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Morgan Spurlock makes boring, self-congratulatory documentaries with a condescending attitude towards simplistic premises that are proven before he gets started. “Is fast food bad for your health and will it make you fat if you eat nothing else?” Yes. AN ACTUAL CHILD COULD HAVE TOLD YOU THAT FOR FREE. Can I have my hour and a half back now? Now, to promote his new movie, things are getting very annoying, especially for the citizens of Altoona, Pennsylvania. From the York Dispatch:
Beginning at 1 p.m. Wednesday, the city of Altoona will change its name to “POM Wonderful Presents: The Greatest Movie Ever Sold,” after the latest film by sarcastic documentarian Morgan Spurlock.
The city is changing its name for 60 days to make some money – and to help Spurlock make a point about the proliferation of advertising in American life.
Spurlock, who gained more than 20 pounds by eating nothing but McDonald’s food for a month in his 2004 film “Super Size Me,” paid the city $25,000 to rename itself after his movie to underscore its message.
Oh man, when you reduce the stunt of Supersize Me to “gained more than 20 pounds” it is really hilarious. That movie should have been called Big Supersize Whoop. Obviously, our thoughts and prayers are with the families of POM Wonderful Presents: The Greatest Movie Ever Sold, Pennsylvania during this difficult time. I have said this before, but I will say it again: unless the tickets to this documentary are FREE, why am I supposed to care that Morgan Spurlock got paid millions of dollars by companies to make it? Like, I am pretty sure he still got a paycheck, the companies got advertising, and now we, too, are supposed to give Morgan Spurlock MORE money? To learn that he is tired of advertisements being placed in bathrooms? Neat. Thanks! Stupid Morgan Spurlock. TOO MUCH FRENCH FRIES IN HIS BRAIN.
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Can we nominate documentaries for The Hunt? In which case I would like to nominate “Where in the World is Osama Bin Laden”.
I would also like to nominate that not even movie, he just found a way to abandon his hippie pregnant wife without resolving anything, again
We have a city here in New Mexico named Truth or Consequences. The city changed its name after a game show in the ’50s offered to televise from there. And they didn’t even get any money for the deal!
Yeah, but now their town is the leading tourist destination for 10 miles in every direction.
Such was the hope….
My favourite odd name is Westward Ho! (exclamation mark included), in England. It was named by developers hoping to cash in on a popular novel of the same name, which no one now has heard of.
Someone is bitter that POM Wonderful Presents: The Greatest Gum Ever Sold never came to fruition
You just made my mouth water. I’m such a corporate whore.
yeah, more like “The Greatest Gum NEVER Sold” #latetotheparty
But if you DON’T go see it, you’re just supporting the idea that movies with corporate sponsorship are a bad thing, not worthy of your time and money, right? So if you go see it, you’re supporting Morgan Spurlock, and if you don’t go see it, you’re still supporting Morgan Spurlock. Clearly there’s only one way to beat him at his own game. I’ll download the movie illegally, and record myself watching it while eating McDonalds every day for a month, to document how much I hate my life by the end. That’ll show him!
Make sure you are alone in a dimly lit, ill-furnished room while illegally downloading; do NOT high-five any friends in the process.
I will pay to see that.
“A guy tries to escape but doesn’t.” -The Great Escape #sellingshortmovies
“Computers are assholes.” – 2001: A Space Odyssey
“Two guys get into a fist fight on the space shuttle.” – Star Wars #sellingshortmovies
“There are some monkeys”-Planet of the Apes
“Ass.” -Ass #sellingshortmovies
A rich man dies of old age – Citizen Kane
“Some embryos are hidden in a barbasol can” – Jurassic Park
“A guy types on a computer and makes alot of money” – The Social Network
“Glue.” – Gummo
“Pirates are poor cartographers.” – X-Men #sellingshortmovies
“A king speaks” -The King’s Speech
“A businessman falls asleep” – Inception
“nobody enjoys their cruise” – Titanic
“White guy steals precious treasure from non-white people” – Indiana Jones
#liberalartscollegemovies
i love that comment so much
“And 25 years later, white guy steals precious treasure from white people” – National Treasure.
I do not know about that, how do you know none of them were sociopaths? Rich people can be sociopaths too
I guess I have to assume even a sociopath would be averse to dying, and no one wants to cram in one of those little boats next to a poor person*.
*JK, LOL who would let a poor person on a lifeboat?
“A fart cries.” – Tyler Perry Presents Tyler Perry
I love this, mostly because it made me start singing “This is what it sounds like when farts cry.”
