Sherlock Holmes Poster

This photo (I’ll update with a better picture when it comes out) of the teaser poster for Sherlock Holmes has me quite surprised. This is not how I expected Sherlock to look. There is a certain edge, a certain darkness I don’t generally imagine the character having.

Then again maybe I just didn’t read the novels closely enough. Or don’t remember them well enough.

Anyways, this is the very first poster, so a lot could happen with the campaign. But right now the focus seems to be Robert Downey Jr. IS Sherlock Holmes. Which seems like fine pitch as far as I’m concerned. Several films have now been sold on top Johnny Depp playing an interesting character, and after Iron Man Downey seems to be inhabiting a similar position in the public’s consciousness.

As a matter of fact I would love if more films were sold based on great actors delivering riveting performances. That would probably mean more good movies were being made.

You can see some more ShoWest posters here, including many you have seen before, but now in the crappy photo version!

(Via FirstShowing)

Three Times Star Trek

The three international posters released for Star Trek today are very different from each other. First we have this one:

Basically the approach here was to use the big heads floating over landscape design and to put in the landscape two of the most striking images found in the trailer: Kirk on a bike and the still being built Enterprise. The end result? kind of a mess.

The second takes an almost directly inverse approach. None of the actors show up, just a striking, CGI filled image of a famous monument interacting with the film’s world. This too is a well known design choice. We saw similar things for example here. And of course here.

The problem? Except for the title there is nothing in the image that says Star Trek. as a matter of fact I’m not completely sure what is going on in the poster.

And then we have this third poster, which feels like a throwback to earlier Star Trek posters, and even more reminds me of some other 80’s style sci-fi imagery. Only everything is very polished, and looks modern. Those older posters right now seem like a very outdated vision of the future. This, not so much.

I like this poster, even tough when you really think about it the image is more or less your standard big floating heads poster. And it even looks like an Iron Man poster I criticized last year. But it fills me with a sense of nostalgia I hadn’t experienced yet. And I think the poster kind of captures what the movie is going to be all about, for better or for worst.

(Via Kinopoisk and IMPAwards)

Astro Boy Emerges

Ah, Astro Boy, the robot with a heart of … well, I have no idea what the hell that is made of. But the important point is that he does have a heart. And he is a robot. See, this is a very sweet story. About a robot.

Ever since I started reading about and seeing bits and pieces of Astro Boy I have been wondering if the visuals of the whole thing aren’t just a tad too outdated. Sure, Astro was super in his time, but right now I think we ave gotten used to a very different style of design of animated characters. And this poster, although it’s in general a pretty nifty teaser, reinforces those concerns.

Not many people still love, or even know about Astro Boy. So, can this character entrance a whole new generation that doesn’t already have a connection to him? Some people believe, I’m not entirely sure.

(Via IMPAwards)

Because Sometimes You get Tired of American Posters

Turkish posters! And some more! And some more! And some more!

(Thanks go to Kurt for the tip)

Terminator: Salvation Gets Another Poster

One of the complaints I had about the last batch of Terminator posters was that they didn’t use the series iconography well enough. In that point this poster is a big leap forward. The T skull as it exists in this poster is easyly recognizable in a way nothing on the other posters was. It feels like home.

But what is most interesting about this is how it turns that iconography on it’s head (literally!). Seeing that disembodied skull being carried by some lowly human does take some of the bite of the terminator. At the same time it is an impressive and shocking image that puts us in the middle of the war between humans and machines. It sets up this as a different film then the others, one where the terminators are not some invincible monsters we must always flee from, but something that can actually be fought. Sometimes, different is good. Considering the last films, I think people will be excited about some fighting back.

The poster also manages to make a halfway decent job of setting placing the movie’s happening on an apocalyptic future.

I still don’t care for the color scheme, but all things considered this is a big improvement.

And just to echo something that James Ford said on comments, I would like someone to explain to me why Sam Worthington is getting so much space in these posters. In this one his name takes up about as much space as Bale’s. In the last one his character got one third of the poster. Really, considering how unknown Sam is this seems inexplicable.

(Via IGN and IMPAwards)

Life is Hard for Everyone

Poor Donald Faison, not only has Mos Def suddenly become a bigger star than him, the guy also stole his arms!

Tough luck, but are you going to do, right Donald?

(Via Black Voices and IMPAwards)

Laid to Rest Poster

Screaming women are a staple of horror posters. I guess there is nothing that conveys fear and helpless terror as well as a poor defenseless lady with an open mouth and closed eyes. Or so the marketers think.

It’s really not something that I particularly appreciate, but I’ve learned to tolerate it. However this one is bugging me.

Honestly, it’s a minor issue in this poster. The screaming is quite confined and doesn’t really harm the poster significantly. But it’s so unnecessary! The poster is fine without it, and the metal skull is much more distinctive than a screaming, red-tinted woman. And yet, there she is. Because otherwise we might not know this was a horror movie. Or something.

(Via The Sarah Connor Society and IMPAwards)

Terminator and Some Regular Posters

I liked the previous posters for Terminator: Salvation, including the very cool motion poster. These new character posters are a bit of a disappointment tough. Very usual action posters, with the characters looking busy and loads of stuff flying around, which mostly serves to muddle the image.

The new posters don’t really explore in any effective way the iconography of the series. Yes there is a T-something, but in here he looks like just like a generic killer robot. And the posters also don’t even hint at some of the new, cool stuff the trailers seem to be setting up. The scope of the battle is also not well represented. Everything is really generic, which is no good for a series that has such a powerful history.

And as discussed before, I’m not a big fan of brown. At all.

(Via IMPAwards)

My Life in Ruins Poster

Andre James from Row Three alerted me to this poster for My Life in Ruins and to the visual resemblance it has with this poster we saw not long ago for Mamma Mia!

Initially I thought that maybe the poster for My Life in Ruins was somehow referencing or parodying the Mamma Mia! one. But looking at the movie’s story and at the poster I’m just not seeing it. So that leaves me with the explanation that both films are set in Greece and both happened to choose pretty much the same typical Greek background.

But considering that to be the case, didn’t the people behind the My Life in Ruins one see the poster campaign for Mamma Mia! ? That film was pretty popular, so it seems like that would be hard to escape.

But if they did notice the resemblance, why wasn’t this version of the poster junked? Honestly the comparison is not kind to the newer poster. Did they think people wouldn’t notice? Did they think they wouldn’t care?

Very puzzling.

I Smell a Crossover

One is a venerable bad boy still struggling with the acceptance he has received from the establishment. The other is a washed up TV star trying to matter again. They both like to stand alone in the posters for their films looking towards some place outside the image.

Don’t miss their meeting in .. Public Enemies for One Week!

(Via IMPAwards)