Dec 22 2008 Students Make Better 'Spirit' Posters
Someone's taken Negative Space 201! Over at the Italian Spirit blog My City Screams (via IMPA), they've posted 20 poster designs made by students of the European Institude of Design. With the exception of maybe this creepy, Escher-esque drawing, they're universally better than anything the studio came up with. It's just a shame this talent was wasted on something that, by early accounts, is not very good--but I'm also slightly glad because I'm bitter these college kids are clearly so much more creative than me. They're designing clever, inspired posters while I'm sitting here for half an hour trying to work in a "school spirit" pun. And I bet they go to better parties too.
Nov 17 2008 'The Spirit' Still Attempting to Create Interest with Clips Set to Music
No one seems too convinced by the last few trailers for The Spirit, so Lionsgate has pushed out one more quickie to remind everyone that the film comes out CHRISTMAS DAY. If your gifts aren't enough of a let down for the family, pack the kids in the Aerostar and take them to The Spirit, show them the true meaning of Christmas (disappointment). I particularly like the rockin' version of "Carol of the Bells" in this. It makes me feel like I'm watching a ridiculous, noir-based Home Alone sequel.
Continue Reading " 'The Spirit' Still Attempting to Create Interest with Clips Set to Music "
Sep 29 2008 'The Spirit' Trailer Continues Frank Miller's Love Affair with Beautiful Women, Ridiculous Dialog, and Monochromatic Ties
In case you haven't given up entirely on Frank Miller's The Spirit adaptation, here's the latest trailer. I swear, every time I start to get any hope this could not be horrible, I get punched in the face with another flagrantly, obnoxiously Frank Miller-esque line ("Get me a tie--and make sure it's RED"? Oh, brother), or catch a glimpse of Samuel L. Jackson, his face streaked with mascara and sideburns, in front of an explosion of fire and redness, and realize, no, this will probably be bad. Never forget the comic booklet convention footage.
Sep 19 2008 'The Spirit' Posters Make You Feel Like YOU ARE (Near) The Spirit
New character posters for The Spirit have taken a novel approach to showing the opposition of the film's hero and villain. For the first poster, we get a bullet-riddled Spirit as seen from the perspective his arch-nemesis, The Octopus. So naturally, for the second, we see The Octopus, this time from the viewpoint of... an unseen third-party observer whose view is being obscured by The Spirit's flapping tie? Yes:
Continue Reading " 'The Spirit' Posters Make You Feel Like YOU ARE (Near) The Spirit "
Aug 12 2008 'The Spirit' is Looking Really, Really Bad
Though I've still never picked it up, I always hear how Will Eisner's The Spirit is a groundbreaking, must-read comic series for anyone at all interested in the medium. That information directly contradicts what I'm seeing in this fight scene that was shown at Comic Con, which paints The Spirit as a slapstick comedy with more getting-hit-with-objects-for-comedic-reactions than Home Alone. Also, it takes place in a sewage nebula? Just watch it.
Continue Reading " 'The Spirit' is Looking Really, Really Bad "
Jul 29 2008 New 'Spirit' Poster from Some Art School Punks
Lionsgate had a pretty good idea. Instead of continuing to overlay text on cheeks and add accompanying audio, how about letting some art school kids have at it? So they did, and here's the first from the Art Institute of California-San Diego. I wonder how many attempts it took to get a design that didn't have "sort of an anti-war thing, man, because I'm totally getting into political shit."
Jul 15 2008 'The Spirit' Trailer Has Girls, Ridiculous Costumes, '80s Sex Romp Movie Poster Imagery, Girls
It looks like it's of questionable origins, so hurry up and watch this trailer to The Spirit before it's replaced by a take-down notice. My first thought was, "This is like if Frank Miller directed the intro to The Many Loves of Dobie Gillis." My next thought was, "Why was your first thought of a show that went off the air almost two decades before your were born?" I have no idea. Subliminal Nick at Nite?
Apr 25 2008 'The Spirit' Teaser Trailer Reveals Spirit May Wear Some Type of Neck Adornment
Talking at the Spirit panel at New York Comic Con, the lecherous director Frank Miller (strangely, while dressed as a unshaven Spirit) spoke of his unending admiration for his mentor Will Eisner's comic, and of his hope of faithfully recreating it on the screen. So I find it a bit odd that, as many expected, Miller has made the film look like a slightly cleaner Sin City. True respect = smothering the original vision with your own high-contrast fantasy world? Judge the teaser trailer for yourself here, then let me know what you think. Is this guy more obsessed with his city screaming or that f***ing red tie?
And I'm aware this has been up for a few days. Deal.
