In today’s fast-moving digital world, advertising has changed a lot of industries, especially movie reviews. Did you know that many people read online reviews before they decide to watch a movie? This shows how important digital ads and marketing have become in shaping what people think about movies.
Now, movie critics are changing the way they review films because of the new ways movies are advertised. A long time ago, reviews mostly talked about the story, acting, and art of the film. But today, critics also think about how a movie is advertised on social media and other online places.
This blog will show you how digital advertising is changing the world of movie reviews.
Understanding Digital Advertising’s Impact
Digital advertising has altered the way films are promoted and critiqued. Here’s how:
Now, movies are shared directly with the right audiences through social media. They use ads made just for them.
Filmmakers also work with influencers. They help shape how people see the movie. Critics often mention these influencers in their reviews.
Plus, with online platforms, people can give their opinions right away. This means critics have to think about what the audience is saying when they write their reviews.
These shifts indicate that film critique isn’t solely about the movie itself. It intertwines with marketing techniques. This creates a multi-faceted approach to understanding a film’s reception.
Moreover, the proliferation of digital content has led critics to explore how films are marketed to diverse sectors of the audience. Features like targeted ads allow studios to maximize their outreach. It makes the critical landscape broader and more nuanced.
Marketing Influences on Review Landscapes
The influence of marketing on film reviews is profound. Critics often discuss how marketing tactics inform audience expectations and emotional responses.
For instance, a film marketed as a blockbuster is critiqued differently than a lower-budget indie film. Understanding marketing nuances allows critics to provide insights on the effectiveness of these promotional strategies.
Moreover, the role of social media has expanded. It creates platforms for both audience feedback and film promotional content.
Critics are now engaging more on these platforms. This is where they can enhance their reviews with audience perspectives. Perhaps even changing their critiques based on popular discourse.
For budding critics, understanding the role of digital marketing is essential. Recognizing the influence of a Google ads management agency or other advertising platforms can help them maintain their integrity while navigating the changing critique landscape.
The Future of Film Critique in the Digital Age
As we look to the future, the role of digital advertising will likely continue to evolve. Film critics will have to adapt to technologies that reshape how audiences receive information about films. Here are some possible directions:
The Last Word on Digital Advertising’s Impact
In today’s fast-changing world of movie reviews, digital advertising plays a big role. Critics have to balance the way movies are advertised with the way the story is told. When you read reviews, it’s important to notice how ads might influence what people say about the movie.
Whether you just enjoy watching movies for fun or you really love films, knowing how ads and reviews work together can make your movie experience even better.
For more informative tips, check out our blog posts.
Here are 12 excellent movies where not much happens. Or does it?
There aren’t a lot of car chases, murders, sex scenes, or explosions, but lives are quietly changed.
Lost in Translation (2003)
Focus Features – Credit: C/O
Newlywed Charlotte (Scarlett Johansson) and burned-out married actor Bob (Bill Murray) meet at a Tokyo hotel, talk, and sing some karaoke. Everything is melancholy and luminously beautiful.
We keep thinking maybe they’ll leave their spouses — and yet we’re somehow grateful when they don’t. Sofia Coppola’s Lost in Translation is a celebration of small, intense interactions we’ll never recapture, and maybe shouldn’t.
At the end, Bob finds Charlotte in a crowd. They look in each other’s eyes, embrace, and he whispers something we can’t hear. They kiss in a way that feels not at all sexual. They’re friends.
The Power of the Dog (2021)
Netflix
Jane Campion’s drama looked like a likely Best Picture winner in 2022 before CODA scored the honor in an unusual, Covid-tainted year.
It is, on its surface, a slow, ponderous story about a widow (Kirsten Dunst), her kindly suitor and eventual husband (Jesse Plemons), her effeminate, intellectual son, (Kodi Smit-McPhee) and her brutal brother-in-law (Benedict Cumberbatch).
For most of the movie, we think we’re watching a sensitive Western, perhaps with a revisionist take on the very 2020s theme of “toxic masculinity.” But by the end, we realize it’s been a different kind of movie all along — and a more ruthless one than we realized. It makes a hard, shrewd shift in genre, and we respect it.
Dazed and Confused (1993)
Gramercy Pictures – Credit: C/O
The ultimate hangout movie, Dazed and Confused follows a group of high schoolers on graduation night as they cruise around and make plans to go to a party at the Moontower. There’s some fighting and bullying and flirting, and some mailboxes get battered. Football star Randall “Pink” Floyd (Jason London) has to decide whether to sign a pledge. not to do drugs.
And that’s it. No one dies, nothing explodes, no one pulls off the heist of the century. And yet it’s a pure joy, helped launch the careers of Ben Affleck, Parker Posey, and Matthew McConaughey, and is the best hangout movie ever. Quentin Tarantino has called his favorite movie of the 90s.
Dazed and Confused is one of several deceptively simple Richard Linklater movies, where very normal days and nights turn out to be the most memorable of our lives.
And, since we mentioned Tarantino…
Once Upon a Time in Hollywood (2019)
Sony Pictures Releasing
A slice of life story about real-life actress Sharon Tate (Margot Robbie), her burnout actor neighbor Rick Dalton (Leonardo DiCaprio), and Dalton’s pal-stuntman-assistant Cliff Booth (Brad Pitt).
The film takes us on a pleasant meander through three days of their lives — at one point we join Sharon on a solo trip to the movies — but writer-director Quentin Tarantino knows he doesn’t need to do much to move the plot along…
… Because we’re on the edge of our seats the entire time, thinking about the hellish thing we know happened to the real Sharon Tate. Waiting for it to happen onscreen. Horrified.
There are little smatterings of violence before the big finale as Cliff fights both Bruce Lee (Mike Moh) and Tex Watson (Austin Butler).
And when the grim ending comes… it turns out to be not what we expected.
Perfect Days (2023)
Koji Yakusho and Arisa Nakano in Perfect Days. DCM
The newest film on our list, Perfect Days follows a Tokyo bathroom custodian named Hirayama (Kōji Yakusho) as he goes about his simple days, fueled by mix tapes, good books, and his love of photography.
It’s a curious, transfixing film about making the most of a seemingly simple existence. People enter his life who seem poised to change it dramatically, but he takes comfort in his routines.
