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Brett Beach: I am glad I don't have to compete with Bruce's vitriol, but at the risk of drawing unfavorable anti-patriotic sentiment towards me, I didn't watch any of it. Not even the ads (which is the first time as an adult that I can claim that). I watched the ad for the new Chrysler Eastwood this morning and enjoyed it, and heard secondhand about Bundchen's anger and M.I.A.'s middle finger. I am always thankful when games are close and victory (or loss) doesn't involve rioting.

Max Braden: Fiat sold sex far better than the flower company ad did. (Though, let's be honest - as nifty as that car looks, it only works in Europe - no chick in North America is going to bother flirting with a dude who drives of one of those golf carts.) I thought the effects in Battleship looked pretty cool, I'd go to the theater for it despite the inevitable groan-worthy plot. Pretty much any ad with a dog will get the thumbs up from me. I'm also fine with the polar bears - they're like a welcome tradition. But man, Seinfeld is even more dated than they are, and *Broderick* always looks more aged and more tired than Clint Eastwood should at his age (but still looks and sounds badass).

David Mumpower: In terms of the commercials, I didn't have much of an opinion either way about the bears. Last year, there was a strange ad Coke did involving a fortress and a dragon. This felt like the successor to that, an attention grabbing ad without a lot to say. In some ways, that's the point of advertising much more than having a too-clever concept that never clearly identifies the brand represented. Keeping this in mind, I again found this year's batch of ads disappointing and as amusing as the issue is to type out, the problem is simple. Super Bowl ads have become too commercial. Few people making the spots have the correct combination of courage and creativity crucial to the pageantry of the event. The only two spots that particularly grabbed me this year are the one from Doritos with the dog and the bribe and the one that shows the (generally anonymous) inventors of any number of computer applications that have become ubiquitous in our daily lives. And I don't understand what the latter has to do with Best Buy, who licensed the commercial. The Eastwood ad is inspiring but it's a nice message that makes me in no way want to buy a car, which is problematic since I am currently shopping for cars.

With regards to the films, Battleship is one of those hallmark moments in cinema. People will remember the day that they heard that a movie was made out of the board game and they will remember the Super Bowl ad that desperately attempted to link said film to Transformers. I am going to laugh myself unconscious in roughly a year when Battleship gets an Academy Awards nomination or two for technical achievements. And if there is any justice in the world, this movie is going to bomb like Gigli. Sadly, I don't think it will. I'm expecting a G.I. Joe-ish sort of inexplicable global performance. I also feel like The Hunger Games missed an opportunity by ceding the Super Bowl game itself and instead putting an ad in the pre-game show instead. This could/should be the next great movie franchise and the latest trailer is great. They should be highlighting it as much as possible rather than cost cutting with the cheaper air time. Finally, The Avengers trailer looks good enough that I find myself wondering if the gap between it and The Dark Knight Rises will be smaller than we have been expecting.

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