Apr 21 2008 'The Spirit' Teaser Poster: [Spirit's] City Screams!
Continuing the trend started with the sectional outdoor art, the new poster for The Spirit reinforces the idea that this guy's city is definitely screaming. Because nothing is more appealing than a f***ing nag of a city. You can click above to get the super-high-resolution version, but sadly I don't have the Arial-Narrow-Made-of-Buildings font for you to download. You'll have to stick with Comic Sans for now.
Apr 8 2008 Scar-Jo Posing Rigidly Yet Sexily for 'The Spirit'
[Image removed at the request of Lionsgate]
Egotastic has some early test shots of Silk N. Floss, Scarlett Johansson's character in Frank Miller's adaptation of The Spirit. If rigid, nerdy, authoritative clinicians are a fetish of yours, you will love these pictures. Probably also if you suffer from the far more common affliction of liking Scarlett Johansson in tight, bra-revealing clothing.
Scarlett Johansson is a Sexy Nurse in The Spirit [Egotastic]
Apr 4 2008 'The Spirit' Feeds His Cats and Other Set Shots
IMAGE REMOVED AT REQUEST OF LIONSGATE.
Finally someone is dropping all the exaggerated action of comic book movies and giving us what we really want: lonely domesticity!
Update: Sorry, had to take it down. Just imagine a shirtless man in a mask feeding some cats from a comically over-sized bag.
Apr 3 2008 'The Spirit' Outdoor Sectional Posters
What is this distinctive red slash across a dark sea of black, proclaiming the wails of a personified metropolis? Why, it's part one of a new, three-part outdoor ad campaign for Frank Miller's take on Will Eisner's The Spirit, and a definitive answer to questions like "Is the (screaming) city your lover, Spirit?", "Are you, in turn, her spirit, Spirit?" and "Spirit, do you wear a big, bright, red tie?" We'll have to wait until the NY Comic-Con--the site of the trailer debut--to get to the more pressing questions like, "Is this going to look just like Sin City?" and "Is that necessarily a bad thing?"
See the full multi-part layout, below the cut.
Oct 8 2007 Some Other Crap That Happened...
- Frank Miller has added the sexy duo of Paz Vega and Jamie King to his cast for Will Eisner's The Spirit. I imagine while deciding on them, he made this seductive/haunting expression. [Variety]
- Con Air director Simon West will direct an adaptation of the Iraq War nonfiction book Thunder Run: The Armored Strike to Capture Baghdad. He hopes to capture the excitement and tragedy of the war, like Black Hawk Down, but also be stupid, like Con Air. [Hollywood Reporter]
- Wesley Snipes has spent the majority of October shooting a sequel to The Art of War, leaving November to regret shooting the sequel to The Art of War. [MovieHole]
- Neil Gaiman wants Terry Gilliam to direct an adaptation of his Sandman series. The writer added, "I would always give anything to Terry Gilliam, forever," then gently slid his hand into Gilliam's waiting palm. [Empire]
Aug 3 2007 Frank Miller Finds His Spirit
As you may have deduced from my clever headline, Frank Miller has found the star for his adaptation of Will Eisner's The Spirit in actor Gabriel Macht. Macht, who most recently starred in The Good Shepherd, will fight the villainous Octopus (played by Samuel L. Jackson) as the titular crimefighter who fakes his own death to fight from the shadows. Unfortunately, I'll likely miss most of these plot points when the movie finally comes out as I stare unblinking at that big obnoxious mole.
Jun 11 2007 Sam Jackson to Play Octopus in The Spirit
Sam Jackson, who did The Man, The Farce of the Penguins, a sequel to xXx that even Vin Diesel wouldn't show up for, and probably your cousin's bat mitsvah if you showed him the money, will be playing the Octopus in Frank Miller's upcoming adaptation of The Spirit. I don't know much about the Octopus, but I do hope he calls people "motherf***er".
Will Eisner’s “The Spirit” follows detective Denny Colt as he fights crime with the blessing of the city’s police force. And the Octopus? “Well, the Octopus actually created Spirit when you come down to it,” Jackson said, enthusiasm bubbling over as he began to describe the characters’ origins. “He was sort of a mad scientist who worked at a morgue. Spirit was a young cop who got killed. So when his body came in, he was working on this kind of serum that would make people sort of immortal. He tried it on [Spirit] and he came back to life, and then he tried it on himself, so he could be, you know, his nemesis and he became even stronger.”
So, to sum up, The Spirit is about sort of a mad scientist who makes kind of a serum that makes people sort of immortal. I plan on seeing it, and kind of wearing pants. Sort of.
