Poster Corner

What's on their wall...

2011-11-03T13:15:00.002+01:00

In the movie Julie & Julia, we get in a rather grim moment of humorous juxtaposition to spot the poster for Corman's Attack of the Crab Monsters on the wall of Julie's living room, right after she cooked Lobster for the first time in her life. Too bad for these creatures that this will likely be the closest they will ever get to see revenge for what is being done to them...

Less portentous is a framed ad for the movie The Angry Red Planet we spot later, when they relax watching a comedy spoof on Julia Child.

Art comparison

2011-10-20T13:20:00.002+02:00

Paper Moon vs. Dreiviertelmond (Three quarter moon), 'nuff said.

If horror movies are anything to go by, then medical treatment is the generations number one fear. Zombies may fare better at the box office, but it's doctors that really put the scare in us.

...

2011-09-24T13:33:00.000+02:00

I'm at a loss of words, who approved that design?

A (Belated) Happy Birthday

2011-09-19T15:22:00.006+02:00

This month the German SF-series Perry Rhodan celebrates it's 50th birthday, half a century old and still going strong - First issue 09/08/1961 .
That probably makes it the longest running continual series in history.
Although they managed in that time only one movie adaptation, which then failed miserable at the box-office, we don't let that keep us from congratulating!

Live long and prosp... err, wrong series. Best of luck for the next fifty!

Vamps not Vamps

2011-09-18T13:50:00.001+02:00

So Vamps (movie) has bugger all to do with Vamps (comic)?
You could've fooled me there...

Art comparison

2011-09-15T13:20:00.002+02:00

The truth is out there...

Whish you were here - if it wasn't for the weather.

There's not much variety in dance movies is there?
But then again, what more are we looking for than a soft body to hold?

The department of reduncy department...

2011-09-09T16:05:00.002+02:00

For shits and giggles...

2011-08-31T16:43:00.006+02:00

What's on their wall...

2011-08-24T14:23:00.007+02:00

Back with an old favoured: Q

Larry Franco B-Movie cheesyness in its finest, IMO, starring among others Michael Moriarty as small time crook Jimmy Quinn and Candy Clark as his love interest Joan, whose rooms we see in these pictures.
The lady shows a varied taste in movies, or at least in movie art:

From the 1928 movie Sadie Thompson, starring Gloria Swanson

to the very artsy, highly erotic French version of Taste the Blood of Dracula, starring Chris Lee in the role of the famous non sparkling vampire count.

Science Fiction & Fantasy Writers Day

2011-06-23T13:16:00.008+02:00

"He knew what the wind was doing to them, where it was taking them, to all the secret places that were never so secret again in life."

Ray Bradbury - Something Wicked This Way Comes

Do you remember how they made you read stuff back in school, and then, as an added cruelty, they may have asked you to point out a key moment of the story they forced you to read. God, I hated that. I could never come up with an intelligent answer to this task*, my mind just doesn't work that way.

Now let us take a moments side trip, I’ll come to the point after that, I promise:
Remember how I started out the annual SF&F writers appreciation day with Arthur C. Clarke’s 2001?
Elsewhere on the net, and I would link you to it if could remember where it was, I explained my love for reading old, dated SF stories. It’s partly because I tend to ignore what they got wrong and rather focus on what they got right, or almost right. The other part is that these stories give us a look in two directions at once, we see the future as imagined by people back then, while actually living that future, and so gain a better understanding of our own perceptions of the future, an idea of how much we will have gotten wrong and how some things will turn out to have been pretty close…

I’ll promised to come to the point, so here is it:
See that quote on top? It’s taken from Something wicked, and it is the pivotal point in the story. This is where everything comes together. Here Bradbury casts a longing look back at childhood, expresses the yearning to go back to being part of a world full of magic.
And while as young readers we run with the boys out of the Library, run with the wind to visit all those secret places with them, as older readers we have to hesitate at the door because we can’t but think of all those secrets that already got lost to us, and finally I guess in our old age all we will have left is a faint memory of a world once filled with secrets patiently waiting to be uncovered by us.

There’s a lovely quote by Cornelia Funke, that explains how I feel about Something wicked this way comes, more eloquent than I ever could:

"Isn't it odd how much fatter a book gets when you've read it several times?
As if something were left between the pages every time you read it.
Feelings, thoughts, sounds, smells...and then, when you look at the book again
many years later, you find yourself there, too, a slightly younger self,
slightly different, as if the book had preserved you like a pressed
flower...both strange and familiar."

- Cornelia Funke (Inkspell)

I’m aware that I’m closer to that sad old man, that sees no magic left to him in the world, but I know always where I can turn to, to find at least a fleeting image of the boy I once was and that world this boy used to live in…

* Side-Track: Our teacher made us read Andorra, a play by Max Frisch.
Never really got what he, Frisch, meant to say with that, besides the obvious, that racism is a pointless but most common trait in humans. However, all I remembered after reading the play was that the female protagonist in it, I forgot her name, goes insane. Here Frisch was following a stage drama tradition in my opinion; In Hamlet Ophelia goes insane and drowns herself¹, and in Goethe’s Faust Gretchen is so shaken by the title giving character’s heresy it drives her close to madness, I still think one had to see a pattern there … my teacher however told me that this was not what stands at the core of Andorra, which, I take it, was the friendliest way he could muster up to say: Failed!

¹ Actually, most of Shakespeares female characters face this fate one way or other.

The Picts!

2011-06-11T13:07:00.000+02:00

Discovered this last month through a post on Plakatwelten (for a link see below) :

Two of my faves. :)

Pictgram posters for famous movies created by Victor Hertz.
Another poster I'm much taken with is his interpretation of the legendary The Exorcist, I wonder if there's a message to it how the holy water seems to come from an alchemy bottle there.

You can check out the rest of his work on Flickr.

Art comparison

2011-06-01T13:05:00.005+02:00

A recurring theme in horror posters...

Did I mention my 80's mindset...

Comedy posters, they make me want to ask:
Is blue more funny than other colours?

Caturday

2011-05-28T13:07:00.001+02:00

Shark Night 3D

2011-05-26T14:55:00.004+02:00

There's a few things you just can't go wrong with if you want to raise my interest, girls and sharks for example, throw them together and you've got a winner, in this case the first of these new fangled 3D movies that I actually feel a desire to watch.
Most likely with my eyes hidden behind my hand.

Did I ever mention that I have a mortal fear of Sharks?
No really, you can't even get me to jump in a lake...

Caturday

2011-05-21T13:05:00.000+02:00

Alter (L)ego

2011-05-17T13:14:00.000+02:00

Following the everything's better in Lego motto, the people from NextMovie.com present us a bunch of posters for current and coming blockbuster movies done "pop-art cubism" style (tee-hee).
And really the new X-Men movie looks almost tempting now:

For more see here:
Summer movies in Lego
Best picture nominees in Lego

And if now you wonder how how for example Inception really would have looked had director Nolan decided to shoot it in it's cheaper plastic version, have peek at some famous movies scenes done Lego-style here:
Hoyvin Mayvin

Caturday

2011-05-14T13:03:00.002+02:00

Art comparison

2011-05-10T13:08:00.012+02:00

Not to say anything, just a peek at how my mind works.

I am bound up in an 80's frame of mind, just saying, not that I really hoped Dylan Dog to be. (Yeah, right!)

I could give you the whole bull about water symbolism here (not really, never understood that part) but for me the formula is simply called "Sex sells", and boy does it sure work.
(Speaking of which, have some Kylie)

Caturday

2011-05-07T13:00:00.000+02:00

It's caturday month here on the corner, so expect more of this:

Maybe I should have kept this one for next years Star Wars day...

Luke 15:20

2011-05-04T13:42:00.004+02:00

"And he arose and came to his father"

May the 4th be with you.

On a side note:
Ever since reading this comment on another blog-

"Well, I didn’t find anything specific on the bit about kissing scenes as sex in Star Wars, but did see that it was Lucas, not Kershner, that said it."

I can't help but wish for some brain bleach whenever I think of Leia kissing Luke.

Caturday

2011-04-30T13:24:00.002+02:00

In honour of the 'nets secret mascots a caturday special:

Picture perfect moment(s)

2011-04-21T14:51:00.009+02:00

I’m pretty sure that it is no secret that I like the remake of The Wolf Man,
I would even go as far and say I’m a positive fan of it.
Which doesn’t stop me from niggling mind you:

The first time I saw Sir Hopkins transformation sequence I felt awfully reminded of Michael J.’s dad's in Teen Wolf, probably not the effect they were aiming for.
*j/k*

But seriously, some of the cheaper looking CGI FX tipped the balance and prevent the movie from becoming a true classic, more pathos and a few more memorable lines wouldn’t have hurt either. More choice pieces like Hugo Weavings:
“Rules Mrs Kirk. They ‘re all that keeps us from a dog-eat-dog world, you know.”
(Great delivery there)

But there's a lot to love about this movie, from steady paced action to brooding atmosphere and a great cast. Like Sir Anthony Hopkins taking on the role formerly played by Claude Rains, and not making a bad figure doing so. Then there's Emily Blunt who can easily compete with other female leads in the field, like Yvonne Romain or Nurse Alex, Jenny Agutter; and truly, I think nobody suffers more beautiful these days.

