Laz Picks the Best of 2007 (so far)

Following suit with Paul's post, I decided to Add some of my personal favorite movie poster designs to the mix. I would have included my list for horrible posters, but Paul pretty much covered them all with pure accuracy.. That Bratz poster is seriously a design demon spawn from design satan. So here are my picks:



American Crime
What I love about this poster is that it's really simple, especially for a film that includes two of indie's big stars right now. You would expect some crazy star sell, big head in the sky design, but the agency behind this one took a much more dramatic approach. The tagline is great and really gets me curious about the story. Just the contrast between the stark, hard look of Keener's eyes to the incredibly tragic, crying eyes of Page make me really feel the intensity of this film right off the bat.



Vacancy
Another example of how great a design can be when a studio doesn't force a huge star sell. I felt that this poster took what could have been a very generic, boring horror film poster and made it interesting and filled with a stylistic mood. You don't want to stay in that hotel. I love that the type is an incorporation with the overall visuals.



Bug
The less used poster of the two created by this design studio, this poster really jumped out at me. It's a very different composition for a movie like this, and although I'm not a fan of the shot (or any shot of Judd) being used, I feel the design of this bug is extremely elaborate. I love the monochromatic color pallate and the typography on the poster very much. It all works very cohessively and takes some risks in terms of the standards of one-sheets.



Year of the Dog
Where usually I dont find that this hand-drawn/photo incorporation works, this poster seems to do it right. I think it captures the film's idea very well and does a great graphic representation of the isolation and difference that our main character feels. I think the illustration aspect is very interesting and i love all of the cartoon representations of the film's stars. Very fun.



Mr. Brooks
This poster, as much as I initially wanted to hate it for being centralized and star sell, continues to wrap me up. Which means it's doing its job. Where this poster works for me, is the fantastic little square seperation detail. That really triggers the "hidden side/evil" aspect of the film and does it in a very graphic way that comes across clear, but looks fantastic. it allows for a typical star sell design to really stand out and catch the eye.



The Invasion
If there's simply one reason why this one is on my picks list it's this: It's fraggin creepy. This teaser does it's job of really giving me the chills through the sheer handwritten note tagline. It's mysterious and gets me curious about the film.



Good Luck Chuck
I saw this poster for the first time a couple of days ago and really fell in love with it. It breaks the rules of one-sheets in so many ways that it's almost hard not to appreciate it. First of all, the crop of that image is perfect, and the treatment they used is really fantastic. I love the low use of saturation on the poster and i love the simple usage of type to get the message across. It really is pretty funny and brilliant.



Fido
Simply put, this is just a great piece of design. I love the colors, love the logo, love the treatment to the photo. And i really appreciate how they laid out all of those press quotes. They make the design unique and powerful, and it's not often that a poster has incorporated the pull quotes as a working device in a one-sheet. So bravo to them.



Grindhouse: Planet Terror
Of all of the posters released for this film (which seems like a gazillion), this one really popped for me. The treatment gives it a natural grindouse/pulp feel, which takes the viewer back instantly.. but not too much where it looks outdated. The poster has a real sense of forward moving pulp style and utilizes that fantastic, modern photo of the heroine. Love the running mascara and the wide eyed look on her face. The yellow background is perfect and compliments the other colors fantastically. And c'mon, that tagline.. jeez...



Premonition
Now this is what it's all about. I distinctly remember being with Shalimar when i first saw this poster and I remember us both loving it instantly. This poster was definetly the standout for 2007 so far. Not only was it risky (attempting to not use Sandra Bullock's huge, photographed noggin), but it was a really ambitious design. It still boggles me that they managed to recreate Bullock's face (and accurately) with the placement of branches and flying birds. I think it was fantastically executed, gave the film a mood and mystey, and helped make a leap toward more forward moving design-ery choices in the way one-sheets are conceived. I love this one to death.. the studio rocked it.