James Bond U.S. Poster Rankings: No. 18

We are now squarely in the midst of domestic one-sheet posters that aren't necessarily bad or poor representations of the film they are promoting, but they most certainly aren't good either.

 

 

18. Die Another Day

There really isn't much to critique here.  It is a slanted headshot of James Bond and Jinx pointing their guns ... at ... something.  What makes the imagery even remotely interesting is the blue hue of coloring and the fuzziness of the background.  I'm not sure if the picture was created in a way to make it seem like Bond and Jinx are plummeting at an intense rate of speed as they aim their weapons at something below or was simply used to make it look "cool" (and if you've seen Die Another Day, I did mean that as a pun).

 

Halle Berry, who plays Jinx and had just won an Academy Award for Best Actress in Monster's Ball, was obviously going to be a focal point in the promotion of the film, not that she wouldn't have been anyway.  She is Halle Berry.  I mean, just look at that gorgeous woman.  It also was common for the Bond girls to be seen on the posters throughout the entirety of the series.  So no surprise there that she is placed along side Bond.

 

 

This is the U.S. International one-sheet, which it is almost identical to the U.S. teaser poster, only changing out a bit of wording at the bottom.  To me, this poster is a much more buzz-worthy piece of artwork than the theatrical one-sheet at the top.  The smoking gun melting into the ice cube does a great job of combining both the film's theme and a sense of excitement and adventure.  It is a much more clever poster than Bond and Jinx (maybe) flying through the air pointing guns at unknown threats.

James Bond U.S. Poster Rankings: No. 19

A theme that repeats itself in the first three art pieces for Pierce Brosnan's work as British superspy James Bond is that action scenes from the film are scattered across the page with the Bond girls making sexy eyes with the viewer.  This is nothing new to the 007 film franchise and its marketing department, but it does get dull after the first two or three.

 

 

19. Tomorrow Never Dies

This is the middle of those three films.  Trying to stand out from the other two Brosnan posters, this one includes two shots of the antagonist, played by Welsh thespian Jonathan Pryce, which are carbon copied images of each other placed in the upper corners of the frame.  The designer may have been trying to send some sort of subliminal message with this decision to use the same photo twice, but I'm not sure what it is.  Maybe it is the duality of a character having (at the time) been portrayed by five different actors in a series that had chugged along for more than three decades battling a media mogul who was attempting to manipulate audiences into fear while at the same time the film's producers were cashing in on the same concepts of its heroes actions in cinemas internationally.  As Ted "Theodore" Logan would say, "Whoa!"

 

There really isn't a better poster for Tomorrow Never Dies.  Instead the marketing department simply jumbled the images around and changed the color scheme for the U.S. international one-sheet.

 

 

I know.  It's not very exciting either.  While neither poster is awful, both aren't that great either.  It's just sort of a meh design.

This Makes Me Cry

According to JoBlo.com:

 

Alright Millennials, it looks like you have won. With the announcement that Paramount will promote cell phone use in certain screenings of Terminator: Genisys, the sanctity of the movie theater is dead. With the streaming and  OnDemand markets infringing on box office revenue, studios are searching for whatever avenues they can to keep butts in seats. This latest ploy may push cinema fans away while bringing the social butterflies of the world out in droves.

The game will be playable via a closed WiFi network at IMAX screenings of Terminator: Genisys in New York, Los Angeles, San Francisco, and Boston. The current test will only happen at AMC theater locations. The game puts players into the role of Resistance fighters. They will be randomly placed into four teams and fight Terminators in gameplay set at three different settings in the film. The winning team at each showing will get a collectible Terminator: Genisys poster. The app and game are completely free. The current game model will play from July 1st through 3rd.

Audience Entertainment CMO Adam Cassels had this to say about the game.

“This is a true breakthrough for the movie industry. Video games are a multi-billion dollar industry, and merging that with the movies in a way that’s interactive, fun and truly memorable is a very exciting proposition for an industry seeking to innovate. This breakthrough may be equally exciting for the video game industry. The movies offer the very best in screen and sound while providing audiences with a first of its kind, collective, in-person gaming experience.”

