The Art of Drew Struzan

Posted on May 3, 2011 by russ

If you’re a movie poster fan who likes the stories behind the one-sheets, then be sure to check out The Art of Drew Struzan book (not to be confused with The Movie Posters of Drew Struzan). This elegant coffeetable edition on the legendary 80s movie poster maker shows off Struzan’s huge oeuvre as well as provides an insightful look at his thought process, displaying the many different versions of designs — including lots of rejects — he has come up with over the years.

With an introduction by Frank Darabont (Shawshank Redemption), Struzan tells of his joys and frustrations with the movie poster biz, including how he didn’t actually meet Harrison Ford in person until 2010 (well after the proven popularity of his Indiana Jones posters) and how he recycled this unused Crocodile Dundee art (below) into the classic Coming To America movie poster…

Tarantino Meets Django!

Posted on May 2, 2011 by russ

What do you know? Just last week, we featured the beautiful Italian movie posters by Symeoni and Gasparri from the 1960s spaghetti western, Django — and now comes word that Quentin Tarantino has just finished his latest script, Django Unchained, which will surely be a bloody, modern Southern-ized update on the much-heralded, though little-seen classic…

Blow Up Ripoff?

Posted on April 13, 2011 by russ

It just occurred to me that maybe The Girlfriend Experience (2009) might have been a bit influenced by Waldemar Swierzy’s Polish version of Blow Up (1967) — which proves once again that good design is indeed timeless.

Long Live Lumet!

Posted on April 9, 2011 by russ

The movie industry lost a legend today with the passing of film director, Sidney Lumet. Known for his powerhouse courtroom dramas and just flat-out Hollywood classics like 12 Angry Men, Network, and Dog Day Afternoon, Lumet worked with the best actors of his day and even finished on a high note with his last film, the much-underappreciated dysfunctional family heist flick, Before The Devil Knows You’re Dead.

Harry Potter Poster Ripoff!

Posted on March 29, 2011 by russ

Yo, we all know that the face-off style movie poster is pretty common, but you would think a movie studio that has reaped millions and billions off the lucrative Harry Potter franchise could come up with a more original one-sheet for their latest than this blatant lift from the 1985 sci-fi pic, Enemy Mine…

X’ed Out!

Posted on March 10, 2011 by russ

Yahoo! has publicly ripped the new X-Men posters as “amateurish”. To me, it looks like Saul Bass meets “The Floating Heads“…You be the judge!

Also included in the Yahoo! spanking is a link to Oddee’s Worst Movie Posters Ever, which takes potshots at such legendary poster artists as Larry Salk (Superman 3) and Richard Amsel (Up The Sandbox).

Scary Phones!

Posted on March 7, 2011 by russ

Who you gonna call? Sorry, wrong number! Here’s a terrifying line of some of the scariest (and not so scary) movie posters featuring telephones, including the French versions of Experiment In Terror (Georges Kerfyser) and Phone Call From A Stranger (Roger Soubie).

Apartment Therapy Goes To The Movies…

Posted on March 4, 2011 by russ

Though they don’t really feature movie posters, Apartment Therapy has a nice little feature on the best movie interiors and production designers in the film biz, starting with one of my favorites, The Royal Tenenbaums…