Not to forget the movies fun and action packed homage to the legendary Piccadilly carnage scene from An American Werewolf in London.

Speaking of which, it sure is not necessary to mention that Rick Baker worked on the creature FX for both Wolf Man and American Werewolf. I would like to insert here though that he also worked on the vastly underrated Wolf; and seeing how the formidable make-up FX he used there are clearly a tip to the hat towards the Universal Classics, I feel that Rick came finally full circle with his work on Wolf Man*.

*Please do not take this as me saying that we are going in circles in this genre, nothing could be further from my mind!

Art comparison

2011-04-03T18:06:00.009+02:00

It's quite obvious that the designer of this cover for a omnibus edition of Meg Cabot's Mediator series was very fond of The girl with the dragon tattoo.

I'm very likely way off with my assessment, but if asked, I would say we are looking at the work of the same design team here.

Yeah, yeah ... filling space by pointing out the obvious. Sue me.

In memoriam Diana Wynne Jones

2011-03-27T18:50:00.002+02:00

British fantasy and science fiction writer Diana Wynne Jones has reportedly died. Jones, author of the wildly popular 1986 fantasy novel Howl's Moving Castle, is said to have passed away on Saturday after a long battle with cancer.

Happy St Patrick's

2011-03-17T13:51:00.002+01:00

*Artist Unknown

More Boris

2011-02-21T13:13:00.012+01:00

Boris Vallejo is one the artists whose work keeps popping up here, as you may have already noticed. No other artist comes readily to mind that influenced the scene so heavily during the 80's. His work has been frequently used as inspiration, for countless video covers and movie posters, though, not all of them went about it as blandly as in this mash-up and blend.

Thanks go to Videotopsy for this heineous British VHS cover to one of Amando de Ossori's Blind Dead movies.
Honestly I'm not sure if I'm more annoyed with the bad quality of the reproduction or more amused with how completly pointless and misleading the used illustration is.

Art comparison

2011-02-16T13:56:00.011+01:00

There’s probably a shortage of poses going round, but I prefer to entertain the idea that in a shocking twist-end we learn that Liam Neeson’s Unknown character turns out to be Alex Pettyfer’s father: “I am your father, number four!”

I'm a fan of the first Sisterhood movie, liked it better than I did the book (which is not meant to say that the novel was pants *giggle*, I just had higher expectations of it after watching the movie).

It might be just me, but I like how here one poster mirrors the other as if they came from the same place of imagination. Being both tied to the werewolf myth they even might. Now, if only the idea of "twilight" director Hardwicke at the helm didn't curb my enthusiasm for Red Riding Hood so much...
BTW: Make sure to check out the spanish version of Red Riding Hood I added to one of my older posts.

What's on their wall...

2011-02-06T14:42:00.005+01:00

Now, now, what's this we see hanging at the back of the room, doubtless left there by his much younger self, when Roger Cobb (William Katt) opens in his mother's now demon infested House the door behind which a raging flurry of, uhm, flying garden tools lies in waiting?
Why, it's the poster to the original The Blob (again).
How ... flattering I guess, a suggestion this must be to make for a demon mommy monster from hell.

In memoriam Bernd Eichinger

2011-01-25T23:29:00.011+01:00

Der deutsche Filmproduzent Bernd Eichinger ist im Alter von 61 Jahren in Los Angeles gestorben. Er erlag beim Abendessen einem Herzinfarkt.

Bernd Eichinger, one of the most influential producers for the modern German film scene died in L.A. aged 61 of a sudden heart attack.

He reformed the German movie industry and led it to new success with movies that put entertainment again in front of message, away from the so called authors cinema of the 70's which mostly produced small movies for a intellectual minority. Eichinger understood that cinema needs artful adaptations of novels like Isabelle Allende's The House of the Spirits just as much as the quick entertainment thrill provided by the Resident Evil series.

We will miss him a lot.

Old teen...

2011-01-25T19:03:00.005+01:00

Extraordinary teen John Smith (Pettyfer) is a fugitive on the run from ruthless enemies sent to destroy him.

...

This has my Spider-Sense tingling, telling me it can't possibly get much more extraordinary than the age of this supposed teen.

Like really people, couldn't you have at least given him a clean shave if you insist on selling him as a teen?

Art comparison

2011-01-17T13:18:00.001+01:00

Every single time I see this poster for Black Swan I feel like looking at a V for Vendetta escapee. Must be because Natalie Portman plays a lead in both, surely.

De vrais mensonges and Io sono l'amore are fine examples of implementing titles, how to and how not to.

I guess the more elderly among us will remember here Sierra's Gabriel Knight.
But isn't it amazing how popular shopping bags are within horror?
I'm tempted to say that they are the ultimate symbol for the fear of the unknown in today's society; who knows what evil lurks in the shopping bags of men?

Art comparison

2010-12-11T13:13:00.004+01:00

Children of the Machine, part I: SF & Horror reflect the fears of society.

Children of the Machine, part II: One generations nightmare is another's dream.

I have actually no smart-ass comment to go with this, but I didn't want to miss the chance to put Tron and its sequel in here as well. You see, no matter how one stands to Disney's company policies, they sure now how to market! (Yes! I'm all giddy for the new Tron)

Marvel at the Movies (Necrosha edition)

2010-12-08T13:31:00.001+01:00

Picture perfect moment

2010-12-05T13:04:00.000+01:00

What always struck me as most amusing about Deep Blue Sea (below) is the fact that Renny Harlin would hire for the main part an actress that looked like an exact copy of his ex-wife Geena Davis (above in The Long Kiss Goodnight), and with all due respect for Saffron Burrows who did a great job, I would have loved to see what Geena would have made of that role.

What's on their wall...

2010-12-01T13:31:00.000+01:00

The choice of posters nurse Alex pinned at her wall in An American Werewolf in London, shows a unfortunate pre-disposition to the great Romance classics, none of which held a happy-end for their main cast. It's her own faith foreshadowed there on the wall, a true mene tekel.

Marvel at the Movies (Deadpool edition)

2010-11-15T13:19:00.006+01:00

Art comparison

2010-11-11T13:30:00.007+01:00

Alien Abductors:
Since the advent of the SF age Robots and Space-Aliens must have stolen our women by the thousands, I keep wondering what they might need them for.

The grip of fear:
Hollywood, or the film industry in general has by now turned our never ceasing fear of being invaded into an paranoid art-form perpetually fuelling SF and Horror. The Invasion of the body snatchers (right) image is something we find re-used for the movie the Revenge of the Creature, by the way.

The End:
There's likely equal bits of American arrogance and self-deprecation to be found in the way SF continually uses the image of a destroyed Lady Liberty to mark the end of civilization.

What's on their wall...

2010-11-07T13:20:00.001+01:00

In the living quarters of Kate's time travelling neighbor in Kate & Leopold, we can spy at the back of his kitchen a beautiful replica of a drawn poster for 30's crime movie I'll name the murderer (Yo nombraré al asesino).

And we also get to spot what looks to be a further Spanish language (Mexican?) movie poster version, this one for the Sci-Fi movie The Atomic Man (as Cerebro Atómico the "Atomic Brain") also known under the title Timeslip.
I have to admit that I wasn't aware of the alternative title before I looked it up, how fitting a choice.

Picture perfect moment

2010-11-03T13:39:00.003+01:00

In addition to last month’s post:
Imperius Rex! Hand puppet dinosaur rules the world.
The Roger Corman produced movie Carnosaur is one of those wondeful examples that can be neatly wrapped up in a single picture. It’s simple, silly and unashamedly pathetic, and all that in all the right places - a true guilty pleasure if ever there was one, just do yourself the favour and avoid the uninspired sequels that followed.

Halloween post

2010-10-31T13:14:00.005+01:00

Halloween!
What better time to break a lance for one of my favoured guilty pleasure creature features; but I would be amiss if I neglected to warn you ahead of time that the movie is Trash, with a capital T, so if you prefer clever, well thought out scripts, sophisticated acting, convincing FX work or just plain realistic looking sets, then don’t go any further, you won’t find none of that here, to the rest of us, those that can enjoy shoddy craftsmanship if only the presentation is entertaining enough, I’ll say step right in, I’ve got just the movie you: Carnosaur.