While this is just a test run for the concept of tying a game directly into the screening of a film, I am sure this will become more and more common. It is important to note that while this game is not going to be played during the film itself, I am sure that is not far off in the minds of those developing these ideas. Movie theaters are designed to be a place to see a film on a big screen in silence and darkness. Like a stage play, bringing cell phones and other distractions pulls away from the immersive experience of the film rather than enhancing it.

You can find the original article here.

 

James Bond U.S. Poster Rankings: No. 20

In trouble of contradicting myself from yesterday's post regarding my stance on simplicity being superior, today's featured poster suffers from being too plain.

 

 

20. Skyfall

Utilizing the gun barrel seen in nearly every opening sequence of a 007 movie, Skyfall follows up the Quantum of Solace poster featuring two characters walking and minimizes it to Bond himself.  I'd like to describe what it is I don't care for regarding the image above, but there really is nothing to criticize, which is exactly the problem.  It is just Daniel Craig in a suit walking toward us with a glossy version of the gun barrel sequence surrounding him.

 

Both the Quantum of Solace and Skyfall posters were neck and neck coming into this competition, and while the contrast in colors found in the Quantum of Solace one-sheet is certainly more pleasing to the eye than Skyfall, I gave the edge to Craig's third film because it played on the history of the film series by using the gun barrel.  That was a small factor that ended up giving it a slight edge.

 

There were not a lot of different posters used for the marketing of Skyfall.  Other than character photos, the only other poster that differed from the above was this:

 

 

This is the quad poster that was found in the United Kingdom.  It isn't necessarily better than the U.S. one-sheet, but it at least shows a little life and color.

James Bond U.S. Poster Rankings: No. 21

If I have to choose between two pieces of artwork that is supposed to market a film best, I will always err on the side of putting too much on the page than not enough.  While simplicity can certainly enhance the buzz factor for a movie, most of the time when there is very little to look at in a teaser or theatrical poster it just comes off as boring and uninspired.  That is why you will notice that most of the works I have near the bottom of my list for best American one-sheet poster in the James Bond franchise are characterized as lazy and lifeless.  The poster that comes in at 21 is a perfect example.

 

 

21. Quantum of Solace

I'm not sure what I'm supposed to take away from this poster, but seeing two disheveled characters walking in the desert doesn't do much in the way of provoking hysteria.  The location isn't exotic at all, Bond and the femme fatale are about as unglamorous as you can get, and the only hint of adventure in the photo is so small and insignificant, it makes you wonder whether the movie is actually going to include any action at all.

 

The only thing saving this poster from being at the very bottom of the list is the contrast between the dark and light of Bond and Camille's clothing and the desert setting they are strolling through.  While I'm not particularly fond of this poster, it is markedly better than the teaser that came months before it.

 

The shadow of an iconic movie character isn't original and it certainly isn't exciting.  There are plenty of examples through history of the shadow being utilized on posters.  The only time I can really remember that it worked well was nearly a decade before Quantum of Solace, and the only reason it was successful for that movie was because fans had been waiting more than 15 years to see the next installment in one of the most popular film series of all time.

 

The marketing department for Quantum of Solace didn't do too much to create different posters throughout the world.  It really is pretty much the same image throughout the entire world.  I did find this poster from China that is a slight improvement on the original.

 

Adding just a little bit of color to the sky isn't a great improvement on an already disappointing poster, but it does help.  Plus, anything with Chinese characters is better.

James Bond U.S. Poster Rankings: No. 22

We've seen an example of a boring poster from the James Bond film series (Licence to Kill) and one that is too busy to be of high-quality work (The Spy Who Loved Me).  The next entry in the series does a good job of mixing action, sex appeal, and characters in the artwork, but it doesn't stand out as belonging to the 007 movie franchise like some of the other posters we will see in this series.