Its excellent movie credentials include premiering at the the 76th Cannes Film Festival, where it competed for the Palme d’Or and won the Prize of the Ecumenical Jury and the Best Actor Award for Yakusho. It was also nominated for the Best International Feature Film at the 96th Academy Awards,.
Before Sunset (2004)
Warner Independent Pictures
Another Linklater movie, and the sequel to his lovely Before Sunrise, which could also be on this list. Jesse and Celine (Ethan Hawke and Julie Delpy, who co-write the movie with Linklater and Kim Krizan) reunite in Paris, nearly a decade after the night they spent together in Vienna in Before Sunrise.
Jesse has written a book about that night, and he and Celina reminisce about what could have been and what can never be. Or can it?
The biggest event in Before Sunset comes at the very end, when instead of doing something, Jesse doesn’t do something — and it changes his and Celine’s lives. It also sets up the third film in the series, the beguiling Before Midnight.
Last Days of Disco (1999)
Gramercy Pictures
Writer-director Whit Stillman has said that during the tough days of filming his 1994 Barcelona, a rare moment of joy came while shooting a disco scene. He wondered why he couldn’t just make a whole movie of young women loving the nightlife and dancing. So he made Last Days of Disco.
Chloe Sevigny and Kate Beckinsale star as aspiring book editors who eke out small salaries while looking for love or connection or something on dance floors and the sexy banquettes at their edges. At least one character considers them overprivileged and insipid, and the big climax is a debate about Lady and the Tramp.
But there’s a lot happening in the subtext, including a richly detailed, nearly invisible subplot about tax fraud. And — much more importantly, from the movie’s perspective — people find real meaning in the most seemingly superficial of settings. This might be your humble correspondent’s favorite movie — and it’s one of the most seductive movies we’ve ever seen.
The Brutalist (2024)
A24
The newest film on this list, and a leading Oscar contender, Brady Corbet’s The Brutalist moves as a patient, often hypnotic pace, inviting you to enjoy and appreciate its anthemic score, nuanced performances, and the brutally beautiful architecture of protagonist László Tóth (Adrien Brody).
It unfolds over 3 hours and 35 minutes that do not fly by: One of its leads, Felicity Jones as Erzsébet Tóth — doesn’t really show up until after the midpoint intermission. Strikingly, for a movie with plenty of time, The Brutalist never over-explains, often waiting until years after events in the film to have occurred before the characters discuss them at any length.
Arguably the most devastating moment in the film — it occurs between László and his benefactor/antagonist Harrison Lee Van Buren Sr. (Guy Pearce) — unfolds with such understatement that you may not immediately understand the trauma unfolding unless you catch the sound of an unbuckling belt.
Contempt (1963)
Marceau-Cocinor
French writer Paul (Michel Piccoli) is enlisted to work with Fritz Lang (played by the real Fritz Lang) on an adaptation of The Iliad.
When Paul and his wife Camille (Brigitte Bardot) are invited to the home of cocky American producer Jeremy Proko (Jack Palance), Proko’s car only has room for one passenger. And so begins a period of intense agony for Paul.
It’s all very slow — yet you wish it were even slower. Jean-Luc Godard’s Contempt is one of the most gorgeous movies ever made. The visuals are sumptuous, including of Casa Malaparte, the seaside home on Capri, Italy where key scenes occur. And “Camille’s Theme,” by Georges Delerue, is so stirring that Martin Scorsese borrowed it for Casino.
Contempt has two very violent deaths, but they’re almost an afterthought. The emotional carnage comes first.
La Piscine (1969)
Société Nouvelle de Cinématographie
TimeOut perfectly describes this one as “a deliciously languid, slinkily unsettling affair.”
Director Jacques Deray spends lots of time on the uncluttered elegance of la piscine of the title (la piscine is French for “the swimming pool”) and the magnetism of its four central inhabitants, played by Alain Delon, Romy Schneider, Maurice Ronet, and Jane Birkin.
There’s lust and jealousy, sure, though we’re never sure how seriously to take it all until, about midway through the film, someone commits a rompishly casual murder. When it happens, you’re almost sad to see the movie take a break from shots of people just lying around.
The Father (2020)
UCG Distribution
The setup for Florian Zeller’s magnificent debut is so simple it barely seems sufficient for a movie: A daughter (Olivia Colman) is trying to move her dementia-struck father (Anthony Hopkins) from his flat and into a nursing home.
But the scenes that result are both aching and mesmerizing. Zeller designed the film, he told MovieMaker, “to make the audience feel as if they were going through a labyrinth.” He envelops the audience in Anthony’s confusion by moving the proportions of the apartment, changing the locations of items, and even changing the colors of a wall.
We see and feel a man losing his mind, and the film makes us share in his alternating peace and terror. Zeller was so certain that Hopkins was the only actor for the job that he named his main character Anthony and wrote the script for the Silence of the Lambs Oscar winner without ever having met him.
All worked out: Hopkins won his second Best Actor Oscar for The Father, one of the most excellent movies of recent years.
Jeanne Dielman, 23 quai du Commerce, 1080 Bruxelles (1975)
Olympic Films
The gold standard of movies where not much happens, Jeanne Dielman follows a widowed housewife (Delphine Seyrig) as she goes about her domestic routines over three days: cooking, cleaning, taking care of her son, and having sex with a different client each afternoon.
Yes, she has sex three times, and there is one pointed act of violence, which may sound like a lot is happening. But consider that the movie is three hours and twenty minutes long. At one point it devotes four minutes to a static shot of Jeanne making veal cutlets.
Released when writer-director Chantal Akerman was just 25, Jeanne Dielman initially drew a mixed response, but steadily gained respect. In 2020, the Sight + Sound poll named it the greatest movie ever made. It replaced Vertigo at the top of the list.
Liked This Gallery of 12 Excellent Movies Where Not Much Happens?
Here are the 12 coolest time travel movies of all time — and all times.
Cinema’s obsession with time travel makes perfect sense, given that movies may be the closest most of us will ever get to it: The filmmakers of the past told stories for the audiences of the future. As the gap between creation and audience grows, so does every film’s value as an artifact of its time.
