Th one poster that stood out this year was Slumdog Millionaire, but for all the wrong reasons. Though the film received undeserved hype, which, to an extent it might live up to, the poster is certainly the worst we’ve seen all year. Like they let a post-production intern play around with Photoshop and then hurriedly dispatched that eyesore of a poster with the film’s promo material, cos’ they couldn’t afford to pay for a creative agency. Then again, most of this year’s posters were disappointing. Here’s ten that made the cut:

Shine a Light
Scorsese’s rockumentary on the Stones is titled after the song on their 1972 album Exile on Main St. While most of the film’s posters stuck to black-and-white aesthetics, the Italian version was slightly tinged for the pop-art, rock-n-roll effect.

Choke
Fox Searchlight gambled on Clark Gregg’s adaptation of Chuck Palahniuk’s novel after its indistinctly applauded premiere at the 2008 Sundance Film Festival. While Sam Rockwell and Anjelica Huston gave rock-solid performances, the film as a whole failed to capture the essence and substance of the plot, as much as Palahniuk’s crafty use of words did. But if we’re judging the movie by its poster, Choke had all the traits of a winning indie hit.



Gunnin’ For That #1 Spot
Adam Yauch a.k.a MCA a.k.a Nathaniel Hörnblowér, the founding member of the Beastie Boys, is not new to the director’s seat. He put together their audience-filmed 2006 concert film Awesome; I Fuckin’ Shot That! which premiered at the Sundance in 2006. He also has a couple of Beastie Boys’ music videos to his name. In his latest documentary film, he follows eight top high school basketball players to the first ever Boost Mobile Elite 24 Hoops Classic, a showdown featuring the creme de la creme of young ballers, at the celebrated Rucker Park in Harlem.



Son of Rambow
Even though it premiered at the Sundance and Toronto Film Festivals in 2007, the film opened to audiences only in the second quarter of 2008. This is the most charming coming-of-age film in recent years. Set in a 1980’s English summer, it follows the adventures of two young boys who set out to make a film inspired by Rambo: First Blood.



Burn After Reading
The Coen brothers followed up to last year’s Oscar hype with Burn After Reading, with an ensemble cast playing dimwitted characters. Among their poster line-up this particular one which looks like the cover to a paperback novel, even if it didn’t fascinate the eye, made a commendable effort in urging us to look it up.



W.
W.’s posters were quite conspicuous, popping up on display boards all over the world. Here’s one of many striking W. posters.



The Dark Knight
Warner Bros. began slowly unleashing and teasing audiences with their posters a year before the film was set to open. As the release date got closer, the posters got bloodier. Pure graphic brilliance nonetheless.



The Bank Job
Roger Donaldson’s film on the 1971 Baker Street robbery received its fair share of box office credit internationally; the critics found it entertaining and well-presented; Lions Gate Entertainment took home a sweet profit; Jason Statham put fort a commendable performance; and we thought the upfront and plain-speaking poster was quite alright.



Entre les murs (The Class)
21 years. That’s how long it took for a French film to win the Palme d’Or - the highest prize at the Cannes - after Maurice Pialat’s Sous le soleil de Satan did so in 1987. Laurent Cantet’s Entre les murs, though it literally translates to Between the Walls, will be internationally released as The Class before the end of the year. The film is an adaptation of François Bégaudeau’s novel of the same name, which records the experience of a teacher in a racially-mixed, inner-city school in a tough Parisian neighborhood. Bégaudeau also scripted the movie and played the teacher’s role in it.



Be Kind Rewind
Michel Gondry, the master of the mise-en-scene is known for his meticulous and marvelous set designs. The posters speak for themselves.