Capitalism: A Love Story Posters

Michael Moore last few movie’s have had some striking, funny and sometimes polemic posters. They always caught your attention and often presented a clever visual linked to the theme of the movie.

All of that only made me more disappointed at this latest one. It tries to be funny, but the joke is terminally lame. Moore doesn’t have his usual mischievous grin, instead having a very earnest serious expression, which isn’t nearly as effective. And the colors and drawings are just dull.

This second poster that surfaced last week has much more style and visual flair. So better in that aspect. But still, where is the fun? Still barely there.

Michael Moore has a brand. He makes a certain type of movie and people go to the cinema to watch that. These posters aren’t really doing a good job of selling that brand and that kind of movie.

(Via MoviePoster.Com and IMPAwards)

Big River Man Poster

I’m not, generally, a big fan of posters with lots of text. Posters are for images, not words.

But this is a nice exception.

A big part of why this is different is that they managed to include a great number of different text styles and coordinated them in a way that not only makes the whole thing visually appealing but also encourages you to read it. And the actual content of the text makes a compelling case for seeing the movie. Win win.

(Via IMPAwards)

Poor, Poor Earth

This new poster for Fuel reminds us of just how much poster designers love to mistreat our lovely planet.

Obviously the environmental documentary genre has been a boon to this type of poster. But it is not the only genre that employs it.

These are the few I could remember from the top of my head. Surely there are many more.

(Via WildAboutMovies and IMPAwards)

Final Where in the World is Osama Bin Laden Poster (I Mean it This Time)

This poster is quite something. An illustration with caricatural overtones that wouldn’t be out of place in the poster for a broad comedy. Morgan Spurlock looking a lot like a crazed Lawrence of Arabia. All in that the service of a documentary dealing with a pretty serious topic.

In many ways this poster is an offspring of the poster’s for Michael Moore’s movies, both for the equally irreverent and confrontational take on a serious subject and for putting the director at the center of the campaign. But it goes considerably farther than those posters did, and even farther than the last poster did, to the point that the documentary aspect seems to be almost completely lost. The war going on in the background keeps this from looking like a poster for a zany comedy, but not by much.

I’m a little torn about this. I think there is no reason that we can’t have documentaries that give a thoughtful view on important subjects but that are also entertaining. But this poster seems to be selling the entertainment aspect exclusively, and I worry that we are crossing into a realm where we don’t care if the documentary has anything interesting or insightful to say, as long as we have fun watching.

Then again there are plenty of fiction movies that are like that, and I don’t have a problem with them. Also, the advertisement is not the movie, so maybe I’m just being silly.

(Via Cinematical)

Standard Operating Procedure Posters

And here are two posters for the new movie from legendary documentarian Errol Morris, which deals with the Abu Ghraib incidents.

I really like the first poster, which creates a memorable and easily understandable image. Simple but powerful. We don’t actually need to see the photos to be reminded of them. And in fact just hinting at them using the camera is probably more effective and ominous than just showing the actual pictures, and it helps to make the film seem like it is more than just about the photos, but also about what surrounds them.

Which is perhaps why I like the second poster a lot less. It’s a more obvious way to present the movie. These are not the most shocking images we saw, but they more directly remind us of those photos that most of us are well aware of. But because of that I think it doesn’t really make the movie seem interesting. By relaying on the power of the photos the poster fails to make the case for the movie being more than a rehash of stuff we already know. Is there going to be some new insight in this are is it just going to be a cheap exploitation of the incident? And the tagline fails to assuage any of those fears.

I guess one out of two isn’t bad. And this is a tough subject to tackle, especially in a poster.

(Thanks to Kurt from Row Three for passing those along.)

The Weekly Round-Up: Chapter 27, Meet Dave, The Babysitters, Gunnin' for that #1 Spot, Passchendaele and Flashbacks of a Fool

Nothing better to start the week than a palate cleansing poster round-up.

Chapter 27

I know what I’m supposed to think when I see this poster. I’m supposed to think about Mark Chapman. About the creepy expression in his eyes. And about the terrible crime he is about to commit. But instead all I’m thinking is “Wow, Jared Leto is fat!”

The problem for me is that he simply doesn’t disappear into the role enough. I still see Jared clearly in the picture. And ultimately that just distracts me from anything of substance related to the movie. It’s quite possible that I wouldn’t have the same problem with the actual performance, since the movement, sound and time will give Leto a better chance of making me believe him as Chapman. But in here? I just can’t get over it.

The Babysitters

Sex sells, but in these Internet days it tends to be cheap. They are going to have to come up with more than titillation to convince people to pay to see this.

Gunnin’ for that #1 Spot

A hard to miss and strong image that gets across clearly the general idea of what the movie is about. I like it. The title leaves me a little cold tough.

Passchendaele

A beautiful and ominous image. But perhaps a little to reminiscent of the famous image used in the promotion of Band of Brothers?

Flashbacks of a Fool

Hmm, a reflection used to show the character’s younger self. Where have I seen that before?

Meet Dave

Before this poster I was only kind of aware that Eddie Murphy had another movie coming out soon. Now, thanks to this poster and to the Eddie Murphy in Edie Murphy concept I’m not only aware of the film and it’s name, I’m also mildly interested in perhaps reading a few reviews in order to find out if this is worth seeing if it ever stumble across it on the TV. Success!

