January 3, 2012

2011: The Retrospect: Top 5 Best Posters

I'll be honest.

This hasn't been the hottest year when it came to posters. Whereas last year I had to fight off dozens of potential candidates to craft my list of five, I was stumped for a few minutes there when it came time to write this year's. I don't know what it was, but the advertising branches of the studios just seemed to be playing it safe when it came to one sheets. Ooo, an image of Harry, Ron, and Hermione, looking out, wide eyed, mouth's agape, set against an epic backdrop. In other words, every other Harry Potter poster from the last 5 years.

But, there were some good ones, and that's what we're here to talk about today. Day 2 of 2011: The Retrospect. Here are Films From the Supermassive Black Hole's Top 5 Best Posters of 2011!!!

5. Immortals

Immortals is a big, crazy, lavish, bloody, ridiculously violent, lovingly choreographed, painstakingly framed, shiny, gorgeous, sight to behold. Well, the actual content in the movie isn't all that, but fuck, was that a pretty movie. The same could be said about this poster, which nicely puts all the film's main players in the picture, evoking the epic conflict on a godly scale that the project was pushing. Job well done.

4. The Devil's Double

Speaking of lavish...

Haven't seen it. Don't need to. I'm looking at posters, damn it! This looks pretty friggin' tight. As far as I know, the film deals with the double of a the son of Saddam Hussein, and I'll be damned if it doesn't capture the violence and power that that family enjoyed over the course of their reign. More posters should be carved out of gold. It's one of life's simple facts.

3. The Tree of Life

This poster, much like the film, is beautiful, yet challenging, to look at, showing off countless priceless images from the film. So elaborate is this collage of images, that, even now, I'm still picking out shots that I missed the last time. And when a poster keeps you on your toes and offers a new experience each time... well, something is being done right.

2. The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo

Simple. Powerful. Perfectly setting up the bleak tone of the film, this poster is jarring and impactful. The swedish proverb goes well with the themes brought up in the movie, and Craig and Mara look to fit the iconic roles like champs. Oh, and Mara's naked in it. Hell yeah, it makes this list!

1. Shame

Haven't seen it yet, but I fully intend to very soon. No characters. No sense of setting or plot. Just a bed with messy sheets. In reality, all the posters used in the promotion of this film are great, but this one's my favorite. No poster of 2011 intrigued more than this one. Put simply, this poster did a poster's job the best of any poster this year, and that's why it's number one.


Well, that's all for today lovies! Be sure to check back at 2011: The Retrospect to refresh your memory on all the year had to offer, and be sure to stop by tomorrow for the next installment. Until then.

5 comments:

  1. Great list! I thought that the baby's foot in between the two hands was the best Tree of Life poster, but still great selections all around.

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  2. I completely agree with you that last year was a really bland year for movie posters. My personal favorite is The Tree of Life. You can't complain about false advertising with that one. Like the film it's a bunch of beautiful images that you have to decipher the meaning of.

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  3. Those are some cool posters. However, the UK international version of that Girl With The Dragon Tattoo is much superior.

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  4. @Dan O: I liked that one too, but two posters from the same movie seemed like overkill.

    @Ryan: Right with you there. That film was probably the best advertised of the year when you think about it like that.

    @threeguys1movie.com: I would have put that one here, but then I would have had to slap this post with an NSFW tag, and I didn't want to do that.

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