I‘m not sure why I’m posting this other than I like the poster.

Here is the poster:

Here is the synopsis from Hollywood.com if your interested:

Mandy Lane. Beautiful. Untouched. High school royalty waiting to be crowned. Since the dawn of Junior year, men have tried to possess her. Some have even died in reckless pursuit of this 16-year-old Texas angel. Chloe and Red invite Mandy out to Red’’s family ranch for the weekend. Mandy sees it as an excellent opportunity to cement her new friendships. The boys see it as an opportunity to finally get with Mandy Lane. Driving across the Texas landscape, the kids begin to gently chip away at the wall that surrounds her. Joints are smoked. A keg is stolen off a beer truck. Pills are crushed to fine powder and inhaled. Mandy observes it all with the gentle interest of a foreign tourist. And they love her for it. At the ranch, all the boys start to make their move–each one hoping to be the first to attain the unattainable Mandy Lane. However, as night falls and the booze, drugs, and hormones take over, things are said and advances made which can never be reversed. Suddenly, sweet Mandy finds herself pit in a brutal struggle for survival against someone whose interest she has rejected. Forget reading, writing and arithmetic; in high school, learning to be yourself and not succumbing to peer pressure is the ultimate test. And this is one exam that Mandy is determined not to fail.

The synopsis just does not sound that interesting to me but I do like the poster.

     From time to time I end up with movie swag. Currently I’m in the possesion of new poster for 30 Days of Night. My wife doesn’t really want it up on the wall so I figured I’d give it away as part of a contest.

     All you have to do to enter is leave a comment here that says what your most hated vampire movie is and why?

I’ll be picking the winner randomly on July 6th.

     You can also enter this contest over at FilmGrotto. There is a different question there. And, yes you can enter twice… once at each site.

Update: I’ve sent a message out to Jonathan letting him know that he was the one who was randomly drawn from all entrants. I’m interested to know though what caused so few people to enter. Do you think the movie is going to be terrible? Is the poster terrible in your opinion? Or do you just not like movie posters?

     Ok, this newest poster isn’t really that lame, but it’s a total rip-off of Jaws and maybe a hint of The Host. SeXiVixxEN posted the news over at Flixster and I thought it had to be shown for the amazing lack of originality happening in Hollywood. As the film takes place in Australia, the only thing that is slightly clever is the tag line, “Welcome to the Terrortory.” Or maybe it’s just lame; I can’t decide. You decide for me…

Click image for pop-up of hi-res version

Current Mood: Alarmed & Alarmed & Alarmed & Alarmed

     Thanks to movieposteraddict, one of my more anticipated films of 2007 just dropped like a rock on my list of things to care about. Here’s why:

UNWRAP TEXT or SHOW **SPOILER**

And for the record, I’m not really Alarmed and alarmed AND alarmed. Every time I edited the story to tweak things, it added another Alarmed emoticon. Now I really am alarmed.

     I won’t go into the synopsis or give the trailer or anything as a previous post by Andrew has taken care of that for us (click here to view) but I just, not five minutes ago, came across three new posters for the film (was there any to begin with?) and they look kick ass. Thanks to MovieOnline.ca you can check them out below:

Personal one-word thoughts on each poster and the look of the actor/character:

Poster 1 (Cliver Owen) -Cool

Poster 2 (Paul Giamatti) - Badass

Poster 3  (Monica Bellucci) - There are no words…

     A new poster for the upcoming Jet Li and Jason Statham action movie War has just come online. Now for those of you who don’t know about the film below is a reminder of the synopsis, then below that is the poster (thanks to ComingSoon.net) and trailer. Enjoy:

     “After his partner is killed by Rogue (Li), the infamous assassin who has recently set off a bloody crime war between two rival Asian mobs, FBI agent Jack Crawford (Statham) starts a deadly game of cat and mouse to settle the score.”

Trailer:

     Now the action fan in me is absolutely dying to see this film. I am a massive Jason Statham fan (ever since I saw him in Snatch) and I am a pretty big Jet Li fan also. So to see these two literally face-off is very exciting for me. Now don’t get me wrong, this movie may in fact suck but I can tell right now that I am going to enjoy this film just because of the pairing. The main reason for this post, as I know this film was announced quite a while ago, is the new poster (shown above) that has just been released. Like always; what are your thoughts on the poster and the film in general?