Honestly, the concept sound unpromising. But we’ll see.

(Via IMPAwards, IONCINEMA, Empire and Oscilloscope)

The Weekly Round-Up: Chapter 27, Meet Dave, The Babysitters, Gunnin’ for that #1 Spot, Passchendaele and Flashbacks of a Fool

Nothing better to start the week than a palate cleansing poster round-up.

Chapter 27

I know what I’m supposed to think when I see this poster. I’m supposed to think about Mark Chapman. About the creepy expression in his eyes. And about the terrible crime he is about to commit. But instead all I’m thinking is “Wow, Jared Leto is fat!”

The problem for me is that he simply doesn’t disappear into the role enough. I still see Jared clearly in the picture. And ultimately that just distracts me from anything of substance related to the movie. It’s quite possible that I wouldn’t have the same problem with the actual performance, since the movement, sound and time will give Leto a better chance of making me believe him as Chapman. But in here? I just can’t get over it.

The Babysitters

Sex sells, but in these Internet days it tends to be cheap. They are going to have to come up with more than titillation to convince people to pay to see this.

Gunnin’ for that #1 Spot

A hard to miss and strong image that gets across clearly the general idea of what the movie is about. I like it. The title leaves me a little cold tough.

Passchendaele

A beautiful and ominous image. But perhaps a little to reminiscent of the famous image used in the promotion of Band of Brothers?

Flashbacks of a Fool

Hmm, a reflection used to show the character’s younger self. Where have I seen that before?

Meet Dave

Before this poster I was only kind of aware that Eddie Murphy had another movie coming out soon. Now, thanks to this poster and to the Eddie Murphy in Edie Murphy concept I’m not only aware of the film and it’s name, I’m also mildly interested in perhaps reading a few reviews in order to find out if this is worth seeing if it ever stumble across it on the TV. Success!

Honestly, the concept sound unpromising. But we’ll see.

(Via IMPAwards, IONCINEMA, Empire and Oscilloscope)

Final Where in the World is Osama Bin Laden? Poster

I chuckled audibly the first time I saw this poster for Where in the World is Osama Bin Laden?. I don’t know what I was expecting from a poster for this film, but a humorous version of the very famous Raiders of the Lost Ark poster wasn’t it.

I can see how it fits with the film tough. Spurlock’s documentaries aren’t as much about documenting anything as they are about expending some entertaining time with Spurlock himself. So here we have the guy front and center, as a Indiana Jones type explorer, travelling around the word seeking Osama Bin Laden and having some fun and adventures along the way. The poster tells you exactly what to expect from the movie, and in especial it tells people that this is a movie that is going to deal with some weighty subjects in an irreverent way.

I do worry that the poster might be a little too gimmicky. It catches your attention, and it’s the type of thing people will feel compelled to point to their friends when they first notice it in a theater lobby or when they first see it online. But the joke might get tired fast and not translate into interest in seeing the movie once it actually opens in the middle of April.

But its a fascinating way to get some attention for the movie, something that is always hard to do with a documentary.

(Via Cinematical)

The People Vs. George Lucas Poster

I’m not sure whether The People Vs. George Lucas, a documentary which will supposedly allow Star War fans to speak their minds, will be a good film. It might be an interesting look at the relationship of the fans with Lucas and with the world he helped to create. It might be a boring whine fest. Or it might be something in between. But I do know that they already have a great (very) early teaser poster.

Now, it’s true that if your topic happens to be Star Wars there is an abundance of strong iconic images to choose from, which makes the job of creating an interesting poster easier. But I think we still should still give them props for using the assets they had well.

And what I like about the poster is that it doesn’t just create some random memorable and funny image that has something to do with Star Wars. It creates a memorable and funny image that has something to do with Star Wars AND that complements well the title and sets the courtroom theme more thoroughly. This makes the movie seem exciting, reminding us of the trials we are used to see on TV (real trials are a lot less exciting, of course) but the image also sends signals that there well be a healthy dose of sense of humor involved in the whole thing.

As a matter of fact I think the poster is so successful in making the film seem exciting that I might be more interested in it if I had just seen the poster without knowing anything else about the movie.

*Update*

For those interested, the official site is here, and they have guidelines for making and submitting your own interviews talking about Star Wars and Lucas.

(Via JoBlo)

Round-Up of Recent Posters

There weren’t many interesting new posters being released this week, so here is a round-up of recent posters that didn’t quite inspire me to write a full post about them.

Christmas in Wonderland

The most remarkable thing about this poster is how drab the colors are. They don’t exactly spell holiday cheer, do they?

The Pixar Story

Simple, and clean, but still manages to get the point across. I like it.

Sharkwater

At first I wasn’t sure if this was a poster for a documentary or for a fictional story. I decided it was not for a documentary. I was wrong.

Death Defying Acts

This is a very safe poster design for a movie with such a bold title.

The Diving Bell and The Butterfly

I’m fascinated by the two images in this poster. The last picture from director Julian Schnabel, Before Night Falls, was a pleasure to look at, and I’m wondering if Diving Bell will be the same.

(Via IMPAwards)