As people and places disappear, films can become our best ways to remember them, and experience something like immersion in times we may remember only faintly, if at all.
So in a way, all movies are time travel movies. But the following films are explicitly about people starting in one time, and traveling to another.
It’s a Wonderful Life (1946)
Donna Reed, Jimmy Stewart and Karolyn Grimes in It’s a Wonderful Life. RKO Radio Pictures
If you think It’s a Wonderful Life isn’t a time travel movie, we would ask: How is it not? The dark Christmas classic from Frank Capra follows George Bailey (Jimmy Stewart at his best) revisiting his past — or rather an alternate version of his life in which he was never born.
Rather than going back and changing the past, George has to endure the present — and in doing so, shape the future. Just like all of us do every day.
As popular as the multiverse concept is today, it’s notable that It’s a Wonderful Life hit on it long, long ago. Credit goes to Capra and co-writers Frances Goodrich and Albert Hackett, as well as Philip Van Doren Stern, who wrote the story upon which It’s a Wonderful Life was based.
The Time Machine (1960)
When Morlocks attack: Yvette Mimieaux as Weena in The Time Machine. MGM
No discussion of time travel is complete without bowing to H.G. Wells’ 1895 novel The Time Machine, one of the most influential stories of all.
George Pal’s adaptation of the novel presents a two-caste future in which humans have evolved into Eloi and Morlocks. The passive, vegetarian Eloi seem to have it good: They live a pleasant, idyllic existence — above ground, no less.
It all seems very nice until we realize the Eloi (including Yvette Mimieaux as Weena, above) are basically veal for the Morlocks, the scrappy, resentful subterraneans who emerge occasionally from their caves to feed on their pampered cousins.
The Time Machine is a great time travel movie, and inspired many others on this list., sometimes quite overtly. But it’s also a provocative, still-relevant piece of social commentary.
La Jetée (1962)
Hélène Châtelain in La Jetée. Argos Films.
Chris Marker’s La Jetée explains to audiences that it is “the story of a man marked by an image of his childhood” — a violent image he witnessed “sometime before the outbreak of World War III.”
He comes to understand it only by experiencing it again and again, in a time loop that the short film illustrates almost entirely illustrated in still photos. His link to the past is a memory of a woman (played by Hélène Châtelain, above) he once encountered on the observation platform, or jetty, of Paris’ Orly Airport.
Between its deliberate repetition, black-and-white photography and unsettling setting — we are watching the past’s vision of our own possible future, which feels simultaneously dated and far beyond us — La Jetée is hypnotic.
Time After Time (1979)
Malcolm McDowell and Mary Steenburgen in Time After Time. Warner Bros.
Nicholas Meyers’ Time After Time has one of the best setups of any film. Pointedly inspired by The Time Machine, it begins in Victorian London, where Jack the Ripper (aka Dr. John Leslie Stevenson, played by David Warner) has just struck again.
He joins a gathering at the home of his friend H.G. Wells (Malcolm McDowell), who unveils a time machine he’s a bit apprehensive about using.
When the police close in, Stevenson flees to the future in the time machine — and H.G. follows him. They end up in 1979 San Francisco, where fish-out-of-water Stevenson adapts swimmingly to the violence of the (then) modern age, while gentle H.G. tries to stop him from killing again.
He’s aided by bank employee Amy (Mary Steenburgen), who becomes Jack’s target. Things build to kind of a disappointing climax, but there’s so much thoughtfulness and delight along the way that it’s silly to linger on it.
And in a sweet behind-the-scenes ending, Steenburgen and McDowell fell in love and were married for a decade.
The Terminator (1984)
Linda Hamilton and Michael Biehn in The Terminator. Orion Pictures. – Credit: C/O
When the low-budget Terminator emerged in 1984, some people dismissed it as a dumb, violent shoot-’em-up about a killer robot.
While it’s undeniably one of the best killer robot movies ever made, it also offers one of the coolest takes on how time travel works.
In the world of The Terminator, time travel is like an inevitable loop that transgresses calendar years: Kyle Reese (Michael Biehn) is sent back in time to save Sarah Connor (Linda Hamilton) so she can give birth to her son John, the savior of humankind in a dark, robot-infested future. But he also ends up fathering John — who, in turn, is the one who sends him back in time.
Brilliant.
Terminator 2: Judgment Day (1991)
Arnold Schwarzenegger in Terminator 2: Judgment Day. TriStar Pictures – Credit: C/O
Yes, we’re going with two Terminator movies, because the inevitable-loop concept ramps up to another level when we learn in T2 that the arrival of Arnold Schwarzenegger’s T-800 in the first Terminator was the cause of the Judgment Day that sparks the A.I. takeover.
In short, the last remaining piece of technology from the T-800’s final battle against Sarah and John becomes crucial to Cyberdyne, the company that creates SkyNet, which quickly makes things very tough for humanity.
The past creates the future which creates the past which creates the future. At least, that’s how it goes in The Terminator.
The next time travel movie on our list has a different theory about it all works.
Back to the Future (1985)
Crispin Glover, Lea Thompson and Michael J. Fox in Back to the Future. Universal Pictures.
One of the most flat-out entertaining movies ever, Robert Zemeckis’ Back to the Future embraces the geekiness of time travel and makes it as goofily cool as possible — while grounding everything in a very human story.
1980s teen Marty McFly (Michael J. Fox) travels back to the 1950s thanks to a time traveling DeLorean built by his mentor, Doc Brown (Christopher LLoyd). But upon arrival, Marty prevents a crucial meeting of his young parents (Crispin Glover and Lea Thompson).
Worse, his mom develops a crush on him — which is a huge problem for many reasons. But it’s arguably most troubling because in the Back to the Future school of time travel, nothing is inevitable, even Marty’s existence. If he can’t get his parents together, he and his siblings will never be born.
Things get more complicated (and occasionally even more fun) in Back to the Future 2, in which Marty is propelled into the future, and back to the past — and has to avoid running into himself. And Back to the Future 3 goes for pure Western thrills.
Diehard fans of time travel movies will note that in the latter, Mary Steenbergen plays a character in a similar situation to the one her character faced in the aforementioned Time After Time.