     A film which has been on my radar, ever since the gigantic Lost fan in me read that one of it’s stars Naveen Andrews (who plays Sayid on the show) is going to be starring in a movie during the long between-season break, is The Brave One. But Andrew’s character I have learned is fairly minor and in fact the lead is played by the hit-and-miss (for me) Jodie Foster. The film also co-stars one of the most talented actors working today (in my opinion), Terrence Howard, in a supporting role as a police officer. Check out the synopsis (thanks to ComingSoon.net), the poster and the trailer below:

     “In the psychological thriller, opening September 14, New York radio host Erica Bain (Foster) has a life that she loves and a fiancé she adores. All of it is taken from her when a brutal attack leaves Erica badly wounded and her fiancé dead. Unable to move past the tragedy, Erica begins prowling the city streets at night to track down the men she holds responsible. Her dark pursuit of justice catches the public’s attention, and the city is riveted by her anonymous exploits. But with the NYPD desperate to find the culprit and a dogged police detective (Howard) hot on her trail, she must decide whether her quest for revenge is truly the right path, or if she is becoming the very thing she is trying to stop.”

Trailer:

     Now my first thoughts of the trailer was that I am definitely looking forward to it, but I am not dying to see it. The trailer is done well enough but I have some gripes with the latter part of it and in particular the quick flashes and “in-and-outs” of action that you can (barely) see. I think this ultimately falls fault to the maker of the trailer and not the actual film itself. But I can see that there is something worth spending your time watching here.

     Kurt just sent me the link to this story from The Hollywood Reporter about the 36th annual Key Art Awards. I’ve never heard of this ceremony before, but apparently these are the awards that recognize achievement in marketing in regards to film. It ties in really nicely with our recent discussions (both in the Cinecast and posts) about cool movie posters, but it also includes trailers, TV spots and web design.

     These awards break down marketing into several categories. There are awards for different genres in TV spots, posters and trailers, also DVD packaging and even an award for marketing that gets people to go to see a movie that has gotten poor reviews (winner: Step Up); just to name a few.

     Little Miss Sunshine (review) won best overall poster while the terribly underrated Little Children (review) was co-winner for best in show audio-visual along with Thank You for Smoking (review).

excerpt from the main article at Hollywoodreporter.com…

     In the main competition, 442 movie advertising and marketing professionals judged a record 1,452 entries. The eligibility period was January-December 2006. A judging event was held April 25 at the Pacific Design Center in West Hollywood.

“The marketing has never been more stimulating,” said John Kilcullen, publisher of The Hollywood Reporter. “The submissions reflect the great work the community is doing.”

     New categories were added this year to recognize work in animation, documentary and horror films. To present the animation awards, Nancy Cartwright — who provides the voice of Bart Simpson –arrived onstage with a Bart puppet, with whom she conversed in a comedic exchange.

     This year’s presenters also included Tobin Bell, Wes Craven, Rob Cohen and Dave Foley.

Click on this link to unwrap text of all the night’s winners and some images:

UNWRAP TEXT or SHOW **SPOILER**

     These Bourne Ultimatum posters are damn cool. Kind of a 60s retro feel while at the same time, some modernization. Definitely nothing like any other film’s artwork that has been released at any time in the recent past. Click on the unwrap text link below to see the posters…

UNWRAP TEXT or SHOW **SPOILER**

     Fans of the Saw series (which includes me I might add) will be interested in seeing the following “teaser” poster for the fourth installment in the series (shown below).

      

     Now I will just throw in my two cents on the general idea of making a fourth Saw film. For those of you who have seen the other three films, and especially the third, will be wondering the exact same thing as me - how in the world can they make a fourth one? The story effectively was over by the end of the third so how in the world they can carry it on is beyond me. But since they have decided to go ahead and make it anyway, however implausable the carrying on of the story is, I will no doubt be there at the cinema to see what they do with it.

      What are your thoughts on the poster and the idea of a fourth film in general?

     Found this over on Flixster’s profile for The Dark Knight. I think it’s fan made, but I don’t see it anywhere else on the net. Even if it is not real, it’s pretty cool.

     The actual photo is the same thing we’ve seen a million times now, but I like how it’s incorporated here with a tagline and kind of at an angle. It works well.

     Maybe this is old news, but Kurt just sent me some fun with movie posters. Just change one letter of a film title and you have an entirely different film. This is a contest that you can enter. Here’s the main page to enter yourself if you’re good with photoshop and being witty. You can see all the entries there, but here are a few of my favorites:

See the rest of the entries right HERE, at Worth1000.com

UPDATE: - OK, gotta mention two more:

I’m done now. I swear. Go check em yourself.