Carnosaur offers everything we’ve come to expect from a trash movie, a script mostly void of any logic sense, enough wild cuts and timeline jumps to make your head spin, and all that shot on a shoestring budget just high enough to dress about half of the movie sets.
Sounds awful yet?
Add to that a handful of random attacks by a remotely dinosaur shaped hand puppet, and you got a fair picture.

"Hey, doesn't that look like..."
"Indeed, my friend, so it does."

Why now, I hear you ask, would I recommend such a misbegotten creature of a movie?
Because the movie is fully aware of all these shortcomings. It is unashamedly pathetic and revels in its own cheesiness, and never falters at that. Instead of giving in to the temptation of turning this into silly, apologetic comedy, with the few times the filmmakers poke fun at their own work being done in such an underhanded way that it’s often misinterpreted for them being just as dead serious as they had the actors play out their parts. And it’s therein where the true entertainment value of Carnosaur lies, this is makes it worth to see actors scream in the face of being mauled by a rubber headed escapee from Jim Henson’s Studios, and to listen to them blurb out pseudo scientific nonsense, never once breaking stride.

The movie is bloody, pathetic and down right ridiculous with a plot that is hard to sum up without spoiling it, let’s just keep it at saying there’s the required mad scientist involved and this time around she’s got it in her head to create dinosaurs…
"My God is an acronym G.o.D - Generate or diversity."

I remember one movie magazine citing Carnosaur as “not the most expensive dinosaur movie ever shot, but probably the most gory.”
That’s a nice jab at Jurassic Park there, on whose unprecedented PR campaign the movie naturally wanted to cash in. And that brings us in a way to Harry Adam Knight’s original 1984 novel (the movie was shot almost ten years later in ’93), of which I would encourage you to read it regardless of what you think about the movie. The movie has not that much in common with Knight’s novel, it took a vast amount of liberties which left only the very bare bones of the story and supplanted them to an American setting actually. Further, similarities between Knight’s novel and Crichton’s Jurassic Park are few and far, no to mention that they wrote in completely different fields, not only speaking locals here, one playing out in the British countryside and the other off the coast of South America, but also with the Knight being a pulp writer, fast paced and gory with no discernible interest in actual science, so having read one doesn’t mean you won’t be able to enjoy the other on its own level.

It’s true that both use cloning as a base for their story, but that’s already where the comparison ends, that is, far as Jurassic Park is concerned, when it comes to JP 2 there are elements to both novel and movie that feel like lifted from Carnosaur. But truth is also that there are only so much ways a writer has to bring in dinosaurs: Genetic engineering or time travel devices usually, sometimes dimensional rifts and in seldom cases a post apocalyptic 1950’s world, those are the tools that usually lend themselves to the task; and some images are just more naturally bound to turn up than others.

Carnosaur, the novel, reminds me these days some of watching Primeval on TV, indeed one feels inclined to pose the question how much of that show is possibly on this book, and in other parts the book could have the inspiration behind Capcom’s survival horror game Dino Crisis. A last warning is in order, on top of being a fairly gory book Knight’s (male) characters seem to pretty generally detest women* and accordingly insulting is the books tone.

*This seems to be a common occurence with British writers, I recall seeing the same being said about James Herbert’s writing.

Lazy sunday...

2010-10-24T15:26:00.003+02:00

I'm lazy today, so you all you get is another on of my boring teen crush stories.
In the time before Linda Blair shook my world and my libido there was Kristy McNichol, who, as it is the way with these early loves in our life (or at least in mine), still can make me go weak in the knees. This is no doubt owned to the fact that at a time when I was still young enough to ponder my chances of trading in my little sister for Megan Follows, I was allowed to watch episodes from Family but not The Exorcist (and given the way how my eight year old self reacted to the trailer for Dawn of the Dead it was probably a wise decision on my parents side).

For some unfathomable reason, me and said sister which I never really got round to trade in seem also to be the only people to like The Pirate Movie.
Inconceivable!
And a movie like The night the lights went out in Georgia, combining Kristy McNichol and country music, is as close to heaven, I guess, as one can get while still alive.

Having fun with a gun

2010-10-18T13:57:00.006+02:00

Question: What's stronger than a locomotive, can shoot higher than a skyscraper and is faster than a bullet... erm, strike that last one. Is it a bird? Is it a plane?

No, It's Super-Gun!

Really, I would like to know what this artist thought, when he came up with the idea of a gun racing a train.
Well, at least it looks, ahm, fast...

I know nothing to say to this artwork for The Maltese Falcon.
If I'd have to take a guess, I'd say that it must be a sign of the time, most likely it was created for a 70's reissue of the movie.

While the above ones already made me wonder about the respective artists this one clearly takes the cake, and begs the question:
Who in hell approved that?

I mean it's a image of a gun that fires a man holding a rifle... can you get anymore redundant?

Now, this Italian poster for the movie "The Boss" that's what I call great artwork.
You simply have to love how the figure at the same time breaks through the scenery and is a part of it, making you wonder if those little figures in the lower left got scared off by the car chase or the sudden appearance of a hovering giant hand.

True Blood made in Germany

2010-10-14T13:09:00.001+02:00

Wir sind die Nacht (We are the night)

Wonderful by the numbers piece of work; clichéd as hell in other words, but dagnabit Karoline Herfurth (right) looks amazing sexy.

Delectable! *drool*

What's on their wall...

2010-10-11T13:10:00.001+02:00

Book of Eli has it's moments, times where it fills us with hope to see and hear that not all our cultural accomplishments will be lost in the ashes of the apocalypse. Ennio Morricone's timeless theme for C'era una volta il west will be under the survivors, and Johnny Cash will at least in oral tradition continue to be Live at Folsom, not to forget this fine piece of art.

And admist all of the distruction in this battered world we spy on the wall of one of Eli's temoprary resting places a discolored and torn-up poster for the movie A boy and his dog.

Goes to show that God has after all some sense of humour.

Picture perfect moment

2010-10-07T13:43:00.000+02:00

6Then I saw another angel flying in midair, and he had the eternal gospel to proclaim to those who live on the earth—to every nation, tribe, language and people.
-Revelations 14:6

Art comparison

2010-10-03T13:19:00.001+02:00

Also see the cover to a book called Leverage which is practically a one on one copy of Crank (the cover, not the novel)

Certain images of the undead never change.

Coca-Cola the movie... tee-hee.

In memoriam Oswalt Kolle

2010-10-01T17:15:00.011+02:00

On September 24. of this year Oswalt Kolle died, he was the most famous figure of post-war sexual education in Germany. His pioneering efforts, an honest effort to free sexuality from constraining bonds imposed on it by religious dogmatism and prejudiced short sightedness, mark the importance of his work.

Although the films he produced must seem comedic at best seen from a today's viewpoint, they shaped the way sex got portrayed in German movies.

In memoriam Tony Curtis

2010-09-30T14:22:00.009+02:00

Hollywood star Tony Curtis has died at his home in Las Vegas after suffering a cardiac arrest, aged 85.

Sad news, we like to say goodbye and thank you from here to Tony Curtis for the wonderful and diverse roles he played in his career. His performances, such as in Some like it hot, The Defiant Ones, The Great Race or Sex and the single girl (both at the side of Natalie Wood) will remain unforgotten.
And naturally his appearance in the TV-Show The Persuaders as the prototypical American playboy.
Thanks for the memories! And our condolence to his family and friends.

La Linea

2010-09-27T14:09:00.009+02:00

Simplicity is an art.

The What's love got to do with it poster, for which the artist captured Tina Turner with a few simple brush strokes is among my favoureds. Roger Rabbit is everybody's fave and it's a great poster, too, fitting for this lovely comedy.
Gaby, while not really mine its an interesting concept along the same line (tee-hee). If only I could warm myself to these flower artworks.

Utinni!

2010-09-20T13:19:00.000+02:00

Call me childish if you so like, but I can't help it. Everytime I see this poster for a movie called Uncle Boonmee remembers his former lives, I'm tempted to shout out "Utinni!"

Damn you, pop culture, damn you!

Pirate day, arr!

2010-09-19T12:59:00.006+02:00

"Ay, ye landlubbers!
It's talk like eh Parrot day ... Polly wants-
What? Speak louder bub, I've got me ear full of salt water! ... Oh, I see, mate. We got a us a talk like a Pirate day, makes more sense frankly, scratch that cookie then and, ah, walk that plank if a you would be so nice. And lest I forget: Arr!"