Groundhog Day (1993)
Andie McDowell and Bill Murray in Groundhog Day. Columbia Pictures – Credit: C/O
Harold Ramis’ masterpiece stars his Ghostbusters castmate Bill Murray as a weatherman cursed to repeat the same holiday again and again. It enlivened the time travel movie genre and popularized the time-loop format. It’s also another of the best movies ever made.
Screenwriter Danny Rubin, who was steeped in Anne Rice’s vampire novels, became interested in the idea of immortality, and of repeating the same day over and over again. He and Ramis turned his original script into a meditation on life itself, and how all of us have the choice, each time the alarm goes off, to make each day a grinding re-enactment of the one before, or to take it in an entirely new direction.
Assemble enough of those decisions together, and you’ve completed a lifetime.
Austin Powers: The Spy Who Shagged Me (1999)
Michael York as Basil Exposition in Austin Powers: The Spy Who Shagged Me. New Line Cinema
In the first Austin Powers film, 1997’s Austin Powers: International Man of Mystery, Mike Myers’ swinging ’60s spy is frozen in 1967 and thawed out in the ’90s.
In the sequel, Austin must travel back — this time to 1969 — to match wits with Dr. Evil (also Myers) who has stolen Austin’s mojo. The ramifications of crossing paths with his (frozen) past self causes Austin to go cross-eyed — but the wise Basil Exposition gives him some advice.
“I suggest you don’t worry about this sort of thing and just enjoy yourself,” he says.
Then he and Myers turn smilingly to the audience, as Basil adds, “That goes for you all, too.”
Thus freed from thinking about the space-time continuum, we’re able to just enjoy Austin returning to the past to dance and fight alongside Felicity Shagwell (Heather Graham.)
Midnight in Paris (2011)
Midnight in Paris. Sony Pictures Classics
Woody Allen’s beguiling Midnight in Paris skips any concern about how time travel works in favor of charm. Owen Wilson’s character, who is having trouble with his fiancée (Rachel McAdams), travels back in time simply by stepping inside a 1920s car each night at midnight.
It transports him to glorious 1920s Paris, where he mingles with the likes of Ernest Hemingway (Corey Stoll), F. Scott Fitzgerald (Tom Hiddleston), Zelda Fitzgerald (Alison Pill), Salvador Dali (Adrien Brody) and Gertrude Stein (Kathy Bates). He also becomes captivated by Adriana, Picasso’s mistress, played by Marion Cotillard.
Instead of a new take on how time travel works, Midnight in Paris lays out a universal truth: Some people will always prefer to live in the past.
Edge of Tomorrow (2014)
Tom Cruise and Emily Blunt in Edge of Tomorrow. Warner Bros.
This Tom Cruise-Emily Blunt gem takes the Groundhog Day concept into the realm of action and sci-fi. But it’s also funny, in a different way than Groundhog Day.
Cruise plays against type as a man who, like Murray in Groundhog Day, must re-live the same day again and again. But Cruise, known for playing ultra-competent heroes like Ethan Hunt in the Mission: Impossible films and Pete “Maverick” Mitchell in Top Gun, goes against type by portraying a bit of a bumbler.
He’s a PR man who dies in a series of darkly amusing ways under the tutelage of Blunt’s experienced super soldier, Sergeant Rita Vrataski.
The film was a box office disappointment, but has gained much respect since its initial release. Based on the Hiroshi Sakurazaka novel All You Need Is Kill, it was almost given director Doug Liman’s preferred title, Live Die Repeat, which became the film’s tagline.
Spoiler Warning: The next and final film on this list isn’t obviously a time travel movie until its incredible ending.
Planet of the Apes (1968)
Charlton Heston and Linda Harrison in Planet of the Apes. 20th Century Fox.
Like we said, the presence of this film on this list is a spoiler — we’re sorry. Then again, the original Planet of the Apes has been out for 57 years, so you’ve had time to see it.
What’s coolest about Planet of the Apes is that for almost its entire running time, you don’t realize you’re watching a time travel movie. It just seems like a nightmarish sci-fi film in which a trio of astronauts led by Charlton Heston’s George Taylor crash-land on a planet ruled by apes. They treat humans — including Nova (Linda Harrison) — like animals.
If these time travel movies have taught us nothing, it’s that it’s much easier to prevent an apocalypse now than to try to build a time machine and go back to prevent one later. Good luck, everyone.
Main image: Yvette Mimieaux, as the Eloi Weena and Rod Taylor as H. George Wells in The Time Machine. MGM
Editor’s note: Corrects error in Time After Time item. Jack the Ripper flees into the future, not the past.
Thunderbolts* review – the best Marvel film in a while
About Little White Lies
Little White Lies was established in 2005 as a bi-monthly print magazine committed to championing great movies and the talented people who make them. Combining cutting-edge design, illustration and journalism, we’ve been described as being “at the vanguard of the independent publishing movement.” Our reviews feature a unique tripartite ranking system that captures the different aspects of the movie-going experience. We believe in Truth & Movies.
The MCU has struggled to find its footing in the post Endgame world. While Marvel once rewarded viewers for their loyalty, they now punish audiences that haven’t done their homework in a continuity that now spans close to two decades. Their current path to a bog crossover has been all over the place, making it difficult to follow their expanded universe. Thunderbolts* promised to be a breath of fresh air to the ever-growing franchise. Sure, it was bringing back characters you may, and may not, be familiar with, but this was from a different angle. These wouldn’t be your shiny new heroes failing to fill the void left by the original Avengers, these would be reluctant misfits, forced to band together to save the world and learn something along the way. At least that appeared to be the plan on paper.
Thunderbolts* does follow these plot points for the first half of the movie, unfortunately, it fails to learn an important lesson from 2016’s Suicide Squad. The histories of both teams may differ in the source material, but the parallels onscreen are more evident. None more so with the villains that they are pitted against. Taking a team of under-powered individuals and placing them against a god-like foe didn’t work for DC and it is also where the latest entry to the MCU fails to stick the landing.
