Weekly Roundup #3

Every Friday, we're taking a look at the film and television posters released over the past week. Enjoy! 

The main characters of GoT appear to have joined the thousands of deceased faces in the Hall of Faces, used by the ironically-named Faceless Men. That's right, the showrunners have somehow found a way to increase the number of major characters who brutally die. (The number has risen from "everyone" to "everyone plus one.") 

High-Rise's poster showcases its star-studded cast, fragmented and mirrored with lots and lots of sleek triangles. There's even a motion poster that takes the kaleidoscope effect to a whole new level. 

Okay so...I guess it's nice that Lois Lane is getting her own BvS poster since she's been largely absent from the rest of the promotional campaign. But c'mon guys, if you're gonna use the sexist "look at all my curves" pose to attract the stereotypical pigheaded male, at least be smart about it and give it to Wonder Woman. She's wearing a breastplate and a short skirt, for crying out loud! That's the kind of stuff fat nerds drool over!

At first glance, it looks like someone with a cat's head, but apparently it's actually MK, the newest Orphan Black clone who wears a sheep's mask. The silhouette of Sarah (the main protagonist and another clone) is reminiscent of Alice in Wonderland, suggesting that she's falling down a metaphorical rabbit hole. 

A nude woman forming the shape of a skull as she curls up in agony? It looks like Penny Dreadful's marketing team has been rummaging through a bin of American Horror Story's unused posters. (Check out our Poster Spotlight on AHS and you'll see what I mean.) 

Which poster is your favorite? Tell me in the comments, and feel free to subscribe. 

Weekly Roundup #2

Every Friday, we're taking a look at the film and television posters released over the past week. Enjoy! 

Simple. Classic. Perfect. 

Not sure why Divergent is still a thing. (I mean, an action series needs either positive critical reception or major financial success to function, and they've got neither.) But anyway, here's some attractive people posing with cool weapons and floaty stuff in the background. Very creative. 

This poster may give you the urge to turn your screen (or your head) upside-down in order to see all of the characters, but it perfectly encapsulates the film's zany nature. 

I never saw this reboot coming, but it seems pretty obvious now; all the sci-fi classics of the 70s, 80s, and 90s (Star Wars, Alien, Blade Runner, Independence Day, etc.) are returning to theaters these days. The Predator isn't a very creative name, but it's certainly better than Predator: Spawn of the Dead or Predator: The Last Hunt. 

In order to make us forget about the mistakes of its predecessor, Now You See Me 2 is using the highly effective Tri-Freeman strategy, in which it triples its already-substantial quantity of Morgan Freeman. 

Uh-oh, there's no way he's getting out of this one! 

A little boy and a big, green, fuzzy dragon. As a teaser poster, this works pretty well. 

"Who will win"? If recent reports can be trusted, Warner Bros. will be the biggest loser here. But you've gotta give them credit; Batman v. Superman is chock full of other major DC characters (Wonder Woman, Lex Luthor, Lois Lane, etc.), and yet the posters have consistently shown only the central conflict of the film. Very minimalistic, very effective. 

Which poster is your favorite? Tell me in the comments, and feel free to subscribe. 

Spotlight: "American Horror Story"

Film posters generally receive the most attention, but the world of television has some pretty great posters too. Today we're putting the spotlight on the popular anthology series American Horror Story. The show's super-spooky tone isn't for everyone, but over the years it's provided some seriously great (and seriously scary) posters. 

No clue who/what this leathery guy is, but let's face it: wouldn't any of us try to steal Connie Britton's unborn child if given the opportunity? 

#Twinsies? 

This is what happens when you cry while wearing mascara. 

Um...what? 

It's like Little Red Riding Hood, except instead of a white hood, it's a red hood, and instead of cookies, it's pieces of human flesh. 

As you can see, Gooey Albino Nun is the true star of this season. 

Ouch! This woman needs a new acupuncturist, because hers is seriously doing something wrong. 

At least they're sharing.

While most of AHS' posters attempt (and usually succeed) to make the viewer as uncomfortable and perplexed as possible, this one ominously tells us exactly what this season is centered on: fashionable witches. 

I scream, you scream...