But seriously, what better excuse could there be to cram out that ol' pearl of piraty goodness starring the inimitable Captain Blood, Errol Flynn!
Although, is it just me or does that artist seem to have had a young Ingrid Bergman on his mind when he drew Olivia de Havilland?
It’s like looking at a “For whom the Skull and Crossbones tolls” poster…

Bowling for Columbine

2010-09-16T13:27:00.001+02:00

I’ll be honest to you and tell you right off the bat that I’m not a fan of Michael Moore’s work, or his person for that matter, quite the opposite so. I’m willing to give him that he makes a few valid points in Bowling for Columbine, other than in his follow-up mockumentary Fahrenheit 9/11 where all he deliveres are sarcastic comments about then President George W. Bush but otherwise shows himself void of any real political interests. Moore is the typical blender/mockumentary director that strives on creating controversy and putting on a show of care, populism on the lowest level.

There’s a part in Bowling for Columbine that always rubbed me the wrong way, the interview with Marilyn Manson. But in fact the cynical hypocrisy of that part is typical not only for Moore, but this whole "genre" he stands for, interviewing an artist who’s whole income is build on feeding off the hate culture which churns out kids like the two Columbine attackers, a fact Moore conveniently ignores.

It's true, neither Manson nor any of his comrades can be blamed for the tragic incidents happening on that day, not any more at least than any given part of the weapons industry.
Still it’s a laughing farce to hear that man talk about responsibility when he himself fails to take his own share of it.

Alouette, Silhouette

2010-09-13T13:14:00.003+02:00

"I see a little silhouetto of a man... Scaram- no wait...";
as it happens it's not only a silhouetto of a man, I see.

Let the ol' times roll

2010-09-10T13:06:00.000+02:00

It's high time again for us to highlight another DeviantArt fave:
WacomZombie / Corlen Kruger

Wonderful, sexy takes on classic favourites from all genres:

Even as a fan of the original Death rides a horse, I've gotta say that I wonder if this take on the title would not have had, ahm, excited me more...

Should go without saying but here's anyway:
For original sizes/more of his work visit the above linked artist pages
(You can also see the uncensored version of Ilsa there)

Art comparison

2010-09-07T13:03:00.000+02:00

Makes you wonder if they hired the same design team.

The US cover for Malinda Lo's novel Ash keeps reminding me of the teaser poster for the remake of Låt den rätte komma in (Let the right one in)

For some reason I'm reminded of Freddy when I see the poster to Disney's High School Musical China, but maybe it's just that I want to see those kids die a horrible death...

Picture perfect moment

2010-09-04T13:08:00.002+02:00

Above we see we a crucified Keoma being shown his father's dead body, one of the great ironic images that make up the same titled movie. “God is dead” is a recurring message throughout the Italian western cycle, one doubtlessly rooted in Italian’s strict catholic upbringing, but no other movie made as unashamed, nor stylistically as brilliant, a use of this as Enzo G. Castellari‘s Keoma. Essentially the whole movie seems to have been made with the one idea in mind to capture the essential myths that make up this particular genre in a row of iconic sequences so loosely connected by story that it needs a commenting narrative as movie score.
Castellari would later go and restage various parts of this famous movie for another of his ventures*, for example the iconic crucifixion, but he never again achieved the same cinematographic perfection we find in Keoma.

*Jonathan degli orsi (Jonathan of the bears)

Buried in praise

2010-09-01T13:05:00.003+02:00

Love this teaser poster.
There's a nice ironic truth to the image of a movie getting literally buried under carefully selected Press comments.

Year of the Rat

2010-08-29T13:59:00.008+02:00

Even though Willard was in my opinion a disappointment to watch, it was my first exposure to a specific branch of horror movies and it no less initiated my love for rats. Indeed the sequel Ben was a better movie by far, but I can forgive Willard falling short of my expectations, for it still paved the way that led me to appreciate the wonderful world of animal horror in general and “ratty” horror in special (I actually did see the brilliant Phase IV before I got to see Willard, but that is SF).

A few years later a friend recommended James Herbert’s The Rats trilogy to me, the first book of which, The Rats, got very loosely adapted to the screen under the title Night Eyes (re-titled in Germany to Deadly Eyes by the way, those crazy buggers love to think up new English titles).. I still hold this series to be the best, most entertaining work in the field despite a few major flaws in the writing,

closely followed by King’s excellent short story Graveyard Shift, which got adapted for the screen, too, under its story name and counts in my book as an unfairly overlooked, entertaining entry to the genre. As an aside, Lair, the second book in Herbert’s Rat trilogy seems to have been largely inspired by Ben, or maybe there is only so much you can do with the topic

Another genre favourite is the Italian production Rats – Notte di Terrore. One of the more original entries to the Post Apocalyptic genre. If one, as I like to, compares Herbert’s second rats novel Lair to Ben then the last book in Herbert’s cycle, Domain, should be compared to Notte… if only because they share a post world war setting. In terms of story both are refreshingly original, albeit Herbert shows a tendency to overuse similar character arcs for his books, and both are a treat for horror fans and fans of the Post Apocalyptic genre alike.

However, despite a obvious audience demand for more of these kind of movies (how else could one explain that one of the more boring entries became enough of a cult to regard a remake, namely speaking of Willard here? Too bad it seems not to have made enough money to justify a remake of Ben, too) the output in recent years was definitively meagre and mostly let to movies that got advertised with artwork showing far more promise than the movies hiding behind them could ever hope to muster up.

Or so,
at least, goes my opinion, I actually love Of unknown origin, although the movie fared so bad both among fans and critics that one shouldn’t talk to loud about that (I trust you not to rat me out), but found myself bored witless by the latest, praised independent horror escapee from the After Dark Horrorfest: Mulberry Street, a movie that promises with its zombie rat infection theme to revive the gory fun of Hell of the living dead, a classic opening sequence if there ever was one, but what we get is a dialogue heavy pseudo Shawn of the dead shakes hands with 28 Days later over Ben’s dead and vastly un-resurrected body.

If the above sounds like ranting to you then let me assure you it is because I am ranting.
Anyways, let’s leave on a positive note, like this promotional sketch for the poster artwork to The secret of Nihm, doesn’t it remind one a lot of the poster for the same year movie The Dark Crystal?In swear in terms of movies goes for the 80’s that “it was the best of times, it was the worst of times, it was the age of wisdom, it was the age of foolishness…”

*I realize we are not in the Year of the Rat, but what are you going to do? Sue me?

A Gallery of sorts:

A few notes on the used images:
Revenge of the Rats is the french DVD release of German made for TV thriller Ratten 2 I actually like both this and the original German design which its visual play on the "Pied Piper of Hamelin"; Die Stunde der Ratte is the German DVD release of Food of the gods, you sure noticed how it takes elements of both the artwork from part 1 & 2 to create a free melange that reminds of a particularly famous zombie movie by Lucio Fulci; For Night Eyes I used a UK DVD cover design, hence the title The Rats; And Unheimliche Begegnung (which would loosely translate to "Eerie Encounter") is naturally the German VHS cover for Of unknown origin, love that image.

twilight's last gleaming

2010-08-25T13:20:00.004+02:00

Ranting about twilight is popular.
And what are we here in this place if not followers of the popular trend?
I’m all that, but I’m also not ashamed to admit that I enjoyed twilight (the book), twilight (the movie) not so much.
And seriously, what’s not to love about a book that features a brooding (Steph missed to add tall & dark) teen vampire going on about how he has to fight to keep his urges under control whenever he’s close to his Bella, while she is practically begging him on her knees to ravish her…*

But then there’s the infamous Chapter 8 – Port Angeles.
If there’s one problem that Stephenie has, then it has to be her love for romance novels which clearly shows in the way she set-up twilight, it’s like she’s got a list she’s been ticking off:
Alpha male - check
Damsel - check
Threaten damsel with a faith worse than death - check.

That last point! That’s all Chapter 8 serves for.
The gist of it is thus:
Bella and her girls drive into town, she separates from the rest and promptly finds herself attracting some street rabble that conveniently herd her up a dark side street.
Cue in Edward, storming to the rescue with, uhm, blazing headlights…

One of the problems with this constructed hero’s scene is that Edward’s „heroism“ is a shallow gesture, because as a immortal he’s never really putting himself in any danger whatsoever. He actually just gets his Bella and hightails it out of there.
Some hero there, leaving the rabble to stake out another victim…

Vampire guy certainly pales in comparison to the shiny knights and bold adventurers that went over this ground before him. Well, yes, he claims that the vileness of their intentions was threatening to make him lose control of his human side, threatening what’s possibly left of his immortal soul.
We get to hear that line a lot from him, he’s very fond of using it, see above.
And the more I think about that scene and why it never worked for me, beyond as a annoyance, the more I can’t help to think that this is symptomatic for the whole Bella/Edward relation, there’s a lot of talk from Edward’s side, and he’s so quick at hand with assuring Bella that her mere presence alone is enough for him to have to fight the beast inside… so much so that I have to wonder whom is he really trying to convince?
Bella or himself?

