Art comparison

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?

What's on their wall...

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.

Having fun with a gun

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.

Noblesse oblige

“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

There's not much to say about today's picture perfect moment, 'cept that Hollywood likes to quote itself and to look back in nostalgic reflection to the glorious days of yore. In that vein I present to you the lovely Winona Ryder striking a Audrey Hepburn pose in Autumn in New York; and Lara Flynn Boyle revives the memory of legendary Film Noir heroines in Red Rock West, to bad the rest of the movie doesn't live up to this most promising scene.

Of Human Bondage

Picking up on a (here in my place) common theme, it's bound to scare you actually how easily we are catering to fantasies of domination over women and sexual abuse. I wonder if people would treat it just as lightly if we were to use pictures of sexualized violence and humiliation aginst men with the same casual frequency and with the same easy connoction of it qualifiying as "entertainment":

More books

I told you, a poster that features a book is a good poster in my, uhm, book ... drat!
And I just so happen to like the movie attached to this one.
Especially Jimmy Smits’ character who only tries to do the decent thing and gets demonised for it by his family. Poor guy!

High Sierra, this one could almost be the exception to the rule!
But it’s such a beautiful drawing on its own that I’m bound to graciously overlook the fact that personally I do find that the poster takes away some from the movie by emphasizing that it is a novel adaptation. High Sierra is after all in my view one of Bogart’s greatest movies, but then I’m looking at the movie, and this poster, from a far removed vantage point. And the image itself perfectly captures the thrill of reading, the coming alive of the pages. One can hardly call himself a reader that doesn’t like this image.

A haunting image, the equalization of the act of burning books to the terrorist act of 9/11 may not be what the artist meant for us to take away from it, but it gives you that idea. Not sure about the movie though, the problem is these days there seems to be just as much Anti-Semitic propaganda around as there is (Anti-Anti-) Semitic propaganda.

Erotic art - Personal Favourites

To close our little impromptu Erotic Art special, I presents some of what would definitely make the list if I was inclined to one. For convenience sake I post them in alphabetical order instead of possible ranking (Cat People would be first).
And finally at the end of this post you find a Gallery of posters I consider would belong in a best of list.



The inclusion of the rain soaked Nastassia Kinski, used for the Cat People remake, is a no-brainer. You'd be hard pressed to come up with anything that screams sex as loud as that image, as least with anything nigh as innocent and tasteful in its execution.
It's a darn shame the movie turned out to be not half as accomplished as the poster artwork which conveys the message of the original movie spot on.






Emmanuelle 4 is another lifetime favourite, and curiously enough the Emmanuelle movies come for me right next to the Cat People remake in terms of watch ability.
Great artwork, boring movies.







It's probably just me, but the way Faye’s pose half reveals her legs is downright sexy.









Essentially the poster for la petite voleuse is about the same, included for the same reason, as the poster for The company of wolves, there's an irresistible sense of magic to that perceived moment when a girl turns into a woman.








A Gallery:

Erotic Art - Girls and Guns

With a title like that it would be easy to simply go and post the entirety of Bond posters. I hope you don't mind me opening with one:
The Living Daylights, actually managed to replace an old favourite of mine among the Bond posters, and the movies, namely the iconic For your eyes only (I'm pretty sure I'll find an excuse to post that later on).




















Girls and Guns, this is a staple in erotic art with a connection between the two of them almost as immediate as the popular Death & Eros image often used with Horror movies.

















To include Ms. 45, after what I said about putting up Irreversible in a Erotic Movie Posters top list, must seem a odd decision and I feel that I have to make excuses for that. Well, I can only say this in my defence that I never actually saw the movie in question.

Art comparison

"Fahre Memphis!" (German only)

Classic Elegance.

More than just inspired by.
This video poster for "Twilight Mystery" (German title of Made-for-TV Thriller "Fourth Story") came out around the same time as "La Femme Nikita", it resembles the poster for Nikita so closely (right down to the use of primary colours) that I should have put it in a copycat post rather.

Art comparison

A pretty common image among horror movies, a tad overused actually, but still one that can, when well done, raise interest.

















Loft, Germany's answer to the question what the Class of 1984 would have looked like seen through the eyes of John Waters.

















Dorian sure smells the Perfume. ;)