I’m in the process of renovating our basement for use as a home theater, and I have space to put up eight distinct movie posters. I plan on commissioning posters through an artist that I like so that they will all have a shared art style and appearance, so the look of the official movie poster doesn’t matter to me. What I’m trying to do is select eight of the most iconic films of all time, across these genres:
- Action/Adventure
- Comedy
- Drama
- CGI/3D Animation
- 2D Animation
- Science Fiction
- Mystery/Thriller (Not horror)
- Fantasy
So, if you were to pick out a set like this, which would you choose?
I’m choosing to ignore the idea of sticking to categories as I think it makes it more limiting than it needs to be, and because some of the best films cross or defy genres.
I’m also going to say in passing that these questions inevitably get dominated by recent films. Whenever someone asks for a list of the greatest movies or albums of all time, we tend to respond with the ones we remember from our teenage years. It’s interesting as a social question, but there’s a definite recency bias that’s driven both by our memories and by the fact that tastes change.
With that all said, I think that the Jaws poster is probably one of the best I’ve ever seen. It is simple and immediate. There is no way to see it and not get the point of the movie.
Pulp Fiction and The Graduate were both great with their dirty book cover style aesthetic. Sort of similarly, Star Wars reproduced a very iconic book cover/movie poster format but executed it brilliantly.
Full Metal Jacket with the “born to kill”/peace sign helmet is more toned down, but captures the film very well.
Fear and Loathing also had a brilliant poster - that one where it looks like an acid trip.