Monday 18th January 2010

Okay, rather disappointingly It’s Showtime! missed out at the 2010 Golden Globes and as yet we haven’t heard anything on the grapevine that suggests we need to start hiring Tux’s in order to trip the light fantastic down the red carpet at the Bafta’s or the Oscar’s.

But the Ocean’s11 style mini-movie ad for the launch of the all-new Astra is still wowing fans at the box office (people are quite figuratively queuing around their Sky+ boxes to watch the ad over and over again). The critical reaction too has been quite... moving. Here are just a select few of the review clippings that we have been privileged to have made-up recently.

“ (It’s Showtime!)...has taken heist movie ads to a whole new...programme channel break”

“(the) all-new Astra’s depth, intensity and richness of character reminds us of a young Astra Kutcher...off the back of this performance, agents in Hollywood are probably considering early retirement for such luminaries on their books as Harrison Ford, Mercedes Ruehl, Vin Diesel, Chevy Chase, Jane Honda and Beetle Juice..”

“...all performances are incredibly well engineered.....”

“...simply the best car movie ad we’ve seen since this morning...”

“Kubrick, Spielberg, Cameron...none of the greats could have done this...like this”

For those of you who have so far only seen the 40sec trailer on TV, (check it out if you haven’t!)

but not yet the full feature length directors cut version, here is a real treat for you. Without giving away the ending and therefore spoiling it too much for everyone, here’s a quick synopsis of what you are about to see.

It’s Showtime! really is an action-packed story, fusing the elegiac road movie, the heist genre and the whole James Bond Spy style into one exciting blend of celluloid .
Our main hero is obviously the all-new Astra, here playing itself more than realistically, but ably supported by three Secret Agents, hunky Brad and Jaques and the delectable Isabel. As a team, the four principal protagonists are finely tuned to each other, working like clockwork to stay one step ahead of their arch nemesis, the ‘Casino Owner’. The villain of the piece, Andy, is an egomaniac, money-loving, women-seducing, all-new Astra battling baddie.
As he crookedly looks to extend his Empire, will our four heroes be able to thwart his dastardly plans?

For those of you who would like to delve a little deeper into the movie, we also have a behind the scenes making of video, which we’ve been given permission to showcase. It highlights some of the camera tricks, attention to detail and hard work (especially with the sets) that’s gone into filming.
The actors playing the Spies and the Casino Owner offer up a bit more insight into their characters and the plotting of the movie. Admittedly, the all-new Astra remains a bit tight-lipped about its motivation but in the rehearsal phase, you see the method of its own unique driving style start to take shape (as it tries out FlexRide, AFL+ etc).

And for those of you keen to know (and we’ve seen the questions online!) Isabel is played by Kirsten Carpenter! And yes she did feel sexy driving the all-new Astra. I wonder how the all-new Astra felt?