Educate and excite, inform and infuriate.
February 16th, 2009 — Advertising, Film
Before you lose one of ’em by looking too closely, feast your peepers on those shiny adamantium claws, and on this new advance, double-sided poster for X-Men Origins: Wolverine, starring Hugh Jackman, out May 1.
Some of you will recall my recent rave about the trailer for the upcoming movie, so, you can guess I’m convinced that, marketing-wise, 20th Century Fox / Marvel are doing everything right. From Movieposter.com, $20.
January 30th, 2009 — Advertising, Film
The birth of Wolverine: Hugh Jackman in X-Men Origins: Wolverine
I went to see Notorious on Wednesday—an a’ight film about the astounding Biggie Smalls—before my panel at the Brecht Forum.
During the previews, they ran the trailer for X-Men Origins: Wolverine, above, out May 1st.
Now, blogs work by connecting readers to content on the web, much as I’ve prospectively done by linking the name of this film to a 480p QuickTime file of its trailer. We do this in order to inform our audiences, and build traffic for our sites.
So, I’m going against all standard blogging protocol when I say the following: Please do not click on that link.
Instead, find a theater where they’re showing the trailer for X-Men Origins: Wolverine, and see it in all of its widescreen, multitrack stereo glory, as I did. When the clip was over, to put it simply, my mouth was literally hanging open. (Not even a brief appearance by presidential troubador Will.I.Am, as mutant John Wraith, could spoil my delirium.)
I’ve gotta admit: After three X-Men films, I was sure that 20th Century Fox / Marvel had gone to the well one too many times with this one.
Dead. That.
January 13th, 2009 — Advertising, Film
It’s 1998. A group of hardcore Star Wars devotees plot a road trip to George Lucas’ Skywalker Ranch headquarters, hoping to steal a print of the soon-to-be-released Episode 1: The Phantom Menace. Hilarity ensues.
That’s the plot of Fanboys, out February 2009. More than the movie, however, I’m drawn to the one-sheet design by The Refinery, above, parodying Crew Creative‘s now famous poster for Steve Carell’s The 40-Year-Old Virgin, right. Fanboys, apparently, relate.
January 7th, 2009 — Film, Health, Humor
Looking to lose weight in the New Year? Jennifer Kenny’s Color Me Beautiful outlines her dynamic and innovative approach to exercising off the pounds: She links muscle groups to an entire “color wheel,” getting them to act together as one unit.
For example, B.L.U., or “blue,” stands for Bilateral Latissimuss Upright, indicating the parts of the body to be worked. Kenny’s is a tough routine, but the results, as she demonstrates, can really be something to look at. Highly recommended, whether you’re in shape…or thinking about getting there!
January 6th, 2009 — Film, Humor
How did this woman, above, obtain that plaid flannel shirt? After studying the Movie Reality page, one of the web’s best compilations of film clichés, I think I know: Cheap and frequent loose sex.
How do I know that? I carefully analyzed the image’s details, after reviewing notes from, “At Least 150 Things You Would Never Know if Not for Television and the Big Screen,” below. It’s all the stuff you’ve seen on-screen that never happens to you. Wouldn’t it be great if real life were this neat?
In the movies, or on TV:
• Any person waking from a nightmare will sit bolt upright and pant. Murky or clear, these dreams always have great personal significance.
• After a night of lovemaking, when a man’s new girlfriend finds herself in his unfamiliar home, a flannel shirt will always be available. No matter the boyfriend’s stature, this flannel shirt will be large enough to fit a hefty lumberjack. She’ll wear it as she rummages through his kitchen the next morning, but there won’t be anything to cover her legs.
January 5th, 2009 — Advertising, Animation, Film
In Dreamworks’ upcoming Monsters vs. Aliens, above, an invasion of Earth by a patronizing race of four-eyed, little gray men, below, moves the U.S. to send out an inoffensive clique of mutants to defend the planet. They include
the brilliant but insect-headed Dr. Cockroach, Ph.D.; the macho half-ape, half-fish The Missing Link; the gelatinous and indestructible B.O.B.; and the 350-foot grub called Insectosaurus.
Along with a 49-foot-11-inch woman named Susan Murphy, aka Ginormica, the group soon challenge the massive Alien Robot, against whom even America’s best missiles vaporize in blooms of meaningless, multicolored plasma.
From my perspective, though, this is all backstory to what’s really going on, namely a small revolution in computer animation, marked by an ever increasing capability in the form.
January 1st, 2009 — Design, Film, Science-Fiction
Jordan D. Guelde is designer of the hypothetical Forest Fire Prevention Robot, above, and a man after my own heart. The 24-year-old graduate of the College for Creative Studies in Detroit, MI says he’s “looking for a full-time employment opportunity where I can showcase my passion for design.”
But if you ask me, Jordan, your future is in the movies.
Here’s the scenario:
December 26th, 2008 — Film, Music, Obituary, Theater
Does everyone have a favorite Eartha Kitt moment or performance? One’s probably bound to, given that, when she died of colon cancer yesterday, in Connecticut, at the age of 81, she’d spent over 60 years in show business, making indelible, absolutely unique and unforgettable impressions.
Mine was a four-scene turn as cosmetics legend Lady Eloise, in director Reginald Hudlin’s 1992 movie, Boomerang, right, but especially the dinner sequence with advertising executive Marcus Graham, played by Eddie Murphy.
December 24th, 2008 — Design, Entertainment, Film
SlashFilm.com reader and graphic designer Bruno V came up with this allusive, “poster that never was” one-sheet mock-up, above, for The Curious Case of Benjamin Button, opening tomorrow.
Directed by maestro David Fincher (Fight Club, Se7en) and starring Brad Pitt with Cate Blanchett, the film, based on a story of the same name by F. Scott Fitzgerald, tells the tale of a boy who is born old—with wrinkled, liver-spotted skin and white hair—only to become younger as he ages.
Though skilled, Bruno’s riff on Benjamin Button violates the cardinal rule of any movie with Brad Pitt in it: Show His Face As Often As Possible. See right, for an example, from an early teaser poster. Or as one of the commenters on /Film.com puts it, less delicately, “Who the f#@% wants to look at a wrinkled ass baby?”
Actually, if you ask me, actor Taraji P. Henson, who cradles the infant, is the bigger obstacle. Since she’s Black and not Will Smith, Halle Berry, Samuel L. Jackson, or Queen Latifah, putting her on a movie poster runs the risk of confusing the prospective audience. It could make them think that they’re going to see a Black movie—maybe one starring James Earl Jones as the wizened family patriarch—and not a flick starring half of the world’s sexiest couple.
At least, so goes conventional wisdom, and if there’s one thing we can all agree on, Hollywood definitely knows their stuff.
December 24th, 2008 — Film
Welcome to a short film called Pencil Face.
Watch it after 12:00 midnight, tonight, with all the lights turned off, and the sound turned up.
Merry Christmas.
[via insomnio.org]
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