The Terminal

[Lord Camomile]

The Terminal just groaned under the weight of all the advertising and product placement, it was outrageous.

I dont think Ive seen a with more advertising! it made Transformers look positively Indie!

It was set in an airport, what did you want?! Full editing rights remained with the filmmakers and many stores featured only briefly, some not at all. I'm always one to rally against gratuitous product (I, Robot ) placement but you've also got to consider the need for realism and part of that is seeing brands and stores you recognise from real life.

The best thing about it was the rude, plate-spining Indian dude.

I do however agree with you here

 

[Santino]

Hasn't someone just been kicked out of one of London's airports after sleeping there for 3 years?

He must have been knackered.

 

[Minnie_the_Minx]

He must have been knackered.

He had narcolepsy

 

[Gromit]

Was his last name Van Winkle? Its always those damn europeans innit!

 

[Melinda]

It was set in an airport, what did you want?! Full editing rights remained with the filmmakers and many stores featured only briefly, some not at all. I'm always one to rally against gratuitous product (I, Robot ) placement but you've also got to consider the need for realism and part of that is seeing brands and stores you recognise from real life.
I do however agree with you here

Im arguing that the level of advertising was a deliberate editorial choice. The studio was probably given a hefty sum by the featured retailers.

There have been mall-based films that werent as blatant! The advertising was SO pervasive.

The Audi advertising in I Robot may have been clunky, but this was a paean to shopping! Burger King, Sbarro, that Coachworks AV equipment store, Hugo Boss and worst of all Borders!

Borders frickin OWNED that movie! Its name must have been in 30% of the scenes!

 

[Minnie_the_Minx]

Was his last name Van Winkle? Its always those damn europeans innit!

No, I'm sure the surname sounded Irish. Maybe it was Van Ryan

 

[Gromit]

Im arguing that the level of advertising was a deliberate editorial choice. The studio was probably given a hefty sum by the featured retailers.

There have been mall-based films that werent as blatant! The advertising was SO pervasive.

The Audi advertising in I Robot may have been clunky, but this was a paean to shopping! Burger King, Sbarro, that Coachworks AV equipment store, Hugo Boss and worst of all Borders!

Borders frickin OWNED that movie! Its name must have been in 30% of the scenes!

If its blatent you are after you won't get any more blatent than Apple and Blade Trinity.

Apple are big payers when it comes to Product placement. Which is why the goodies in a film will often be using Macs whilst the baddies used PCs.

 

[Melinda]

True. Every laptop in every film is a lovingly shot Apple.

 

[Pie 1]

It was absolutely appalling, implausible, nonsensical, whimsical feelgood shite.

I liked it

Tom Hanks in appalling, implausible, nonsensical, whimsical, feelgood shite film shocker

 

[Gromit]

True. Every laptop in every film is a lovingly shot Apple.

Occasionally a Sony Vaio lately.

 

[El Jefe]

Tom Hanks in appalling, implausible, nonsensical, whimsical, feelgood shite film shocker

Yehm but usually those factors make me hate the movie. Somehow this one crept under my critical radar

 

[Gromit]

My so many bitter people who don't want to feelgood! Are feelgood movies and feeling good really such a crime?

 

[El Jefe]

My so many bitter people who don't want to feelgood! Are feelgood movies and feeling good really such a crime?

No. There's nothing wrong with a film making you feel good, but it depends how it gets you there. Cheap sentimentality, cliches and the like are at the root of most feelgood movies and therefore derided for those reasons, not simply because they are feelgood movies.

 

[Lord Camomile]

Im arguing that the level of advertising was a deliberate editorial choice. The studio was probably given a hefty sum by the featured retailers.

There have been mall-based films that werent as blatant! The advertising was SO pervasive.

The Audi advertising in I Robot may have been clunky, but this was a paean to shopping! Burger King, Sbarro, that Coachworks AV equipment store, Hugo Boss and worst of all Borders!

Borders frickin OWNED that movie! Its name must have been in 30% of the scenes!

From imdb trivia:

The terminal set was a near-full-size replica built in a former hangar, with three working sets of escalators, and populated by many familiar stores (e.g. Burger King, Mrs. Fields, W.H. Smith). Some of these brands were recruited by Dreamworks, while others approached the studio when word of the production got out. Many of the stores and restaurants were built by the construction crews that build actual mall and airport stores for the respective companies, and some had fully-functioning equipment (e.g. ovens, cash registers, etc). However, the inclusion of a brand on the set was not a guarantee of inclusion in the film; Dreamworks retained full control over editing, and some brands appear only briefly or not at all

So it's not like Borders paid to have x amount of screen time. I suppose you could argue that they possibly paid more than Waterstones or WHSmiths (I don't know any US book chains ) but a bookstore was always going to feature. To be fair I wasn't paying attention closely enough last night to accurately judge certain shots over others (i.e. if a shot was included just to show off a brand or not),so perhaps I'm giving more credit than they're due, but I've generallly always preferred seeing real life companies and products in films, so long as it's not ridiculous (again, I, Robot, although the instances I was thinking of were more the Converse and JVC shots - and comments! - in the first part of the film).

 

[kabbes]

My so many bitter people who don't want to feelgood! Are feelgood movies and feeling good really such a crime?

If it really does make you feel good then fine. But if it is crudely done so that you feel emotionally manipulated, you will probably react against it.

 

[Sadken]

Fucking awful.

 

[kabbes]

Unfortunately, I just love films. I particularly love really good films. But I also love crap ones. I taped the end of The Terminal, 'cos I was enjoying it. Pity my lack of discernment.

 

[Orang Utan]

I'm with kabbes - I love being appalled

 

[kabbes]

I'm with kabbes - I love being appalled

No, I'm not even appalled. I genuinely liked it

 

[rogue_lettuce]

It's a pretty crap film but it did make me think about how we relate to our environment. For instance, he's surrounded by consumerism for almost the entire time he's awake (except when he starts doing the carpentry/etc), and all of his means of subsistence, leisure, etc are within a really small locale, like an agrictultural society, as compared to hunter-gatherer society where people would hunt over a large area, or a modern society where people could be regularly commuting hundreds of miles - how does this affect the way we see the world?

Deep stuff for a Tom Hanks film.

 

[Gromit]

Deep stuff for a Tom Hanks film.

Done better in the original Dawn of the Dead.

 

[Artie Fufkin]

I saw The Terminal on honeymoon when the resort put it on in the bar during a rainstorm. really wanted to hate it but quite like it

 

[rogue_lettuce]

Done better in the original Dawn of the Dead.

Agreed.

 

[Disjecta Membra]

"I thought Terminal was pretty offensive, actually. "Ahhh, look at the funny Eastern Europeans, they are cute and stupid, and perfectly happy to be kept locked in an airport for nine months."

Prats."

^ pretty much how I saw it, an offensive load of tosh