Wednesday, July 29, 2015

05 Best Posters from Woody Allen Films

Woody Allen is one of the the busiest film directors and writers of our and our father's time. This guy is making movies from the year 1966! It's really been quite a remarkable journey of Mr. Allen. His movies are comic, weird and somewhat abnormal. Perhaps it would be easy to say that his movies are 'allenesque'. Like his movies, his movie posters have been quite minimalist and meaningful as well. It was quite a hard job to find out top 05 posters from the amount of artworks done for Allen's movie posters. But from all of those The Poster World found out best of the best 05 posters from this visionary yet peculiar maker. Here are those:

1. Bananas - 1971
'Banana or Arms?'
A regular guy from New York turns into a revolutionary in Latin America. Yes, even the log line sounds quite funny. The film is one of the funniest movies ever made. It is one of the primary works of Woody Allen, that actually made him quite famous around the film critics of the World. The poster is absolutely funny and gives a comic stripe like feel. The character (Allen himself) is holding weapons and bananas on different hands, with probable girlfriends beside him. There are also many characters behind them as we can see a real war like situation all around. A great juxtaposed poster!

2. Vicky Cristina Barcelona - 2008
'Close Frame Complex Relations'
One of the most critically and commercially successful films by Woody Allen. The film is all about weired but realistic human relations and psychology behind doing things about relation. Its a must-watch if you are in a fade up relation. The poster is simple and catchy. We can see three of our main characters of the film on a close frame. It actually means a lot of things rather easily. It questions the relation between these three characters, which is perhaps the basic 'what director wanted to say' of the film.  

3. You Will Meet a Tall Dark Stranger - 2010
'Poster without a Name'
The film is made with an ensemble cast (like many other movies by Allen) of Antonio Banderas, Josh Brolin, Anthony Hopkins, Gemma Jones, Freida Pinto, Naomi Watts and many many more. This film is all about faith and how relationships become complicated with the substance of faith. The poster is haunting as a female hand (mixed up with the outer white of the poster) closing on a head of a male. No name of the film! It's only possible on a Allen film.

4. Midnight in Paris - 2011
'Bit Bluish Paris'
Woody Allen with a time travel story. Yes, I know there is nothing to be shocked with this information. Because it's Woody Allen. A scriptwriter is in search of inspiration from the people of the past who inspired the whole generation of writers, but he is on an awkward situation with his yet to become wife and her family in the present time. On the poster we can see the writer character travelling through the bluish roads of Paris. The sky is filled with starry sky painting of Vincent Van Gogh, symbolizing the memories and nostalgia from past. The poster is cool and very very meaningful.    

5. Magic in The Moonlight - 2014
'Greenish' 
Colin Firth and Emma Stone. What a cast Allen has arranged. But the script actually was flawed and interrupted the motion of the movie. Though the poster of this film was quite fascinating and informative. Look at Emma Stone's hands. It's like she is trying to create some kind of spell. But the look of Firth is that he is not much convinced. The greenish background as well as fonts are spacious and interesting. All in all it's a very very good poster.  
 

Thursday, July 23, 2015

Passenger Discography in 06 Magnetic Album Covers

A band named Passenger actually emerged to British music arena on 2003, when a guy named Michael David Rosenberg teamed up with another guy named Andrew Phillips in a quite place in Britain named Brighton. As a multiple member band, at the year 2007 they released their first album by the name Wicked Men's Rest and that's it! They broke up afterwards. Rosenberg decided to make a single career and chose the stage-name 'Passenger' to break into the industry. Since then Rosenberg aka. Passenger rewrote the history of modern folk rock. His 06 albums are rich of folk or Indie rock tracks and generally have highly positive reviews around the World.

The Poster World would look into all the album artworks by Passenger (the solo Rosenberg one) as all of their artworks are hypnotic and bit surreal. Let's have fun with some amazing arts.