This is a shame, as at least two-thirds of Thunderbolts* is a lot of fun. The cast has great chemistry and brings nuance and depth to their roles, most notably Florence Pugh (Yelena) and Wyatt Russell (John Walker). Both actors express the inner turmoil that their characters struggle with. Like the rest of the team, they have dark pasts riddled with regrets that torture them. There may be less of an emotional connection with Walker if your memory of that show you watched 4 years ago during lockdown has faded. Pugh is given more time and even if this was your first introduction to Yelana, her performance draws you with director Jake Schreier ensuring she is the emotional heartbeat of the movie.
Unlike Cara Delevingne’s, ahem, questionable performance as Suicide Squad’s big bad, Lewis Pullman gives us a memorable foe for the right reasons as Bob aka the Sentry. He is likeable, and menacing, battling his demons while taking it out on the world. The main issue with the character is he feels like he is in the wrong film as he offers a formidable threat at odds with the tone set a the beginning of the movie. The opening set pieces show the team at their best as they fight difficult odds albeit against foes they are capable of beating in a fight. Sure, they need to be smart when they’re outnumbered but this allows for exciting action sequences that ground the movie to the level of our protagonists. This goes out the window in the third act when it turns out all they needed was the power of friendship to save the day. This hurts the movie badly as the team faces an all-powerful foe, an unsuspecting gloom clouds the screen as Marvel teases a step towards the dark side. It turns out to be more of a fakeout as the studio opts to keep things friendly for all ages resulting in a forced and rushed climax.
The cast does great with the material givenand for a while, it feels like a new dawn in the MCU. Instead, it falls flat when it matters most with a credit sequence that unintentionally pokes fun at the execution of the movie’s ending as it questions if fans want this. The MCU has struggled in recent years, with Marvel opting for content over media and with Thunderbolts* there’s a bit of both. There are hints of something new but they blend into the homogeneous stew of the MCU. With over 60 movies and TV shows combined, Marvel is struggling to launch the next generation of heroes that will carry the franchise forward. It never seemed like Thunderbolts* was meant to carry that weight however by the end credits scene (slightly spoiled by the credits themselves), their promotion overshadows the strengths and gives us a light-hearted nudge and a wink Avengers Assemble. A decent comic book film elevated by a strong cast, it fails to fill the hole Marvel has tried to fill since 2019. It may kill some time between now and Fantastic Four but will do little to keep you invested for Doomsday.
Writer, filmmaker, friendly neighbourhood storyteller. Believes Jaws to be the greatest film ever made and will go down swinging with that belief.
Little White Lies was established in 2005 as a bi-monthly print magazine committed to championing great movies and the talented people who make them. Combining cutting-edge design, illustration and journalism, we’ve been described as being “at the vanguard of the independent publishing movement.” Our reviews feature a unique tripartite ranking system that captures the different aspects of the movie-going experience. We believe in Truth & Movies.
As companies evolve in reaction to technological improvements and converting group of workers dreams, the design of office areas, specifically cubicles, want to additionally adapt. Traditional cubicle layouts are being reimagined to foster collaboration, creativity, and employee pleasure whilst nevertheless offering the privateness and recognition that many employees require. This article explores innovative cubicle design solutions for the present day workplace, highlighting dispositions and techniques that enhance each capability and aesthetics.
The Shift in Workplace Dynamics
The cutting-edge workplace has undergone a seismic shift in current years, with the rise of faraway work, bendy schedules, and a more emphasis on worker well-being. These adjustments have induced companies to rethink their workplace designs. Open ground plans, as soon as lauded for promoting collaboration, regularly lead to distractions and reduced productivity. In reaction, organizations are more and more seeking out cubicle layout answers that strike a balance between collaboration and privateness.
Key Elements of Modern Cubicle Design
1. Flexible Layouts
One of the most vast developments in cubicle layout is the pass closer to flexible layouts. Modular cubicle systems allow businesses to create adaptable spaces that may be effortlessly reconfigured to meet converting wishes. This flexibility can accommodate one of a kind paintings patterns, whether an worker requires a private place for centered tasks or a collaborative setup for group initiatives.
2. Acoustic Considerations
Noise manipulate is a essential aspect of cutting-edge cubicle design. Open offices can be noisy, leading to reduced concentration and productiveness. Incorporating sound-soaking up substances into cubicle partitions and the usage of acoustic panels can help mitigate noise ranges, creating a quieter and more focused work surroundings. This layout element now not handiest complements privacy however also promotes a extra great ecosystem for employees.
3. Personalized Workspaces
Empowering personnel to personalize their booths can appreciably enhance task pleasure and productivity. Allowing individuals to enhance their workspaces with non-public gadgets, consisting of snap shots, plants, or art work, can create a sense of possession and comfort. Additionally, providing adjustable furniture options, together with take a seat-stand desks, permits employees to customise their work surroundings to in shape their options.
4. Biophilic Design
Integrating biophilic layout factors into cubicle spaces can positively effect worker properly-being and productiveness. This layout philosophy emphasizes the relationship among nature and the built surroundings. Incorporating herbal light, greenery, and natural materials into cubicle layout can create a greater clean and provoking workspace. Plants no longer only decorate aesthetics however also improve air quality and sell a feel of calm.
5. Collaborative Zones
While booths offer privacy, current workplace layout have to additionally incorporate collaborative zones. These areas may be particular for brainstorming classes, crew conferences, or informal discussions. Creating areas with comfortable seating, whiteboards, and technology that supports collaboration encourages teamwork at the same time as ensuring that booths remain a space for focused paintings.
6. Technology Integration
In these days’s virtual age, seamless technology integration is critical in cubicle design. This includes built-in charging stations, cable management solutions, and get right of entry to to video conferencing equipment. By equipping cubicles with the vital era, personnel can paintings extra successfully without the problem of tangled cords or insufficient connectivity.
7. Ergonomics and Comfort
Comfort is paramount in current cubicle design. Ergonomic furniture, consisting of adjustable chairs and desks, can assist reduce the danger of strain and damage related to prolonged sitting. Proper lights, each herbal and synthetic, is also essential for creating a snug workspace.. Adjustable lights answers, which include venture lamps and dimmable overhead lighting, permit personnel to tailor their lighting fixtures environment to their precise desires.
