Instead, he lets the Film meander from scene to scene completely disconnected from each other, bringing in new characters to interact with Pat and add very little to the plot that we cannot already surmise on our own from the things he tells them. Some of the more ghostly characters add a bit of depth to the proceedings, though it never seems clear what Stephens is getting at by adding them into the mix. With the way he stages the Film, perhaps it would have worked better as a Documentary about the real life Pat interspersed with dramatizations? At the very least, it would have made the Film feel more structurally sound.

All of those issues aside, it is still a great delight to see Kier in a rare leading role. He pours his heart and soul into his performance as Pat and has an uncanny knack for ensuring the camera stays focused squarely on him. His character is a little unconventional and a little bit of a caricature of stereotypical gay men. It is borderline offensive in some instances, and so pure and devastating in others. Kier’s weathered facial expressions say so much about Pat that the film around him simply cannot. The Supporting Cast do what they can –Jennifer Coolidge and Ira Hawkins are the two standouts – but no one comes even close to matching the Kier’s strength. His work here is beautiful and it deserved a much better film to house around it.

SWAN SONG screens Thursday, March 18, 2021 starting at 1 PM.