One of the absolute gems of Australian cinema the last few years was Red Dog, and Roadshow Films has provided us with our first teaser of the prequel, RED DOG: TRUE BLUE. It is due for release in Australia on 26 December 2016, as part of the feel-good Boxing Day slew of films.
Previously titled Blue Dog in an earlier post on the production announcement, it stars Bryan Brown, John Jarratt, newcomer Levi Miller and Jason Isaacs. Set in outback Australia in the late 1960s, it’s the story of a young boy named Mick (Miller) and his dog. Growing up on a cattle station in the Pilbara, a grand and enormous landscape absolutely in the middle of nowhere, Mick prepares himself for a life of dull hardship but instead finds adventure and friendship with a scrappy, one-of-a-kind pup that will change his life forever. The poster depicts Miller alongside new canine star named Phoenix.
Red Dogtook over $20 million at the Australian box office alone, won the inaugural AACTA Award for ‘Best Film’ in 2011 and is the highest selling Australian DVD of all time. This is definitely one we are looking forward to this Christmas season.
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.
Oh, it’s the most wonderful time of the month. Well, except when we’re watching movies or the fine run of television on at the moment. It’s been another amazing crop of artwork this May, putting to bed any complaints about the art of the one-sheet being dead. We’ve even got our first “living poster” in this month’s column, along with a hearty dose of surrealism, some trippy perspective shifts, and at least one wiener dog that we’re aware of.
Let us know in the comments below if we’ve missed your favourite, we got it wrong, or better yet, if we got it very right.
Animal Kingdom – Designers: Ignition
Based on the Australian film of the same name, it’s incredibly different from Jeremy Saunders vision for the original. Indeed, it’s closer in tone to the vibe that Netflix’s Bloodline gives off, undoubtedly capturing some of the market of that recently returned masterpiece.
Birth of a Nation (2016)
With a title that clearly links to the 1915 film of the same name, writer/director/star Nate Parker says he “reclaimed this title and re-purposed it as a tool to challenge racism and white supremacy in America.” The picture depicts the start of a slave revolution, with the dripping red of blood forming the US flag. It comes with a “living poster” that shows a revolution in action, and something exciting and fresh in the world of movie posters.
Buddymoon – Designer: The Robot Eye
The Robot Eye specialises in independent cinema, and this poster invites us to “Focus your face on this nature.” The terrifying three faces on this poster are hard not to focus on, but the brilliant thing is that we still have no idea what this film is about based on the poster.
The Guv’nor
The story of John “Lenny” McLean, aka The Guv’nor, explores the origins story of the champion bare knuckle fighter, known to some as “the hardest man in England.” He later had some acclaim as Barry the Baptist in Guy Ritchie’s Lock, Stock, and Two Smoking Barrels. The dynamic poster stands out in a crowd, the way we’re sure Lenny did too.
The Handmaiden
The gorgeous poster only heightens our anticipation for Park Chan-wook’s first film as a director since 2013’s Stoker. It’s a deceptive poster, looking delicately beautiful on first glance, until you notice the smoking man, the possibly forbidden naked romance on the left, and the woman hanging from a tree on the right.
High-Rise – Designer: Jay Shaw
This is one of those cases where we are happy to let Mondo do the talking for us. According to their blog: “HIGH-RISE is the latest masterpiece from one of our favorite filmmakers, Ben Wheatley. The film, based on the J.G. Ballard novel of the same name, tells the story of Robert Laing and his ascension through the brutal social ranks of a residential tower block in 1970s England. While the film was in pre-production, Mr. Wheatley asked Jay Shaw to create a conceptual image to represent the overarching narrative. The building is presented with the entrance on the top floors. You’re either born up there or you don’t get in at all.”
Karate Kill – Designer: Tom Hodge (The Dude Designs)
Tom Hodge (Hobo with a Shotgun) is basically a fixture of this column, and here he captures the batshit awesomeness of Kurando Mitsutake’s martial arts insanity. Hodge’s throwback designs to the glory days of VHS, and this is exactly the kind of imagery that would pop straight off the shelf and into your hearts.
