Author Archives: russ

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About russ

Russ Ryan is an avid fan of movie posters -- sometimes even more so than the actual movies themselves! But he's not just a poster geek, he also was lucky enough to have a film produced by the makers of AMERICAN PIE -- the classic, unforgettable, much less successful National Lampoon presentation, REPLI-KATE, starring Ali Landry, James Roday, and Eugene Levy.

Let There Be Lettick (1919-1986)

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Whenever I’m browsing through DVDs of old 70’s and 80’s movies, I’m always attracted to this former magazine illustrator’s work. You see, when Birney Lettick was not busy doing movie posters, he apparently had a very prolific career drawing portraits of such powerful figures as Ayatollah Khomeini and Ronald Reagan for Time.

And what an unusual spelling of his name! I’ve heard of a lotta Bernies before (Bernie Mac, Bernie Madoff, Bernie Kopell, etc.) — but never Birney. So if you’re in the mood, take a moment to stop your world and melt with Birney’s Valley Girl and many other classics.

Indiana Jones: Amsel vs. Struzan

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Whose Indy work do you prefer: Richard Amsel’s (top) or Drew Struzan’s (bottom)?

(NOTE: If you zoom in, you can see the artist’s signatures on the bottom lower right of each poster…something I’m sure today’s corporate studio marketing departments would never allow!)

Legend of the Day: Richard Amsel (1947-1985)

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Probaby best known for his iconic Raiders of the Lost Ark work, Richard Amsel had a brief but prolific career and was recently honored with a retrospective at The University of the Arts in Philadelphia…

Xmas List

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Moviegoods is counting down the Top 25 Christmas posters…and guess what A Christmas Story is ranked (art by Robert Tanenbaum)?

Legend of the Day: Drew Struzan

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This guy has created a ton of powerful images with his recognizable drawing style: Indiana Jones, Back To The Future, Coming To America…Stroker Ace — okay, well, he’s not paid to direct. Buy the book or hit up his website!

Gift Books!

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Still looking for gifts for fellow movie poster fans? Check out The Art of the Modern Movie Poster from Chronicle Books.

It’s an excellent resource on the history of one-sheets, emphasizing International designs. In fact, after reading this baby, I discovered that a recently purchased poster of mine from EMoviePoster.com was created by Osvaldo Venturi, a prominent Argentinean artist in the 30’s and 40’s. And only $12!

The Greatest Movie Posters of the Decade(s)

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Another solid series of poster books was published by Graham Marsh and Tony Nourmand, owner of The Reel Poster Gallery in London. Each edition covers the best one-sheets of its respective decade and unearths some real finds.

What The Heck Happened To MeanSheets?

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MeanSheets was originally created to spoof movies, movie stars, and all of the seemingly infinite pop culture references that saturate our snarky, celebrity-obsessed society. But after a while, I felt kinda sleazy trying to catch up on all of the gossip about Megan Fox and Kim Kardashian…

So, MeanSheets has been rejuven-amped!

MeanSheets will now focus on the art of the movie poster and the many incredibly talented and largely unknown movie poster artists and designers of the 20th Century. So consider MeanSheets like an online museum — where we pay tribute to the Picassos and Matisses of the movie poster world.

And for those of you who still miss the Megan Fox pics, there’s always the archives!

Bob Peak, Movie Poster Artist Legend

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Meet Bob Peak, the man who is at the pinnacle of movie poster design and decorated theatre marquees throughout the ’60s and ’70s and introduced cinema lovers to everything from Apocalypse Now to Star Trek to My Fair Lady to Superman. That’s called range!