Poster Roundup – Immortals, TF3, The Guard, Crazy Stupid Love and more

Another week and tons of posters to get through!

beginning with Immortals directed by Tarsem Singh (The Fall and the upcoming Snow White film with Julia Roberts), comes another batch of character posters (four in total). After the teaser trailer was received somewhat negatively (arguments over style and question marks over the originality of the content), Warner Bros has set about redressing those concerns by distracting us with some gorgeous one sheets. They’re not an indication of whether the film will be any good, but if the posters are accurate representation of the film’s style, it will certainly look very purdy. Unlike the first batch these character posters focus more on the human element of the film.

Immortals follows Henry Cavill’s (The Tudors, upcoming Man of Steel) Theseus, a peasant chosen by Zeus to battle against a new evil that threatens the land. Mad with power, King Hyperion (Mickey Rourke) has declared war against humanity. Amassing a bloodthirsty army of soldiers, Hyperion has scorched Greece in search of the legendary Epirus Bow, a weapon forged in the heavens by Ares. In the king’s hands, the bow would rain destruction upon mankind and annihilate the Gods. But ancient law dictates the Gods must not intervene in man’s conflict. They remain powerless to stop Hyperion until Theseus comes forth as their only hope.

I’ll keep this one short and sweet. Optimus Prime, sword, destruction. Can you guess which film it is? I can’t say that I’m anticipating Transformers: Dark of the Moon, I’m vaguely interested in how Michael Bay will handle the 3D but we’re three films into this franchise and I’ve found it not to my liking. That being said I’ll probably go and see this, the mere hint of redemption after Revenge of the Fallen is pulling me in. There must be something wrong with me.

Next up is a smaller film. Written and directed by John Michael McDonagh (Brother of Martin McDonagh who wrote and directed the brilliant In Bruges), comes The Guard. Starring Brendan Gleeson and Don Cheadle, the former as an unorthodox Irish policeman with a confrontational personality who’s teamed up with an uptight FBI agent (Cheadle) to investigate an international drug-smuggling ring. Promising the same kind of black humour that In Bruges was sprinkled with, for me this film is a must see. The Guard is released August 19th in the UK.

It doesn’t hit our shores until sometime in September (2nd September to be exact) but Crazy Stupid Love is coming out in the US on the 29th July. Apparently this film is very good according to those who have seen it but this poster seems to place strictly with the raunchy comedy genre which probably does it a disservice. And look at those faces lining the bottom of the poster, each character looks like they’ve been airbrushed to the point where I can’t even tell if Steve Carell is real or just a coloured in photo-fit.

When I first heard about The Devil’s Double I thought it was a horror film which completely disinterested me. Then I did some research (Total Film magazine and IMDB!) and found out it’s about Dominic Cooper’s Latif Yahia, a man who was forced to become the double of Saddam Hussein’s sadistic son, Uday. My interest peaked only to be reminded that the buzz on this film is so-so. Directed by Lee Tamohori (director of the abysmal Die Another Day) the film comes out in the UK on the 12th August.

Next up is Jon Favreau’s Cowboys and Aliens. Bond flanked by Indiana Jones. Nuff said. Uk release date is August 19th.

I posted the original set of posters some time ago, along with a trailer and now we have another poster for Gavin O’ Connor’s (Pride and Glory) Warrior. It was shown at the film exhibitor’s festival in the US and garnered some good reviews. Starring Nick Nolte, Joel Edgerton and Tom Hardy, expect to see this one in cinemas on the 23 September. If you like staring at ripped bodies you will definitely like this poster.

It’s not easy being green. It really isn’t.

Finally the poster for the Footloose remake. Having never seen the 1984 original with Kevin Bacon I can’t say that I even raised an eyebrow looking at this poster. Who cares?

 

Trailer Watch: Transformers – Dark of the Moon

I certainly was not a fan of Michael Bay’s Revenge of the Fallen, my first feeling in coming out of the cinema was that I had been subjected to what was effectively War porn with a dreadful narrative. I’m not a fan of the franchise in general with Transformers disappointing me  each time I revisit it. My excitement for Dark of the Moon is low and this trailer does not change my feeling on the film. Bay did come out before Fallen was released and say that it was going to rectify the mistakes of the first film (and it really failed) so I see Bay as nothing more than a good salesman at this minute, good at convincing people but selling us turds instead of quality goods.

He can certainly deliver on action and the visuals, that really is not in doubt but the things that matter, character, story, narrative progression seem as alien to him as the transformers do to the humans. The trailer hit the web on Thursday/Friday and it features some stunning visuals but what I’m hoping for is a return to the leaner Bay of The Rock and Bad Boys. Give Bay a big budget and I feel he has to indulge the audience’s need for visuals rather than story. Again I’m hoping that Dark of the Moon features a singular focus, a sense of character that has been missing in previous film and most importantly fun.

Oddly enough I think the use of 3D might actually be beneficial if on the basis of the trailer its mamde him reconsider  his rat-a-tat-tat editing.

Video is in 1080p with some select screenshots after the jump in 720p. Screenshots taken from Apple Itunes.

 

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.

Thoughts on the Super Bowl Trailers

I’m not much of American football fan myself, living in the UK we don’t get a lot of coverage on the NFL so the American Football (or Hand-egg) is usually out of sight, out of mind. That is until the Super Bowl rolls around and we’re inundated with reports on THE GREATEST SPORTING EVENT IN THE WORLD (/sarcasm). It gets even worse as since I live in the UK all those trailers that studios pay through the nose to get on air aren’t even available for me to see til the next day. All the glamour and glitz of the Super Bowl is lost in me as I struggle to figure whose who and why play consistently stops every thirty seconds, disappears for a minute, comes back for ten seconds and so on…

Anyhoo, the trailers, most of which run for thirty seconds, a few one minute spots and they usually represent films coming out in the Summer; setting down a marker for possible definite blockbusters that will occupy our screens for the duration of the summer. For my thoughts, read on…