“Jesus dies” – The Passion Of The Christ
Guy really likes milk. -A Clockwork Orange
“Lea Thompson wants to bang her son.” – Back to the Future
#sellinglibelousfilms
“Snakes on a plane.” -Snakes On A Plane #sellingshortmovies
“we had already signed a multi-project deal with her…” – anything with Heigel
“A lot of guys wear skirts.” – Braveheart
A lot of mistakes in Scottish history (filmed in Ireland) – Braveheart
“A guy makes a list.” -Schindler’s List/The Bucket List #SellingShortMovies
“The dog drinks beer.” – Turner & Hooch #sellingshortmovies
“White people problems” – Garden State
also wes anderson movies
“A girl gets bumped on the head when it’s windy outside.” -The Wizard Of Oz
“Two gay cowboys herd some cows.” – The Fast and the Furious
people dance on stairs – Step Up infinity
“Sure, we’d love to help finance your movie about how shameless endorsement deals are ruining the cou- whaaaaa?” – Marketing reps for the sponsors.
Seriously, how did they think giving him money to prove his point would relect well on them? Is this all some sort of meta-marketing that the youngsters are into these days?
I don’t think it HAS to reflect well on them. Nobody’s going say “Man, I sure did like that movie, now I’m not gonna buy any POM Wonderful!” There’s no such thing as bad publicity.
but if I hate what the movie stands for (that Morgan Spurlock gets to make these movies) I can decide not to buy any drinks found in the title. Imagine the madness when people stop buying POM!
I want to see a documentary about the girl who lives next door to me. She’s cute, and she was on a diet where she only ate maple syrup for 30 days. If I can get Log Cabin to cover my filming costs, I’ll see you all at the Oscars! Or stalking jail.
No thanks. I think I’ll skip this movie, along with all the others, and simply stay home this summer to read a few good books.
(this comment sponsored by Barnes and Noble)
No more ads in bathrooms? If you’ve got a place you’d rather hear about Flomax, I’d like to see it.
True story: negativland did an album all about how ads are dumb and focused on pepsi ads. it was pretty funny.
I had no idea advertising existed until I saw this movie. I guess that explains why I keep having the urge to give my mounted trout trophy back his filet-o-fish all the time.
Does anyone else find fault with the amount of money the town got paid? $25,000? That’s like teenage girls performing sexual acts for cheeseburgers. Learn your worth, Altoona/girls!!
Yeah, I was about to stand up on behalf of Altoon for selling itself short…but…really. It’s Altoona, is the thing. That was probably a pretty good deal on their end!
Really the tragedy is that the Tuna people couldn’t get their act together enough to bid $26,000.
I just hope the citizens get all the POM Wonderful Presents: POM Wonderful Juice they can drink.
i’d rather watch this than some bummy ass movie like water for elephants.
Half of the movies I watch are ass movies.
Altoona is a total media whore!
http://www.altoonamirror.com/page/content.detail/id/524358.html?nav=738
I made this Snuff Film because I just DETEST Rape/Murder
In an age of global terrorism, mass unemployment and climate change I am so glad Spurlock is taking on our most pressing problems. I find it quaint in a this-seems-like-a-movie-someone-would-have-been-unembarrassed-to-make-in-1995 kind of way.
So I’m confused. Am I supposed to buy a bunch of POM Wonderful now, out of spite?
Is it the Year of the Depend Adult Undergarment yet?
Technically YDAU happened in 2009. We just didn’t know it.
Most of that shit totally came true. I read it in 1997 and the following fourteen years have been like deja vu.
I would just like to say that Altoona is, in fact, MY city. I’m in it/all over it. People be getting mad crazy over this shit though, ya’ll. Like, “DON’T CHANGE THE NAME OF THE TOWN I GREW UP IN ETC ETC” as if they forgot that any form of “industry” or “growth” left the town years ago when trains stopped being important.
It is very hilarious, and I am hoping to ask Morgan Spurlock where he gets his ideas when he premieres the movie here for all the wonderful denizens of Altoona/This Movie, PA
Altoona represent! I went to school in Huntingdon. The only thing I miss is the big Sheetz. . .
anyone else reminded of Infinite Jest here? If only he had bought/rented actual time, then given it back to people having lost that 1.5 hours watching supersize me. should amount to a solid 10 years of payback… time. (sorry)
This whole thing makes my brain hurt!
http://data.whicdn.com/images/8213206/tumblr_lig7d7xuoh1qzemfxo1_500_thumb.png?1301069038
This isn’t surprising. The city’s had a real identity crisis since Aunt Oona moved away.
I wish Don Draper was real so he could put out a lit cigarette in Morgan Spurlock’s eyeball.