Weren’t the various Tolkien films just advertised in this manner?
Longer, even. I started seeing hype - that is, more than “it’s in production” notices - about LotR in 1998 IIRC.
Re - Barbershop. I’m white and I liked it, but I suspect it is an ethnic thing - though I’m still to see a bad film with Keith David in.
Goodfellas was 1990, and that had a Dean Martin song over the opening credits. But, like everything else in the film, this was done skillfully, with the sound and visual at the end of the scene dovetailing the opening notes of the song.
Just out of curiosity, because I haven’t seen the other films you mention, why do you regard this as a sign of suckage?
I don’t think the scene in Day at the Races is racist in itself. It’s just ridiculous and by today’s standards looks racist. Which isn’t to say I don’t wince at the thought of it. At that point the movie hasn’t been funny in a couple of minutes anyway. Just fast-forward to Groucho’s closing joke. 
That’s not how ‘the exception proves the rule’ works. I think there’s a Straight Dope column about it.
“The exception proves the rule” works for something like “No parking Wednesdays 6am-10am.” The exception of banning parking tacityl states that parking is allowed at other times.
The real way to tell is to read who is giving the reviews. If you do not see positive reviews from the following, the movie is a polished chunk of waste. My list, in my personal order:
N.Y. Times
L.A. Times
Ebert
Botston Globe
Newsweek
Time
Roeper
USA Today
Rolling Stone
If the movie’s newspaper ads can’t print positives from at least four or five of these people/publications, it’s likely to be average or even just forgetable. If the ad quotes none of these, it sucks. KXYZ radio- Idjitville, CA, does NOT count.
<rimshot>