Counting Down the Top Ten Posters of 2009

Yes, I know, another one; another Top 10 list. While everyone’s looking back on the year, posting their picks of the films that made going to movies (or video stores… not sure how much longer we’ll be able to do that, but I digress) worth their while, we thought we’d shine a light on the posters that stopped us (well, me) in our tracks. It’s rare that a single image can get you excited or interested in see a film, but here are the ones that did just that for yours truly. Feel free to chime in below with your Top Picks of the year or thoughts on my picks.

I’ll cheat a little and start with 3 picks that I would have loved to cram into the Top 10, but yeah, that wouldn’t work. Here goes…

HONORABLE MENTIONS:

TWO LOVERS
Distributor: Magnolia Pictures
Tagline: Sometimes we leave everything to find ourselves.
Comments: Not sure where this little gem appeared (I only saw it on the web recently while looking back on the year), but it got a double-take out of me. Far more interesting and reflective of the films theme than the somewhat generic one-sheet they released for the film.

INGLOURIOUS BASTERDS
Distributor: The Weinstein Company
Tagline: Once upon a time in Nazi occupied France…
Comments: The beginning of the Weinsteins onslaught of Basterds promo-posters, these teasers made it very clear that Nazis would be on the receiving end of some serious pain. That said, although the images are striking, the overall glossy treatment of the photographs took away from it, which isn’t to say they had to go the Grindhouse route, but something in between would have been nice. Still, effective, and as a final note, for some reason the second thing that popped in my head after looking at these for a while were the Saw films (just saying).

MOON
Distributor: Sony Pictures Classics
Tagline: The last place you’d ever expect to find yourself
Comments: Another great example of how a single poster can put a film on a potential viewers map. This image popped up on the web and immediately you get a sense of a modern day science fiction film about isolation, that probably has more in common with 2001 than Mission to Mars. That’s all it takes to get you curious, and if you’re like me that image had you scouring the web for more info and hoping a limited release would eventually expand to your neck of the woods.