movie posters

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Posters Spotlight: Cool Minimalist Posters of The Avengers & The Dark Knight Rises

The comics world are colliding right before us come May 4th. As many of you already know, the third trailer for The Dark Knight Rises will be shown in front of The Avengers on its release in two weeks! I think it’s a win-win for DC, Marvel AND us moviegoers, I mean both movies are hugely anticipated and certainly there’s room for two major blockbusters this Summer. It’s not the first time DC is using a Marvel movie to promote their product, as back in 2008, the third trailer for The Dark Knight was shown in front of Iron Man.

Anyway, since my pal Terrence is dedicating his Time to Vote Tuesday to Christopher Nolan, I figure I’d highlight some of my favorite minimalist posters from the two of this year’s surefire blockbusters from DC and Marvel.

The Dark Knight Rises

I love the simplicity of these two posters, stark and no-frills but delivers its maximum impact. The small amount of red against mostly black & white design emphasizes its significance, Bane’s red eyes look pure evil and that trace of blood from Batman’s mouth is a chilling hint of what’s to come to our hero. I like that clever tagline signifying the end of Nolan’s trilogy as well as the downfall of a legend. Brilliant!

Click each poster to see a larger version

Source: ComicBookMovie

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This one has a vintage look to it that I love, it’s gritty and has that dark, edgy quality about it that fits the vision that Nolan’s created for the dark knight. DEVIANART designer Ryan Luckoo is so darn creative to create Bane’s mask out of the skyline of Gotham, complete with the two bats making up the eyes. LOVE it!

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Since the Bane/Batman face-off is going to be a huge part of TDKR, naturally some designers like to mix the two together in the design, like this one by Chaz Russo that I think did a pretty darn good job in keeping it simple and uncluttered. Bane’s eye just looks so menacing even being drawn in a simple way, and keeping with the broken glass theme is awesome.

The Avengers

Now, I think creating a poster with sooo many characters are definitely tricky. Truth be told, I don’t really care for any of the official poster design of this movie. But these minimalist posters actually did a much more attractive design than the official ones, and the retro look makes it even more compelling. I much prefer these than the glossy, overly-photoshop-ed versions the studio churned out.

I LOVE everything about this design. The blue color is fresh and retro-cool, and the silhouettes perfectly captures each character’s superpowers and personality. Man, I’d love to get this one for my entertainment room!

Source: DeviantArt

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This one somehow makes me think of a design for an International Summit or something that’d be hanging off of a UN office. But hey, the Avengers is not only global, it’s across all kinds of universe so I think it’s fitting. I LOVE each details of each character, it’s vibrant without being overwhelming and it even has a heroic vibe to it.

Source: LiveForFilms

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This one I could see working well as t-shirt or buttons for each movie. I love that each is color-coded and also has a vintage vibe to it. I’d love to see what it’d look with all of them together as ONE poster though, maybe have the ‘A’ of the Avengers logo being prominent and the small icons underneath it or something?

Source: OrangeInks

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What do you think of these, folks? Any other TDKR or Avengers poster that caught your eye?

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Counting Down to 2012 – Top Five Favorite Posters of 2011

Three more days until 2011 wraps, folks… so between now and the end of the year, I’ll do various top five/ten list that’ll end with a year in review.

Today, I’ll share my favorite official posters of movies released this year. I’m not including posters for movies released next year and beyond, but if I did, ScarletSp1der’s #1 favorite would make my list. So anyhoo, here are five posters I wouldn’t mind hanging in my entertainment room:
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5. My Week With Marilyn

I haven’t seen the film yet and I’m not even a big fan of Marilyn Monroe, but something about this poster just works. It makes me curious to learn a bit more about what’s going on in that scene depicted in the poster, so in a way the design is quite successful. A lot of movie posters seems motionless with just people’s heads photoshopped together, this one gives a glimpse of the action happening in the subject matter’s life and I find that intriguing.

4. Page One Documentary

Another one I haven’t seen but it’s just so well-designed! I normally despise posters with promo quotes on them but in this one it seems like a cohesive piece that complements the main image.

3. The Artist

Ah the artistry of this whole project… If you’ve read my review, you know I’m enamored by the film, and this poster is just as gorgeous as film. I love the simplicity, it’s dramatic and elegant. That tiny dab of red stands out nicely against the black and white design.