     A couple of weeks ago, “Premiere” listed its top 25 movie posters of all time. I reprinted the list HERE. Well, the posters are cool, but they’re all old school except Silence of the Lambs. So I found a few posters that I like that are newer. I don’t know about a top ten, but these are a few that are definitely cool. Feel free to leave comments and place your own thoughts and images int he comment section below.

25:

Gun Crazy

The art for 1949’s Gun Crazy represents cinema’s obsession with the aberrant, highlighting a thrill-killing dame. The film was originally released as Deadly is the Female with a poster featuring a more seductive Peggy Cummins splayed out across the poster sans guns. But after a new title and poster was commissioned, the femme fatale flick turned into a hit.

24:

All About Eve

The bouncy, kinetic design of 1950’s All About Eve poster mirrors the movie’s cocktail shaker wit. Erik Nitsche was the artist who came up with the arrow-filled image that, like the film, features an all-too brief cameo by Marilyn Monroe, here in the bottom left corner of the one-sheet.

23:

The Hitch-Hiker

The poster for 1953’s The Hitch-Hiker blurs the line between advertisement and highway safety PSA. The Edmond O’Brien roadside nailbiter had a simple approach to selling its cheap thrills — a gun, a threatening tagline, and the simple, violent colors of red and black.

22:

The Seven Year Itch

If the designers of the poster for the 1955 Marilyn Monroe vehicle had substituted, say, Jimmy Durante for Tom Ewell on the right, do you think anyone would have noticed? No way. Monroe’s pose in this poster has become an enduring iconic image of the sex symbol. The film was the first collaboration between the film’s director Billy Wilder and Saul Bass.

21:

Rosemary’s Baby

Taking a cue from the film itself, the poster for Roman Polanski’s 1968 film makes an innocent object, a baby stroller, ominous. For a film where the concept was definitely more emphasized than stars John Cassavetes and Mia Farrow, Rosemary’s Baby had a poster that upped the creep factor with its unusual use of dark green as a predominant color.

20:

Yellow Submarine

As the film’s art director and man in charge of the advertising art, Czech graphic designer Heinz Edelmann came up with the overall brightly colored, Peter Max-esque look for The Beatles’ mostly animated 1968 romp, Yellow Submarine. Incidentally, the film’s Blue Meanies were originally supposed to be red, but when Edelmann’s assistant accidentally changed the colors, the film’s characters took on a different meaning.

19:

Sullivan’s Travels

Maurice Kallis, who also worked on the This Gun for Hire poster, was responsible for the minimalist Sullivan’s Travels poster. It emphasizes the beautiful blonde bombshell Veronica Lake in this otherwise seriocomic Preston Sturges film. Kallis had previously worked on The Lady Eve one-sheet for Sturges and Paramount advertising head Robert M. Gillham, and though the classic Lake image is the one that’s remembered, the studio also commissioned a less abstract take for their marketing campaign.

18:

Breakfast at Tiffany’s

You don’t need to go to great lengths to make an appealing poster when Audrey Hepburn’s playing the lead. Yet the image of the actress with a figure as slight as the cigarette that dangles from her mouth cemented Hepburn’s iconic status and helped forge the reputation of the now-classic 1961 romantic comedy based on Truman Capote’s hit novel.

17:

This Gun for Hire

Maurice Kallis, who learned the craft of making posters as an assistant to Paramount art director Vincent Trotta, styled the poster for this 1942 Graham Greene potboiler about a hit man who takes money from the wrong man. The presence of Veronica Lake renders the most of the plot irrelevant as far as the poster’s concerned; despite the top billing, Robert Preston isn’t even part of the image. (That’s actually fourth-billed Alan Ladd.)

16:

The Silence of The Lambs

The poster for 1991’s The Silence of the Lambs, designed by the ad agency Dazu, is as simple and disturbing as they come. Look very closely at the death’s head moth covering star Jodie Foster’s mouth, there appears to be an image of humans forming a skull on its back. Inspired by the famous Salvador Dali photograph of several naked women posed like a skull, the film’s director Jonathan Demme is said to have suggested the surreal augmentation to the moth’s natural skull-like markings.

15:

The Mummy

The poster for 1932’s The Mummy remains an auction champ: it once sold for $453,500. P.D. Cochrane was the advertising director at Universal who commissioned the work of illustrator Karoly Grosz which features sultry Zita Johann backed up against a tomb and a mummified Boris Karloff at rest above her.

14:

The Man With the Golden Arm

The stark simplicity of Bass’s poster for 1955’s The Man With the Golden Arm was perhaps the designer’s most daring work. The poster for the film, which stars Frank Sinatra as a man in the throes of drug addiction, conveys the essence of the main character’s struggle without being preachy. Other posters were commissioned that featured the faces of Sinatra and Kim Novak, but the twisted arm remains timeless.