22. The World is not Enough
Against a white background is the dominant image of Pierce Brosnan as our hero, holding his gun ready for action, and directly below him are the main Bond girls in some sensuous poses.  Surrounding them is a muted headshot of villain Renard in the top left corner and some of the stunt work that will be seen in the movie.

There is nothing particularly bad about this one-sheet poster, but like I said before, it just doesn't really do much in the way of getting the viewer amped to see the film.  The poster from the United Kingdom suffers from what the U.S. poster for The Spy Who Loved Me did, which is it has too much going on.

I think of all the posters I have found, I like the U.S. one-sheet theatrical the most, which is the first image above.  But I do like the teaser as well.

I happen to own this poster, but it is sitting in my closet with other posters that don't get displayed due to the hierarchy of framed artwork I have going on in my living room.  The simplicity of the poster above is what I like about it.  I do wish instead of the girl's image being made up of fire and Bond being a silhouette, they would have taken the theme from the movie and photographed the female's body in oil like in the opening credits.  The female's silhouette would have looked similar to this:

Had the teaser poster been made up of Bond's image and the background being the fire and the female looked something like above, that would have been quite a stark image and could have built a little more buzz.  However, the movie did make $126 million in the United States, making it the fifth highest grossing production in the series (not adjusted for inflation; 11th when adjusted), so I guess they did something okay.

James Bond U.S. Poster Rankings: No. 23

The second in our series of the domestic one-sheet posters of the James Bond series is an extremely popular entry in the series as a film.  Being the ninth sequel (making it the tenth overall for all you Mensa flunk outs), the Bond producers wanted an extravagant, over-the-top movie.  Maybe they should have carried that mentality over into the poster design.

 

 

23. The Spy Who Loved Me

The artwork for The Spy Who Loved Me is about as much of an opposite from our first entry in the series, Licence to Kill, as you can get.  It is colorful, shows some of the action and locations that the movie will feature, and includes a sexy look at Bond girl Barbara Bach.  However, the problem this poster has is that it is too much of everything.  There is just too much going on in the frame.

 

Also, if you've seen the movie, you will know that the poster could give away a fun spoiler.  While nearly 40 years later it is an iconic point in the series, at the time had unknown audiences gasping/cheering.  Again, for those who haven't seen the movie I don't want to ruin anything, but looking closely at the poster would somewhat ruin the surprise/unveil of a certain action scene.

 

Although the poster isn't a complete failure, for the tenth movie in the series where the main focus was to go big or go home, this poster is a bit of a let-down.  And finding a better poster from anywhere around the world wasn't any easier.

 

 

The Japanese poster is similar to the United States one-sheet in that it provides plenty of action and even more sex appeal, but it also gives away the same spoiler-ish item from the first poster.  But I don't know if spoiler issues were as prevalent in 1977 as they are in today's Internet/social media world.  It is unlikely that moviegoers stood in the theater, combing over every minor detail of the poster like people do today online.

 

Overall, the marketing and art departments didn't do so well with The Spy Who Loved Me, which according to the U.S. one-sheet was labeled the biggest and the best.  It's Bond ... and B-E-Y-O-N-D.  What does that even mean?

James Bond U.S. Poster Rankings: No. 24

When a new James Bond movie is being filmed, my anticipation for the next installment in the series grows intensely.  I get into an agitated state the closer to the film's release we get.  Eventually it gets to a point where all I want to do is watch, listen, talk, think, breath, and unconsciously be 007.  So while you may not care one iota about the James Bond film franchise, I do, and therefore since this is pretty much my blog (and by that I mean "this is my blog") I am going to find any way possible to write about my hero of the silver screen.  I'm sorry if you don't like it, but to not like James Bond is to not like me.  Okay, that might be a little harsh.  But if you truly have no interest in James Bond or movie posters, then the next 24 posts are going to bore you immensely.  I would suggest you take a break from my website and come back in about a month's time.  All three of you.

