Tumblr'd Posters: Part 1

If you follow my tumblr (which you totally should - sometimes I post neat stuff there), you'll have noticed that a couple weeks ago I ran movie posters for two days.  The ones that showed up are some of my favorites, and now I'm going to tell you why!

Pulp Fiction

What's so great about this is how thoroughly it exemplifies the feel of this movie.  I'm not a Tarantino fan and I really didn't care for Pulp Fiction, but this poster is brilliant - it looks like the cover of a pulp novel from the 50's or 60's, which, let's face it, is the tone the film is working in as well.  It's a perfect example of the sort of poster I like to see: something which gives you a taste of what the movie will be like without spilling any of its secrets.  The poster should make you want to watch the trailer, which should make you want to watch the film, and (no matter how I feel about Pulp Fiction specifically) I think this poster does that.

American Beauty

This tells you nothing about the film but is intensely memorable.  Even though none of the skin shown is exactly obscene, it's a lot of skin, and broken up by that red rose makes it feel a little bit scandalous without being overtly dirty.  Splashing the rose on there is also really lovely after you've seen the film and know how the rose imagery keeps coming into play, but here it's just enough to make sure you know this isn't a porn flick.  It's also interesting because that stomach clearly does not reside on either Kevin Spacey or Annette Benning - but it's important enough to make it on the poster.  I would want to see it just to find out who all that skin belongs to.

Charlie and the Chocolate Factory

I've had many issues with Tim Burton recently, but I confess to loving this one of his - the candy colors and Burton's macabre sensibilities and Depp's manic performance all gelled in a way that was pretty irresistible like chocolate. This poster lets you know it's really Depp's show - the kids are great, but no one really stands up to Depp's childlike, over-excited and overly fragile flamboyantly likeable candyman.  He's not Gene Wilder and he's not meant to be, and that's fine.  The poster, with his whimsical pose, top hat and velvet tails against that wonderful sunset background and frilly text, let you know this is a whole different story.

V for Vendetta

This image clearly calls back to the comic book roots of the story, and also recalls propaganda posters from World War II.  Both ideas give you a pretty good sense of what you're in for while still leaving you utterly unprepared - I enjoyed reading the comic, but mostly as an educational experience.  In my opinion the film leaves it utterly in the dust, re-validating a dated story and slotting a talented actress into an almost unbearable roll (Evie in the book is completely vile and I couldn't stand her).  The text in the upper corner almost disappears into the sun ray artwork, but putting part of it on V's black hat gives you the more important message.  I also love how V's hat is partially covering his face, which is already covered by his mask; it reinforces V's message in the film about ideas while also giving the viewer a taste of what Evie feels when she questions his identity - who is this guy?  In the end we know it doesn't really matter, but here it works to instill a curiosity about the film and the character.

Stay tuned for Tumblr'd Posters: Part 2!

Abe Lincoln: Vampire Hunter

I know, I promised you guys more Trailer Talk, and I fully intend to deliver. The problem is that I have a day job and night school, and neither are very conducive to watching trailers. So! Movie news that I can report to you whilst in my downtime at the office.

(In a perfect world, I would get paid scads of money to do nothing except watch trailers and gab about them. Alas, that doesn't currently come with health care, and I don't even have dental as it is.)

I read Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter on the recommendation of a friend, because I had so thoroughly enjoyed Pride & Prejudice & Zombies. (Sense and Sensibility and Seamonsters, not so much.) Seth Grahame-Smith did what I didn't think was possible: he made this seemingly ludicrous and hilarious concept a serious, emotionally impacting story. I loved the way it was set up through a mix of historical facts and the fabricated diaries of Lincoln; it was satirical in subject matter but not in tone.

When I heard that it was getting made into a movie, I was excited - I'm usually excited when books I like get made into films (weird, right?) because I love visuals, and honestly, this story was made to be a film (or maybe a mini-series). As one does, I gossiped with the friend that had lent me the book originally about who we wanted to see in the two starring roles: Abe and his vampire mentor, Henry.

I'm convinced that Adrien Brody has spent his film career preparing for this role. We've seen him tackle roles with gravitas successfully, such as in The Pianist, not to mention this and this as well, so we know he'd be able to bring all the weightiness and stature that Lincoln would need to be convincing and effective. But, as anyone who paid good money to see Predators knows, dude can BRING it in the physical arena.

But for me the roles that most convinced me Brody would be perfect here are his turns in The Brothers Bloom and Darjeeling Limited. Both movies are kind of silly, but Brody dead-pans his way through in total seriousness, making them poignant as well as weirdly funny. I don't think Abe Lincoln: Vampire Hunter can succeed if it doesn't give us a LITTLE tongue-in-cheek, and I think Brody could have balanced that with deadly believability.

In the roll of Henry, the vampire that takes over Abe's education and mentors him through slayer-dom, well, who better than Johnny Depp? However tiresome I may find his current cash cow, the way he handles even his sillier roles, like in Benny & Joon and Sleepy Hollow, with deftness and sympathy that would have made Henry believable as a sympathetic monster-type. And his flamboyancy in said cash cow just demonstrates that Depp's Henry would still retain that vampire nobility and libertine attitude that many ascribe to them.

As movie news has revealed, both my choices were denied. Instead of Brody and Depp we're getting this guy and this guy, who do not exactly fill me with joy. You know what does, though? The fact that Timur Bekmambetov is directing.

No, I don't care how you felt about Wanted, or its infamous in-production sequel. This dude directed Night Watch, one of the best gritty supernatural noir pieces to be made in the last ten years. There are vampires, and great fight scenes, and the whole thing is darkly, eerily, beautiful. If you watch it (AND YOU SHOULD), please please PLEASE watch the subtitled version; Bekmambetov plays with the actual subtitles to reflect how a certain person talks is incorporated into the world. It's inspired.