Posterized Propaganda January 2014: The Top 10 Movie Posters of 2013

“Don’t Judge a Book by Its Cover” is a proverb whose simple existence proves the fact impressionable souls will do so without fail. This monthly column focuses on the film industry’s willingness to capitalize on this truth, releasing one-sheets to serve as not representations of what audiences are to expect, but as propaganda to fill seats. Oftentimes they fail miserably. Despite being another year of blockbusters and animated fare begging for bland character sheets and Photoshop montages, 2013′s movie posters were surprisingly creative artistically. A bunch of the following images…

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INTERVIEW: Geoffrey Fletcher, writer/director of Violet & Daisy

Oscar winning screenwriter Geoffrey Fletcher has kept busy post-Precious as a Columbia University and NY Tisch School adjunct professor, the driving creative force behind Bombay Sapphire’s Imagination Series, and collaborating with Doug Liman on a new film entitled Attica about the 1971 prison rebellion. Despite all this, however, it’s his directorial debut Violet & Daisy that has him in the spotlight once again. I had pleasure of speaking with the soft-spoken and introspective artist about the film’s genesis, its journey to the big screen, and the essence of cinematic storytelling.…

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REVIEW: Violet & Daisy [2013]

“I never really talked to a job before” Just because you’re an assassin doesn’t mean you can’t still be a girl too. The titular Violet (Alexis Bledel) and Daisy (Saoirse Ronan) don’t let their work get in the way of gossip, pop music, laughter, or dance. Murder is simply a way to pay the rent and retain some semblance of the childhood young women their age should have. They make a great team and provide a service with the same amount of detachment as any other. Each victim is a…

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The 82nd Oscars recap through tweets …

@jaredmobarak • NPH in sequins … i guess that’s something … The 82nd Annual Oscars ceremony begins, yet the hosts are nowhere to be found. Have we gotten to the point now where we need a lead-in for the most assuredly lame/very PC stand-up routine? We need to get the ball rolling for the ball that gets the show rolling? And they wonder why it always goes over its allotted timeslot. So, not only do we have to be introduced to all the lead acting nominees—because anyone watching doesn’t know…

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REVIEW: Precious: Based on the Novel ‘Push’ by Sapphire [2009]

“A Day at the Shore” About halfway through watching Precious: Based on the Novel ‘Push’ by Sapphire I started to think about another dark and dismal drama about abuse. The comparison to Requiem for a Dream was very hard to remove from my consciousness, both with the subject matter and the stylish way in which they are shot. Aronofsky really evolved the visceral assault aesthetic for his tale of drug abuse and I have to believe that director Lee Daniels was thinking just that when approaching Geoffrey Fletcher’s adapted screenplay.…

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