 

To begin with, this series will focus on the posters of the James Bond series.  Now, I have had to set a few parameters with this because in the world of movie marketing it is very common to see numerous posters and other artwork promoting a film to be released.  And that doesn't even take into account the fan-made artwork that can be found on the Internet.  So, for the purposes of this series, I am limiting the posters I have ranked to only the one's found in theaters throughout the United States.  And even after whittling down the criteria to domestic posters only, I had to narrow it down a little further because there are not only different styles of posters (usually labeled Style A and Style B), but there are also the theatrical release and teaser posters (just like with movie trailers).  Even with the most recent movie in the series that is currently filming, Spectre, a poster was created to tease the announcement of the title.  Then a teaser poster was released.  And we are currently awaiting the theatrical poster to be unveiled.  It is getting a bit outlandish when it comes to the overhype it takes to release a movie nowadays.

 

For the purposes of this series of posts, I will be ranking the James Bond one-sheet posters that were released in the U.S., are not teaser posters, fan-made publications, or some other type of special-edition artwork, and when having to narrow it down between two or three posters that all fit the criteria of a one-sheet U.S. theatrical poster, I have picked the more popular piece that would be recognized by not only 007 aficionados, but also casual moviegoers as well.  Let's unveil our first, and lowest ranked, poster.

 

 

24. Licence to Kill

Poor Licence to Kill.  It has so many things going against it.  It stars one of the least popular Bonds.  The Bond girls, villain, and henchmen are commonly overlooked or forgotten altogether when reflecting on the series as a whole.  The action was considered to be too violent at the time for a 007 picture.  And the movie overall was outmatched at the box office in the summer of 1989 by other action blockbusters like Batman, Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade, Lethal Weapon 2, The Abyss, and Star Trek V: The Final Frontier.

 

But can you really blame anyone in 1989 for wanting to go see the third installment in the wildly popular Indiana Jones series, the second buddy-cop pairing of Riggs and Murtaugh, or the follow-up film from a director who made The Terminator and Aliens?  And the image above comes nothing close to this in creating buzz about an upcoming feature:

 

 

While it seems normal in today's world for a comic book film to be big business, in 1989 that was not the case.  Yet, with the help of the simple, but slick, image above, Batman became the highest-grossing film of the year.  The Batman poster was a huge success and has become an iconic image in Hollywood and comic book circles since.

 

So what is wrong with the poster from Licence to Kill that makes it come in last place on my rankings?  Like many near the bottom of my list, it simply is boring.  Besides an unknown explosive fireball coming up from the bottom of the frame and Timothy Dalton's Bond standing with a gun pointed at the viewer, nothing else really sells the movie as being dangerous or adventurous, which is what a big part of the James Bond series is.  It does include the two Bond girls from the film, but even that seems to be a mistake as the image used feels like a last-minute addition that the publicity department stuck on there from an unused marketing photo that was going to show up in a Vanity Fair piece about "The Women in James Bond's Life."

 

The poster just doesn't do much in the way of getting me excited about the movie.  It doesn't provide anything in the way of possible action that will be seen in the movie and it isn't sexy enough to entice the other parts of my reasoning for liking the Bond series.  It's just an underwhelming piece of artwork.

 

For the final portion of this entry in the series, I will post my favorite poster from Licence to Kill, with no restrictions other than that it isn't fan made.  My favorite poster from the 16th picture of the 007 series is the U.S. one-sheet teaser.

 

 

It is still a weak marketing piece overall, but the undone bowtie and tagline sell the movie a bit more than the theatrical poster from above.

Today In 'Have You Ever Considered'

The title of this post makes you think this will be a recurring series that brings to the forefront different social and/or theological ideas that seem to get ignored, but really it's just something I realized and was wondering if anyone else ever thought about it.  While reflecting on Back to the Future the other day, it dawned on me that Marvin Berry and the Starlighters would probably not have been invited to be the house band for Hill Valley High School's Enchantment Under the Sea Dance.

 

 

With segregation laws the way they were in 1955, blacks and whites didn't mingle together much.  Such racist laws and conventions are even eluded to in the film when the town's future black mayor of 1985, Goldie Wilson, states in 1955 that he is going to become mayor.  His white boss at the time responds, "A colored mayor!  That'll be the day!"