Lady Dynamite
The new Netflix TV series, that launched in May 2016, has a hearty dose of surrealism to it, and this stylish poster captures the only two things you need to know about the series: it gets a little bit weird, and it stars Maria Bamford.
Men and Chicken (Mænd & Høns) – Designer: Alan Hynes
Mondo refers to artist Alan Hynes as the “Swiss Army Knife of poster designers,” delivering a esoteric design for a incredibly unique film, one that has been called an “outlandish hybrid of The Three Stooges and The Island of Dr Moreau.” Mondo adds that Hynes produces “clean and bold aesthetic of classic Scandinavian designs while delivering a perfectly odd visual to accompany the film.” Check out the trailer for more evidence of how perfectly weird this poster is.
The Neon Demon – Designer: Vertigo Movie Advertising
One of the more talked-about films of this year’s Cannes International Film Festival, evoking “walkout, boos and raves” according to IndieWire. In other words: a must-see film by any standard. This stylish and sleek European poster from Vertigo Movie Advertising evokes sex and seediness, as well as the nocturnal danger evident in Nicolas Winding Refn’s earlier film, Drive.
The Nice Guys – Designer: Matthew Woodson
Already one of our favourite films of 2016, as evidenced by our glowing review, Matthew Woodson’s retro design and use of font perfectly evokes the 1970s period that the film revels in, with this 15-colour screen print feeling like an authentic article from the past.
Nuts!
A poster that lives up to the film’s name, mostly because it’s about “an eccentric genius who built an empire in Depression-era America with a goat testicle impotence cure and a million watt radio station.” Nothing tells that story like an artistic rendering of a man riding a prominently hung goat holding a microphone.
The Opposition – Designer: Jeremy Saunders
Jeremy Saunders is an Australian designer who has graced this column in the past, and this might just be one of his finest to date.The documentary film explores how sustainable industry can be built in developing countries, particularly in the Paga Hill, mountain peninsula of Port Moresby in Papua New Guinea. The image here depicts Joe Moses, leader of the Paga Hill Settlement, who literally has the 3000 people he is attempting to save from eviction on his mind. The film has been censored by the NSW Supreme Court, so a redacted version of the film will feature at the Sydney Film Festival in 2016 with narration over the censored footage by Australian actress Sarah Snook.
Queen of Katwe
The poster for the biopic Phiona Mutesi, an Ugandan chess prodigy who becomes a Woman Candidate Master after her performances at World Chess Olympiads, follows a thematic theme of items coming out of people’s heads/bodies this month (See also: Lady Dynamite, The Opposition and Smoke & Mirrors). It’s an eye-catching piece that instantly speaks to the location, theme and catholicity of influences on the film’s aesthetic.
Raiders! The Story of the Greatest Fan Film Ever Made – Designer: Paul Shipper
The story behind fan film, Raiders of the Lost Ark: The Adaptation, the poster is as epic as the story that inspired it. Drawing on the Richard Amsel and Drew Struzan poster styles for Raiders of the Lost Ark and its sequels, it’s a little bit cheeky and instantly reminiscent of the icon the filmmakers so dearly admire.
Silent Running – Designer: Kilian Eng
We hate to keep handing you over to the words of Mondo this month, but their summation of their own artist bullpen is spot-on in the case of regular Best Posters artist, Kilian Eng. On their blog, they comment: “Eng’s poster for SILENT RUNNING typifies everything we love about his work. It’s an absolute feast for the eyes but retains a serene atmospheric quality. Bruce Dern’s communion with his robotic compatriots in the center of the derelict space-greenhouse is the perfect visual summation of the film’s themes.”
Smoke and Mirrors (El hombre de las mil caras) – Designer: Gabriel Moreno
The English-language poster for Spain’s El hombre de las mil caras, designer Moreno is known for using multiple media (pencil, ink, marker, watercolor, and digital art) to achieve his final results. The shift in perspective on this poster asks a question that demands an answer, and it’s a beautiful blend of colour and black line-art to achieve a discombobulating effect. Check out the original Spanish language version on Moreno’s site.