However, the actual reason why I gnashed my teeth when the scene came up and played out in all its tired predictability, and I’m usually not one to bemoan predictability, is not just that this scene is for the most part useless to the story at hand, it’s how it uses some of the worst tropes ever:
Country girl, big town, alone on her own = rape, murder or worse…

It creates an unsavoury mix of “Girls should not be left to stray on their own” myths and the undying suspicion harboured by every small towner ever of the big cities and their invariably evil, tainting character.

Well, Stephenie’s a lot of things, being subtle is not among them.
But twilight (the book) was her debut (that and she’s Mormon), so I’m willing to cut her some slack. Neither the script writers working on twilight (the movie) nor Hardwicke can claim either of that for themselves. Which makes finding the same stupid, useless scene playing out in the same useless, stupid way all the more infuriating… grrr.

On a side note:
You know what else I find disturbing about twilight (the movie)?
The only poster I can stand, shows the only people I cared for in the movie**: The bad guys and girl.

*Most guys you wouldn’t have to beg twice, but with Edward it takes four long books of begging!
**With the exception of Alice, but who doesn’t care about her!

Art Evolution

2010-08-21T13:09:00.000+02:00

What happens we you take the artwork for the movie The Deep,
and cross it with the artwork for Cunningham's Deep Star Six?

Why, you get Casaro's Leviathan of course:

Where is this headed?

2010-08-17T13:08:00.000+02:00

Sucker Punch looks delicious, from flawless artwork, to tantalizing plotline, to a trailer that has me positively hooked.

But three’s a row, and in the face of a row of titles like Kick-Ass; Bitch Slap and Sucker Punch I simply have to pose the question where we are bound with those.

Hellooo- Wolfman

2010-08-13T13:13:00.005+02:00

Who'd a have thought that we'd meet this scene again so soon?

Kinda makes you worry when the tagline talks about originality put in such a context.

Noblesse oblige

2010-08-10T20:37:00.005+02:00

“Now I will die like the gangsters in the movies!”
This quote is given as having been the final words of a young delinquent facing death penalty in the first half of the past century. Illustrating the impact the new medium, and Hollywood’s romanticized view of the underworld had on our culture.

The quote always reminds me of the end of “Angels with dirty faces” and how as a child I was completely fascinated by this shady, yet honourable character James Cagney played in the movie.
I’m aware that viewers have differing opinions about the end, but me, I still prefer to believe that it’s not fear which rules Cagney’s final moments in the movie, but the same noble core that made him protect his friend in one way or other through the whole movie. In the end he even sacrifices his hard earned criminal renown, which could have made him a minor legend in the place he grew up. Instead he chooses to go out knowing that non will remember him ‘cept for Pat O’Brien and Ann Sheridan.
There’s a sort of bitter ironic to be found in how early Hollywood’s idea of noble criminals stands in direct contrast not only to our above quoted young friend, but to today’s youth an their unhealthy fascination with a gang culture that holds no values, and knows no honour.

Art imitates life imitates art?
If only it was that easy at times…

Picture perfect moment

2010-08-04T11:19:00.002+02:00

While taking a shower and contemplating how The strange case of Dr Jeckyll and Mr Hyde can be related to a philosophers quote that I like to paraphrase as “All that keeps us in check is our fear of punishment”, it occurred to me how perfectly this scene from The Mexican illustrates the truth of it, when Brad Pitt stops in the middle of nowhere at an empty crossroads, in front of a red light.

Art comparison

2010-08-01T13:00:00.004+02:00

I honestly hope they do not have more in common!

I'm aware that Ghost Ship would have fitted better against Death Ship, but Black OPs (Dead Water, for EU release) shares more than just a similar poster design with Death Ship. And that made my desicsion.

Stylish!

Sounds familiar

2010-07-23T18:41:00.005+02:00

A show of hands please, how many of us are not thinking Friday the 13th right now?

Thought so.

Btw, also check out the amazing motion poster:
http://saw3dmovie.com/Poster/

Lolita's curse

2010-07-17T12:03:00.007+02:00

In her book Hollywood Lolita Marianne Sinclair speaks of a phenomena surrounding the later lolita actresses, while most of the early silent lolita-stars could build out solid careers non of the later incarnation of this specific men’s fantasy did fare well, neither in their career nor in their lives. I've been reminded of that recently when, while idly chatting away in some forum, the question came up: “What ever happened to Jane March?”
Far as I know she made only two movies, both times playing the teenaged seductress to a much older co-star.

And now I do wonder: Did she, too, fall prey to the lolita-curse?

All good things...

2010-07-14T13:15:00.005+02:00

…come in threes; but this is not true for Hollywood, here we rather seem to be dealing with an unwritten third time’s not the charm rule.
Blade Trinity is a prime example for that.
What started out as fast paced, entertaining new take on movie vampires proved to probably having been too fast paced for its own good, by reaching the third part it already had ran itself to death*. It’s excruciating to watch decent actors struggle their way to this mess of a script the movie was build on, and to add insult to injury the only visible attempt to salvage this mess at least financially was by cranking up the PPM** rate to a maximum in hopes to at least appeal to a large enough crowd of kids that still find the mention of body parts and bodily functions to be a hoot…

And what again had the man himself, David S. Goyer, to say about sequels:

“…New Line, and Wesley, and a lot of people involved hope that Blade will spawn […] other sequels or, you know, Tv-Show or who knows what. The Big question to me will be, I mean Blade is a very graphic violent, dark movie, and the big question to me will be, if a second film is made will it be more user-friendly, will it go down the Batman road. I mean, I was very disappointed with the Batman films, I thought they got successively worse. You know, if there’s gonna be a Blade Happy Meal in five years from now we are in trouble.”

Blade Trinity's feeble charms could be found summed up in its run of teaser posters.

*Actually I thought that the TV-Series marked a huge step-up again in story, but no less it was too little too late.
** PPM = Profanities per minute.

Who's been first?

2010-07-11T13:12:00.004+02:00

As you might have gathered from my last post, I'm a fan of the Blade series (of the first two movies and the TV-Show anyways), but I do happen to find the poster for the second to look ludicrous. Who ever approved that should have been fired. I guess all that saved Blade II from oblivion was the quality of it's predecessor and Del Toro's devote followers.
Which he deserves, the man is brilliant.

One of the few other modern vampire movies I happen to like is 30 days of night, such a lovely teaser poster and the movie didn't disappoint either in my opinion, only the end bugs me somewhat because it looks like a one on one copy from the end for Blade II.

In fairness to 30 days it stands to mention that both the comic this was based on (which by a guess already featured the same ending) and Blade II came out the same year.

On a closing note:
Naturally we can all happily agree on one thing - neither of the above can beat the fiercely sensual and dangerous creatures from Kathryn Bigelow's Near Dark.

Jesse Hooker and his posse still are the definitve word on modern vampires.

Picture perfect moment

2010-07-08T13:06:00.000+02:00

When watching Blade, one thing is clear from the start: This is a comic book character living in a comic book world, even if the world is no longer the one he originated from in Marvel’s Dracula.
What really brings this movie home to me, is a realistic, urban style that yet reminds a lot of Timothy Bradstreet’s art for Vampire: The Masquerade. Interestingly Tim then actually did work on the sequel, which, as is not unusual, goes for a much different, less realistic & urban style. You couldn’t readily tell that he was involved in the creation of the vampires for Blade II, but I would be willing to bet good money that it was Bradstreet’s illustrations made for Vampire: The Masquerade (and to a degree William Friedkin’s formidable movie French Connection) that influenced the look of the first Blade movie the most.
It’s a marvel actually that White Wolf did try to sue them, given how obvious it becomes that the art department consciously tried to recreate the RPG game's look as close as they could without outright copying it.

Art comparison

2010-07-05T13:03:00.000+02:00

I stumbled upon the picture on the right over at Deviantart, it's called Fall within II, and interestingly it has been submitted there in the same year/month The Alphabet Killer came out.
According to the artist he didn't see the artwork for Alphabet Killer previous to his own work, which makes for a fun coincidence.

Two artists

2010-07-02T13:03:00.006+02:00

I'll take this months issue of "Spoof Posters" tagged posts to highlight two artists who's work I came upon cruising along the internet highway. There's something about it them I like, even if it ain't the kind of style I would put on my wall:

1. Kevin Dart
Kevin's main work is on Yuki 7, for which he does Bond like movie posters, but he also drew the occassional monster movie art (fans of Boris will find the one on the left familiar loking) and other stuff, you can find more of his work here: http://www.kevindart.com/

2. Tom Whalen
Our second highlighted artist can be found in these places: http://strongstuff.deviantart.com/ ; http://www.strongstuff.net/

I said initally that I wouldn't put that art style on my wall, but truth is that his posters for The Shining could sway me, or his take on Fulci's Zombie.