8. Clear Signage and Wayfinding
As workplace layouts end up greater complicated, clean signage and wayfinding answers are vital for navigating the distance. Well-located symptoms that manual employees to meeting rooms, spoil areas, and other facilities can decorate the general enjoy and reduce confusion. Incorporating virtual signage that displays records about workspace availability also can assist employees locate the right location for his or her wishes.
The Future of Cubicle Design
The destiny of cubicle layout will in all likelihood maintain to evolve in reaction to rising tendencies and technologies. As far off work turns into a more permanent alternative for plenty personnel, offices can also see a hybrid approach to cubicle layout. This could encompass committed spaces for in-workplace workers, at the same time as also accommodating individuals who may additionally best are available in occasionally.
Moreover, advancements in clever technology will possibly play a essential function inside the evolution of cubicle layout. Smart booths equipped with sensors to monitor occupancy, lighting, and weather can create more efficient and adaptable workspaces. This technology no longer only improves consolation however additionally allows groups optimize their area usage.
Conclusion
Cubicle design answers for the present day office should cope with the numerous needs of today’s staff. By specializing in flexibility, acoustic concerns, personalization, biophilic elements, collaborative zones, generation integration, ergonomics, and clean signage, agencies can create environments that enhance productivity, creativity, and worker pleasure. As workplaces keep to conform, embracing progressive cubicle layout solutions can be crucial for fostering a thriving organizational subculture that values each individual awareness and collaboration. The cutting-edge cubicle is now not only a partitioned workspace; it’s far a cautiously designed surroundings that helps the diverse desires of nowadays’s personnel. Discover progressive office answers and layout concept at corporateofficeint.com to elevate your workspace nowadays!
These shameless comedies don’t care if you’re offended — they only care about making you laugh.
Not Another Teen Movie (2000)
Credit: C/O
A brutal but affectionate takedown of teen movies from Lucas to She’s All That to Fast Times at Ridgemont High to The Breakfast Club, Not Another Teen Movie is a blitzkrieg of offense filled with sex, bathroom jokes, insane violence and surprisingly acute social commentary.
Where else can you see Chris Evans misusing a banana, white kids who pretend to be Asian, and football players split in half?
Not Another Teen Movie could cut every offensive joke and still be very funny, but it gets extra points for the sheer audacity of keeping them in.
White Chicks (2004)
Credit: Columbia
Marlon and Shawn Wayans play Black FBI agents who impersonate rich white socialites to infiltrate a pompous Hamptons social scene — and break up a conspiracy. Along the way they learn how white people act when they think no one of other races are around, but also start to see the world from a woman’s perspective.
If you’re not offended by something in White Chicks, you aren’t paying attention. The Wayans take down privileged white people, but also everyone else, and make points about our weird racial and sexual hangups along the way. White Chicks always keeps you guessing about how far it will go, and it goes pretty far.
Airplane (1980)
Credit: C/O
June Cleaver speaking jive is deeply inappropriate — and one of the funniest things that has ever happened in a movie.
God bless Zucker-Abrahams-Zucker for coming up with the idea of Barbara Billingsley delivering the line, “Oh stewardess? I speak jive.” And also for the 7,000 other great jokes in Airplane, one of the all-time greatest comedies.
You can question its taste if you want to, but you’d be better off just going with the laughs. There are a lot of them.
Team America: World Police (2004)
Credit: Paramount
It’s impossible to take any self-righteous actor seriously after watching this puppet-movie spy thriller that despises Kim Jong-Il, but hates Sean Penn even more.
Puppet love scenes, projectile vomiting that goes on much too long, unapologetic jingoism — Team America, from the creators of South Park, is a mockery of gung-ho nationalism, but also a compelling defense of American foreign policy at its best.
There’s also a fantastic metaphor involving three different body parts that we think about way more than we should.
Borat (2006)
Credit: 20th Century Fox
Sacha Baron Cohen impersonates a sexist, anti-Semitic, generally clueless Kazakh journalist who makes Americans feel free to say things they wouldn’t ordinarily say. He’s gloriously ignorant, but his guilelessness brings out the worst in people who should know better. (And also, very occasionally, the best.)
Borat’s behavior is wildly offensive, but he’s so demented that you can’t help but feel sorry for him, and Baron Cohen and his team manage to strike a perfect mix of revulsion and vulnerability. What’s most impressive is how much of it Baron Cohen had to improvise on the fly, in tense and often dangerous positions.
The 2020 sequel, Borat Subsequent Moviefilm, is also terrific.
The Kentucky Fried Movie (1977)
Credit: C/O
With wall-to-wall gratuitous flesh and racial humor, The Kentucky Fried Movie is the modern-day definition of problematic, but it’s also a perfect time capsule of the freewheeling 1970s: It spots and skewers genres from kung-fu to Blaxploitation to women-in-prison movies in quick-hit, take-it-or-leave it sketches that are perfect sendups of a whole slew of grindhouse classics.
It’s also an important movie, believe it or not — it was the breakthrough for its director, John Landis, and for its writers, the comedic team of David Zucker, Jim Abrahams and Jerry Zucker, who would soon go on to make Airplane.
Kentucky Fried Movie is one of those comedies that Gen X kids spoke of in whispers because so many of their parents banned them from seeing it. It has a well-earned reputation for what we used to call a dirty movie. It really is, in a way that still feels subversive, wrong, and thrilling.
Are you Black, white, Jewish, Christian, African, American, young or old?
There’s something to offend you in the cartoonish grotesquerie of Coming to America, in which Eddie Murphy plays people fitting into almost all of the demographics we just listed, mercilessly mocking them all.
Coming to America takes shots at royalty, the nouveau riche, and the scrappy underclass, but is most focused on gender dynamics. It’s such a sharp judge of human behavior that the only appropriate reaction is awe.
Monty Python’s Life of Brian (1979)
Credit: C/O
Monty Python takes on the ultimate sacred cow: the story of Jesus. It looks as magnificent as Hollywood’s biggest Biblical epics, which makes its takedown of pomposity all the more subversive and hysterical.
A great many great bits and routines darkly culminate in the deranged cheeriness of the final musical number, “Always Look on the Bright Side of Life.”
It’s all quite sacrilegious, and that’s the whole point.