Sydney Film Festival 2016
We are very excited about the Sydney Film Festival this year, in case you haven’t noticed from all the coverage on the site. Their festival poster this year embodies the slogan “Change You View, Change Your World” by offering up an image that appears to be constantly moving. Indeed, it works even better in this digital format than it does in print. Try staring at the dead centre for a few moments, and asking yourself what direction the lines are moving in – or are they moving at all?
Toni Erdmann
Another favourite from Cannes this year, and indeed the recipient of the FIPRESCI Award for Best Film In Competition at the 2016 Cannes Film Festival, it’s almost impossible to know exactly what this film is about from the poster. The minimal plotting advice on the major Internet databases is no help either: “A father tries to reconnect with his adult daughter.” What we do have on this striking poster is a woman embracing something unidentifiable, and a sense of magical realism that we can’t wait to see more of.
The Transfiguration
Before playing at Un Certain Regard during Cannes this year, Michael O’Shea (the cult-favourite short Milo) makes his debut as a feature director. The stark and minimalist poster is bathed in blood red, with the shadowy schoolboy figure casting the long Expressionist shadow of a Nosferatu figure in the lower half. It’s a classic poster for a horror film that is already garnering some positive reviews.
Wiener-Dog
From director Todd Solondz (Welcome to the Dollhouse, Happiness), we get the rear end of a Dachshund. What more could you ask for?
We swear we aren’t becoming a Star Trek fan site, but there’s so much news happening at the moment, between news of the new television show and this year’s film, STAR TREK BEYOND. Paramount Pictures Australia has sent us over a pair of local posters for the latter, which have a classic dynamic feel to them. They aren’t quite the same as the Star Trek: The Motion Picture posters, although a version did surface online that was almost identical in style to the 1979 poster.
STAR TREK BEYOND is next instalment in the globally popular Star Trek franchise, created by Gene Roddenberry and reintroduced by J.J. Abrams in 2009, returns with director Justin Lin (The Fast and the Furious franchise) at the helm of this epic voyage of the U.S.S. Enterprise and her intrepid crew. In STAR TREK BEYOND, the Enterprise crew explores the furthest reaches of uncharted space, where they encounter a mysterious new enemy who puts them and everything the Federation stands for to the test. It stars returning cast Chris Pine, Zachary Quinto, Zoe Saldana, Simon Pegg, Idris Elba, Karl Urban and new addition, Sofia Boutella.
STAR TREK BEYOND hits cinemas in Australia on 21 July 2016 from Paramount Pictures.
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.
Seems like it’s been a while since we met back here? Almost 3 years, in fact. In that time the site has been abandoned, remixed, revived and now rehashed as we revive this old school column. Posters don’t stop at the mainstream, and time is just an illusion: there’s sequels, revivals, indies, international flicks, and with the importance that Netflix and television have played in the last few years, we’ve now started to expand this poster section out to include the small screen as well. Enough gabbing up top: let’s get to some pictures with our gabbing underneath them.
Alien – Designer: Kilian Eng
Done as part of Mondo’s Alien Day celebrations for the year, it mirrors both of the vinyl soundtrack releases that Eng has covered for Mondo’s limited edition re-releases, including one for Prometheus and another for Aliens. Taking an iconic moment from the 1979 film and literally foreshadowing it with the spectre of the soon-to-be-classic monster. We love the way the twisted surrounds envelop the tiny figures in the centre.
Cafe Society
Set to make its debut on the opening-night film of the Cannes Film Festival, Woody Allen’s film is set in the 1930s, and this chic poster instantly evokes that ‘Golden Age’ of art and design. Like the opening credits of one of Allen’s films, the simple font offset against a black background tells us almost everything we need to know about this film.
Chef’s Table: Series 2 – Designer: The Refinery
For the first time, a TV series is included in this column, and why not when it looks this good? The always gorgeously shot Chef’s Table has an equally minimalist piece of abstract expressionism on display here, inviting us to linger long over the lovingly created plates of food we will see in the next season of this impeccable production.
