Here’s our first look at Let Me In, the American adaptation of the Swedish novel Let the Right One In which was originally adapted into the Swedish feature film by the same name. I can’t go any further without strongly encouraging you to, that if you haven’t, see director Tomas Alfredson’s  English subtitled Let the Right One In as it is one of the best thrillers I’ve seen in a decade. Let Me In was directed by Matt Reeves, best known for directed the J.J. Abrams produced Cloverfield in 2008. Let Me In stars Chloe Moretz (Kick-Ass) Kodi Smit-McPhee (The Road) and Richard Jenkins (Burn After Reading). Let Me In is set to be released in theater on October 1, 2010 just in time for Halloween, why Halloween? If you don’t already know this is a vampire story but nothing like the vampires we’ve seen lately on the big screen. Let the Right One In, and I’m assuming Let Me In, takes vampires seriously and after you’ve seen (hopefully) either film I think you will too! What are your thoughts on this American adaption? Did you like the Swedish film?

Unstage.com agrees with us that the art of film doesn’t start on the screen. They have compiled a list of 150 Creative Movie Posters. You may remember Unstage from their list of 100+ Creative Covers (DVD packaging) and though you might think the poster and DVD cover are the same image often times they are not (and sometimes they should be the same image). In their words:

“We’ve compiled a list of 150 aesthetically pleasing movie posters that should inspire everyone, from Graphic Designers to film buffs.”

So after you’ve taken a look at their choices (below are mine from chosen from their list) I’d like for you to share your picks with us!

Man on Wire, Cold Souls, Burn After Reading

Order of Chaos, Cool Hand Luke, Being John Malkovich

La Pesadilla De Darwin, The House of the Devil, Stranded: I’ve Come from a Plane That Crashed on the Mountains

So what do you think?

Movies are never just movies. For most of us there’s the poster first, then the trailer, finally the movie. Sometimes. if not most of the time, there will be multiple versions of the posters and trailers before we see the movie. The movie is what it is – or is it? The posters and trailers have the ability to change our perception of what the movie is before we’ve seen the movie. How many times have you seen a really good-looking poster and thought “I wanna see that movie!” only to be disappointed by a film that didn’t live up to the poster’s representation? After all isn’t that what the poster and trailer are supposed to do, for better or worse, represent the product they’re pitching?

Of course there are also those times when a poster (this happens all too often, usually involves a head on a CG body) or a trailer convinces you to not see the movie? For me the best example would be the trailer for Frequency starring Jim Caviezel and Dennis Quaid. I saw the trailer and immediately knew I didn’t want to see the movie. Eventually I did see the movie, and enjoyed it! I hope whoever put that trailer together got a lot of grief for making an entertaining movie look so bad.

Why am I talking about this? Because I finally watched In the Loop. This is a movie that hit the trifecta – great art and trailer both left me foaming at the mouth for the film (although I somehow missed my opportunity in theater) and when I saw the film it lived up to the expectations created by the poster and trailer. Take a look at the poster

and trailer

Please tell me we’re on the same page and you’re expecting something completely Kubrick, a Dr. Strangelove for the new millenium. Admittedly the movie is more Dr. Strangelove meets The Office (not the NBC cute fest, but the original Ricky Gervais laughapalooza); the point is everything delivered on everything! What? The cool poster (I want one for my room!) and the frantic, A Clockwork Orange-ish trailer preceded a very good movie! jackpot! Peter Capaldi was perfectly horrible as the fire-breathing, foul-mouthed boss and possibly the best fictional boss since Gervais’ David Brent. I would love to share some of Capaldi’s lines from the movie but my asterisk key just doesn’t have the stamina! James Gandolfini’s Lt. Gen. George Miller is the orange to Capaldi’s apple, and David Rasche seemingly reprising his role from Burn After Reading (but not really). Where can I get more David Rasche? Rasche is J.K. Simmons good. See In the Loop.

Out of curiosity does anyone know who designed the poster for In the Loop? What are some of your favorite movie posters? What are your favorite movie trailers? Do you know of some other movies that hit my aforementioned ”trifecta?” please share!

Cutting to the chase: If you like the Coen Brothers previous works of No Country for Old Men, or even O Brother Where Art Thou? than you will find this to be a along the same lines. If you don’t it may make you laugh as it did me. But it also will surprise you as it is not at all what the trailers have shown it to be.

The story revolves around a disk containing the memoirs of a CIA agent that ends up in the hands of two everyday gym employees who attempt to sell it. One would think this could have some very funny twists and turns but the humor in this one was very dry and almost awkward at times.

The Coen’s have brought complex characters to the screen in the least warming way possible. If it weren’t for Brad Pitt’s crazy chararcter the film would be very drab and lacking in many places. The way in which the chararcters are introduced was very abrupt and not well thought out.

Brad Pitt plays Chad, a gym trainer at a Har Bodies chain. The way in which he goes throughout the movie is something to watch. He made the movie if you ask me.

Harry (George Clooney), an OCD womanizer, is a character you begin to route for towards the end of the film. Even though it seems he sleeps with anyone he can get his hands on, he grows on you. Creator of story after story, and lie after lie, you begin to like this guy.

Osborne Cox, played by the ever talented John Malkovich, has to be the most screwed up chararcter on screen, and in this movie that is saying a lot! Cox recently quit his post at the CIA after his boss wanted to reassign him due to having a drinking problem.

While the film had its funny parts, I must of missed the point of the film throughout. Pitt was the savior of the movie in my eyes. While each actor put in a great performance, the film was subpar as a comedy and on par as a dramedy. With that said I would also watch out for the very random violent parts of the film. In Coen style, the blood, is over the top everytime its called for.

The soundtrack on this movie was great if you ask me. It is not something that is something that I notice in a film. Over all I would recommend this to anyone who enjoys Coen Brothers films. Beside that I would probably call this a rental.

Rating: ☆☆☆☆☆