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Monday Movie Meme – Made You Look
Monday, February 2, 2015 at 11:26PM 
Let’s put a little spin on this week’s return of the Monday Movie Meme, with a theme that is all about one of the most common supporting materials for what eventually plays out on the screen. If you’re anything like me, you could easily identify songs that were on the soundtracks of many films you’ve watched over the years. Yet, recalling the poster is a bit challenging.
So that brings up some questions: Does that mean the key art for those movies suck? Or, are movie posters irrelevant in the grand scheme of things?
It’s almost hard for me to believe that I don’t remember what the posters to some of my favorite movies looked like. This week's Monday Movie Meme is an exercise in figuring out how much we really pay attention to key art....and if it's enough to get us to want to see a film.
Here are my selections for this week’s Made You Look theme.
Black Swan
The poster for this mystery drama starring Natalie Portman and Mila Kunis lives up to the dark and creepy nature of a movie about ballerinas. I saw this movie when it came out in the theaters, after having to travel to another town because the movie tickets for “Black Swan” in my area were all sold-out.
It’s a psychological thriller that takes viewers on quite the ride and will have you wondering what in the world is going on as you try to figure out what is real versus what’s a hallucination. Anyway, the movie poster for “Black Swan” screams “CRAZY” to me, which works since that just about the easiest way to sum up this movie.
The Girl who Kicked the Hornet’s Nest
Both versions of “The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo” movies, starring Michael Nyqvist opposite Noomi Rapace and Daniel Craig opposite Rooney Mara, respectively, are pretty badass and worth watching.
However, I initially procrastinated on viewing these crime thriller flicks for a good while -- even after reading all the positive buzz surrounding them as well as the Swedish novel series they're adapted from; and I wouldn’t have even considered checking either of them out if it weren’t for the poster for “The Girl who Kicked the Hornet’s Nest.”
It gives off a don’t-fuck-with-this-person vibe and made me curious about the plot because it just seemed like something big is going down in this movie. The characters are not playing games.
In Time
There is something about the poster for this futuristic Sci-Fi movie starring Justin Timberlake and Olivia Wilde that made me think of “Mr. & Mrs. Smith” – but a much cooler version. "In Time" is about people who don’t age past their mid-twenties but the catch is they only have a short amount of time to live, unless they are among those that can afford to buy their way into an extended life.
I wanted to see this movie but never got around to it. In fact, it's probably somewhere on my Netflix queue with over 80 other flicks I either skipped out on, forgot about, or was unfamiliar with before adding them to the list.
Now, is it just me...or does it also look like this poster is channeling “The Matrix” with Keanu Reeves?
I'm Not There
Although I never went to check out this biographical music drama about Bob Dylan, starring Christian Bale and Cate Blanchett, I'd be willing to watch it. Putting the film aside, I just like the poster because it’s simple with that nice silhouette.
My guess is that Dylan’s life is quite the opposite of simplicity. So, maybe this poster is meant to signify quiet chaos or something of that nature. Who knows?! Either way, it’s among the few movie posters that I seem to be able to easily picture in my head when thinking about those that stand out among the rest.
What movie posters grabbed YOUR attention?
Did a poster ever affect whether YOU wanted to see movie or not?
Reader Comments (3)
I don't think I ever watched a movie because the poster convinced me. You didn't miss anything by not seeing In Time. I have many times wished I had some of those huge posters to hang in my office. I love walking through the halls of the movie theater and checking them all out.
Oddly, I can't really remember the poster for movies that I'd list among my faves. But there is one poster that comes to mind. It's for a movie I didn't see and wouldn't mind watching if I can just sit down long enough to just make myself do it. It's Jim Carrey's 23. It was such a stark difference from the fun and humorous movies he'd done. The poster showed it with the black and white close up on his face, wild hair and markings on his face, like the number 23. And his eyes...just so spooky and captivating. Maybe that's why I haven't seen it, because It's probably scary lol!!!
Movie posters are like book covers or music album art. I'm sure I've been lured by them, but offhand I can't recall any special poster art that grabbed me. I hardly see the movie sections in the newspaper anymore and rarely pass by a movie theater where I see the posters.
I guess the posters that stand out most for me are some of the classic monster movie posters like the ones for Frankenstein, Dracula, and Creature from the Black Lagoon, but that's mostly because I used to sell prints of those where I used to work and had copies hanging in my office. I still have a Creature of the Black Lagoon poster that I've been meaning to hang up in my home office.
Arlee Bird
Tossing It Out