Tuesday, April 7, 2009

Movie posters

I enjoy movies — good ones, bad ones, guilty pleasures — films that entertain me. I'm hardly unique in that respect, I realize. But I am almost compulsive about it. My collection of DVDs recently went over 850 [OK, edit the "almost" out of the previous sentence]. I think I qualify as a fan. When I was young, the very idea that I might be able to own films and watch them whenever I wish would have seemed a pipedream. I envied some cousins whose family owned a move theater [next door to their home!] and could see any film showing without having to buy tickets. Now, of course, I can watch movies at my leisure, and, moreover, the sound and picture quality at home often surpass what was available in the theater when the film was originally released.

Steve Mason at Big Hollywood likes movies and the promotional art that goes along with them. He lists "The All-Time Top 10 Movie Posters (one man’s opinion)" and observes:
As a movie junkie, I love good movie art. The best movie posters are evocative. They capture what a movie is all about without giving away the mystery. There are certain movie posters that instantly put me back in that theatre experiencing the film for the very first time. The best movie posters are not just promotional tools. They stand as a work of art on their own.
Sometimes films do well in spite of the posters. And sometimes very bad films start out well because the promotion featured art far better than the film.

Mason's top four posters:
  1. Jaws
  2. Chinatown
  3. The Dark Knight
  4. Breakfast at Tiffany's [and the rest]

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