Tropic Thunder (2008)
Credit: Paramount
Tropic Thunder always walks a thin line, but especially with Ben Stiller’s Simple Jack character and Robert Downey Jr.’s portrayal of Kirk Lazarus, an Australian actor who really, really commits to playing a Black character.
The film mocks actors desperate for awards, and it’s uncomfortable — but also funny. Stiller has admirably stuck to his guns, standing by his movie.
“I make no apologies for Tropic Thunder,” Stiller tweeted last year when someone erroneously said he had apologized for the film. “Don’t know who told you that. It’s always been a controversial movie since when we opened. Proud of it and the work everyone did on it.”
The Jerk (1979)
Credit: Universal Pictures
“I was born a poor Black child,” Steve Martin’s Navin Johnson explains at the start of this absurdist masterpiece, and it all builds up into a righteous kung-fu takedown at his hideously tacky mansion that features maybe the only time in history it’s been totally OK for a white guy to scream the most offensive of all racial slurs.
No one else could have pulled of the balancing act except for Steve Martin, whose special purpose is to make us all laugh.
We won’t pretend to be objective here: This is maybe our favorite movie out of all comedies, ever.
South Park: Bigger, Longer and Uncut (1999)
Credit: Comedy Central
South Park: Bigger, Longer and Uncut seeks out sympathy for the devil: We’re supposed to root for Satan himself as he tries to escape an abusive relationship with Saddam Hussein.
There’s also lots of violence against kids and flagrant anti-Canadian propaganda.
But of course, Canadians were too nice to get offended.
Blazing Saddles (1974)
Credit: Warner Bros.
Blazing Saddles is filled with gags big and small, some of which will work for you and some of which won’t. It has quite a few race-based jokes, but the film is very much on the side of Sheriff Bart (Cleavon Little), a Black sheriff trying to bring progress to the Wild West.
The American Film Institute ranks Blazing Saddles as the sixth-funniest movie of all time, but director and co-writer Mel Brooks disagrees: “I love Some Like It Hot, but we have the funniest movie ever made,” Brooks told Vanity Fair in 2016, not caring if you’re offended.
The five films that landed ahead of Blazing Saddles on AFI’s list were, from first to fifth, Some Like It Hot, Tootsie, Dr. Strangelove, Annie Hall, and Duck Soup.
Bottoms (2023)
Ayo Edebiri stars as Josie and Rachel Sennott as PJ in Bottoms, an Orion Pictures Release. – Credit: C/O
Bottoms is about “teen girls who start a fight club so they can try to impress and hook up with cheerleaders,” explains writer-director Emma Seligman. It breaks a lot of rules about what kind of violence it’s considered decent to present onscreen — the girls really do fight, and don’t always win — and resists recent play-it-safe rules that dictate that LGBTQ+ characters have to be saintly or victimized or both.
“I think every human deserves to see a relatable, complicated, nuanced version of themselves on screen. And I don’t think that I’ve seen it enough for me to feel recognized,” says Seligman.
Liked Our List of Shameless Comedies That Just Don’t Care If You’re Offended?
When assets harm moves due to fires, floods, storms, or precise disasters, the course to healing can appear overwhelming. In these situations, homeowners regularly turn to coverage healing contractors to restore their homes and navigate the complexities of insurance claims. While there are many experts in this area, choosing a certified coverage restoration contractor makes all of the difference in making sure an smooth, efficient, and successful recuperation. Here’s why licensing topics and what approach for residence proprietors.
A certified coverage recuperation contractor is someone who meets the prison necessities and necessities set by way of nearby or kingdom government to characteristic as an expert inside the recuperation employer. Licensing isn’t just a formality—it guarantees that the contractor is licensed, educated, and compliant with guidelines.
Licensed contractors regularly hold certifications in specialized healing fields, at the side of mould remediation, water damage restore, or hearth and smoke restoration. These credentials mirror their information and capacity to address complex property restoration situations.
Why Licensing Is Crucial
Licensing guarantees that a contractor has handed the important education, checking, and certification to carry out recovery work competently. Licensed contractors adhere to industry requirements and guidelines, supplying homeowners with self-self belief that their belongings are in a success arms.
This guarantee is in particular essential all through assets healing, in which fines and safety are paramount.
Compliance with Legal Requirements
Licensed contractors are completely compliant with the neighborhood building codes and felony policies. This compliance is essential whilst restoring belongings after disaster-associated damage. For instance, upkeep can also moreover require lets in, inspections, or adherence to zoning legal guidelines. Licensed contractors make certain that every one’s paintings meets these requirements, fending off crook or economic headaches for house owners.
Licensed contractors often have a giant entertainment working with insurance groups. Their familiarity with coverage protocols guarantees that asserts are well documented and submitted. They understand the way to navigate the nuances of coverage, supporting owners in maximizing their blessings and keeping off declaring denials.
Additionally, insurers are more likely to approve artwork accomplished using a licensed contractor, as it aligns with their requirements for compensation.
Accountability and Protection
Licensing gives duty. If problems get up throughout or after the recovery method, house owners can file lawsuits or search for resolutions via local licensing boards. This crucial degree of oversight saves guardhouse owners from cheating contractors, incomplete paintings, and shoddy repairs.
Furthermore, licensed contractors are required to maintain coverage, which includes liability and personnel compensation. This protects owners from economic dangers within the event of injuries or assets harm in a few unspecified time within the destiny due to the recuperation approach.
Risks of Hiring Unlicensed Contractors
While unlicensed contractors may also moreover offer decrease expenses or promise faster timelines, the dangers a ways outweigh the benefits. Here’s what owners stand to lose:
Inferior Work Quality: Unlicensed contractors may additionally lack the crucial capabilities or experience, primary to substandard preservation or incomplete recuperation.
Legal Penalties: If the art work don’t have a look at constructing codes or policies, owners can also face fines or be required to redo the maintenance.
Insurance Coverage Issues: Insurers may additionally moreover refuse to reimburse paintings completed via an unlicensed contractor, leaving residential proprietors to cowl the costs out of pocket.
No Accountability: With no licensing board to oversee their movements, unlicensed contractors are difficult to preserve accountable for mistakes or misconduct.
How Licensing Benefits Homeowners
By selecting a licensed coverage healing contractor, owners advantage from severa advantages:
Peace of Mind: Knowing the contractor is licensed and adheres to industry standards alleviates stress at some level in the healing procedure.
