After Midnight

Any film lovers out there remember the brief "Fake Criterion" craze? While most of these covers consisted of crappy MS Paint renditions of what a Criterion cover for Freddy Got Fingered might look like, some of them were downright beautiful. This is how I discovered Midnight Marauder. Among all the rest, his pieces for films like Mulholland Dr. and True Romance had an immediacy to them that grabbed your attention right away. His choice of images and treatments was always impeccable. Gradually his work has expanded into incorporating images other than film stills, and for his recent work on Midnight Cowboy and Point Blank he has even started including original drawings. His work is also featured on the posters for the Terrence Malick produced film The Better Angels! Getting to watch an artist's work evolve over time is a unique pleasure. I'm grateful to have witnessed this progression and am eager to see where it goes next.

If you love cinema and art (which you should if you're reading this blog) I highly encourage you to check out Midnight Marauder's online exhibition of posters for the films of Robert Altman entitled "It's Okay with Me". Beautiful images for beautiful films!

In Theaters December 25th

In Theaters May 25th

Cinema Sound

I first became aware of Sam Smith in 2010. Seemingly out of nowhere, the 1977 Japanese horror film House became a phenomenon on the American art film circuit. And as a result, that damn cat poster was everywhere! Eventually I discovered that this brilliant image was the work of an NYU Cinema Studies grad named Sam Smith and promptly fell in love. It makes perfect sense that the Criterion Collection would make this guy a regular. He has amazing graphic sense as well as a firm grasp on the history of the medium ranging from Saul Bass and Pablo Ferro to the weird world of Polish Movie Posters.

Well as if all that wasn't enough, the man also runs an amazing Tumblr! Do yourself a favor and check out Cinema Sound. What began as a place for him to post weird soundtrack album covers and Youtube clips from obscure scores, has since evolved into some pretty amazing hour-long film score mega mixes! As I type this, I am grooving to his compilation of ambient and electronic scores from 2011. Part 2 is all orchestral! Oh to be talented...

il vient...