By Ben Wright (@iamzavagno | www.xgeeks.co.uk)

I have no interest in American Football (sorry). So, obviously I have no interest in the Super Bowl, that is until it comes to the trailers!

I’ve put together a quick list of the best movie and TV trailers, along with the best of the adverts, that featured at Super Bowl 2020. Enjoy!

Moive/TV Trailers:

The theme for most of the trailers at this year’s Super Bowl was, “you’ve already seen most of this, we’ll just add a little more”. The same can’t be said for Marvel and Disney however, and that is where we are going to start…

Dinsey+

Let’s face it, this was the one most people were eager to see!

Rather than individual trailers, we get a mash-up of the first three Marvel Studios shows that are coming to Disney+, they are The Falcon And The Winter Soldier, WandaVision, and Loki. With Loki only just into production, all we got was a stinger at the end, but what was noticeable was the outfit Loki was wearing. We see stenciled lettering ‘TVA’, this could be a hint towards introducing the Time Variance Authority, so as expected, time travel is going to play a big part in the show. As for WandaVision, we got a glimpse of the tone that the show is going to take. While it focused on the humour and surrealism, I also think this show is going to be very emotional and go to some dark places. We also get a shot of her in her classic comic book outfit which was nice! As for The Falcon And The Winter Soldier, lots of nice visuals and I’m excited for this team-up. The biggest plus, for me personally, was seeing Daniel Brühl back as Zemo! Unlike some, I really bought into his character from Civil War and am really glad that he is getting another run-out.

Mulan

Other than a few extended scenes of set pieces we have already seen in the main trailer, there wasn’t much to add here in terms of visuals. The trailer did succeed in fleshing out a few more story elements that were missing from the previous trailer. It really spelled out the story for you, so if this is your first taste of Mulan, then you should now have plenty of information in terms of what the story is. I am already hyped for this movie, so the trailer didn’t bring anything new to the table. I’m glad that they essentially used extended scenes rather than showing us anything  new. Keep some of the surprises for the release!

Black Widow

“The Avengers weren’t my first family”. Again the focus is about family and that was reflected with some of the shots in this teaser. The music, again, is really strong throughout the trailer. The sound effects are used well during the trailer and it helped elevate the visuals, which were either scenes we had already scene or very static shots. There isn’t a great deal of new content in the trailer, just a couple of shots of the core characters looking into the distance off camera. This was very much just a reminder that the movie is coming. It was fine.

No Time To Die

This was a perfect example of a teaser trailer. It weaved and spliced the visuals with text to tell it’s own mini story. Again, nothing really new, other than the cool spy-plane sequence featuring both 007s. It was the usual type of teaser that we associate with the Daniel Craig era, plenty of style with some epic looking shots. The classic score was a nice touch at the end.

Top Gun: Maverick

Was that Maverick or was that Darth Vader? Breathing was the focus in this trailer! It reminded me a little of the proximity sirens from the Rogue One trailer. Just that constant, same audio cue appearing between each of the shots. There was a tonal shift to more of the drama this time, so there was no fun at beach! What we did get is a range of stunning cock-pit scenes and the sense that the film’s story is going to be just as gripping as the flying scenes.

The Invisible Man

The focus here was to cram as much tension and drama into this 30 second spot as possible and boy did they do that! The casting for this film looks really solid and I’m always excited for anything that Leigh Whannell is attached to. The trailer highlight was the bucket of paint reveal, not only a smart character decision but it also looked really well presented.

Adverts:

Last year I didn’t really go through the adverts as they weren’t that exciting or relevant to the type of thing we do. This year however, that has changed dramatically!

Here are my picks of the best Super Bowl 2020 adverts!

Pringles (Rick and Morty)

Kicking off with a subtle nod to ‘Interdimensional television’, this very self-aware Rick and Morty Pringles advert, was really nicely done. It felt like it was taken straight from the show, so the look and feel wasn’t jarring. When I first heard about this I was worried that they weren’t going to parody or lampoon the big corporate brand paying them the big bucks. But, Pringles clearly allowed them to be true to the show.

Jeep (Groundhog Day)

I don’t care how much money they paid Bill Murray to do this, it was worth every penny! They even got Stephen Tobolowsky back in as Ned, so well done to the creative team who put this advert together. Taking the movie format and adding a branded tweak worked and the advert was instantly made very memorable. As for the cuddly little groundhog sat in it’s little chair at the end? Talk about unbelievably cute!

Tide (Wonder Woman)

Wonder Woman meets It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia! What a great combination!

Now, yes, it’s obvious that Charlie Day was talking to a Gal Gadot ‘back-of-head stand-in’ for this short advert, but the advert scene and the clips from the film linked up really well. Ok, so when Charlie Day is on-screen I always want more, but without having Gal Gadot there to actually film some scenes I think they did a good job with the limitations in place. 

Walmart (Sci-Fi Mash-up)

Wow. The money spent on licencing here much have been as expensive as making an actual movie! There was Star Trek, Star Wars, Men in Black, Mars Attacks, The Lego Movie, Flash Gordon, Bill and Ted, Toy Story, Arrival, Bade Runner, Loony Tunes and even Marvel! I was shocked at how much they crammed into this advert, but not only that, it looked really good! The Arrival skit was the one that really caught me off guard, with the Bill & Ted gag serving as a nice reminder that Bill & Ted 3 is on it’s way!

Mountain Dew Zero (The Shining)

Bryan Cranston and Tracee Ellis Ross star in a parody of The Shining and it was simplicity at its best! Take a well-known movie, spoof it and it’s job done! Cranston really buys into the role and I don’t think I will ever recover from seeing the creepy ‘Cranston Twins’. That was very unsettling! The Mountain Dew elevator scene was the cherry on top of this well worked advert.

Which trailer or advert did you like the best from this year’s Super Bowl? Let us know in the comments!