13:

The Gold Rush

The shivering Tramp of 1925’s The Gold Rush immediately entered the pantheon of iconic images. As with many of Chaplin’s posters, it relied more on Chaplin’s bowler hat, mustache and facial expression to grab audiences than a suggestion of the film’s comic elements.

12:

Straw Dogs

The shattering violence of Sam Peckinpah’s 1971 Straw Dogs is disturbingly foreshadowed in this cleverly layered image. While the poster does have a closeup of one of the 1970s most famous leading men, the controversial Dustin Hoffman-Sam Peckinpah collaboration about a man forced to his breaking point is perfectly captured.

11:

King Kong

Star power being what it is, 1933’s King Kong merely needed a big ape to sell itself. Yet S. Barret McCormick and Bob Sisk did the artwork for the iconic ape, based on the production sketches of Mario Larrinaga and Byron Crabbe. The image of the creature terrorizing humans against the backdrop of the New York skyline represented nature versus the machine age at its most extreme.

10:

2001: A Space Odyssey

Originally designed, but discarded as a less prominent image to promote the film, this poster for Stanley Kubrick’s 2001: A Space Odyssey became the main focus of the advertising campaign when it was decided that audiences weren’t as excited by traditional space age images as they had been during the 1950s. The image of an embryo embaced the film’s theme of human evolution and Kubrick had complete authority over the film’s marketing.

9:

The Thief of Baghdad

Douglas Fairbanks never looked better than he did in this one-sheet for the 1924 swashbuckler. But as the producer of The Thief of Baghdad, Fairbanks ensured his image would look good by asking illustrator Adrian Gill Spear to create the poster for the United Artists film.

8:

Attack of the 50 Ft. Woman

1958’s Attack of the 50 Ft. Woman is an awful movie — but the poster is memorable. Reynolds Brown, frequently employed by the studios to create horror one-sheets, designed this Cold War-era flick that was intended to lure teens away from their television sets.

7:

42nd Street

The deco-ish cascade of legs for 42nd Street (1933) brings to mind skyscrapers as well as dancing feet. Hubbard G. Robinson and Joseph Tisman, who also created the poster for Busby Berkeley’s other 1933 film Footlight Parade, captured the off-kilter attraction of Berkeley’s bubbly choreography with the poster’s use of sharp angles and an image from the film’s most famous (or infamous) under the legs sequence. The result was one of the top ten grossing films of the year for Warner Bros.

6:

Gilda

The image of Rita Hayworth in the title role of Gilda (1946) epitomizes the femme fatale. Robert Coburn took the picture and art director Jack Kerness did the rest with this sultry image of Hayworth in a Jean Louis gown. This poster touches on the scene that comes after the film’s most famous sequence in which Hayworth’s character does a striptease.

5:

Forbidden Planet

The Forbidden Planet artwork (1956), with its decidedly menacing robot and definitely-not-Anne Francis damsel-in-distress, evokes and entire ethos of pulp sci-fi. The prominence of Robbie the Robot also tapped into 1950s hysteria by appearing like some piece of domestic gadgetry.

4:

Downhill Racer

Downhill Racer’s breathtaking 1969 one-sheet is, among other things, a testimonial to just how freewheeling the ’60s were — only then were the studios daring enough to advertise a Robert Redford picture without showing Redford on the poster. Steve Frankfurt did the design and while the film was mostly ignored by audiences, the one-sheet is seen as a touchstone for future film posters.

3:

Vertigo

The image that Saul Bass — who also created the opening credit sequence of the film itself — designed for Hitchcock’s 1958 Vertigo is as classic as the movie itself. Perhaps because of his good work or merely because of his growth into one of film’s most gifted poster creators, Bass was given a credit on the film, which at the time wasn’t customary.

2:

The Sin of Nora Moran

Some great posters are from movies you may never have heard of — 1933’s The Sin of Nora Moran is a fairly inconsequential B picture, but its poster is an unforgettable image of ravishment. (As for truth in advertising, the film’s lead actress was not a blond.) Alberto Vargas, an artist who was a go-to guy for the studios during the 1930s, did the artwork on this Majestic release.

1:

Anatomy of a Murder

Mark Rothko meets the chalk outline. Artist Saul Bass (also an acclaimed title designer and visual consultant) brought poster design out of the golden age with a bold mix of the abstract and the figurative, of which this poster for the controversial 1959 Otto Preminger thriller is a prime example.