1. Wide Eyes Blind Love - 2009
Debut album by Passenger 'Wide Eyes Blind Love'
[Copyright-Passenger]
A crow is caught in the middle of a life and death situation. Crows have been a favorite subject for Mr. Rosenberg as on a later artwork he again used a crow. But look at this crow. Does Rosenberg meant himself as the crow as his songs of this album been bit depressing (though i didn't feel so)? There is a possibility he might be going through a transition with his career at that time and it reflected on the cover.

2. Divers and Submarines - 2010
Deep down the sea level
[Copyright-Passenger]
This cover is really amazing! Look at the color and all kinds of stuff from deep sea. The cover actually has the power to force you to buy the album, not a matter if you have or haven't heard previous albums. Mr. Rosenberg is an avid art enthusiast and he made sure that his cover should as soft and easy his songs. This super cool cover artwork really made me to write about the album covers of Passenger.

3. Flight of the Crow - 2010
Crow and Suitcases
[Copyright- Passenger, Inertia]
The start of the joint cooperation by David Rosenberg himself and brilliant artist Sarah Larnach, for all of the next album covers. You don't have to be a rocket scientist to understand the magical brilliance of this cover. It's just exquisite in every possible sense. Look at the shapes, colors and gravitational placements of those suitcases. Look at the big crow carrying a long grass or something like that. Even that unknown thing is colorful. The fonts of the artist name is same as the previous cover, but the placement of that name is great.

4. All the Little Lights - 2012
There are mysteries behind little lights
[Copyright- Black Crow]

Another beautiful work by Sarah Larnach. She says on her blog that, the real cover is not just a flat image, but it is made of 5 different painted layers and also outlines. The whole process generation for this cover art was inspired by the printmaking she did on her art school. There were also some extra papers with this album, where Larnach drew few lightening images, So all are not only little lights.

5. Whispers - 2014 
Whispers I
[Copyright- Black Crow]
This is probably one of the best album covers you would see in recent times. This whispering tells more and more than it actually shows. Larnach speaks out on her blog about the cover and says that Rosenberg came up with the idea at first and they cemented that idea with inspirational books from writers such as Blyton, Potter, Dick & Jane books. She also says that she got spoiled as she was working with such clever musicians who care about every aspect of their craft.

6. Whispers II - 2015
Whispers II
[Copyright- Black Crow]
Another classic cover by Sarah Larnach. It's the second edition of Whispers after the previous got huge acclaim worldwide. But this second edition was prepared to help the UNICEF by the profit margin of this album. The lady sitting on the bench was inspired by Larnach's own mother, who actually posed for this cover. Larnach wanted to make sure looks like 20. I am sure she is successful. Nice color, simple and beautiful artwork.   

Monday, July 20, 2015

14 Rocking Duran Duran Album Covers - Part 01

Duran Duran is one of the most influential and popular rock/pop band of not only UK, but also has fame among genuine pop lovers around the world. They were one of the most important bands of the MTV generated 'Second British Invasion' in Eighties. There are hints from different marketing point of view that they have sold more than 120 million records worldwide. Duran Duran was fashionable, free minded and liberal with nudity on their music videos. But they were also very ambitious as at that time they started shooting videos with 35 mm. They also established big screen projection on their concerts. Though the band's future was fading on late Nineties, they emerged gloriously and the old 5 members reunited big time. Still Duran Duran winning hearts of millions.

The Poster World would dig into all 14 studio albums by Duran Duran and their coming of age cover art works. On this first part we would discuss about their first 5 album covers from the self-titled debut album.

1. Duran Duran, 1981
Self-titled: Duran Duran
The first thing came to my mind after seeing this album cover was the famous poster of 'A Clockwork Orange'. May be it's bit inspired from that (or may be not). Fashion of Eighties is all over the band members look and dress up. They are standing, facing the camera with different style and trend of that time. Look at the red car and also the red background used. White and black dresses are really engaging a good chemistry. A regular classic cover.

