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One-Sheet Wonder || ||

The Simple, Fan-Driven Pleasures of Moonrise Kingdom's First Poster

The Simple, Fan-Driven Pleasures of Moonrise Kingdom's First Poster

Movieline is pleased to present the first installment of One-Sheet Wonder, a new column on the best, worst, weirdest and other milestones of contemporary movie-poster art. — Ed.

We’re a little more than two months away from the debut of the Cannes Film Festival opener Moonrise Kingdom, Wes Anderson’s first live-action film in five years, and the promo push is on. The first trailer hit a while back, and the first poster was revealed last week. And while the trailer is an exhilarating promo clip, on first glance it’s easy to dismiss the poster. It feels minimal and rather meh overall, like a starving-artist, Bob Ross knock-off masquerading as a one-sheet ("Look at that happy little waterfall…").
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Close Reads || ||

When — and How — Great Movie Narration Works

When — and How — Great Movie Narration Works

Film narration carries the dubious reputation of being a fallback trick for lesser directors, a device to trot out when other more classically visual narrative devices fail. In the same way that long, unbroken takes supposedly signify expertise, the use of narration often serves lazy critics with an easy indication that the director has lost the plot. Still, even the most anti-narration snob would have to concede that the larger film canon contains some pretty notable exceptions to this rule. The Naked City, A Clockwork Orange, Sunset Boulevard, GoodFellas, Ferris Bueller’s Day Off, The Big Lebowski, The Shawshank Redemption — all use narration, and far from stalling story or characterization, with them it pushes everything forward.
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