I guess this is a PSA about what can happen if you wear high heels too much. This season's tagline, "Wir Sind Alle Freaks", is German for "We Are All Freaks." 

This poster showcases the season's (weird, freaky) main characters in 1950s retro style. 

Fun fact: while they were taking this photo, Lady Gaga accidentally sleepwalked into the middle of the frame. (Yes, that's how she looks when she sleeps.) They took the photo anyway, and later cast her as the main character of the season. To this day, she's not aware that she's part of the show; acting like a vampire hotel owner is just part of her daily routine. 

It's hard to see what's going on through that peephole, but you can bet it's something weird and/or horrifying. 

After seeing all those previous posters, your eyes are probably furiously scanning this one, searching for something like a human/carpet hybrid or a child covered in bloody keycards. But no, it's just a hotel room. 

Which poster is your favorite? Tell me in the comments, and feel free to subscribe. 

Weekly Roundup #1

Every Friday, we're taking a look at the film and television posters released over the past week. Enjoy! 

Posters for "ultimate secret agent" films (such as the Bourne series, Bond series, and pretty much every Jason Statham movie) often show little more than the main protagonist with a gun, so you can't give this one points for originality. However, the tagline does nicely introduce/announce the title of the film: Jason Bourne.

Finding Dory's new posters all feature the titular fish hiding in a familiar underwater environment. It's like "Where's Waldo?" for idiots. 

What's this movie about? Not sure, but who wouldn't want to see a love story with permanent-B-lister Nicholas Hoult and terrible-Twilight-star-who's-actually-kinda-talented-now Kristen Stewart? 

The first poster for the third installment in the Purge franchise continues the patriotic theme, this time with a twist on the typical "I voted" pin (appropriate given the title of the film). 

The entire concept of this movie (the aliens from the first one return) completely lacks originality, so it should be no surprise that the filmmakers made the logical decision to essentially recreate the classic 1996 poster with updated effects. Let's face it: modern cinema is chock full of alien disasters and big floaty spaceships (Battle Los Angeles, Man of Steel, Transformers), so Resurgence has to rely on pure nostalgia to stand out from the rest. 

Do you recognize any of the new(?) heroes or spaceships? No. Do you have any clue where this stands in the Star Wars universe? No. Will this series be good and/or satisfying to fans? Probably not. But one thing's for sure: you'll be able to buy all of Freemaker-inspired playsets at a LEGO store near you. 

Stop trying to make Divergent happen. It's not going to happen! 
(Also, there is a thin line between "cool futuristic-looking font" and "font that people can't read", and Allegiant has officially crossed that line.) 

Which poster is your favorite? Tell me in the comments, and feel free to subscribe. 

Poster Roundup: 2016 Oscars

The Academy Awards are coming in just a few weeks, and in preparation, we're taking a look at the posters of the many nominated films. 

Spotlight is nominated for 6 Oscars, including Best Picture, Best Actress in a Supporting Role (Rachel McAdams), and Best Actor in a Supporting Role (Mark Ruffalo)

Not overly artistic, but this highlights the overall topic of the movie: just a bunch of reporters, working hard and working together. The names of the cast are also justified to mimic a newspaper. Spotlight is nominated for Best Picture. 

Mad Max: Fury Road is nominated for 10 Oscars, including Best Picture, Best Costume Design, and Best Achievement in Visual Effects

Fury Road has many great qualities, but one of its greatest is its brilliant gender equality. All of the film's posters brilliantly reflect this by placing Charlize Theron's name right alongside Tom Hardy's, symbolizing their characters' equal contributions towards the plot of the movie. Curiously, in this poster particularly, Theron's Furiosa takes center stage while Hardy's Max seems like her inferior sidekick. 

Brooklyn is nominated for Best Picture, Best Actress in a Leading Role (Saoirse Ronan), and Best Adapted Screenplay 

A woman with a big bag in an even bigger city. The old-fashioned car in the lower right corner sets the time period of the 1950s. The Brooklyn Bridge in the background gives us the location (as if the title of the film wasn't clear enough), but either intentionally or unintentionally, it looks pretty darn fake, like a painting. 

Bridge of Spies is nominated for 6 Oscars, including Best Picture, Best Actor in a Supporting Role (Mark Rylance), and Best Original Screenplay.