2. Tree of Life

The main draw of seeing Tree of Life— or pretty much any Terrence Malick’s films—is the glorious visuals. So why not tantalize people with them… Can’t choose? Well just show as many as one could in one poster!! Fortunately, whoever designed this did it beautifully and an otherwise super busy layout actually looks beautiful to behold. I enjoy seeing every tiny picture, though if you look too closely you might get a spoiler or two🙂

1. Midnight in Paris

I never would’ve put Van Gogh’s Starry Night and Owen Wilson walking along the Seine together… that’s my initial reaction when I saw this poster. But y’know, once I saw the film this design just grew on me. The amount of celebs in Woody Allen movie certainly is star-studded indeed, and the Parisian scenes definitely did not disappoint (my friend Castor even created a travel guide post inspired by the movie!). What I love most about this poster is the colors… I’m a huge fan of blues + yellow mixed together. It’s just downright gorgeous and makes you want to book your next vacation to the city of lights pronto!
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By the way, I also saw this minimalist version someone posted on Flickr. I think it’s pretty cool though not as dramatic as this Van Gogh-inspired one.

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HONORABLE MENTIONS:

I was gonna include the Tinker Tailor poster on my top 5 list but realized that it’s technically not an official poster. It’s part of a series designed by Paul Smith for charity, you can see the rest on this post. I think they deserve a mention though as they’re so excellently crafted.

As for Ghost Protocol, I think it’s brilliant that the designer choose to highlight the major highlight of the film, that is Tom Cruise scaling that Burj Khalifa tower! It’s an awesome scene indeed, so the promise of this poster definitely delivered!
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Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy Mission Impossible: Ghost Protocol

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So what are some of your favorite posters of 2011? 

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Flix Poster of the Week: The Cold Light of Day

Cavill on the set of The Cold Light of Day

Please note: This is a re-post from a year ago as the new poster has just been released today, as well as new details on the movie.

This movie wouldn’t have been in my radar had it not been for my affinity for Henry Cavill. Could 2012 finally be Henry’s year? After being passed over so many times in iconic roles (Superman and Bond, among others), I sure hope so! I’m so glad he finally nabbed starring roles in a pretty substantial project, the other one being Tarsem Singh’s fantasy flick Immortals as the mythical Greek warrior Theseus.

When I first heard about The Cold Light Of Day months ago, I thought it’d be a small little indie thriller. But since then its profile’s significantly gone up since Bruce Willis and Sigourney Weaver join the cast!

I was asked to remove the original poster I found though I really like it. It’s probably made before the cast were confirmed, but I kind of like it. The color scheme and composition immediately grabbed my attention and no floating heads. Now we’ve got this one that’s released today, 11/6/11, and it’s not as creative but I’m so glad to see Henry front and center as a leading man!


Here’s the updated synopsis per LatinoReview:

When Will Shaw (Cavill) arrives in Spain for a weeklong sailing vacation with his family, the stressed young business man is not in a holiday mood. His startup company just went under and his tense relationship with his disciplinarian father Martin (Bruce Willis) only makes matters worse. But when the family is kidnapped by what turns out to be intelligence agents hell-bent on recovering a mysterious suitcase, Will suddenly finds himself on the run. His whole world turns upside down when Martin reappears, revealing he is an undercover agent tangled in an intergovernmental web of lies and secrets. During a clandestine rendezvous, Martin is killed by a sniper, and Will must find a way to get the rest of his family back alive.

With the kidnappers counting down the hours, the Spanish police breathing down his neck for a murder he didn’t commit and a cadre of U.S. assassins on his trail, Will flees through Madrid, racing to piece together a conspiracy as labyrinthine as the city’s ancient streets. Who can he trust? Who killed his father? And where is the mysterious suitcase that seems to the key to getting his family come safely? In his quest for answers, Will finds Lucia (Veronica Echegui) – a half-sister he never knew he had, who is determined to help him. Bound by their shared kiss, the siblings are a force to be reckoned with, but can they overcome the massive odds against them before it’s too late?

According to the press release posted on Collider site, principal photography had already begun last month, and the film is set and filmed entirely in Spain, and  will be shot over ten weeks in the Community of Valencia and Madrid as well as several weeks on the stages at Ciudad de la Luz studios in Alicante. French-Tunisian director Mabrouk El-Mechri is helming the project, he did the Jean-Claude Van Damme’s biopic JCVD which was surprisingly well-received (85% of rottentomatoes!)

I’m definitely liking the cast, especially Weaver as a villainess will be fun to watch. It’s scheduled for release on April 6, 2012. Can’t wait to see the trailer!

