Run, Fatboy, Run Movie Poster

This poster for Run, Fatboy, Run makes me think of the poster for Superbad, not because of the similarities, but because of the differences.

Superbad is a comedy without any well known stars in it. And yet the poster gets a lot of mileage by showing the main characters looking, at the same time, awkwardly funny and endearing. The pose the characters are in is important for this to work. They don’t look posed, they look natural. Which is one thing that distinguishes this poster from the typical comedy poster were you have the main actors with some exaggerated expression.

The poster for Run, Fatboy, Run on the other hand center itself in the title, which is funny, but not that funny. And the characters themselves appear in the image interacting with the title, which is about the opposite of natural. This is not an unheard design for a comedy posters, but it isn’t a particularly strong one. And when coupled with this color scheme I think it makes the movie seem very light and overly silly.

I did like the tagline tough. Made me laugh.

(Via Cinematical)

Elizabeth: The Golden Age Poster

(click for a larger version)

I think that when you talk about the Elizabeth most people immediately remember Cate Blanchett’s performance as the title character. It’s a great film that has a lot going for it, but that performance really is something else, and I believe that it is the main reason why the movie is so well liked.

Given that, it’s only logical for Blanchett to be front and center in any poster for the movie. After all, that is a big part of what people want: seeing her as that character again.

That said, there are good ways and bad ways to build a poster around her. And I think this poster is an example of the good ways. It’s very clean and sharp, but still manages to add some elements in there, like the armor she is using and the tagline above, that serve to indicate that this movie will perhaps have a little more action and adventure. Which is good by itself because it makes the movie look exciting and is also good because it helps to differentiate the sequel from the original.

Consider me pleased.

Rendition Movie Poster

When I was talking about the poster for Reservation Road I mentioned the popularity of the strips poster design, where the poster is divided in strips and each strip has one or two of the main characters. I think I will cal this variation “dirty strips”. It’s like the normal strips poster, but with RAGGED EDGES! Which makes it all so much more radical.

All snark aside, I actually like what they are doing here. Not only the ragged edges, but also the use of some very busy backgrounds and the coloring. There is a lot to look at and I think that overall the image makes the movie seem exciting, stylish and action packed. In other words it makes the movie seem thrilling.

But I totally understand Chris from Movie Marketing Madness whose reaction to the poster was “Seriously – Stop it with the stripes.”

(via Cinematical)

Sisters Movie Poster

Via Bloody Disgusting we have two posters for the remake of of the classic Brian De Palma film Sisters. The one above, let’s call it the original, and a slight variation on it that can be seen below.

I quite like the original . The old photograph look makes it quite distinctive. And despite the fact that it depicts a seemly innocent scene, the whole image still sets a dark and eerie mood.

But the second one is even better. It maintains all the positive aspects of the original, but the tear in the middle of it makes the image stand out more. And it hints that the separation of these sisters will be an important plot point, so it also manages to tell us more about the movie.

These are subtle posters, that work not by showing us anything horrific, but by setting a dark mood and hinting at possible bad occurrences. As much as I liked the very gory SAW posters in the past, I would like to see more like these right now.

New Beowulf Poster

Like I said before, main main worry with this film is that the animation technique they are using might not work for me. I totally trust the people involved with the film to deliver a great story presented beautifully. But if the underlying animation technique leaves me cold it won’t matter how well everything else works.

With that in mind I was happy with the look of this poster, because it looks so real that you can hardly tell that it is completely computer generated. If the whole movie looked like this I’m sure I would love it. I doubt it will tough, based on what we have seen before. But still.

That said, the poster, by itself, isn’t that good. A guy in close up holding a sword pointing to you with not much that can be seen in the background. Not awful, but also not that exciting. Especially because the guy itself doesn’t have the presence of, say, a Viggo Mortensen as Aragorn.

(Via IMPAwards)

Killers From Space and Wild Women Of Wongo Posters

As you people might or might not already know, three of the guys from Mystery Science Theater 3000, Mike Nelson, Kevin Murphy and Bill Corbett, have reunited in order to do some MST3000 style commentary tracks of bad movies. The call themselves The Film Crew and recently they have tackled the somewhat cult classic Killers From Space. Their next project? Wild Women Of Wongo.

Upon hearing those titles I couldn’t help but to look for the original posters. Gladly the Internet did not disappoint me.

(source)

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Help! Our world is being attacked by GIANT EYES!

The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford Poster

I have heard the title “The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford” many, many times over the last year. And yet, somehow I didn’t realize who Jesse James was and never bothered to look up what the film was about. Still, I felt this was a strong and memorable title, even tough I kept forgetting exactly what the names were.

Since I didn’t know anything about the movie beyond the title, this poster initially surprised me. The title always suggested to me a sense of anger, violence and possibly resentment. And yet the image used in the poster seemed so peaceful, even idyllic. Sure, that other guy, the one who is not Brad Pitt, is scowling. But Pitt himself seems quite calm. All of this conflicted with the image I had formed in my head based on the title.

I have since looked up what the movie is about and have brushed up a little on my history, so the poster makes more sense. Still, it’s such a strong sounding title, I think it deserved a stronger looking poster. But perhaps this one better reflects what the movie is actually like.

(Via IESB)

The Water Horse Poster

A cute looking and smiling mythical animal who is obviously still a baby. In a bathtub. The perfect image to grab the attention of the little kids and to make every adult run as far as possible.

The marketing for The Water Horse seems to be aiming really young. And not in the “fun for the whole family” way. It’s more of a “hey children, why don’t you force your parents to see this?” way. Sure, they manage to squeeze in that the people producing this also produced The Chronicles of Narnia. But unlike what happened with Narnia they don’t seem to be showing any elements that could appeal to the no longer so young among us. Perhaps because the movie itself lacks such elements?

(Via ComingSoon)

Right At Your Door Poster

We meet again, Mr. hazard suit man.

Some of you might remember seeing this poster for 28 Weeks Later earlier this year.

I liked the 28 weeks Later poster. The one for Right At Your Door not so much. Although the latter does manage to convey that basic premise of the movie (a dirty bomb goes off in Los Angeles) it lacks the style of the former. The new poster is too slick, too clean, and because of that I think it doesn’t get across the sense of mayhem and danger as well.

From what I have read about Right At Your Door a good deal of the film takes place inside the house of the protagonist, where he seals himself. There he has to face the fear, the lack of information and the isolation. This is one of the elements that distinguishes this movie from the run of the mill disaster pic, and it would have been interesting if the poster had tried to show some of that. Or to show something else that made the film look more unique.

As it is now I think this is a decent, but very uninspired poster.

(Via IMPAwards)

The Heartbreak Kid Poster

Uhmm, this is an interesting variation. There are many comedy posters like this, with the title treatment in the bottom against a white background and some image occupying most of the rest of the poster. But in this case instead of the image being some inane depiction of the main characters together, like what we have in the poster for Along Come Polly, it is an image from smack in the middle of what is sure to be one of many physical jokes from the actual movie.

I like it. It makes the poster more funny, and gives everybody a good idea of the kind of comedy this is going to be. And it still manages to do the obligatory reminding of people that Ben Stiller is in it.

A decent effort.

(From CinemaBlend, found via MovieMarketingMadness)