I'm sure somebody has written about this at length, but movie poster art has gotten a lot less interesting over the last thirty years or so. I'm sure there are a lot of reasons for that — newspapers stopped carrying ads for movies (or shall we just admit, "newspapers stopped"), multiplex theaters don't have room for lobby cards, movies don't rely on word of mouth anymore (it's all blitzkrieg style advertizing then straight to streaming), etc.
And maybe those cheapskates at the studios figure any intern in the marketing department with access to Photoshop Elements can noodle together a poster. Well, they can't. But they keep trying ...
Goodfellas (1990). True-Life Crime. The rise and fall of wiseguy Henry Hill, from the lows to the lowlifes. Dir. Martin Scorsese. Starring Ray Liotta, Joe Pesci, Lorraine Bracco, Robert De Niro, Paul Sorvino. More Scorsese: Taxi Driver, Raging Bull, The Age of Innocence, The Departed.
Malcolm X (1992). Bio-pic. The true story of African-American human rights activist Malcolm X. Dir. Spike Lee. Starring Denzel Washington, Angela Bassett, Albert Hall, Al Freeman, Jr., Delroy Lindo. More Lee: Do the Right Thing, Get on the Bus, 4 Little Girls, Inside Man, BlacKkKlansman, Da 5 Bloods.
Groundhog Day (1993). Comedy Fantasy. An egocentric weatherman relives the same day over and over and over ... Dir. Harold Ramis. Starring Bill Murray, Andie MacDowell, Chris Elliott, Stephen Tobolowsky. More Ramis: Animal House (writer), Caddyshack (writer-director), Stripes (writer), Ghostbusters (writer).
Pulp Fiction (1994). Neo-Noir Comedy. Two half-smart hit men chase down a glowing MacGuffin in a briefcase, crossing paths with a gangster's moll, a washed-up boxer, and a pair of petty thieves. Dir. Quentin Tarantino. Starring John Travolta, Bruce Willis, Samuel L. Jackson, Uma Thurman. More Tarantino: Reservoir Dogs, Jackie Brown, Inglourious Basterds, Django Unchained, Once Upon a Time in Hollywood.
The Shawshank Redemption (1994). Prison Drama. Two convicts forge an unlikely friendship over a poster of Rita Hayworth. Dir. Frank Darabont. Starring Tim Robbins, Morgan Freeman, Bob Gunton, William Sadler, James Whitmore. More Movies Based On Stephen King: Carrie, The Dead Zone, Stand By Me, The Green Mile.
Toy Story (1995). Animation. A rivalry between two toys tests loyalties and strains friendships. Dir. John Lasetter. Starring the voices of Tom Hanks, Tim Allen, Annie Potts, John Ratzenberger, Don Rickles, Wallace Shawn. More Post-Walt Disney Animation: Yellow Submarine, Beauty and the Beast, Who Framed Roger Rabbit, Spirited Away, The Incredibles, Wallace and Gromit: The Curse of the Were-Rabbit, Up, The Lego Movie, Coco, Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse.
The Big Lebowski (1998). Screwball Noir. The world's laziest man is drawn into L.A.'s seamy underworld in a quest to recover a rug that really tied the room together. Dir. Joel and Ethan Coen. Starring Jeff Bridges, John Goodman, Steve Buscemi, David Huddleston, Julianne Moore, John Turturro, Philip Seymour Hoffman, Sam Elliott. More Coen Bros.: Miller's Crossing, Fargo, O Brother Where Art Thou?, No Country for Old Men, True Grit (2010).
Lost in Translation (2003). Comedy. An aimless actor and a lonely expat pal around Tokyo. Dir. Sofia Coppola. Starring Bill Murray, Scarlett Johansson. More Movies By Women Directors: Suspense (1913), The Hitch-Hiker (1953), A League of Their Own, The Piano, Sleepless in Seattle, The Hurt Locker, Selma, Girls Trip, Little Women (2019).
The Grand Budapest Hotel (2014). Comedy. Between the world wars, the concierge of Europe's finest hotel creates a bubble of civilization for his well-to-do guests. Dir. Wes Anderson. Starring Ralph Fiennes, Adrien Brody, Willem Dafoe, Jeff Goldblum, Saoirse Ronan. More Anderson: The Royal Tenenbaums, The Darjeeling Limited, Fantastic Mr. Fox, Moonrise Kingdom, Isle of Dogs, Asteroid City.
Get Out (2017). Horror. A young Black photographer visits his White girlfriend's liberal parents only to discover the new politics is a just fresh way of expressing the same old evils. Dir. Jordan Peele. Starring Daniel Kaluuya, Allison Williams, Bradley Whitford. More Movies By Black Directors: Within Our Gates (1920), Shaft (1971), Super Fly (1972), Car Wash, Boyz n the Hood, Menace II Society, Devil in a Blue Dress, 12 Years a Slave, Selma, Straight Outta Compton, Creed, Moonlight, Girls Trip, Black Panther, Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse, Summer of Soul, American Fiction. See also Malcolm X and the Films of Spike Lee.
Jojo Rabbit (2019). Anti-Hate Satire. A goofy ten year old (with an imaginary friend named Adolf Hitler) learns what fascism is really all about when he discovers a Jewish girl hiding in the attic. Dir. Taika Waititi. Starring Roman Griffin Davies, Thomasin McKenzie, Scarlett Johansson, Taika Waititi, Sam Rockwell. More Anti-Hate Satire: You Nazty Spy, The Great Dictator, To Be Or Not To Be (1942), The Producers (1968), Inglourious Basterds.
Little Women (2019). Historical Family Drama. The March sisters come of age during the American Civil War, facing love, tragedy and comic misadventures along the way. Dir. Greta Gerwig. Starring Saoirse Ronan, Emma Watson, Florence Pugh, Eliza Scanlen, Laura Dern, Timothée Chalamet. More Gerwig: Frances Ha (actress), To Rome with Love (actress), 20th Century Women (actress), Lady Bird, Barbie.
Tomorrow: Part 7.
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