What do you think folks? is this something you’d be interested in seeing?

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Posters of the Week: Red Lights

I saw this on my weekly Impawards.com visit and it immediately grabbed my attention. I first heard about this project from my friend Novia, a.k.a. the world’s biggest Cillian Murphy fan, on her Cillian’s project update post. This marks the second movie Cillian does with Red in the title, the first movie I saw him in happens to be the thriller Red Eye. Anyway, here’s the official plot per IMDb:

Centers on a psychologist Margaret Matheson, and her assistant Sally Owen, whose study of paranormal activity leads them to investigate a world-renowned psychic.

Check out the creepy yet enigmatic poster below. The simplicity of it is striking and those cryptic symbols kind of make you wonder what it’s all about. I particularly like the darker one which is the Spanish version. Plus, the name of the pretty stellar cast stands out more.

Spanish director Rodrigo Cortés recently directed the well-received Buried, a one-man-show thriller which cajoled the mighty buff Ryan Reynolds to flex his acting muscles instead. This time Cortés has quite a few high-profile actors to work with, I’m curious to see Cillian with Sigourney Weaver. As for De Niro, any movie with him in it these days don’t guarantee anything really, so he’s not exactly a selling point for me. Rising star Elizabeth Olsen—who looks just like her famous twin sisters Mary-Kate & Ashley—is also part of the cast. She’s apparently been making waves lately in Martha Marcy May Marlene.

Turns out there’s a teaser trailer already out, check it out:
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Vodpod videos no longer available.

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What do you think folks? Interested in this one?

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Top Three Posters of the Week: The Deep Blue Sea, Iron Lady, Another Happy Day

Happy almost-Friday, everybody. Feels like it’s been ages since I’ve done a poster post, and my weekly visit to IMPAWARDS site is long overdue.

Well, here are three that caught my eye …

The wife of a British Judge is caught in a self-destructive love affair with a Royal Air Force pilot.

Please, don’t get this one confused with the shark thriller starring Samuel L. Jackson, ahah. I presume nobody gets eaten by the big fish in this one😀

I’m usually not into films that seems to glorify marital infidelity, though there are some beautifully-filmed ones that I have come to appreciate in the past. One thing that came to mind right away as I saw this poster is The English Patient, which also stars two talented Brits Ralph Fiennes and Kristin Scott Thomas. In fact, the film still below seems to be directly inspired by the one in the Oscar-winning film. Don’t you agree?

Anyway, I think this poster is quite sensuous and romantic, there’s that euphoric look on Rachel’s face, what’s Tom doing to her, ahah. I quite like Tom ever since I saw his fine performance in Thor and Rachel is always lovely. But because of the subject matter, I most likely just rent this one if I’m feeling up to it.
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A look at the life of Margaret Thatcher, the former Prime Minister of the United Kingdom, with a focus on the price she paid for power.

Wow, is there anything Meryl can’t do?? She just keeps one upping herself year after year. She’s got to be the go-to actress for any biography of middle-aged famous characters, she satirized Vogue’s editor Anna Wintour perfectly in The Devil’s Wear Prada and phenomenally-portrayed Julia Child in Julie & Julia. This time she’s tackling one of the world’s most famous leaders and from just seeing the photo and the trailer, she not just nails the look but the accent as well. There ought to be a documentary on her life called ‘I Don’t Know How She Does It’ which I’m sure will be more bearable to watch than the Sarah Jessica Parker’s rom-com. Anyway, I think the poster is pretty clever, though it’s the striking resemblance between Meryl and Margaret that grabbed my attention.
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A wedding at her parents’ Annapolis estate hurls high-strung Lynn into the center of touchy family dynamics.

Simple design with tons of negative space often stands out amidst a mostly-busy layout of movie posters. Is that supposed to be a gold ring around the silhouetted guy or an inflatable swim bubble?? I’m curious enough to make me find out what it’s about. The IMDb description doesn’t really explain much, but I’m intrigued by the cast. I haven’t seen Ellen Barkin since one of those Ocean movies. I might rent this one once it arrives on DVD.

What do you think of these posters? What movie poster(s) caught your eye this week?