Quality Assurance: Licensed contractors are much more likely to supply excellent paintings that meets the safety and durability requirements.
Simplified Claims Process: Their familiarity with insurance protocols ensures clean verbal exchange and correct documentation.
Protection Against Risks: Licensing requirements for insurance and jail compliance protect house owners from legal responsibility.
How to Verify a Contractor’s License
Before hiring a contractor, house owners have to verify their credentials. This may be completed using:
Checking community licensing forums or on line databases for energetic licenses
Asking for evidence of certification or insurance
Reviewing consumer testimonials or references
A certified contractor must not have any hesitation in sharing their credentials—it’s a hallmark in their professionalism.
Conclusion
Licensed insurance restoration contractors near me are a cornerstone of a hit asset recovery. Their qualifications, compliance, and duty set them other from unlicensed professionals, ensuring that owners receive the pleasant protection and honest treatment they deserve.
When disaster strikes, choosing an authorized contractor isn’t quite a good deal restoring assets—it’s approximately restoring self-notion, protection, and peace of thoughts. For house owners, making this choice is step one in the path of an unbroken and consistent restoration system.
Warner Bros. is going the creepy viral route to promote Weapons, the new child horror film from Barbarian writer-director Zack Cregger: A new two-hour, unlisted video features two hours of supposed surveillance video, mostly of children running through the night.
The innocuously jarring title is simply “2025_░_░_06:17AM.mov.”
It’s a wonderful bit of mystery, sure to raise interest in what’s already one of the most-anticipated horror films of the summer. The new poster for the film explains its concept: “Last night at 2:17 am, every child from Mrs. Gandy’s class woke up, got out of bed, went downstairs, opened the front door, walked into the dark… and never came back.”
That summary raises a lot of questions: Does every single kid in Mrs, Gandy’s house have at least a two-story house? But we guess the more important question, which we hope the film will answer, is where all those children went. Also: What or who are the weapons in Weapons?
Spend a while watching the Weapons video — sorry, we mean “2025_░_░_06:17AM.mov” — and you start to notice some extremely jarring things (or cool things, if you love horror.) Among them is the fact that one of the monitors we’re seeing appears to feature the reflected, emotionless face of a middle-aged man. Who is he? Why is he watching? What does he want?
Weapons stars Julia Garner, Josh Brolin, June Diane Raphael, Toby Huss, and Benedict Wong, among others. We don’t think any of them appear in “2025_░_░_06:17AM.mov,” but who knows? (The middle aged man just might be Huss.)
Additional marketing materials for the film note that 17 children run away in all. And while the poster says it happens at 2:17 am — and time stamps on some of the assembled surveillance footage say 2:17 — the title of the video includes the time stamp 6:17 am. So maybe something is happening with the number 17?
We already love this movie.
Zack Cregger and the Campaigns for Weapons and Barbarian
The Weapons unlisted video continues a long run of cool viral Warner Bros. immersive marketing campaigns: 2008’s Christopher Nolan Batman film The Dark Knight, for example, fascinated fans with an interactive website, not clearly identified as promotional, to drop hints about Heath Ledger’s bold take on The Joker. Such campaigns have since become a frequent part of the rollout for hotly anticipated films.
Cregger’s Barbarian, released in 2022 by 20th Century Fox, benefitted from a similarly jolting campaign. A trailer for the film promoted it pleasantly as “Justin Long’s New Movie,” and featured Long’s character driving along Pacific Coast Highway in a convertible, as cheery music plays.
“From the Producers of the Lego Movie,” the trailer brightly misdirects, before adding more bona fides: “The studio that brought you Alvin and the Chipmunks.”
But around the one-minute mark, things take a dark turn. Long’s character realizes one of his Michigan properties has an unwanted visitor. There’s a thud. The cheery music drops out. And the trailer drops a hammer: “From the Producer of It.”
With Weapons, the scares are right up front: two hours of creepy images, accompanied by static-y, disorienting sound. What’s discombobulating this time is the medium: As with The Dark Knight campaign, we don’t even know what we’re seeing has anything to do with a movie. If you missed the name Warner Bros., you might think you were just seeing some very alarming footage, from Ring cameras, dash cams, and whatever else is surveilling the suburban streets.
Barbarian went on to be one of the most unexpected breakthroughs of 2022, earning more than $45 million against a low production budget of just $4.5 million. Hopes are even higher for Weapons.
Weapons arrives in theaters on August 8, from Warner Bros. Pictures.
Main image: Children running in the night in 2025_░_░_06:17AM.mov to promote Weapons. Courtesy of Warner Bros.
The MCU has struggled to find its footing in the post Endgame world. While Marvel once rewarded viewers for their loyalty, they now punish audiences that haven’t done their homework in a continuity that now spans close to two decades. Their current path to a bog crossover has been all over the place, making it difficult to follow their expanded universe. Thunderbolts* promised to be a breath of fresh air to the ever-growing franchise. Sure, it was bringing back characters you may, and may not, be familiar with, but this was from a different angle. These wouldn’t be your shiny new heroes failing to fill the void left by the original Avengers, these would be reluctant misfits, forced to band together to save the world and learn something along the way. At least that appeared to be the plan on paper.
Unlike Cara Delevingne’s, ahem, questionable performance as Suicide Squad’s big bad, Lewis Pullman gives us a memorable foe for the right reasons as Bob aka the Sentry. He is likeable, and menacing, battling his demons while taking it out on the world. The main issue with the character is he feels like he is in the wrong film as he offers a formidable threat at odds with the tone set a the beginning of the movie. The opening set pieces show the team at their best as they fight difficult odds albeit against foes they are capable of beating in a fight. Sure, they need to be smart when they’re outnumbered but this allows for exciting action sequences that ground the movie to the level of our protagonists. This goes out the window in the third act when it turns out all they needed was the power of friendship to save the day. This hurts the movie badly as the team faces an all-powerful foe, an unsuspecting gloom clouds the screen as Marvel teases a step towards the dark side. It turns out to be more of a fakeout as the studio opts to keep things friendly for all ages resulting in a forced and rushed climax.
