Wow, there are a lot of movies I haven't heard of. And at least a few I'm really looking forward to. It's time for another poster-and-trailer extravaganza!

First, the Baby Mama poster hasn't really been released yet, but I came across this snapshot of the actual paper object. Cute. Is it April 25 yet?

Next, Smart People, featuring the smart and adorable person named Ellen Page (yeah, and Sarah Jessica Parker, too, but I find her less smart and less adorable, and occasionally less human).

This film debuts April 11. Here's the trailer: … continue reading

Brad Brevet of RopeOfSilicon.com recently compiled a list of the worst movie titles of all time. Of all time? That's ambitious. It actually seems to be just of the last 10 years or so. Here are some of his choices (he didn't really specify any criteria) and some of my additions.

1. The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants (2005)

Here's Brevet's take: "I realize how much little girls seem to love this film, and even some older girls as well, but to deny the fact that The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants is an awful title demands a smidge of insanity."

Nah, it's a great title! There are pants. And a sisterhood. And traveling. What could be more appealing? And all you have to do is see "America Ferrera" on the poster and the rest of the words disappear anyway. (Although I will admit that this is an easy title to pornify, which to me is an important consideration for titles. Don't call your movie Eyes Wide Shut if you don't want it to inspire Legs Wide Open.)

2. Thir13en Ghosts (2001)

Brevet says, "Substituting numbers for letters in a title is not cute, cool or scary." I totally concur. In fact, it's ugly, lame and off-putting.

3. Lucky Number Slevin (2006) … continue reading

It's movie poster time! (And you know what that really means: I'm too tired to actually write.)

First, Miss Pettigrew Lives for a Day:

The linster blogged about this one a while ago. In the poster, Frances McDormand doesn't really look shocked — more like intrigued. That could be wishful thinking on my part.

Next, Nim's Island:

I love the trailer and am looking forward to the movie, but why does Jodie Foster look so weird in the poster? Her face has been softened or something. I don't like it.

Next, Mercedes, which I hadn't heard of before today. … continue reading

The other day I was perusing new movie posters when I came across the first one-sheet for the upcoming Katherine Heigl film 27 Dresses. Writing in lieu of her body; that’s kind of clever. But then I thought, hey, haven’t I seen that somewhere else recently? And voila: the new poster for The Women.

Since everything old is new again, I thought I’d dig a little deeper. And voila, again. Take a look at the German poster for the 1955 Marilyn Monroe classic The Seven Year Itch. Gee, if I someone had only told me that words made such good clothing, I could have stopped going to the mall years ago.

Here's a look at some other poster-alikes by category. … continue reading

Yesterday Cinematical offered insight into what somebody has called the most embarrassing movie posters of all time. And it's true; they're enough to make you wonder a) who thought that was a good idea and b) how they managed to convince the person with the money that this was a good idea. Here are a few of the best (by which I mean campiest) to bring a little comic relief to a Friday.

One ever-popular subject is the sex-starved and/or man-hating woman. It's not enough to be a bad girl: The baddest bad Earth girl couldn't compete with the Devil Girl From Mars.

And here's a peek into some guy's worst nightmare. In The Ship of Condemned Women, hell hath no fury like “THE FURY OF 100 LOVE-STARVED WOMEN!” … continue reading

We all already know that the one-sheet for The Brave One is the Best. Jodie. Movie. Poster. Ever. But then I saw the Chinese poster and thought, “Hey, why did they replace Jodie Foster with Zac Efron’s 14-year-old blond cousin?”

After getting over my initial aversion to this airbrushed anomaly, I began to see the poster as a sentimental reminder of the tomboyish Jodie of yore. Remember her? She was all bell bottoms and skateboards and Shaun Cassidy hair. So adorable. So butch.

Which got me thinking about other famously butch movie posters. Which lead to research. Which led to the realization that, sadly, there aren’t that many butch/tomboyish images of women in film advertising. … continue reading

When I saw Hairspray last month, I was treated to the trailer for Across the Universe, Julie Taymor's new project. Taymor is best known for the Broadway smash The Lion King and for the movies Frida and Titus.

The press release describes Across the Universe as a "stunning love story set against the backdrop of the 1960s amid the turbulent years of anti-war protest, mind exploration and rock 'n' roll." It stars Evan Rachel Wood and Jim Sturgess as star-crossed lovers Lucy and Jude. And Wood looks much more like herself in this one (not that she could look less like herself than she did in that Marilyn Manson video).

The film flies from Liverpool to Greenwich Village to Detroit to Vietnam, following Lucy and Jude as they explore all the nooks and crannies of the counterculture. Their guides along the way are played by Bono and Eddie Izzard. (Sounds like a surefire way to get lost.) Throw in a soundtrack composed entirely of Beatles songs, plus Taymor's trademark flights of fancy — manifested in "a combination of live action and painted and three-dimensional animation" — and it promises to be trippy indeed. … continue reading

It seems to be a great time for women directors. They're currently earning critical and/or commercial success (e.g., Kasi Lemmons' Talk to Me and Sarah Polley's Away From Her). Not surprisingly, this celebration is accompanied by analysis of how little has actually changed. Women still have disproportionately few directing opportunities outside the realm of independent movies. As Terry Lawler, the executive director of New York Women in Film & Television, noted:

"While it's wonderful to see all these women getting recognition, we have had these moments before where a door seems to open, and then it turns out that the door doesn't lead anywhere."

