Somewhere

Jason Kottke beat me to it (indirectly), but the annual IMP (Internet Movie Poster) Awards are almost here; nominations will be announced next week. Along with this annual mini-event, a few "best movie posters of 2010" lists have appeared as well. Both First Showing.net (which I read a few times a week) and Mubi (a site I'd never heard of previous to Jason's post) have published their lists now and, while different, showcase some nice eye-candy.

The poster I've selected above may not be my favourite of the year -- I don't imagine I have one; I don't follow movie posters all that closely, but as you can see from this site, they do seem to catch my eye often enough! -- but the retro, lomo -feel of Sofia Coppola's Somewhere poster is really impressive I think. I don't know what else to say about it really, but I love the balance, the general feel of the image, the way the building is poking over the trees, the font treatment... it's just really caught my eye (and I don't know the first thing about the film!).

Regarding top-10 lists (a follow-up):
I realize that posting about a new set of top-10 lists within a week of my previous linkage to an editorial about how top-10 lists are silly seems bizarre, but like Matthew's comment to my previous post says, how else can we weed through the incredible amount of data (numerical, graphical, audible, etc.) that is out there in today's world without having someone point us in "the right direction"? Now, your "right direction" and my "right direction" may be two totally different directions, but if I know that I like a lot of things that you do, then why wouldn't I want to know what else you like? And, if I don't have time to explore everything else that you like, why wouldn't I want to know what you like best?  And second best?  And go from there? 

For anyone who has ever (seriously) made a top-10 list of their own, about something they're passionate about, you know that it takes far more time and effort and consideration that one might think looking only at the end result. Yes, in the end you have a list of ten items, preceeded by the numbers one-to-ten written out, but you've likely considered tens if not hundreds of items (and all the nuances of those items) before settling on this final list. Same goes for making a quality mix-tape/cd; in the end you have ~20 tracks grouped together, but you've likely pulled those songs from a collection of hundreds, if not thousands, of potential songs.

Should everything be distilled down into a top-10 list? Obviously not. But do they have their place? Certainly I think they do... and I'm both a supporter and an author of such things.

» Found at:  IMP Awards for 2010

Quotes

Society6 is an organization that helps artists by producing, packaging and shipping their art out to buyers so they, the artists, can "focus on creating more art"  Something of a 'full service' eCommerce site for the arts community I guess.

Unfortunately, I don't remember where I found out about 37 Posters by Jerod Gibson, but he has a really great series of movie posters going which features an iconic silhouette of something (or someone) from the film, inside of which are a collection of memorable quotes.  Much like a word cloud, the more well-known the quote, the larger and more prominently placed it is on the poster.

Other than the one shown above, my favourites are probably: the Goonies and Ghostbusters.

» Found at: 37 Posters @ Society6

Soap

Adam Sidwell has challenged himself to create a new illustration of a "bad dude" each week in 2010. These range from video game villains to movie baddies to television evil doers. Regardless of where the inspiration comes from, the artwork itself is top notch.

The image above is from Fight Club and, if you've seen the movie, you'll notice subtle clues that connect the two images ... which tells me that the artist doesn't just grab any ol' scoundrel and draw them up; there is some good thought put into each piece.

» Found at: 52 Bad Dudes (Tumblr)

Droids

Sure, these movies might have come out 25-30 years ago, but it doesn't mean someone can't create beautiful art in honour of them. Illustrator Andy Helms has created a trilogy of posters for the original Star Wars trilogy of movies and I think they're just incredible, especially as a series of three posters. As if the artwork itself wasn't enough, he's selected the perfect title for each image:

• You're Our Only Hope (Star Wars: A New Hope)
• Never Tell Me The Odds (The Empire Strikes Back)
• Fully Armed and Operational (Return of the Jedi)

Each poster is/was available for purchase through the artist's Etsy store (click on the titles above for ordering information and a closer look at each poster).

» Found at: Sparkwood & Twenty-One (LiveJournal)