Divide and Conquer (Every Braff for Himself and the Industry Against All)

Have you noticed this?

Don't ask me how, assume I was planting a bomb in a cinema somewhere, I managed to see Iron Man 2. I don't see a lot of blockbusters, so it was definately a big change from watching paint dry in French, or Russian, or on Woody Allen's furniture for example. But there was... I don't know what you'd call it... dog whistle signals that someone knew I was watching.

Huh?

Seriously. Did you notice when Robert Downey Jr. and Gweneth Paltrow's dialog suddenly got "Altman-esque"? All kinds of interesting fine art hanging on the walls. Is that a Giacometti? If only I had a date to impress with this information! That little perpetual motion CG thingy must have been a real continuity problem. Tony Stark just said he privatized world peace! Hah! What a load!

Wait a minute...

Have I been duped? It's interesting to imagine that a blockbuster film is a kind of happening, and that everybody and their weird know-it-all brother is going to end up locked in a seat whether they like it or not. Why not add little esoteric love-letters to the critic crowd? Now I can only imagine Jon Favreau was just trying to make sure I had a good time. Thank you. But what if this is the future?

You could, for example, show mock MSNBC and Fox News footage in seperate circumstances in an ambiguously cynical fashion as a dog whistle, "Ain't that how it is!" moment for both the conservatives and the liberals in the crowd. Everybody wins. It can mean whatever you like. But its FOR YOUR EYES ONLY. Cause you're so smart.

CODED DEMOGRAPHIC MESSAGING

A quantum leap in phony demographic pidgeonholing. A major victory for by-committee film creation. Am I the only person that sees this?


(Con-men always want to make sure you feel like a genius as they're cleaning your pockets.)