De Palma – Designers: BLT Communications
Filmmaker Brian De Palma’s influence, and influences, are all on display in this appropriate explosive bit of noir that catalogues his career. Noah Baumach and Jake Paltrow’s documentary has been garnering huge buzz, and nods to iconic scenes from Scarface and Mission: Impossible are enough to get us excited about it too.
Doctor Strange – Designers: BLT Communications
If we’re being fair, Marvel’s poster have not exactly been inspiring in their cookie-cutter approach to Photoshopping actors. Not so with the two beautiful posters for Doctor Strange. While not as psychedelic as its companion, the iconic imagery of the Sorcerer Supreme silhouetted against the Seal of the Vishanti in his Sanctum Sanctorum makes this one of our most anticipated superhero films of the year.
Frankenstein Created Bikers – Designer: Tom Hodge (The Dude Designs)
What is not to love about this new poster for the long-gestating exploitation flick? We actually featured the original Tom Hodge (The Dude Designs) print all the way back in 2012 (and again in Best Posters of June 2012). While not quite as exploitative as “outlaw bikers riding forth from out from between a girls fishnet suspendered thighs,” it’s a classic and cheesy throwback to the 1970s that still revs our engines.
The Girl on the Train – Designer: BOND
A seemingly minimalist poster with a hell of lot going on. Based on the psychological thriller novel by British author Paula Hawkins, the incredibly pale skin forms a striking centrepiece to the swept hair and dress, with the zipper playfully doubling as the titular train.
Goldstone – Designer: Carnival Studio
Australian designers Carnival Studio previously did the art for Ivan Sen’s Mystery Road, the forerunner to this sequel that is set to open the 63rd Sydney Film Festival. It follows their previous work thematically, using an artificially heightened version of the outback landscape that they have favoured on posters for Satellite Boy, for example.
It’s Only The End of the World (Juste la fin du monde)
It’s going to premiere at Cannes this year, and anything from Xavier Dolan will be highly anticipated. The cast alone and intriguing tagline have us interested, but the ethereal shot of eyes covered by an unseen person has out attention.
Jason Bourne – Designer: Concept Arts
Matt Damon’s return to the Bourne franchise is something to get very excited about. This poster makes the cut because of its unabashed simplicity in the face of that excitement: Universal knows that Damon and Bourne have become as iconic as James Bond in the 21st century, so much so that they are borrowing a similar tagline from his spiritual forebear.
Kingsman: The Golden Circle – Designer: Empire Design
The original film was one of the delightful early surprises of 2015, and what this poster does right away is acknowledge the existing fans in strikingly minimalist way. It not only conjures up a character perfectly, but teasingly hints at a seemingly impossible return.
Miles Ahead
Don Cheadle’s highly acclaimed film on Miles Davis naturally has a poster as jazzy as the man’s music. Each of the colourful shapes is made up of a quote from a contemporary musician, from Mike Patton to Johnny Greenwood. Even if this does have a complete indecipherable Kanye quote, this poster is smooth, man.
(Bad) Neighbo(u)rs 2: Sorority Rising – Designer: LA
The surprisingly good Neighbors (or Bad Neighbours for those of us in Australia) was a comedy gem, and this Mondo-style poster elevates the sequel to something normally reserved for classic status. Some more shirtless Efron would be nice though.
The Red Turtle (La Tortue Rouge)
We thought the red turtle was Raphael, but it turns out it is Japanese animation powerhouse Studio Ghibli’s first foreign language film. Directed by Dutch filmmaker Michaël Dudok de Wit, the animated film tells the tale of a man stranded on an island forming a relationship with a giant turtle. The latter is nowhere to be seen on the poster, which is one of the many charms of this minimal and gentle stroll along the beach, a scene Miyazaki himself would be proud of.
The Return
Kelly Duane de la Vega and Katie Galloway’s film is an examination of prisoners released from jail following California passing Proposition 36 in 2012, overturning the onerous “three strikes” laws. It’s a powerful image that accompanies the promotional art, suggesting the revolving door system that divides the “free world” along class and racial lines.