Gone with the inspiration

2010-06-29T13:07:00.005+02:00

Immitation, they say, is the highest form of flattery. That may be, but it sure isn't always flattering. And in case of artworks like Mandingo it smells more of desperation.

Still the vast number of more or less direct, and varyingly original or talented, quotes and imitations of the famous Gone with the wind motiv certainly underlines its continuing importance as a cultural pop icon.

In case you want to point out that it was just my personal lack of inspiration that led to this post let me just say:
"Frankly, my dear, I don't give a damn!"

Sex and the World Cup

2010-06-26T13:01:00.004+02:00

I'm as far from being a fan of Sex and the City as one can get without being a hater. Quite honestly most of the time I don't see what's funny about that show, but this German Soccer World Cup version for the second movie, actually made me laugh.

"King Football," as the Germans like to call it, squashed under the stiletto heel of some woman's overpriced footwear.
That's a ingenious reversal of the prominent image of a beer-bellied "master of the house" sprawled in front of the TV-set, rather watching his sports instead of going out with the misses.
A nice little reminder of who really is in charge ... it's not us.

Science Fiction & Fantasy Writers Day

2010-06-23T13:09:00.026+02:00

I used last years SF&F writers day to talk a bit about Arthur C. Clarke who’s unbroken believe that humanity will someday manage to evolve into an intelligent species worthy of calling itself human was a huge inspiration to me as a kid.
Clarke showed a strong believe in his writing that knowledge gained through technical advance is the way to salvation for our race.
Let me point out the writings of another brilliant mind in the field of Sci-Fi, contrasting Clarke's view:

Algis Budrys

Budrys wrote among others the novel from which the movie Who? was adapted. And as for Budrys typical the movie questions if technological advancement really is to be seen as an aid to our development, or if it not rather will ultimately lead to a dehumanisation.
It’s the story of American scientist Lucas Martino who after a car accident beyond the Iron Curtain is only saved through advanced medical technology that replaces half of his body, including his face, with mechanical parts (hence the alternative English title The Man with the Steel Mask). Because of his involvement with an important secret project he’s probed by the CIA after his return to learn if he’s been turned by the soviets or if he’s even at all who he claims to be. While the espionage part of the story is well executed and lending the movie the necessary suspense over its length, it’s the human drama of Martino that’s of real importance, his gradual loss of any sense of self.

The labelling of this powerful Sci-Fi classic as Robo Man with a cover showing The Man in the Iron Mask holding us at gunpoint is an unspeakable atrocity to the movies spirit, who ever came up with that is hopefully ashamed of himself.

Cube owes largely to Budrys writing.
Even if his story isn’t credited, the movie does remind one of his most prominent novel: Rogue Moon.
Rogue Moon tells the story of a life weary stuntman that gets hired to help in the exploration of an artefact found on Moon. All that scientists working on it have been able to find out about to that point, is that its build like a maze on the inside and that it kills people. Using a machine that can create a mind linked double of a human body they send in explorers without risking their live, at least in theory, but the few that tried couldn’t cope with experiencing the death of their double and went insane, which is why they want to try with someone reputed to be possessed with a death wish.
While the scientists involved with the project believe that something will happen once they manage to get a man through this maze, Budrys protagonist stays sceptical, telling them that the artefact might be meaningless, that they might just be like bugs caught at the bottom of a thrown away bottle, going round and round believing to be tested by a higher intelligence. In the end the artefact found in Rogue Moon becomes secondary to the story, it serves only as a warning about a dangerously blind believe in advanced technology.
And as such the tagline for Cube could just as well stand for Budrys's novel:

Don't look for a reason, look for a way out!

Don't read this post

2010-06-20T13:17:00.002+02:00

I have a weak spot for “Don’t” titles. You know, the ones that go:
Don’t answer the phone; Don’t go in the house; Don’t look in the basement; Don’t look now…

There’s a simple elegance to using a title like, say, Don’t go in the woods.
We all know, saying “Don’t” is the ultimate “Dare you.”
How many times alone do we see that line in one or the other variation used on movie ads for exactly that reason?
Countless times, no doubt.*
And whenever modern American cinema uses the word “Woods” in its title, it’s to provoke the image of some backwoods hicks in the audiences mind.
Don’t go in the woods; “I dare you to face the incest degenerated backwoods mutants.”

I like those titles, I think they tell us a lot about how we, as a society, tick. The worth of the movies that tag along with them is questionable at the best though, often all they strive for is to capitalize on the audiences lowest instincts.
So what’s that saying about me, that I keep remembering those while forgetting far superior works from the same era?
I honestly can’t tell, just keep in mind:
Don’t torture a duckling…

*And often enough I really do find myself afterwards thinking that I should have heeded the warning, and had better not watched the movie, if for a completely different reason.

Oh, how original...

2010-06-17T13:34:00.001+02:00

How original a design that is, not.
Didn't we see that exact scene already in one of the Matrix movies?
No, wait, it was at the end of Die Hard... no, it's from Stick...
I guess you get my drift.

And yet that poster perfectly exemplifies something important about the newest 3D craze. As somebody else put it:
"I dislike 3D, it offers nothing new to the storytelling process."
It's a fantastic, expensive FX gadget, that makes the studios a few millions more, but in all actuality it has already reached the extent of its use.

And yet, although the teaser material begins to look less promising with each new addition, I'm exactly the kind of stupidly devoted fan to the Resident movies that is going to flock to the cinemas to see it when it's released.
Our kind just can't be helped. :)

Copycat

2010-06-14T01:03:00.008+02:00

How many ways can you pose a Samurai Girl (a Samouress?), seems there's only one...
One Chanbara didn't strike me as being big budget or known enough to justify a copycat, guess I was wrong.
Or it is just further proof that Japan's industry in special in this case, but the Asian market as a whole, has successfully filled the void left when Italian studios ceased their output of quickly shot, but often highly original rip-offs of American movies at a way lower budget.

As Kim Newman observed in his book "Nightmare Movies":

Italy may make rip-offs, but at least it can claim to make the best, most lively, most audacious rip-offs in the world ... films don't even have to be big hits to rate an Italian imitation.

Word Kim!

Or maybe while the movie One Chanbara doesn't strike one as copy worthy material, the game it was based on is.
I sure can't say that I heard about it before, but that doesn't say much.
One thing however I can say for sure:
The similarities between Chanbara and Samurai Princess are no coincidence.

Now guess which design has my favour?

No greater tragedy

2010-06-10T13:04:00.000+02:00

"There’s no greater tragedy than the death of a young girl.”
-Dario Argento

In answer to the question why so many of the victims in his movies are beautiful young women.

Picture perfect moment

2010-06-07T13:35:00.001+02:00

Every avid horror fan in the world will have instantly recognized the mother thing from the final chapter of Brain Dead in that picture. A perfect Freudian image of one of horrors main driving forces: The (male) fear of being sucked back in that dark place from whence we once sprang forth. Philip Jose presented us with a perfect take on this primal fear in as early as 1953 in his short story “Mother”.
But as much entertainment value there is to Freud’s disturbed relation to sexuality, this is not what gave reason to me choosing this picture for this month.

Based on the movies I watched New Zealand’s film industry seems to know only three categories:
1. Boring Movies
2. Movies that show a disturbingly troubled relationship with sexuality
3. Boring movies that show a troubled relationship with sexuality

Brain Dead somewhat neatly wrapped up these three Genres in one single movie.
Funny and entertainingly violent at times, the movies humour runs itself dead towards the end, ultimately resulting in a disturbingly boring climax.
NZ likes to represent itself as the last fortress of Victorian sexual repression, direly holding on to a national pride main land Britain long since abandoned. But caught between rising teen pregnancy rates on one side, and sexualised violence as day order on the other, neither fares well with its decision.

Art comparison

2010-06-04T13:44:00.005+02:00

How to get ahead in advertising...*

Some more Sci-Fi

Exotic Dancers

*I feel almost ashamed to resort to using such a tired joke. :)

Nudity Inside

2010-06-01T13:08:00.010+02:00

The Designers for the Candian Filmmakers Festival Posters giver some of our beloved classics a quaint Canadian twist, angry sea fowl, the dangers of ice fishing (bet he learned this from cousin Orca) and a lovly knitted Superman costume.

Because it thematically fits so nicely (so I say anyway) we go directly from Canadian Filmmakes Festival to some of the Nerdcore calender nudes, yay for sexy randomness!