2. Rio, 1982
Remember the lip of 'RIO'
Who is this girl anyway in the cover? This is my first impression after seeing the art work. An ever smiling face. A face you would fall in love easily. Obviously people felt in love with the music of the album. It became one the best British albums ever on different polls. It became so famous that even after thirty plus years the album was seen in a recent release of Tom Cruise named Oblivion. The cover is haunting yet keeping some mysteries on that smile.

3. Seven and the Ragged Tiger, 1983
Tiger based 'Seven and the Ragged Tiger' 
Not only it's a tiger themed album, the cover of it is also quite inspired by tigers. We can see tiger's parts on different corners of the album. The album name originally came from the idea that there are 5 members and 2 managers, so it would be seven and the ragged tiger is the other name of success. The album design also get inspired by these ideas, though the managers are not present on the cover. Or may be they are present by some symbols.  

4. Notorious, 1986
Bit gay cover of 'Notorious'
Inspired by the great film director Alfred Hitchcock and his movie names (like Notorious), this is Duran Duran's fourth album saw the light of a release after many difficulties surrounding the membership of the band. The cover art emphasized on only three members of that time excluding couple of former members. Though their look looks bit gay but in Eighties this cover was probably a super cool stuff.

5. Big Thing, 1988
Look at the Color and font size of 'Big Thing'
One of the big reasons behind the name 'Big Thing' is probably the big change in Duran Duran's musical pattern. In late Eighties the total musical scenario was changing, as more of a groove based ones, dance based music was becoming popular. Duran Duran chose that path and this decision in future would cause a fatal outcome. The font is not attractive at all on this cover. Colors are good but doesn't give a single information about the album. A below average cover in my opinion.

(To be continued)  

Tuesday, July 14, 2015

Best Film Posters of 2015 - Part 1

This year has been a rocking year for cinema, though we haven't seen week and week out box-office successes but it is a good year for independent cinemas as 2014 was like a golden year for Indies. New films are coming with new ideas, and obviously with some genuinely creative and artistic posters.

The Poster World would provide you a monthly update on best cinema posters of the year 2015 from now. When the year ends, we will be judging top 10 cinema posters of this year. So, let's have a bright start.

1. Trainwreck (2015)
Director- Judd Apatow
Cast- Tilda Swinton, Bill Hader, Brie Larson
'Trainwreck'

Yes, this is from the guy who brought you the super cool 'Bridesmaids'. Of course you know it by the upper text of the poster. You can also see the drunk girl who doesn't want her picture should be taken. The guy behind her is wondering what is he doing with her. Haven't seen the movie, but can have an idea about the story already by this colorful and meaningful poster. As I mentioned color, the use of yellow is just awesome. It blends well with the character wearing the same color by obviously not a coincidence.   



2. Unfriended (2015)
Director- Levan Gabriadze
Cast- Shelley Hennig, Renee Olstead 
'Unfriended'
This film has been one of the most successful films of 2015. It was made on a tiny budget of 1 Million $ and had a gross business of 50 Million. The posters of this film are quite simple and not over done anyway. Here, on the given poster we see a Skype like window where including calling and video chat option there is another one of a Revolver sign and it's blood red. Simply it tells the story. Yes, good posters are those who tell the the story by not saying much. Few of the other posters of this film including this one went viral on Internet and you can understand now it helped the marketing purpose.     



3. The Hundred Year-old Man Who Climbed Out of The Window & Disappeared (Swedish- HundraƄringen som klev ut genom fƶnstret och fƶrsvann) (2015)
Director- Felix Herngren
Cast- Robert Gustafsson
'The Hundred Year-old Man Who Climbed Out of The Window & Disappeared'
This Swedish film was also made in a small budget and became a global hit like 'Unfreinded'. We can not quite question the success as the posters are good and humble. There is a certain simplicity on the poster. Colors, fonts, signs, the regular background, wooden floor and the character wearing an elephant mask, handling a bomb-like thing are all expressing one thing I mentioned on previous line- simplicity.      