With Inside Out just around the corner, Disney Pixar has released the first teaser trailer to their next animated movie: THE GOOD DINOSAUR.
THE GOOD DINOSAUR asks the question: What if the asteroid that forever changed life on Earth missed the planet completely and giant dinosaurs never became extinct? Pixar Animation Studios takes you on an epic journey into the world of dinosaurs where an Apatosaurus named Arlo makes an unlikely human friend. While traveling through a harsh and mysterious landscape, Arlo learns the power of confronting his fears and discovers what he is truly capable of.
This isn’t the first time Disney has played with dinosaurs, with the 2000 film Dinosaur, and the 1990s TV series Dinsosaurs, produced by Michael Jacobs Productions and Jim Henson Productions in association with Walt Disney Television.
THE GOOD DINOSAUR is released “this summer” from Disney.
We’re ready to brick ourselves in excitement, because The LEGO® Movie is almost here! Directed by Phil Lord & Christopher Miller, it stars Chris Pratt, Will Ferrell, Elizabeth Banks, Will Arnett, Nick Offerman, Alison Brie and Charlie Day, with Liam Neeson and Morgan Freeman.
The original 3D computer animated story follows Emmet, an ordinary, rules-following, perfectly average LEGO minifigure who is mistakenly identified as the most extraordinary person and the key to saving the world. He is drafted into a fellowship of strangers on an epic quest to stop an evil tyrant, a journey for which Emmet is hopelessly and hilariously under-prepared.
Chris Pratt stars as the voice of Emmet. Will Ferrell stars as the voice of his primary adversary, President Business, an uptight CEO who has a hard time balancing world domination with micro-managing his own life; while Liam Neeson voices the president’s powerful henchman, known as Bad Cop/Good Cop, who will stop at nothing to catch Emmet.
Starring as Emmet’s fellow travelers are Oscar® winner Morgan Freeman as Vitruvius, an old mystic; Elizabeth Banks, as tough-as-nails Wyldstyle, who mistakes Emmet for the savior of the world and guides him on his quest; Will Arnett, as the mysterious Batman, a LEGO minifigure with whom Wyldstyle shares a history; Nick Offerman as a craggy, swaggering pirate obsessed with revenge on President Business; Alison Brie as a sweet, loveable member of the team, with a powerful secret and Charlie Day, as the spaceman Benny.
Directors Phil Lord & Christopher Miller also wrote the screenplay, from a story by Dan Hageman & Kevin Hageman and Phil Lord & Christopher Miller, based on LEGO construction toys. It will incorporate some of the LEGO world’s most popular figures while introducing several new characters, inviting fans who have enjoyed the brand’s innovative toys and hugely popular video games for generations to experience their visually unique LEGO world as never seen before.
The LEGO® Movie, the first-ever, full-length theatrical LEGO® adventure, from Warner Bros. Pictures and Village Roadshow Pictures, opens in Australian cinemas on April 3, 2014. The poster set below are the hi-res versions from the US release on 7 February 2014.
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.
The end of October also means Halloween, so it is no surprise that we have a number of horror posters in this month’s selection. Indeed, one of them is actually for Halloween, making this our de facto Halloween poster selection as well. The month was boosted by the presence of New York Comic-Con, which is always home to some great alternative posters. It’s also great to see some Australian designers including Ken Taylor, Jeremy Saunders and Tom Hodge (The Dude Designs) turn up this month again, for what we think is one of the strongest months to date.
Carrie – Designer: ARSONAL Design
The jury is still out on whether the Carrie remake is a good idea or not, but this first teaser poster is a terrific concept. Designer ARSONAL’s philosophy is stated to be “an idea does not live without proper execution and there is no execution without an idea”. The idea here is simplicity itself, taking the minimalist approach to an iconic horror character, dripping with a familiar bucket of blood. Without even needing to state the title of the film, the poster offers a simple proposition: if you don’t know Carrie’s name yet, you will soon enough.
