Poster Round-up – Tower Heist, Ides of March, Red State, Tyrannosaur and more

Not too many posters in the second half of this week but with the ones we have there are some striking images aaannnddd…dancing penguins. All release dates are for the UK.

Tower Heist

It’s been about four years since we last saw Brett Ratner directed film and some (I assume) have championed his absence. I wouldn’t blame him for the disappointment that was X-Men: The Last Stand (he was a factor, out of several) but he has made some genuinely good and funny films. That being said I’m not sure what I think about Tower Heist, I didn’t laugh once during the trailer and looks as if its playing it very broad and safe (not too surprising for a film by Ratner). Anyway it’s nice seeing Eddie Murphy back in a film.

Release date: 4th November

Melancholia

Remember, he’s not a nazi but Lars Von Trier can direct some beguiling (and gross) films when he’s not opening his mouth. Melancholia looks like it’s going to be more of the former than the latter.

Release date: 30 September

Red State

Another director who’s courted controversy this year, Kevin Smith has been antagonising just about everyone since his film premiered at Sundance earlier this year. Whether that behaviour was warranted or not, he’s certainly drummed up interest in Red State.

Release date: 30 September

Happy Feet 2 in 3D

I liked George Miller’s Happy Feet when it came out in 2008. It was cute, fun and had a message (although you could argue about how heavy-handed its implementation was).  I expect more of the same with the sequel. Just in 3D.

Release Date: 2nd December

Ides of March

I haven’t watched the trailer but considering the talent involved I don’t think it would be too hard to imagine this film as early front-runner  comes awards’ season. Not enamoured with the poster, can’t stop thinking of John Woo’s Face Off when I look at it.

Release Date: 28th October

Tyrannosaur

Not much to say about this, I do know that it screened earlier this week (unfortunately I couldn’t go) but the buzz on this film is very good. The synopsis says it’s about  “A woman looks for a way out of her abusive relationship”. Directed by Paddy Considine, I believe this is his first feature film.

Release Date: 14th October

Poster Roundup – Green Lantern,Transformers,Melancholia, Sleeping Beauty & At Stranger Tides

Quite a few posters have been released this week and all of them are pertaining to films arriving in the next few months or so.

Starting with Green Lantern, it’s a film that’s come under some criticism whether its for its visuals, tone or the general quality of the marketing materials that have been put out. Personally I’m intrigued as I have been since the film was announced although I am put of by the mythology of it. It definitely is something that we haven’t seen in the superhero realm and as I’ve said in previous posts on the Green Lantern I’m hoping that Goldeneye/Zorro Martin Campbell turns up. If not then the marriage between the more comedy elements and what looks like being huge sci-fi elements may not fit. Still as the film comes ever closer I’m willing to give it a chance especially as I’m reading some Green Lantern comics and trying to get a sense of this universe. The first poster is from Yahoo Movies.

And here is the banner released by MTV movies featuring the Green Lantern Corp. I bet you can’t guess them all (I certainly can’t). Click to enlarge or view separately.

With this poster we have Lars Von Trier’s Melancholia and like the trailer I’m struggling to find the words to describe it. Its clean and sparse but it gives me even less information than the trailer did. It certainly looks striking enough and there’s a simplicity to it even if the poster doesn’t scream ‘end of the world’. It looks more like an invitation.

From one film with arthouse aspirations to another. Sleeping Beauty, by first time director Julia Leigh (who wrote the screenplay) and backed up with Jane Campion Presents (I’m not sure how much weight her name will give the film beyond the arthouse crowd) it looks like the rarest of things in cinema at the moment – a film with female talent both in front of and behind the camera. I posted the first trailer a few weeks ago and its followed up by this poster which is both revealing and suggestive. Its not often you see films put sexuality front and centre, especially when its about a woman who enters the world of prostitution.

Back to the blockbusters we have Transformers and Pirates of the Carribean: On Stranger Tides (x2). Rather standard posters these ones although Shia does look a little confused and dishevelled (not to mention dirty). Pirates also showcases the “attributes” of double barrelled actress Astrid Berges-Frisbey (who has both Spanish and French heritage). I can’t say I’m too interested in these films but I’m always willing to give them a chance although they both really have to redeem themselves after their rather wasteful efforts last time.

First trailer for Lars Von Trier’s ‘Melancholia’

errrrrrrr…..okay. A trailer has been released for Lars Von Trier’s new film. Von Trier, the cinematic provacateur of AntiChrist, Manderlay and  Dogville, focuses on “Two sisters find their relationship challenged as a nearby planet threatens to collide into the Earth.”

My first reaction to this trailer is one of slight bemusement (if you can ever be slightly bemused). The images are beguiling but the sadness (it is after all called Melancholia) seems a bit overwrought but we’re talking about the end of the word here so I doubt people would be reining in their emotions.

The trailer comes set with a tagline – “a beautiful movie about the end of the world”. Seems a tiny bit pretentious. Anyway trailer is below, I have a feeling reactions towards it may veer from one end of the spectrum to the other.

The film features Kirsten Dunst, Charlotte Gainsbourg, Kiefer Sutherland, Charlotte Rampling, John Hurt, Alexander Skarsgård, Stellan Skarsgård and Udo Kier. No word on US distribtuion (IMDb has a date for the 1st July in the UK) but the recent scuttlebutt is that it will premiere at Cannes.