Dread

2010-05-29T13:09:00.000+02:00

Haunting image for a dreadful movie.
It perfectly captures the defining moment of Dread, the conclusion to a truly terrifying basic idea about being forced to confront what we fear most.
But Dread suffers from several shortcomings, most notable of which is the writers open disinterest in creating characters, nobody in the movie gains any depths beyond being set-up as a victim. Add to that a painfully formulaic “boy gets traumatized by having to witness the slaughter of his parents at the hands of a maniac” opening and a story that would have made for a great short movie but got stretched to a point that makes it almost unbearable, due to the mentioned lack of real character development, and you get an idea what Dread turned into.
From brilliant concept to something short of being a study in tediousness.

The Day of the Ant

2010-05-26T13:01:00.009+02:00

In honour of those little buggers that worked their way through an outer wall into my bathroom: Ants!

I managed to thwart their attempt at taking over my living spaces, but can’t shake the feeling that those scouts that tend to still appear, single or in small groups, are supposed to divert my attention from the main force; hiding somewhere, secretly plotting away on a miniature version of D-Day, only will they call it Ant-Day.
I swear I can sense them lying in wait for the Fuhrer to sleep, so that they can invade headquarters
…should I vanish from the blogsphere, just assume that I got nibbled to death.

I probably shouldn't like that design for The Naked Jungle as much as I do, one could see a racist notion in how the people on the bottom are portrayed as ants.
Personally I think it adds to the concept, there's something "human" to the way ants organize themself.

That Them! easily counts as one of Sci-Fi's masterpieces goes without saying, the German poster (Formicula) doesn't do this awesome movie justice, still the artwork is worthwhile.

It's Dynasty's own Alexis (Joan Collins) getting eaten by giant ants. Sounds like you can't go wrong with that movie, no?
Never saw it though.

Phase IV is among my alltime faves, as a kid the movie scared me, but so did It Happened at Lakewood Manor only that I don't expect that I would still like that one, or be still as intrigued by it as I'm by Phase IV. Love the US poster for Phase IV, that particular scene creeped me out for years, I also like the more artsy (or should I say antsy?) German version, after all it is more than "just" a further animal horror movie.

The Danish(?) DVD cover for The Hive gives us a carbon copy of Phase IV, which is both true and unfairly deceptive, The Hive did glean most of its ideas from Phase IV, but it is a thoughtless piece of CGI rubbish that has nothing on its peer, apart from featuring world domination bend ants.

Glass Trap and the French DVD cover for It happened look remarkable similar and remind both strongly of Phase IV which further illustrates the importance of that movie for the genre.

I close with King of the Ants because it ties in so nicely with my last post.

Coming up when ever I can be bothered: Rats!

The eyes have it

2010-05-23T13:07:00.001+02:00

A gallery of sorts

Polish poster for Deliverance on the left, hard to say what went through the artists mind but it is a striking image he created there even if it hasn't to do much at all with the movie at hand.
Seed of Chucky is perfect for the specific humour of the movie.

Skeleton Key, marvelous image that exactly captures what the movie turns out to be about.
Haven't seen one part of the Art of the Devil series yet, but Thai movies usually come with beautiful, often painfully violent art that promises a lot more than the movie actually shows.

The Eye, well with such a title... it's again a image that hasn't much to do with the movie, creepy image no less.
Candyman; I'm in love with that poster! I used to have a mortal fear of bees (Apiophobia), that image still scares me.

The other kind of computer movie

2010-05-20T13:01:00.008+02:00

I like this particular teaser poster for Pandorum, didn’t think much of the others, even though it tends to remind me of Eden Log.
And even though it begs the question what exactly the design team wanted to convey?
Pandorum – a cyberpunk techno horror trip?
Whatever…

Anyhow, there is more than a similarity in the art department shared by Eden Log and Pandorum. Both are deeply rooted in the same basic genre: Computer Adventures.
And as such both hinge on the same many used, not to say overused, storytelling technique of using a lead character that suffers from a convenient amnesia, allowing the writer to spoon feed us the story.

But despite some rather heavy handed dialogue, and a less thrilling end than I hoped for (it felt a bit like having witnessed a overgrown episode of Outer Limits) and the quest oriented story structure it shares with Eden Log, which I personally feel to be better suited to be used in games than movies, Pandorum is a pleasure to watch. Eden Log on the other hand had a lot more promise and would have offered a quite thoughtful story, but it loses points for taking refuge in a pseudo philosophic end image when the writer had to capitulate before the complex statement he at one point doubtless intended to make, and it loses some more points for the artful but clunky directing that overly focuses on creating singular images to the point of ignoring any storytelling logic, but most massively it loses points for incorporating a completely gratuitous rape sequence.
What are we?
Still living in a seventies idea of the world in which rape is a acceptable story vehicle to spice up movies?

For shame…

“I don’t care, if the audience sees my movies..."

2010-05-17T13:09:00.000+02:00

“I don’t care, if the audience sees my movies, given that my producer doesn’t lose money.”
-Jean-Luc Godard

Found that quote in a movie yearbook from ’66.
I love it, because it exactly mirrors my personal view regarding the (in Europe) ever popular discussion about artistic freedom versus business interest.
The quote becomes all the more interesting when reflected against several articles printed in the very same magazine where the authors essentially put forward that a successful movie can’t be an intellectual stimulating experience, i.e. it can’t be a good movie*, while at the same time constantly wailing that movie making is a dying art form.
They show the usual contempt of the intellectual masses towards the idea of making movies for commercial success, claiming that whoever puts his money down in hope of making some profit, diminishes the “artistic value” of the finalised work.

Like most itellectuals they couldn’t care less who has to pay for something, long as it isn’t them and long as he doesn’t do it to turn a buck.

It’s small wonder that the art film has gained a worse reputation among producers than cheap Italian giallos among conservatives.

*Actually later one author did make a concession to Arthur Penn’s Bonnie & Clyde when opening his review of the movie with “The movies success notwithstanding...”

What's on their wall...

2010-05-14T13:00:00.001+02:00

That's some good taste Soul Man Thomas C. Howell shows right there!
The original The Blob is in my humble opinion one of the most underrated, unfairly treated B-Movies. Yes, like a lot of Drive-In classics The Blob would have been forgotten by now if it hadn’t had the fortune of starring a young Steve McQueen, I won’t deny that. But most critics are so blinded by this little fact that they offhandedly ignore the very real entertainment value of this little gem. We have a delightful mix of the Horror, Sci-Fi and rebelling youth genres with a surprisingly early, pre Al Gore Earth warming warning.

It is a far superior movie to the remake which substituted the original’s straight faced seriousness with off-hand, self deprecating humour and better FX, none of which really worked in favour of the story. The cheesy 50’s Sci-Fi satire had been done before and a lot more amusing and it’s been proven often enough: Expensive FX kill cheap movies.*
In the end the remake misses what keeps the original alive, the memorable performance of actors struggling to stay serious in the face of a ludicrous story.

*Upon reflection, that’s about as much of a revelation as saying: Death kills people.
But so what, I’m a blogger, not a philosopher.

In memoriam Frank Frazetta

2010-05-11T19:03:00.014+02:00

Frank Frazetta ... died on Monday in Fort Myers, Fla.
He was 82.

Frazetta is best known for his cover illustrations for fantasy mainstays like
E. R. Burroughs Tarzan and Carter of Mars series and his work on Warren magazines like Vampirella and Eerie.
The huge influence his work had on Fantasy artists is visible in the work of younger illustrators like Mike Hoffman, but also in the early work of such greats as Boris Vallejo.
He's certainly best known to the younger generation for his iconic Death Dealer, which appeared among other places prominently on the movie poster for Ralph Bakshi's Fire & Ice and an album cover for rock band Molly Hatchet.

Re-Imagined II

2010-05-10T13:19:00.002+02:00

Found a few new takes on old acquaintances, enough at least for a second round.
I'm going to start with a second helping of poster-art for the TCM classic film festival:

It's an unwritten rule in this house to start when ever possible with posting a picture of a beautiful woman, here's two for your viewing pleasure.

Beautiful designs both, in the end I do slightly prefer the take on Jailhouse Rock which reminds, at the very least me, so much of the late & great Johnny Cash and his formidable prison concerts.

The next couple posters come from a Flickr stream the link to which I've forgot to scribble down, but don't worry you'll only miss some overly artistic approaches if you haven't seen it:

More comic art influenced stuff, but I like it.

This idea for Blade Runner is perfectly fitting to the movies retro noir style, and there's never anything to say against a tasteful nude.

Art comparison

2010-05-07T13:06:00.000+02:00

High time to get some Science Fiction in here.