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Posters of the Week: Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy Series by Paul Smith

Ooooh, lookie here! I was looking for an interesting looking poster to feature this week when I came across these at FirstShowing. Man, with every marketing item Focus Features release for this film, my excitement for this just keeps on mounting. I’ve posted the trailer and character posters on this spotlight post a couple of weeks ago, and while I love those darker style comprised of letters and numbers, these minimalistic versions are practically drool-worthy!
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Per Creative Review blog, the posters are designed by English fashion designer Paul Smith for charity. These four silk-screened posters come in editions of 50 and are signed by Smith himself. It will be sold for £100 each and all profits are going to the Maggie’s Cancer Caring Centres, a cancer caring center based in the UK. Smith collaborated with the film’s director Tomas Alfredson in the early development stages of the movie, offering his insights on 1970s London.

I think these are awesome, definitely it’d catch my eye if I see this on a bus stop or somewhere on the side of the street. It certainly is more playful version than the official posters, but still has that enigmatic sensibility that’s perfect for the film. The reviews have been coming in and so far it’s been stellar. Man, I absolutely can’t wait for this, unfortunately, it won’t open until November 18 here in the US. I’m so jealous of my UK friends who get this one first!

Are you as stoked as I am about this one?

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Posters of the Week: Nicolas Winding Refn’s DRIVE

I love cars and car chases in movies, so when I first heard about this movie I was intrigued. Of course a lot of people probably excited because of Ryan Gosling, whom I admit is a very good actor though I’ve been generally kind of neutral about him (yes, I’m one of those girls who didn’t go gaga for him in The Notebook). But I think this movie just might put my um, enthusiasm for this actor in a high gear (ok, I’m gonna stop with all the automobile puns :D) It seems rather obvious there’s been a ‘Ryan Gosling the 8-pack hunk’ campaign lately (if you’ve seen the trailer for Crazy, Stupid, Love I’m sure you know what I’m talking about) and now it’s ‘Ryan Gosling the action hero.’ I wonder if it’s ’cause Hollywood realize they can’t count on the other Ryan (Reynolds) to be a box office hero?? Perhaps someone out there has a theory.

In any case, what I want to talk about today is the awesome posters for the Nicolas Winding Refn’s action thriller. This European version is rather ‘Steve McQueen-y’ to me, I kind of like it even though he’s not actually driving a car.

Poster courtesty of impawards.com

The premise is pretty intriguing:

A Hollywood stunt performer who moonlights as a wheelman discovers that a contract has been put on him after a heist gone wrong.

Though the 30-year-old actor had said in interviews he’s no Steve McQueen, the comparison is inevitable. “We basically tried to make it like a guy who has seen too many Steve McQueen movies and has sort of fashioned himself after them, trying to make his life like a movie,” as quoted by The Independent.

Danish director Refn has been a hit with critics/audiences alike, and so is Gosling and his co-star Carey Mulligan (love her!). The rest of the cast includes the always-watchable Bryan Cranston and the voluptuous sexy gal Christina Hendricks, ready to set guys pulse on fire😀 Right off the bat, this sounds like a good one to see on the big screen, but perhaps it might be too bloody for my taste, so we’ll see. One thing for sure, I’m liking the poster campaign so far. Here are four other posters for both US and European market. I think my least fave is the US version with the engine, it kind of looks like a weird looking alien creature, ahah.

Anyway, here’s the trailer if you haven’t seen it already:

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Well, what do you think of DRIVE and/or the posters? Will you be seeing this on the big screen?

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THIS JUST IN! The Dark Knight Rises teaser poster

One of the most anticipated film of 2012 now has something official for fans to get excited about. Seems like every other minute I see a tweet from someone who claims to have something about the movie… but I try to curb my excitement by not paying attention to them. But now, my enthusiasm just em, rises tenfold.

Behold …

Wow, this looks beautiful! It’s enigmatic and evocative, just like most promos for Chris Nolan’s movies (and the architecture style reminds me a bit of the Inception posters, too) The flying debris from the buildings create that gritty look and the way the skyscraper makes out the bat outline is pretty clever. Back in April, I put up this post highlighting this cool fan-made poster of TDKR, and it has a similar feel and it also had the bat outline featured prominently, but this one is even more dramatic and obviously the designer actually has some massive dollar amounts to work with.

I could almost hear the swooshing sound of his memory fiber cape as he takes flight and the crashing sound of the falling debris. So is the poster suggesting that our dark knight ‘rises’ from hitting rock bottom to emerge as the hero Gotham desperately needs? Whatever it will be, I think we can expect something epic from Mr. Nolan.

