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

On April 24, 2012April 24, 2012 By ruthIn Flix Posters46 Comments

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?

Counting Down to 2012 – Top Five Favorite Posters of 2011

On December 28, 2011 By ruthIn Flix Posters33 Comments

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

On November 6, 2011November 6, 2011 By ruthIn Flix Posters, Upcoming Flix34 Comments

ColdLightofDay_Cavill — 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?

Posters of the Week: Red Lights

On October 19, 2011October 19, 2011 By ruthIn Flix Posters, Upcoming Flix23 Comments

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?

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

On September 7, 2011 By ruthIn Flix Posters29 Comments

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?

Posters of the Week: Nicolas Winding Refn’s DRIVE

On August 11, 2011August 11, 2011 By ruthIn Flix Posters23 Comments

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.

DrivePoster_v3 — 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.