It’s the end of the month, so it is time to reflect, relax and rewind our way back through the one-sheets, banners, promotional artwork and posters released in the last calendar month, highlighting some of the ones we though were noteworthy. It’s a little section we like to call Best Posters.
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Takashi Miike’s 13 Assassins is a modern masterpiece, and this month three wonderful traditional style prints from Russian born artist Vania Zouravliov were released for Mondo. The artist, who is said to be “inspired from an early age by influences as diverse as The Bible, Dante’s Divine Comedy, early Disney animation and North American Indians”, captures the mayhem and classicism in these Sumi-e inspired posters for one of our favourite films of last year.
By Odin’s hammer! Anchorman: The Legend Continues was originally announced on Conan O’Brien to jazz flute, and this posters confirms that we will see all of the original male cast returning, including Will Ferrell, David Koechner, Steve Carrell and Paul Rudd. Original director Adam McKay will continue the journey of a man who is very important. He has many leather-bound books and his apartment smells of rich mahogany. This is the perfect teaser poster, telling fans all they need to know about the upcoming sequel and non-fans a fine selection of slacks to admire during their lonely, miserable hours at night.
To celebrate the release of the box-office smash The Avengers in US cinemas earlier this months (complete with their own post-credits sequence), those wonderful kids at Mondo put together some commemorative posters to mark the occasion. The poster, which also has a sepia-toned alternate version, are designed by Tyler Stout, who has an amazing portfolio of work that can be found on his website. These prints accompany the set of six Avengers Assemble posters that were released last month for the international release of the film.
A metric measurement of posters for The Dark Knight Rises have arrived this month, most of which have focused on Batman, Catwoman and Bane. This secret poster was revealed by following the QR code at the bottom of the official poster, meaning that somebody actually followed a QR for some reason. The heel of Catwoman’s boot crushing a piece of Batman’s weaponry is replete with double-meanings, so we’re just going to go with one about crushing his manhood. The Sin City-style splash of red lipstick on the black and white poster doesn’t hurt anybody either.
Our good friends over at Hopko Designs sent us this poster they put together for The Cabin in the Woods, the horror-comedy smash from the Buffy team of Drew Goddard and Joss Whedon. Here they guys have taken the character of Gary Sitterson (Richard Jenkins) and made him a feature, complete with coffee cup. We love this one, and the film has already produced such wonderful posters so far.
The controversial trailer for the always interesting Baz Luhrmann’s (Australia excepted) take on The Great Gatsby was released last week, and it finally featured Kanye and F. Scott Fitzgerald together. The poster was a far less debated affair, and it is easy to see why. Only a teaser poster at this stage, the Art Deco design immediately places you in the 1920s and 1930s, while the “Christmas in 3D” bit reminds you that you are in 2012, and ticket prices have gone up somewhat.
Australian ex-pat Andrew Dominik’s Killing Them Softly has debuted a stylish new poster this month. This one-sheet comes courtesy of designers Gravillis Inc., who have recently been behind key art of LUV and Safety Not Gauranteed. The poster is a provocative affair, its minimalism belying a world of violence beneath the surface. Sunglasses and guns are also inherently cool. Definitely check out their website, which is a piece of art itself.
Following the release of the first trailer for Tom Hooper’s adaptation of the stage musical Les Misérables, a teaser poster was released. Taking similar artwork to the famous poster for the long-running musical, the child Cosette who features in the story, this quite literally has a “poster child” that is instantly recognisable.
Jay Shaw, also known as Iron Jaiden, appears twice in the list this month (see below) and justifiably so. You may also remember that insane Bullhead poster he pulled out a few months back for the Academy Awards. Shaw’s poster for A Nightmare on Elm Street is reminiscent of the poster for Steve McQueen’s Shame, except instead of the lingering possibility of a tussle in the sheets with Michael Fassbender’s penis, there is the stylised rendering of Robert Englund’s head. Sleep on that.
It’s Jay Shaw again, with another retro outing for Rocky III, also known as the third film in the Rocky franchise. Revealed exclusively to Collider earlier this month, it’s another one for Mondo as part of The Alamo Drafthouse’s Summer of ‘82 series. Obviously inspired by the motivational catchphrase of the film, Shaw doesn’t simply see the eye of the tiger, but its mouth as well. So much so that he punches right through it, creating some kind of unstoppable tiger with a glove attached. We hear that it can only be stopped by bells and women with giant number cards.
Bond. James Bond. Sony released the first official poster for James Bond’s 23rd adventure, Skyfall. Nothing says 007 like staring down the barrel of a gun, and that’s exactly what this teaser poster has gone for. The classic and stylish poster perhaps signals a return to the simple elegance of the earlier Bond films, before gadgetry made one-upmanship turned the franchise into something else entirely.
It may be just a little bit of favouritism, but we love our local Sydney Film Festival. After a few years of dogs, and last year’s statistics-based campaign, it’s nice to see them flip out completely and go for psychedelic. Taking images from their festival commercial and spinning them out in all directions is deceptively simple, and you could stare at it for hours. Now, all we need is for it to be in 3D.
There are some posters we include because they are great pieces of art. Others are simply favourite films. Some transcend being movie posters and become something else, something golden and pure. Then there are those we just want to. Like this one for Ted, a very naughty bear. It comes to us via Ignition Print, the same folks who did The Dark Knight Rises poster above!
It should be clear by now that Mondo has a friend in us. This one for Toy Story is by is by the wonderful Tom Whalen, who is responsible for many of the Disney and other animated prints Mondo put out. Over at Strong Stuff, Whalen’s blog that showcases a huge amount of his artwork, he comments on the creation of the poster:
My goal here was to capture the awe and wonder that swept all of the toys in andy’s room (with the notable exception of Woody) when Buzz arrived on the scene. At any rate, I think it’s only fitting that this poster series ends with the first Pixar film, which unbelievably, was released all the way back in 1995.
For an Easter Egg, check out what the toy blocks spell.