4.  Welcome to Me (2015)
Director- Shira Piven
Cast- Kristen Wiig, James Marsden, Linda Cardellini
'Welcome to Me'
The poster of this film is quite simple, the lady in sunglass is with an umbrella on a shiny day, a boom is trying to reach her, as a swan is going somewhere in front of her by the lake. The white swan is more significant than the character! That's a bit weired, but it actually tells a lot. Is it trying to tell us something about being posh or rich? You have to watch the film to be sure.    

5.  Ex Machina (2015)
Director- Alex Garland
Cast- Domhnall Gleeson, Alicia Vikander, Oscar Isaac 
'Ex Machina'
'Ex Machina' has been one of the best movies of 2015. The film is really haunting and wonderfully made as a low tone sci-fie. The posters used for this movie is well made and emphasized mainly on the protagonist- the robot with a female body and probably with emotions too. Poster of the movie above is the teaser poster came out long before the release of the movie. The skeleton gives us an impression about what we are up to. Yes, by the upper portion of the machine, we can be sure it's all about a female robot. 

Tuesday, July 7, 2015

06 Strange Album Covers by Iron & Wine

Iron & Wine is not a band as we understand bands. It's a one man band like many others on Western music arena. Samuel 'Sam' Beam is an American singer-song writer who came to fame with his debut album 'The Creek Drank The Cradle'. His composition and voice are different compared to many contemporary artists and greatly influenced by the legendary artists like 'Simon & Garfunkel' and 'Nick Drake'. Till now Iron & Wine has 6 studio albums, 2 compilations, 3 live albums and many singles.

Iron & Wine album covers are weired and has a sheer expressionist touch. They don't want to say much and give a deep inside image of artist's mind and manner. The Poster World presents to you 'really really strange' album covers of 06 studio albums by Iron & Wine.       

01. The Creek Drank The Cradle - 2002

'The Creek Drank The Cradle'
This acclaimed debut album of Iron & Wine was released on a cardboard sleeve, where a reddish tree was painted at the left corner and beside the tree the artist and album name was printed. The whole composition is bit nihilist and also gives an impression of low-tone country-like folk music album.   

02. Our Endless Numbered Days - 2004

'Our Endless Numbered Days'
There is a song in the Album named 'Passing Afternoon', where the lyrics is something like- "There are things that drift away like our endless, numbered days." OK! A certain duality on the album named inspired by a beautiful soothing song from the album. On the album cover, we can see a Mr. Beam look-alike person is sleeping (or maybe only his eyes are closed) on a bed of grass. There are indications of a calm and serene philosophy behind the album design. To me it's a very good match with the music Iron & Wine generates.   

03. The Shepherd's Dog - 2007

'The Shepherd's Dog'
The third album cover by Iron & Wine is more simplistic compared to two of the previous albums. A dog is painted with a purple reddish tone in front of yellow background and it seems like the dog is looking at something or someone with eagerness. One of the track of this album was used on the Hollywood film 'Twilight'. No, I still can't get a reason behind using a dog on the cover.  

04. Kiss Each Other Clean - 2011

'Kiss Each Other Clean'
Yes, Mr. Beam is sinking (or up to his knee only) on the water, standing in front of large unearthly peacocks and hills. It is enough to make this cover a good one. But what makes the cover of the album unique is it's ghost like look and dream like subtleness. Album songs have similar characteristics. 

05. Ghost on Ghost - 2013

'Ghost on Ghost'
The fifth album of Iron & Wine by the name of 'Ghost on Ghost' probably has the most realistic cover of all other albums by them. Obviously we can see a close enough couple hanging out to some corner. But the whole incident (or only the significant portion) is locked on a larger than life frame. On a tiny space the names were printed. The whole composition seems like an Epitaph. OK... now we can relate it with ghost. Yes!     