Back to school, you almost want to believe it wasn't half as bad as memory makes it out to have been.

Paying homage ... to the homage.

"May the 4th be with you"

2010-05-04T13:25:00.007+02:00

"And with you, my son."

Have a happy Star Wars day!

Have a few Star Wars flyers, too:

"In movies give somebody $150 million and fifty years to make a film and the odds are good they'll make a professional movie.
The real challenge is to do it for a minimum amount of money in a reasonable amount of time."

"When I look at films I can tell one that cost $30 million, but if you can make a film that looks as good but only cost $15 million, then you've accomplished something."

"I remember George Cukor saying to me once, 'You refer to yourselves as filmmakers. I don't like the word filmmaker. I'm a director. A filmmaker is like being a toymaker.'
I replied that a director sounds like someone who runs a business. I'd rather be a toymaker."

-George Lucas

All quotes are taken from interviews held by Alan Arnold during the making of The Empire strikes back.

Picture perfect moment

2010-05-01T13:29:00.004+02:00

Destruction of the eyes is a leading theme within Fulci’s L'aldilà (The Beyond).
The movie tells the story of a young woman that inherits a hotel build on one of the seven gates to Hell (and nomen est omen it’s named Seven Doors Hotel), the topic lends itself to use the metaphor of the spoiling of the eyes.
Eyes are gateways; gateways to the soul.

One has to wonder if the makers were aware of the acuteness the message would gain in these internet times where all the horrors ever imaginable are only a fingers tip away for us to revel in. Not the faux horrors cooked by some dim wit mind, brought to life in a dim lit effects shop, to finally be savoured in the dim lighting of our home rooms, not those horrors we shudder over, shrink back from, and then brush off with a laugh, secure in our knowledge that is was only smoke and mirrors, no, not that kind of horrors, but real ones, images of all the depravity humans are capable of, horrors we inflict on others on a daily basis, unspeakable acts of terror that no movie could ever hope to equal, images bound to poison our eyes and permanently stain our souls.
Whoever gets a glimpse of the gates to hell forfeits his life in L'aldilà, in real life we may not die, but still, what has been seen can’t be made unseen, and we should be careful about what we let enter through our eyes, what we let pass through the gateway to our soul for it just might kill this necessary last bit of innocence deep within us…

Misty - Crazy

2010-04-29T13:36:00.001+02:00

It's nice to see this one make the way from The Mist to The Crazies (and hey, they both begin with The), even if the final outcome doesn't have much to do with either movie.
The fact that there's a certain laziness to the design not withstanding I do like the latest version of the The Crazies poster, it reminds me of another 80's favoured of mine: Rats - Notte di terrore.

Thanks go to William S. Wilson for pointing me to the DVD-Cover for "The Mist"

The Crazies

2010-04-28T13:08:00.011+02:00

Brilliant artwork!
But let's face it: The Crazies will never be able to live up to the awesomeness of it's Korean poster.

Still, the trailer looks fairly promising if reminding me very little of the The Crazies I tend to remember having seen in my childhood.
And let me just quickly add I loved it!
It might, as in various places declared, not have been Romero's best work and not have the same brilliance as Night of the Living Dead, but I remember it to be a thoroughly entertaining work, far from being his worst (as such Martin or "Lost videotapes of the Dead" aka Diary come ready to mind).

The trailer I keep seeing for the remake constantly reminds me of a different take on much the same story shot in '84: Impulse.

If you haven't had yet the misfortune to see this movie, then just take my word on it when I say that it is almost not worth it.
The highlights of the movie can be quickly counted off on one hand:
Young Meg Tilly
Shot in the 80's
Young Meg Tilly
Reminds of The Crazies
Young Meg Tilly

In short, the movie is every bit as boring as the poster makes it look.
Talk about truth in advertising!

And while where at the topic and because I've already happened to mentioned the movie: The Thai poster for Martin, if only the movie had been half as exciting...

Bande Dessinée

2010-04-25T13:08:00.010+02:00

I'm always getting a nervous itch when an American director tries his hand at an established piece of European culture.
So with the threat of Spielberg’s version of Tintin looming ahead, let’s cast a glance at how the French* fared in their own treatment of their comic-art heritage:

Blueberry is a highly successful Wild-West comic that comes in different cycles: Lt. Blueberry, Marshall Blueberry, Mr. Blueberry and Young Blueberry (for a timetable see here: Click). The movie Blueberry is a very loose adaptation of the comic, that after a promising start which reminds us that Europe once had a thriving Western movie industry, slowly succumbs to a convoluted new-age mystery plot. At the end there’s so few left of the original figure that one can only assume that all the makers were interested in was a popular name to tag on a otherwise completely mediocre story.

Working our way up from there we meet another French comic institution, Michel Vaillant.
A surprisingly entertaining, more faithful movie than Blueberry. There are times when the makers sacrifice realism in order to give their character a bigger than life appearance but nothing that would seriously hurt the story flow. My only real gripe with the movie was the drastic changes made to the character of Julie Wood, a fairly prominent secondary figure from the comic strip.

Going up in time and quality we come to Largo Winch. A fine example of how action movies have to be constructed. We get a continuous build-up of suspense and a story that gains both speed and depth over its runtime, right up to the not completely surprising but logical conclusion.
Largo Winch is a highly welcome deviation from the Bay school of movie making that doesn't simply rely on throwing money at something but actually builds on characterization.

To be counted as best comic to movie adaptation is most likely Les chevaliers du ciel, the movie by Taxi director Gérard Pirès is in all but name a mostly faithful take on the popular military adventure comic series Les aventures de Tanguy et Laverdure.

The fact that it doesn't say at any point that it is related, grants the movie a right to take liberties with its heroes that others can not claim. It is exactly this freedom that makes Les chavaliers shine where other comic to movie projects are most often bound to disappoint.

Finally we come to what looks already most promising to me, and by far outshining the mystery adventure comic title it was adapted from:
Luc Besson’s Les aventures extraordinaires d'Adèle Blanc-Sec.
The comic strips alwas looked to be a tad on bland side, but much the same can be said about Tintin's ligne claire style, and you simply have to love that poster. *Le sigh*
Besides, with Luc Besson we have a director at the helm that I'm bound to put much more trust on than I do on either Spielberg or Jackson.

We have to see how Tintin will play out, but it is always daring to try to adapt European comics which other than their American brethren tend to follow a more strict characterization. It's not like in the Superhero market which sees a new version for each new decade, or much rather every year by now, complete with "earth shattering" changes that will only last to the next re-launch, if that long...
European comic book characters evolve over time, they grow in character, they age, they ain't caught in an unfortunate, perpetual state of limbo that occasionally calls for plot twists which make Bobby Ewing's infamous return from the dead pale in comparison.
Franco/Belgian comics are grown up entertainment for grown-ups and kids alike, without having to resort to sex and senseless violence in order to appear adult.

*I know, I know, Tintin is actually Belgian, but that’s much the same market, if not he same style.

Historically random...

2010-04-22T13:12:00.005+02:00

Just to illustrate how deeply influenced my train of thoughts is by popular culture:
The time I laid eyes on this poster for the Turkish movie Veda Atatürk I had to immediately think of Dr Zhivago, not hat there was that much of a similarity between the images.

Well... maybe there is.

Commercial Break II

2010-04-19T13:09:00.003+02:00

"You here!?! And not in Hollywood?", I like the tagline Golden Gate used here to promote a prize drawing: First place a trip to Hollywood.

Even though the reign of the VHS tape was a short one when looking back at it, one would be hard pressed to date this ad if it wasn't for the fact that while Bond himself comes in a timeless, exchangeable sameness, you can always pinpoint the exact movie by the girl at his side or the gadget in his possession.

By the flickering light...

2010-04-16T13:41:00.000+02:00

…of our living room idol.
We had Skins and The Tudors, high time for some more TV-Show ad posters:

Archer takes the easy route and targets the GTA demographic, while True Blood plays things more clever.

Caprica tempts us with temptation, and frankly who would want to resist?
Must be Mockingbirds these Birds of Prey…

…but speaking of resistance, The Sarah Connor Chronicles show us that the best present to get a boy, is still a homicidal Terminator.

Keeping with the resistance, and because I love that show: V, but no comments on the tacky tag – It’s us V them, it hurts!
Bones going pulp, that’s just too great a design to let it pass.

Where do posters come from?

2010-04-13T13:05:00.002+02:00

Poster "Fire Birds"; Picture taken from "Blue Thunder"

Actually Fire Birds answers the question where (some) movies do come from; as the poster already has us guessing, for this one somebody threw the scripts to Blue Thunder and Top Gun in a blender, unfortunately the project failed terribly and the outcome got neither the timeless perfection nor the easy entertainment from one or the other.