Crawlspace – Artist: Hugh Fleming
The one-sheet for Australia’s Crawlspace, which saw its debut at Sitges 2012 this month, comes from Hugh Fleming. The influences from Drew Struszan are striking, although the same could be said of many handdrawn posters in this era of Photoshop. There’s lots to look at here, with images within the green highlights and a tunnel that seems to go on forever.
Artist Laurent Durieux did posters of all the Universal Monsters, to coincide with the release of the Blu-ray box set and of course, Halloween. They were all very different in style, but we especially liked this ye olde map that makes up the creature. We are now seeing if any of the other islands make shapes. Is the one in the top left a bearded man smoking a pipe. Check out some details from this poster, and the other ones, on the Mondo blog.
In the tradition of the black and white ‘homage’ poster released back in July, Disney released no less than six new posters showcasing the retro aspects of Tim Burton’s new film Frankenweenie. While we were especially fond of The Curse of the Mummy Hamster poster, we can’t look past this tribute to Japanese monster films for our pick for the month. Filmed in “Terror”pin-A-Scope.
Next year, Bruce Willis will dust off his cool, dry action hero wit to take down more bad guys with accents. This poster is a pure fan joy-buzzer, telling us where the series is going, but never forgetting where they came from. Yippee ki-yay.
Australian artist Ken Taylor delivers a fresh take on classic horror just in time for the trick or treating celebration of the same name. Halloween became famous for bringing the threat of a psychotic madman into the quiet suburban street, and this monochromatic poster almost blends killer Michael Myers into the background, with only the blood-red autumn leaves giving the film a splash of colour. Yet there is an unspoken terror in his innocuousness, making this one of the finest posters of the many we’ve seen for the film over the years.
It may not be the most amazing poster in the world, especially given the competition this month, but the image of Tony Stark’s (Robert Downey Jr) various Iron Man suits has become an integral part of the Iron Man 3 campaign. In fact, so recognisable are the suits that the poster doesn’t even need to mention the title beyond the number “3”.
As far as we can tell, there were 9 alternative posters to Andrew Dominik’s Killing Them Softly released in October. Some of these may never see bus stops or marquees, but we loved this one, recreating the US flag with bullets. The simple, bold design is deceptively simple, with little details like the worn background, and the clean fonts impressing on a second or third glance.
If we didn’t have enough reasons to be excited about The Last Stand – being South Korean director Kim Jee-Woon’s first English language film, and Arnold Schwarzenegger’s first starring role in almost a decade – this poster gives us about a dozen more. It’s a retro throwback to both the heyday of Arnie’s greatest action roles, and a few decades before that of action poster art. Major props go to this hand-drawn design that we hope is indicative of the controlled chaos that we will see in this film when it hits cinemas next year.
The title may say The Lone Ranger, but this poster and all of the film’s other publicity assure us that Johnny Depp as the faithful Tonto is the undeniable star. This poster aims to look as though it was painted onto wood, and left to face the elements for several decades until Disney was able to put their small stamp on it. Indeed, the Mouse’s logo is quite difficult to see down there in the corner, making the raven-shaped splash of black across Depp’s eyes the real star of this design.
While Australian designer Jeremy Saunders may be taking a break from creating new posters for the time being, it hasn’t stopped him from designing a set of limited edition prints for the The Lynch Project. For each of these prints, Saunders has taken inspiration from an iconic object associated with the film, such as an ear on bright green grass (Blue Velvet) or a blood stained record (Wild At Heart). This print, titled “Fugue State”, is inspired by Lost Highway, using the video tape that slowly draws Fred Madison into the world of duality. Dick Laurent is dead.
About a dozen cool designs premiered this month at various places on the Interwebs, but this one really grabbed our attention. The stunning design tells you everything you need to know about the film: there will be fighting of some kind and a guy with an iron fist. Plus butterflies. Lots of butterflies.
