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Japanese Poster Appreciation Month - January 2009

Vintage Movie Wallpaper of the Day
Thursday, January 1, 2009

What can I say? I love Japanese posters and their artwork. This particular one for Army of Darkness I just absolutely adore and love as a cinephile. I hope you find this as a great kick off to a month long tribute and celebration of Japanese Posters! I definitely recommend taking a moment to pass over all the wonderful small details and touches put into this artwork, fantastic stuff!

Japanese Poster Appreciation Month - January 2009 (Archive):
::: January 6 - Sisters (1973)
::: January 5 - Crime Boss (1972)
::: January 4 - White Lightning (1973)
::: January 3 - The Man from Hong Kong (1975)
::: January 2 - Rolling Thunder (1977)
::: January 1 - Ponyo on the Cliff by the Sea (2008)
::: January 1 - Army of Darkness (1992)
::: Preview - Cannonball! (1976)
::: Previous Japanese Posters Featured @ Cinema is Dope

Japanese Cinema Sites I Highly Recommend:
::: Jason Gray
::: Mark Schilling’s Tokyo Ramen
::: Midnight Eye
::: Nippon Cinema
::: Outcast Cinema
::: Ryuganji
::: Toronto J-Film Pow-Wow

* If you don’t see your site listed here and it covers Japanese cinema please comment below so that I can review it and possibly include it in future lists.

About Japanese Poster Artwork Celebration Month:
To kick off 2009, I can think of no better way of doing so than celebrating Japanese poster artwork. The emphasis will be more of western films through the lens of Japanese poster artwork and of course some of my own personal all-time favorites. At a future date I’ll probably have a month devoted to solely Japanese films and their poster artwork. So be sure to tune in each day during the month of January as I have an incredible amount of incredible Japanese posters that will be on display. Hopefully at the end of this I can convert many of you into life long fans of Japanese posters!

Please help and spread the word on the January 2009 themed Japanese Poster Celebration Month here at Cinema is Dope. Tweet your friends. Mention it in your Facebook status or Friendfeed. Link to it on your blog. Any support is greatly appreciated!!!!!

You can follow along at these specific urls/web addresses:
::: www.cinemaisdope.com/category/movie-wallpaper-japanese-poster-celebration-month/
::: http://tinyurl.com/japanese-poster-2009

Starring in these posters will be: Antonio Sabato, Bruce Campbell, Burt Reynolds, Charles Bronson, Clint Eastwood, David Carradine, Dustin Hoffman, Ernest Borgnine, Gene Hackman, George Lazenby, Hayao Miyazaki, Isao Takahata, Jack Nicholson, James Coburn, Jennifer Billings, Jim Brown, Jimmy Wang Yu, John Boorman, Kate Jackson, Lee Marvin, Lee Van Cleef, Michael Caine, Peter Fonda, Richard Pryor, Roddy McDowall, Sergio Leone, Sidney Poitier, Susan Strasberg, Warren Oates, William Devane and many more…

If you’re interested in Japanese cinema, I highly recommend the following Cinema is Dope picks for January 2009. For this months book selection we have Behind the Pink Curtain by Jasper Sharp. For video recommendation this month we have Linda Linda Linda.

Additionally fans of Japanese cinema will want to pick up this amazing Yasujiro Ozu tribute shirt from Mondo Tees!

As always when in Austin, Texas, be sure to check out Weird Wednesday (January/February 2009 lineup) or Terror Tuesday (January/February 2009 lineup) and of course Alamo Drafthouse Cinema.

My current favorite restaurants in Austin that are an absolute must visit are Clay Pit (be sure to place an order of naan bread) and Uchi. Be sure to tell them CinemaisDope.com sent you if you visit.

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New Cinema Wallpaper of the Day
Thursday, December 11, 2008

I’ve seen Timecrimes 7 or 8 times the world over now so you could call me a bit biased at this point for really liking and admiring the film. While minimal the film provides many interconnecting layers that take multiple viewings to completely unwind. I went into the film only knowing it was billed as a dark comedy mixed with time travel and as such immediately had my full attention. The only real difference from the early cuts of the film are the binocular shots sound layer that was very sharp and loud pulse shaking sonic landscapes seem to have since been muted down some to go for a more eerie feel. I keep forgetting to ask Nacho about this difference. I did finally remember to ask him about his amazing story/theory on time travel in Quentin Tarantino’s Death Proof. It’ so intricate and detailed that it would be nearly impossible to even begin to describe it other than to say it’s an utterly fascinating take that only Nacho could come up with and instantly makes you want to re-watch Death Proof.

An absolute must read for fans of this film or Nacho is Steve Dollar’s piece on it from Sitges last year (read here).

Related Coverage:
::: Previous Cinema is Dope Movie Wallpaper
::: Official US Site in support of its expanding theatrical release
::: GreenCine Daily Timecrimes post

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New Cinema Wallpaper of the Day
Wednesday, December 3, 2008

Along with Astropia, ROBOROCK marks one of my favorite indie film efforts I’ve seen in 2008. ROBOROCK is by far one of the most wildly entertaining films I’ve seen this year and in recent memory (and I do watch a lot of films each year!!!!!). The 2nd act is overcooked but the opening and closing act are stellar. If you like dark comedies, sci-fi, robots or all out insane comedies and/or all the above… seek this one out asap. The Japanese poster artwork here certainly captures the spirit of this film perfectly.

Japanese Cinema:
::: Jason Gray
::: Mark Schilling’s Tokyo Ramen
::: Midnight Eye
::: Nippon Cinema
::: Outcast Cinema
::: Ryuganji
::: Toronto J-Film Pow-Wow

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Vintage Movie Wallpaper of the Day
Monday, December 1, 2008

Ah, holiday 2008 has finally come… time for welcome down time and/or bliss/hell with family. Regardless of your situation I wish you a great and fantastic Holiday 2008 and hope you get relief if anyone you know wears jingly fake antlers during this time of the year!!!!!

Caption:
ALL IN THE FAMILY - David Ogden Stiers and Kim Darby are Al and Jenny Myer, the nice but not quite normal parents of two nice but not quite normal sons, John Cusack as Lane and Scooter Stevens as Badger in “Better Off Dead,” the new comedy from Warner Bros.

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Vintage Movie Wallpaper of the Day
Sunday, October 12, 2008

For fall 2008, I will be pumping out more and more images from Alfred Hitchcock films. Up first we have this amazing behind the scenes picture of a very focused Alfred Hitchcock directing a scene between Edmund Gwenn and Mildred Natwick. Seems fascinating to see the camera used and lighting setup for a Hitchcock film and in general any behind the scenes still I find from his set I find very evocative for showcasing how he did something, often times with a great deal of cinema cleverness and ingenuity.

This still was a project over the period of several months of restoration and I’m glad to now be able to present it closer to its original state.

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New Cinema Wallpaper of the Day
Wednesday, October 8, 2008

At NIFFF, Merde played the strongest of the three segments in Tokyo! with audiences. At the recent Fantastic Fest 2008, Merde played the weakest of the three… go figure. Most people seemed to have a problem with it being a farce… which ironically enough is what Merde completely is! Regardless it was good to see audiences warm up to Interior Design and Shaking Tokyo! I like every part of this film and overall rate it as one of my favorites of 2008.

Related Coverage:
::: Previous Movie Wallpaper (Cinema is Dope)

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