OK, it’s that time where we’re inundated with year-end best movie lists that basically rehash the same info.
Lincoln’s great, we get it. Ditto Django, Flight, Argo and The Hobbit. All fine and good.
But what about the best and worst movie posters? How many times do you see one on your way out of the lobby of your local multiplex and say, “Hey, I’ve got to see that.” Or, more often, “That looks cheesy.”
Trailers and reviews do a lot to sway whether or not you’ll plunk down $12.99 at the theatre, but often it’s the poster that first ignites or quashes your interest.
So let’s take a look back at some of the best and worst posters of 2012, with a few from 2013 that are getting our juices flowing.
Let us know what you think in the comments.
THE BEST
Brad Pitt’s Killing Them Softly didn’t set the box office on fire, but I love the minimalist black background, simple font and non-glamour shot of the film’s star. Ladies, Brad is going to kill a whole lot of people and, er, he’s not going to look his normal polished self while doing it.
The Dark Knight Rises was one of those movies that had several posters leading up to its release in July. I liked them all, but this early one did a fantastic job of letting us know that this was going to serve as a proper finale for Chris Nolan’s Batman trilogy. It also gave us an early glimpse at the villain, Bane.
I didn’t exactly love Marc Webb’s The Amazing Spider-Man. It gave us yet another origin story – believe us, everyone knows how Peter Parker became everyone’s favourite neighbourhood webslinger. But this early poster sure got my spidey-sense tingling.
I’m a Bond nut. But what I love, love, love most are the Bond posters and opening credit sequences. Skyfall was aces on both accounts, as well as being possibly the best Bond film of all time.
I haven’t seen Quentin Tarantino’s Django Unchained yet, but even if the movie ends up being total crap, it wins hands-down for having the coolest poster and trailer of 2012. This minimalist throwback is art I’d actually frame on my wall.
The poster for Oliver Stone’s Savages oozed crazy, sexy, cool. Thankfully, the movie was good enough to make us forget Stone’s horrific Wall Street 2: Money Never Sleeps.
THE WORST
The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn Part 2 might have been a gazillion times better than its predecessor, but the poster for the sequel was pure cheese. Edward, Bella and Jacob run towards an unseen enemy with an assortment of hangers-on in the background. They should have gone for something simpler.
Journey 2: The Mysterious Island could well be an alright family flick. But this poster makes me want to barf. Even though it features The Rock, it resembles those straight-to-VHS films I used to notice at my video store in the 1990s.
I knew Battleship was in trouble when I first saw this poster. I’ve never seen something so positively corny attached to a movie with so much television hype. They should have donated some of that CGI budget to creating something less offending to the eyes. At the very least, that might have helped them with their first-day box office.
OK, what’s with the tattoo on Tom Hanks’ face? If there’s one thing that doesn’t go with Forest Gump it’s sci-fi. Wait, is that a guy from The Matrix shooting at the guy from About A Boy? But you can’t say the poster for Cloud Atlas didn’t warn you: The movie was just as bad as it looked.
I know no one actually saw John Carter, but what did Disney expect when they had this monstrosity plastered in subways and on buses the month before its release? Somebody definitely lost a job over this one.
It might have been the biggest movie of the year, but I found the poster for The Avengers nauseating. It’s supposed to be a team-up film and yet, there’s Iron Man front and centre. It’s as if they ranked their poster placement based on box-office. Can you tell I’m not a Tony Stark fan?
LOOKING AHEAD AT 20013
There is a slew of movies coming out next year that are already being plugged in cinema lobbies across Canada. Here are a few of my faves.
I’ll admit, it is a bit of a Batman ripoff (the Starfleet insignia visually echoes the Dark Knight Rises ad), but the poster for Star Trek Into Darkness, which features Benedict Cumberbatch (who plays the villain) atop a pile of rubble, looks poised to take the series in a mysterious new direction.
When it comes to movie posters, it’s not often that you find Bruce Willis actually looking at the camera. But here he is, smug smirk and all with one of his most famous tag lines from his Die Hard series. I could watch John McClane all day long.
Supes in handcuffs? We’ve all seen iterations of the Man of Tomorrow flying high above Earth. But this Man of Steel poster shows it might not all be truth and justice when we humans get a load of Superman next summer.
Twitter: @markhdaniell