The American flag, the Soviet Flag, and some serious star power in-between. Nothing more is needed. 

The Big Short is nominated for 5 Oscars, including Best Picture, Best Actor in a Leading Role (Christian Bale), and Best Adapted Screenplay

So the houses represent the housing market and the dollar bills represent money and the water represents...um... Well, you don't need to know the tedious details of the film's subject, because the poster is cool and it has all these actors you love. 

The Revenant is nominated for 12 Oscars, including Best Picture, Best Actor in a Leading Role (Leonardo DiCaprio), and Best Actor in a Supporting Role (Tom Hardy)

Disheveled DiCaprio and a snowy forest. That's pretty much all you need to know about the movie. 

The Martian is nominated for 7 Oscars, including Best Picture, Best Actor in a Leading Role, and Best Achievement in Visual Effects

Like The Revenant, this poster relies on the face of an incredibly famous actor, along with an appearance (space helmet, to be precise) that conveys the general gist of the film. 

Room is nominated for 4 Oscars, including Best Picture, Best Actress in a Leading Role (Brie Larson), and Best Achievement in Directing 

It looks like a typical sweet tale about a mother and her son...until you notice how that sky has a corner. No, the titular Room isn't actually painted like that in the film, but the point is that Ma (Brie Larson) substitutes the real world for the confined space in which her son Jack (Jacob Tremblay) is raised. 

Carol is nominated for 6 Oscars, including Best Actress in a Leading Role (Cate Blanchett), Best Actress in a Supporting Role (Rooney Mara), and Best Achievement in Cinematography

Carol is completely and utterly centered on the romantic relationship between Carol (Cate Blanchett) and Therese (Rooney Mara), and so are all of the posters. Each of their faces are half-obscured, as if they complete each other.

Star Wars: The Force Awakens is nominated for 5 Oscars, including Best Achievement in Editing, Best Achievement in Music, Original Score, and Best Achievement in Visual Effects

It doesn't seem like legendary poster artist Drew Struzan (known for the previous Star Wars films) created this, but whoever did (probably a whole squad of Photoshop experts) clearly took inspiration from Struzan's work. There are plenty of familiar faces and starships to be found, but this poster rightfully puts the spotlight on the new characters, especially Kylo Ren (Adam Driver), Rey (Daisy Ridley), and Finn (John Boyega). 

Steve Jobs is nominated for Best Actor in a Leading Role (Michael Fassbender) and Best Actress in a Supporting Role (Kate Winslet)

Michael Fassbender stands in Steve Job's iconic pose, but rotated 90 degrees, indicating that we're seeing a different side of the Apple co-founder. 

The Danish Girl is nominated for 4 Oscars, including Best Actor in a Leading Role (Eddie Redmayne), Best Actress in a Supporting Role (Alicia Vikander), and Best Achievement in Production Design

Alicia Vikander and Eddie Redmayne stand intimately close to each other. The slight graininess of the poster sets the time of the mid-1920s. 

Sicario is nominated for Best Achievement in Cinematography, Best Achievement in Music, Original Score, and Sound Editing

Sicario has many great posters (including five amazing "Loteria Cards"), but this one is the most commonly used. Benicio del Toro, Josh Brolin, and other scary-looking armed men pose with Emily Blunt's head in the background. It can't be a coincidence that the barbed wire seems to be sprouting from her head, but what does it mean? 

The Hateful Eight is nominated for Best Actress in a Supporting Role (Jennifer Jason Leigh), Best Achievement in Cinematography, and Best Achievement in Music, Original Score

Eight mysterious figures walk up to a lodge. Who are they? Why are they here? This poster divulges nothing, but with the Tarantino name, you can bet that they won't be playing hopscotch. And no, that red splatter visible in the lower left corner isn't spaghetti sauce on your screen. 

Ex Machina is nominated for Best Achievement in Visual Effects and Best Original Screenplay

The title of the film is a bit ambiguous and the poster reveals little about the plot, but showcasing the film's most visually and psychologically complex character perfectly suffices as advertisement. A sexy female robot? Face it, that's every nerd's dream. 

Which poster is your favorite? Tell me in the comments, and feel free to subscribe.