 

Blacks weren't allowed to attend white schools, so why would they be asked to play music for one?  I get that it is a movie, and one that deals with time travel at that, but it still is something I had never contemplated.  Well, I for one am glad that director Robert Zemeckis didn't go to extreme lengths for realism with Back to the Future because if he had we would not have been graced with the comedic gold that is Marvin Berry giving his cousin Chuck the idea for "Johnny B. Goode."

What's In A Name

The paperwork has been signed, the car loan has been established, and Moby D has been turned over for auction.  I am officially the owner of a new Volkswagen Jetta.

 

When I first drove the Jetta, it felt much smaller than my Camry and I wasn't sure I would get used to the tight quarters.  However, after running a few errands this weekend and making my daily commute to work this morning, I don't feel quite as boxed in as I initially did.  The sense of constraint has waned considerably and I suspect that after a week it will have completely subsided.

 

I'm not quite sure what nickname to give the new car.  Since it is a navy blue shade I considered coming up with a name that involved blue somehow.  I also would like it to originate from a literary character, since my previous vehicle, Moby D, was named after the white whale in Herman Melville's novel.  The first choice was after the blue ox from the Paul Bunyan folklore, but its name is Babe and that is what I call Joanna most of the time.  It would be confusing, and odd, to have my wife and my car nicknamed the same thing.  There are a ton of blue characters from comic books that I could choose from, but I don't really want to select my car's name from something published by Marvel or DC.

 

After Babe the blue ox, I thought of trying to come up with something from George Orwell's Animal Farm, as it is my favorite book.  Yet, the only characters I would want to name something after from that story would be Boxer or Snowball, which neither of those really fit my new car.

 

I've got a nickname in mind from a recent movie I saw.  I think it is suitable for both my car and as a representation of what I enjoy as a hobby, but I want to see how it fits the vehicle before unveiling it to the world.  The potential nickname also fits in with the setting of the movie as the leather seats make it blistering hot on a sunny day.

 

I'm going to give it a week or so and I will then make my final decision of what the Jetta will be named.

It's So Hard To Say Goodbye To Yesterday - R.I.P. Moby D

Since 2001 my transportation needs have been fulfilled using a white 2000 Toyota Camry, nicknamed Moby D by my college roommate Korie.  After 14 long years of devoted service, I've prolonged the inevitable as much as possible and with a leaky engine, a flat tire, brake pads grinding on metal, and a lug nut stud snapping in two all needing to be repaired, Moby D is receiving an honorable discharge.

 

That car has seen a lot of things in its time.  It has traveled more than 350,000 miles, seen the neon lights of Las Vegas, driven roads in a fifth of the United States, and had parts replaced that included a windshield, engine, stereo, and interior roof lining.  I changed the oil in that car like I would change a dirty diaper for Sawyer.  Moby D, for as much grief as people have given me about the car, has been extremely reliable and gotten me home safely many evenings after a late round of poker in Oklahoma or Weatherford.

 

I joked that I would keep this car until either it surpassed one million miles or that I would hand it down to Emery as her first car, but unfortunately neither of those are going to happen.  To put things in perspective for what this means to me, I've had this car longer than the combined ages of all three of my children.  While I understand that it is just a thing and it can be replaced, the memories I had inside that vehicle cannot.  Sure, new memories will be formed in the new car and a new nickname will be coined, but that certainly doesn't minimize the feelings I have right now about putting Moby D out to pasture.

 

It was a good run and hopefully my next car can last just as long as Moby D.  Here is to the last 14 years of exquisite traveling and safe driving in my 2000 Toyota Camry.

 

 

See you at the crossroads, crossroads, crossroads

So you won't be lonely

See you at the crossroads, crossroads, crossroads

So you won't be lonely

See you at the crossroads, crossroads, crossroads

So you won't be lonely

See you at the crossroads, crossroads, crossroads