And Academy Award–nominated director Jane Campion recently voiced a similar analysis (basically, "Men control all the money").

The subject is frustrating, but it warrants regular revisiting if things are ever going to change. And I'll do the one thing I can do: recognize some of the great women directors and their stereotype-shattering, groundbreaking movies. This list is far from exhaustive and does not include lesbian directors of lesbian movies. So please don't yell at me for excluding Angela Robinson and Rose Troche.

6. Ida Lupino, Not Wanted (1949)

Best known as a B-movie actress from the 1940s, Ida Lupino was also a prolific writer and director. She had already expanded from acting into production when the director of Not Wanted (aka Shame and Streets of Sin — how good does that sound?!) suffered a heart attack on the third day of filming. She took over as director and went on to a lengthy career in movie and television direction — including two episodes of Gilligan's Island! … continue reading

It's no secret that people get nostalgic for the past. You know, the good old days, when everything was simpler, life was slower, people were nicer, and even when they weren't, there was still a Lesson to be Learned. I've never felt that way, possibly because I was force-fed reruns of Leave It to Beaver at one point in my childhood. To me, "good old days" has always meant nosy neighbors, bad dresses forced on all the little girls, and story lines boring to the point of tears.

After a trip to Weirdomatic.com, I'll have to add one more to the list: The good old days were weird. And not a little disturbing. If you can tell something about a culture by looking at its advertising, what are these saying?

Tagline: "See a female colossus ... her mountainous torso, skyscraper limbs, giant desires!" Because there's nothing scarier than a large woman with larger "desires." (Also, I don't think she's wearing any underwear.) … continue reading

Entertainment Weekly recently issued a list of the 25 best action movies. I skimmed it so fast, I almost sprained something, because very few of the movies appealed to me. I'm just not big on big exploding things. There are exceptions, of course (like The Matrix and the original Star Wars trilogy), but I tend to prefer films in which character development prevails over plot development — or at least doesn't disappear entirely in a flaming fireball or a rain of bullets.

So here's my list of inaction movies. In these films, the fireworks occur inside the characters' heads. Maybe the characters talk a lot; or maybe they think a lot but say very little; or maybe they actually do a lot, but the doing is less important than how they feel about what they've done. Or maybe it's not so much about a lack of action as an abundance of brain activity. Or maybe I'm overthinking it. Nah! Anyway, here they are. (The quintessential inaction movie is, of course, My Dinner With Andre (1981), but I'm not including it here because, hello? No women.)

13. Clockwatchers (1998)
It's right there in the title: In this movie about temporary office workers, all the characters do is watch the clock and plan to prepare to get ready to change their lives. It's like 9 to 5 on quaaludes. But I can't think of four people I'd rather watch do nothing than Toni Collette, Parker Posey, Lisa Kudrow and Alanna Ubach (she also happens to be my favorite part of Legally Blonde). Don't miss Debra Jo Rupp (the mom from That '70s Show) as the paranoid, pernicious head of personnel.

The trailer even crows, "In a world where nothing ever happens ..." … continue reading

As Dorothy Snarker reminded us yesterday, in the land of recycled story lines, there is nothing new under the sun. I would add to that: Everything sacred to one generation of kids will eventually be ground into dust by remake machines for the next.

I take my 1980s dancing movies seriously, oh yes — leg warmers, tight pants, breakdancing, and all. There was Flashdance, with a baby-faced Jennifer Beals.

There was Dirty Dancing, the first one only, thank you. … continue reading

When I went to NewFest (New York's LGBT film fest) last month, one of the gayest things I saw was the Resident Evil: Extinction poster in the lobby. I mean, hello:

I'm not a big Milla Jovovich fan, and I don't even know if I'll see this movie — I'm still getting over the death of Michelle Rodriguez's character in the first Resident Evil flick. But I do enjoy the posters. Here's another, just released last week: … continue reading

The American Film Institute has revised its list of the 100 greatest movies of all time. I have to say I'm glad I wasn't on the "panel of experts." It was traumatic enough just tallying up your votes for the hot 100 — imagine actually trying to select the 100 best films from the universe of film based on your own so-called expertise. Jeez. (Technically, the experts chose the 100 best films from a pre-selected list of 400 movies, but let's not get picky.)

Anyway, my sympathy for the panel won't stop me from complaining about the list. Let's just start with the most obvious source of annoyance: Citizen Kane (1941) tops the list. Again.

Fine, fine. It's a great movie, I guess. I've seen it once and don't particularly care to see it again. The point is, where is the suspense? This movie is No. 1 on every list everywhere. Let's mix it up a little, eh? Give someone else a chance, Orson.

The Graduate (1967) is at No. 17. Why does everyone love this movie so much? I find it self-indulgent, misogynist and eye-roll–inducing. At least it's starting to fall out of favor: It was initially No. 7 on the list. Of course I admit that Anne Bancroft was phenomenal (and, incidentally, was only six years older than Dustin Hoffman). … continue reading

The twisted minds over at SomethingAwful.com have come up with a brilliant idea: giving classic movie posters the Grindhouse treatment. This means that the posters for otherwise respectable mainstream and indie films have been transformed to look like the salacious posters used to advertise 70s exploitation films.

Below are some of the films they feature.

Erin Brockovich = Pretty Woman, Part Deux?

… continue reading