Btw, based on some of the tweets I’ve been reading lately, looks like the teaser trailer shouldn’t be far behind. There are rumors that it’d be released in front of the final installment of Harry Potter & the Deathly Hallows out this weekend. Too bad we have a full year to wait until the film is released on July 20, 2012!

So what do you think of the teaser poster? Are you as excited for this movie as I am?

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Vintage posters of Disney Princess Movies – in honor of Pixar’s BRAVE teaser poster

Happy Friday, friends!

A few weeks ago I posted some concept art on Disney/Pixar’s BRAVE. Well, now Disney and Pixar has revealed the teaser poster. LOVE it!!

And now we’ve got a teaser trailer, wahoo! I LOVE every minute of it, I’ve watched it three times this morning already😀 I love the Scottish accent of the narrator, I can’t tell whose it is though, I want to say it’s Craig Ferguson but it could also be Kevin McKidd? Anyway, check it out below:

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Here’s the more detailed plot from /Film:

Brave is set in the mystical Scottish Highlands, where Merida is the princess of a kingdom ruled by King Fergus (Billy Connolly) and Queen Elinor (Emma Thompson). An unruly daughter and an accomplished archer, Merida one day defies a sacred custom of the land and inadvertently brings turmoil to the kingdom. In an attempt to set things right, Merida seeks out an eccentric old Wise Woman (Julie Walters) and is granted an ill-fated wish. Also figuring into Merida’s quest — and serving as comic relief — are the kingdom’s three lords: the enormous Lord MacGuffin (Kevin McKidd), the surly Lord Macintosh (Craig Ferguson), and the disagreeable Lord Dingwall (Robbie Coltrane).

Pixar’s 13th feature film will not only have its first female heroine, it’s also it’s first fairy tale fantasy (check out my review). Oh, and it’s also the first Pixar animated feature with a darker theme, here’s what director Mark Andrew told EW InsideMovies “What we want to get across [with the teaser] is that this story has some darker elements… Not to frighten off our Pixar fans — we’ll still have all the comedy and the great characters. But we get a little bit more intense here.” The mystical looking stones in the background also have some significance according to producer Katherine Sarafian, she’s quoted in the same article as saying that “Those stones are actually a pretty important set in the film… We can’t say what happens there, but they were inspired by an actual location in Scotland that we visited multiple times during our research. It was a very powerful setting for the kind of things we want to have happen in the story.” Oooh, all of this tidbit just amped my excitement tenfold! I’ve always been fascinated by Scottish culture [er… and Scottish men, ahah] and it’s one of those places in the world I still dream of visiting.

So in honor of Scottish Princess Mérida, here’s a look at some awesome vintage Disney ‘Princesses’… Snow White, Princess Aurora, Cinderella, Belle, and Ariel. My favorite of all is Sleeping Beauty… it’s my all time favorite Disney’s fairy tale feature because of the absolutely magnificent visuals, the wonderful Tchaikovsky’s music, and of course, the most elegant Disney villain, Maleficent.

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So are you excited for BRAVE? And which one of Disney’s fairy tales is your favorite?

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Poster of the Week: Captain America retro poster

Oooh, lookie here! Thanks to my friend ScarletSp1der for the tip on the 15 Questions Meme post. I LOVE this retro poster! It’s perfectly suited for the WWII era the movie is set in. I’m surprised this doesn’t open in the Fourth of July weekend here in the US (its release date is July 22), considering how patriotic the movie is, exemplifying a hero’s valor and courage to fight against evil. For those who read the comics will undoubtedly recognize the inspiration from this comic book cover.


The poster was designed by comic book artist Paolo Rivera (visit his blog)

Typically I don’t like posters that have too much going on, especially those with FHS (floating heads syndrome) like most posters are these days. But regardless of how busy it is, I think it works here and your eye still focus on the main action element of the poster of our valiant hero punching the heck out of Hitler. Chris Evans kinda looks like a young Cary Elwes in this poster, don’t you think?

Speaking of Joe Johnston, my favorite movie of his is The Rocketeer as you probably know (especially in regards to the villain). I really like this retro poster from that film which was set in the late 30s.

I gotta admit I’ve become increasingly more interested to see this movie, though I wasn’t as excited about it before. I’ve never read the comics and I sort of thought the story is pretty cheesy. But I’m looking forward to it now. I think the retro look is a huge appeal for me, and I am a big fan of the actors in the villain roles: Hugo Weaving as Red Skull and Richard Armitage as Nazi officer Heinz Krueger.

What do you think of the poster? Are you psyched about Capt. America?