Guillermo del Toro’s Pacific Rim might have everything we are looking for in a film, from giant robots fighting over the pacific to…well, what else do we need? The point is, this came from NYCC and we should rejoice at its existence. Go on. Rejoice. We’ll just be here waiting until you get back.
Why do we suddenly have an urge to see a Silent Hill film? This Italian poster for the latest franchise is EPIC!!! with a capital ‘!’. However, should someone warn the woman in the top left that her hair is/in danger of catching on fire?
Although it appears minimal and stark upon an initial glance, the poster is filled with tiny detail and the promise of a myriad of gothic horror. It is also the only poster this month that is accompanied by a promo music video, set to “Becomes the Color” by Emily Wells, acts as a metafictional ‘making of’ for the poster, showcasing the hand-drawn illustrations on the one-sheet as well as some of the stunning photography from the film.
Video Nasties – Artist: Tom Hodge (The Dude Designs)
This one isn’t actually a film poster, but rather a celebration of the good ol’ days of video nasties of all kinds. Artist Tom Hodge, who works under the name The Dude Designs, is one of our favourites here at The Reel Bits, with his love of all things cult cinema exceeding our own, turning the corner and slapping us on the backside as it laps us on the second pass. As Hodge notes on his blog: “Fancy something a little bit special to celebrate Halloween, Horror and the wonderful world of the Video Nasty… well now you can”.
The simple and iconic design also recalls a Japanese ink wash painting, right down to the seal in the lower left corner. Lovely. With a poster like this, it has to be better than X-Men Origins: Wolverine, right? Right?
Empire has released the stunning new poster and a promotional video for Stoker, the first English-language film from South Korean filmmaker Park Chan-wook. Although it appears minimal and stark upon an initial glance, the poster is filled with tiny detail and the promise of a myriad of gothic horror. The film stars Australia’s Mia Wasikowska, Jacki Weaver and Nicole Kidman alongside Matthew Goode and Dermot Mulroney.
The music video that accompanies it, set to “Becomes the Color” by Emily Wells, acts as a metafictional ‘making of’ for the poster, showcasing the hand-drawn illustrations on the one-sheet as well as some of the stunning photography from the film.
In the film, India’s (Wasikowska’s) father dies in an auto accident, and her Uncle Charlie (Goode), who she never knew existed, comes to live with her and her emotionally unstable mother Evelyn (Kidman). Soon after his arrival, she comes to suspect this mysterious, charming man has ulterior motives, but instead of feeling outrage or horror, this friendless girl becomes increasingly infatuated with him. It is released in the US on 1 March 2013.
20th Century Fox (via CS) has unveiled a new poster for The Wolverine, the follow-up-but-not-prequel to the critically dismissed X-Men Origins: The Wolverine (2009). The film will be released in cinemas on 26 July 2013, and is currently being filmed in Japan and Sydney. Our spies report that there is a funeral, an attack on a funeral and plenty of Silver Samurai action.
The sequel to 2009′s X-Men: Origins – Wolverine is set in Japan,and is said to be loosely based on Frank Miller (Sin City, The Spirit) and Chris Claremont’s 1982 comic book arc Wolverine, which sees the main man travel to Japan, where he falls for Mariko, the daughter of a Japanese crime lord. The film is directed by James Mangold with a script by Christopher McQuarrie.
The simple and iconic design also recalls a Japanese ink wash painting, right down to the seal in the lower left corner. Lovely.
The much-delayed Hansel and Gretel: Witch Hunters was given a trailer back in September, neatly establishing the comedy-horror vibe of the film. Yet any concerns we have dissipate with this latest red band trailer, which shows that Paramount are going for a hard R rating for the US release of this fantasy mash-up. The sheer number of exploding heads should serve as evidence to that. There’s also a new poster for the film below.
Escaping from a witch as kids, Hansel (Jeremy Renner) and Gretel (Gemma Arterton) have a taste for witch killing. 15 years after their incident involving a gingerbread house, the siblings have evolved into bounty hunters who hunt witches for fun and profit. We can only hope that director Tommy Wirkola built a real hinger bread house for the children of the world to enjoy.
