Teaser posters for animated motion pictures usually try to be as obvious as possible, rather than clever and about clues. In order to reach out to a more broader audience. The upcoming “Tangled” is definitely an exception, especially for being a Disney production! Of course those familiar with the subjected classic tale immediately pick up the pictorial and titular references but for the rest it tickles the curiosity.

For the cover of their September issue ELLE dressed the lovely Emily Blunt head to toe in lace! For me lace represents the elegance of decadence!

The Rat Pack

As a fan of the actor and as someone who loves to watch and witness the phenomenons in popular culture, both for better and worse, I’ve been really curious about Joaquin Phoenix’s plans for complete crossover to music and Hip Hop of all genres. To be honest I had my doubts and was almost convinced that it must be some kind of publicity stunt, either that or that he has gone nuts!lol Since he had all of a sudden started to appear looking like a hobo and act all eccentric. My curiosity is further fuelled by this newly released teaser which indicates that he either has truly gone nuts or it was all a publicity set-up for some kind of “mockumentary“.

1977, Al Pacino and Robert De Niro (The Godfather)

2010, Tom Hardy and Joseph Gordon-Levitt (Inception)

Do you got any music you like to work out to? One of my favorite gym jams is Fluke’s “Absurd”:

For those who might recognise the song but not recall from where it’s Nancy’s dance scene in Sin City!

Sophia Loren

The British designer Olly Moss has designed some retro style posters for the ongoing 2010 Rolling Road Show. In homage to the American workers. I particularly love this Rocky poster!

check out the rest of the posters.

I promise that this will be the last “Inception” post …for the day!lol Just found out about this cleverly embedded detail, of interest to those who have seen the movie and recognise both tunes! It’s these tiny details that I love to ponder and hamper! Like I said, brilliant!

I’m still stunned by the magnificence of “Inception”, especially when I listen to its amazing sound-track! Almost as epic as the “Requiem for a Dream” soundtrack towards its drama-amplifying end. The “Requiem for a Dream” theme is by the way maybe the only contemporary original soundtrack which has been used in numerous other movies trailers! Listen 01:50 forth and see if you can spot it next time when its used.

Christopher Nolan is back. While the whole world loved “The Dark Knight” I found it to be one of my favorite directors’ most overrated works! But I’m thrilled to see the Christopher Nolan of “Memento” and “The Prestige” back with another mind blowing opus. I’m even more thrilled to see his “Inception” not only delivering but even surpassing all my expectations. As you know these were neither low nor few! The movie grabbed me immediately and pulled me down deep, all “three layers deep”, and kept me down there in nearly three hours! Intelligence, heart and soul, it has it all! Style and substance. Not a single detail out of place nor a single second without suspense. All orchestrated down to micro perfection. In fact I have never seen such a complex concept being delivered so completely and compactly, yet so calculatedly and comprehensively! Nolan truly took on a challenge with this one, which unlike “Memento” is also an exhibition in visual precision.

The movie doesn’t take the easiest way out, it rather takes the most labyrinthine path at basically every turn and makes the most acrobatic maneuvers, yet it arrives gracefully at every check point and ultimately home without entanglement or flat fall. “Inception” is not “Avatar”, its dramaturgy keeps up with its cinematography every step of the way and gives your intellect and senses a good workout. Christopher Nolan’s science fiction goes straight to my all-time favorites’ list, as one of the most skilfully crafted and perfectly executed works of cinema. A true masterpiece that stretches and blurs out the frameworks of the trade!

The rest of the celebrated cast with all due respect, its the slick Joseph Gordon-Levitt and charming Tom Hardy who steal the spotlight in “Inception”, by kicking some serious ass!

This has been hyped in sci-fi circles a good while now, something for the fans of Cloverfield and District 9! Hopefully with something of its own to add to the pseudo-gonzo formula. Can’t wait!

I didn’t know wookiees were primates!lol

I was really hoping to see a darker adaptation of Thor since the character and his costume has always looked ridiculous, even in comic book format! Directed by Kenneth Branagh and starring Anthony Hopkins, this could be something with a Shakespearean nerve I thought. But the newly released image just shatters every hope I had about this being something even remotely serious! “Spy Kids” warning! These costumes and scenery just smells corn and cheese miles away! Now imagine this is 3D!lol Jeeeez!!

This is my second building post in the past couple of days, yet completely different. I just wanted to show you movie marketing when it is at its best! Conceptually clever and thematically relevant. When you put up two building size posters in a metropolitan city and every person who walks by helps to spread that image by snapping shots of it and put it up on the internet for others on the other side of the globe to see, then you’ve done your job brilliantly! Even if I didn’t happen to be itching like crazy for the anticipated mind f*** that is to be delivered by the upcoming Christopher Nolan mastodon movie “Inception”, these two 1:1 scale posters alone (especially the first one with the peeled off wall) would have made me wanna go and see what it’s all about. Simply brilliant!

If there is one domestic artist that has frequently used the term “Mafia of music” in his rhetoric it is Hami! Recently in a gathering held by IranGam to review Hami’s latest sound-track compilation “Aakhodaa” (such events are the domestic industry’s equivalent to the Western release parties), Hami unexpectedly targeted a new group as the part of the music Mafia. Namely the film companies which were accused of deliberately delaying the production of the collection in order to destroy Hami’s career!

According to Moosighie Iranian Farzad Farzin is currently starring in a motion picture about an aspiring singer whose biggest dream is to sing a song for the Persian Gulf while standing on a boat. The movie titled “Concerte Rooye Aab” is Farzin’s second cinematic experience and will be featuring him on the soundtrack. Co-staring Hamid Lolayi and Ahmad Pourmokhber.

More than a month left ’til the 4th season premiere of Mad Men and I’m going mad already, thanks to the newly released teaser poster. Talk about an image telling more than a thousand words! Its a solid voucher for amc’s claim and tagline, “story matters here”. The relatively low profile network seems to have yet another top-notch series up its sleeve, which will be running as of August but the pilot is already available for free sneak previewing online. Most likely amc has learned a lesson from Fringe’s unconventional (albeit unconfirmed but highly likely) hyping technique, which was a “supposed” leaked pilot months before the premiere! Even though with the final twist excluded (which further indicates a deliberate leakage) it helped to build a massive fan base and anticipation before the official launch. Anyhow, “Rubicon” is a political conspiracy thriller which is really a genre previously unexplored by the television in serial format. Making it a potential trend-starter and bar-setter, it will be interesting to watch it unfold its mystery.

These little blue lads and their only blond lass used to run around in our household when I was little. As late as yesterday I found a couple of them hiding in an old box! So the kid in me is looking forward to see Peyo’s creatures coming to life, all the way from Belgium to USA next summer. In 3D even! Gotta say that it looks rather smurfelicious! Even Hank Azaria’s smurf hating “Gargamel” looks spot on. This is clearly targeting the same group as the Chipmunks and I can already see sequels being made. Check out the first teaser.

Prince Dastan is getting a premium format treatment from the masters of memorabilia, namely Sideshow Collectibles. The statue comes in two versions, one with two swords and one exclusive with a changeable hand holding the so called “dagger of time”.

The latter is limited to 175 and already sold out, even though tagged $299 and scheduled for a late 2010 relesae! The likeness to Jake is there, despite slightly thicker brows and lighter facial shadow. Not to mention the absence of the characterising subtle smile which would have given it some life!

But overall it looks rather decent, even though I would have preferred a diorama. However Sideshow have disappointed in past when it comes to the final product, so we’ll have to wait and see how this turns out. By the way, here is fun fan-made recap of Prince of Persia’s 20 years as franchise.