Posterizing 5/13/2011: Movie Poster Reviews for Brides Maids, Priest, and others

Depending on your level of film knowledge, this poster might look fairly boring, but I think one of the reasons it works as motivation to go see the film is that it evokes the poster for "The Usual Suspects", among others probably, at least that's the one that comes to mind immediately for me. But even if it doesn't bring that movie to mind - a pretty interesting juxtaposition - it should simply remind one of a criminal line-up, which is a funny contrast given that this is a movie about bridesmaids. Thus, if you just take those two things, the poster suggests there's a lot more going on in this movie than the title suggests, which is usually a good thing. Even though Kristen Wiig and Maya Rudolph are technically the stars, the movie is obviously an ensemble piece. Grade: B

The first thing that comes to mind looking at this poster is the video game "Assassin's Creed". Although this movie is based on a graphic novel, I think evoking a videogame, given the sad history of video games that have been successfully turned into good movies, is not a good thing. And to be fair, the video game image takes a back seat to the image of a gargoyle overlooking a city - a fairly common image.

And what exactly is going on in the background? Is that supposed to evoke some kind of sci-fi feeling? It looks like one of those background paintings from "Star Trek: The Next Generation" of the Romulan home world. I'll say this too - the "3D" on a film that probably doesn't suggest quality (sort of like "Anacondas 5: 3D") tends to make one more skeptical, not less.

I think the poster is evocative, but maybe not in a way that conveys any strong sense of what the movie is about. And if you do have a strong sense from the poster, I bet that sense is actually at odds with the movie. Grade: C

I like the basic visual suggestion of this poster and the way the image is designed. The eye is forced to start at the left and work its way up to Will Ferrell, who's in the right foreground. Along the way we see clothes strewn all over the road.

In terms of the story told through the poster, this is a man at the end of a journey. For argument's sake, let's just say he was thrown out of his house by his wife. That's a very common story. Here, however, that story is ending and another story is beginning because Ferrell, in terms of the poster, is literally at the end of that other story.

This is a good thing in any story. The story that you recognize is not going to be rehashed, at least as far as the poster is concerned. The visual signals that a new story is beginning.

My one quibble with this poster is that it's the color of puke. Somebody definitely could have picked a different color. I'm also a littler overwhelmed by the amount of space the text takes up in the poster. Grade: B+

I guess if you're making an independent film about an unlikable character, there's not exactly much you can do with the movie poster that says "come see me" other than to emphasize the overall tone of the film and hope that you corner the misanthrope market.

Here, Joseph Gordon-Levitt looks pretty greasy and sleezy. The cigarette coming out of his mouth doesn't exactly scream "get close to me". Obviously, the caption at the top is essential to creating the mood of the poster. The idea of the poster is that you read the caption and then look at the face or, if you happen to look at the face first, the caption helps you define what the face is supposed to be telling you or what kind of person this is.

The font used for the title "Hesher" is a little weird. It kind of looks like the font they should have used for "Thor". Is that a lightning bolt or did somebody in the art department just think it looked cool? If so, what's the relationship between Hesher and lightning? The font is a strike-out, for sure. Grade: B-

"Follow Your Own Beat" is the catch phrase used on the poster. That could really mean anything. If we compare this poster to the previous poster in terms of what the catch phrase is supposed to do, this one fails utterly. This is a dance movie, though the catch phrase suggests just about anything. Even the poster's main image does not definitively tell us that this is a dance movie, though I think the design looks like the ads for "So You Think You Can Dance," which just makes me think: "please, no more."

The whole thing just looks like one giant mistake. There are so many dance shows and dance movies out right now, the question I would ask as a filmmaker is: "how do I make my movie stand out?" This poster certainly doesn't do it. It's like the quintessential, computer-generated movie poster for every dance movie that's ever been made. I suppose the girl in the hoodie indicates that main character is something of a loner. That might make things worse.

It seems little thought went into this one. Grade: D