06. Sing into My Mouth - 2015

'Sing into My Mouth'
The album is a cooperation of Iron & Wine with rock singer Ben Bridwell, who is famous for his band 'Band of Horses'. Again, this cover is a painting. I guess the guy on right is Bridwell, as he looks the same these days and he is comment clouding something. Let me think, it's 'Cheers!'. The album is releasing on 17th July, 2015.

Wednesday, July 1, 2015

Paolo Sorrentino Films on 07 Great Posters

Paolo Sorrentino may not be the most familiar name you have heard in cinema, but there is a possibility that you have already watched his 2013 masterpiece 'The Great Beauty'. Sorrentino started his career as a screen writer, but within 15 years of full length feature career he established himself as one of the pioneer of new Italian cinema. Italy has always been the place for master filmmakers, and Sorrentino is actually continuing the age old tradition. His most recent film 'Youth', starring Michael Caine was recently screened on Cannes film festival.

The Poster World presents to you all 07 of his film posters from start to the latest one.

1. One Man Up (L'uomo in piĆ¹) - 2001   
'One Man Up'
The grand directorial debut of Paolo Sorrentino, also his first feature film venture with actor Toni Servillo. The film depicts story of two parallel lives, one of a pop singer and another one is of a footballer who's career is cut short by injuries. The poster shows a bald Mr. Servillo gazing at some corner with a band aid on his forehead. Rich blend of red behind the character makes a powerful composition with obviously the white dotted shirt Mr. Servillo wearing. 
  
2. The Consequence of Love (Le conseguenze dell'amore) - 2004
'The Consequence of Love'
Second venture of Paolo Sorrentino tells a story of a lone businessman, who lives in a Swiss hotel room and story reaches different heights through him. Toni Servillo plays the protagonist along with actress Olivia Magnani. Poster shows a long escalator with a man. A certain loneliness is allover the composition. Obviously it gives us an indication of the character as well as the film. 

3. The Family Friend (L'amico di famiglia) - 2006
'The Family Friend'
This feature film by Sorrentino introduce us to Gicomo Rizzo starred character Geremia, a repulsive man obsessed with landing money from others. All of the Sorrentino movies hold a certain solitude allover the poster. This one also is not out of that criteria. We see a face half shown and half covered by a bandage like cloth. So how could we see the eyes and nose? It's another half! Ok... I'm weak on math.
  
4. Il Divo - 2008
'Il Divo'
Il Divo is a 2008 biographical film, tells us the story of one of the most talked about politician and former Italian Prime MInister Giulio Andreotti. This is another film poster od Sorrentino where we can't see the full face of the protagonist character. Looks like the character is standing on some kind of witness box or something, wearing a dark suit. Yes, this poster also consists loneliness.
 
5. This Must Be The Place - 2011
'This Must Be The Place'
'This Must Be The Place' is the first English venture of Paolo Sorrentino. This Sean Penn starred film tells us the story of a retired pop singer, who is trying to return to the music arena again. The poster is quite straight cut, as we see Mr. Penn, and his look and expression gives us an impression on how the character could turn out to be.    

6. The Great Beauty (La grande bellezza) - 2013
'The Great Beauty'
Probably the best film by Paolo Sorrentino. 'The Great Beauty' participated on the competition for prestigious Palme d'Or. Later the film won Oscar from Best Foreign Film category. Story is about one time novelist Jep Gambardella, who is at the age of 65, still searching for the great beauty, the inspiration for his next novel. The poster of 'The Great Beauty' is astounding and again depicts loneliness of the colorful character. It also gives us an indication of the presence of Italian culture and tradition on this film.
    
    
7. Youth - 2015
'Youth'
Paolo Sorrentino directed 'Youth' is the second English language movie by Sorrentino, starring the great Michael Caine, Rachel Wiesz and Paul Dano. The story is about a retired orchestra conductor on a trip to Alps with his daughter. The poster of this film is probably character wise the most dense poster of his films. There are three different characters! It's quite unbelievable for a Sorrentino film. The poster also gives us a certain indication of passing holidays with certain 'Youth'!