Criterion & Eclipse Cover Art & Packaging Babble-on Vol.4

[kaujot]

I actually like the Spy cover, find it suiting, even if it's just a still. I'm obviously the only one, though.

I quite like it, too. Cold, oppressive. Very fitting.

[domino harvey]

And to think I was about to post about how refreshing it is to see everyone on the same page for once!

[Poncho Punch]

The Spy Who Came In From The Cold looks like a bad airport novel cover, and while that may suit the origin of the film, I thought the big draw on this one was Burton's performance - and yet of all four covers this month, that's the only one not to feature any sort of representation of the actor/character?

[colinr0380]

You know, the more I look at the Fanfan cover I think it has taken the worst aspects of the Viridiana cover (black bordered cut outs in strange positions) and combined it with the creepy caricature look of the Heaven Can Wait and Amarcord covers! (Though at least those covers were entirely drawn!)

[swo17]

Maybe Criterion is just trying to push their Blu-ray titles by making the non-Blu-ray ones look absolutely unappealing. Of course, this is contingent on them releasing all new non-bad cover art for Bottle Rocket and Chungking.

(Truth be told, I kind of like most of the feel of the Chungking cover. But those spooning Cs are ridiculous.)

[Finch]

Fanfan is downright terrible and Bottle Rocket only marginally better. Agree that the cover for Spy Who Came In From The Cold is disappointingly conventional - it reminds me somewhat of the Stranger Than Paradise artwork in that it could pass as the front cover of a paperback (except that the Jarmusch cover is superior). Chungking Express is the best of the lot but not keen on the title font. Compared to some of the covers from June to September inclusive and the Missing artwork, November's output is almost shocking as some of the spring releases.

[Cronenfly]

(Truth be told, I kind of like most of the feel of the Chungking cover. But those spooning Cs are ridiculous.)

Could be a really bad joke on the part of the cover designer, as The Lovin' Spoonful was formed by members of The Mugwumps, others of which formed the Mamas and the Papas...but that's stretching things more than a little, given that it's clearly only meant to be a way of incorporating/playing off of the Wacky C.

[Poncho Punch]

I didn't realize Wong was the director of marketing for Esprit.

[a.khan]

Re. this month's cover fart-a-thon: M. Night Shyamalan croaked, "What happened?"

(Compared to those covers, admit it, fuckers, my joke is a masterpiece.)

[domino harvey]

I didn't realize Wong was the director of marketing for Esprit.

Haha nice

[LightBulbFilm]

I actually really do like The Bottle Rocket cover.

Chungking Express could be better.

Fanfan is really odd.

And The Spy Who Came In From the Cold is extremely bland. The Paramount cover might be better than it.

[swo17]

it's clearly only meant to be a way of incorporating/playing off of the Wacky C.

I will be wary of any future Criterion titles starting with the letter 'C'.

[HelenLawson]

it's clearly only meant to be a way of incorporating/playing off of the Wacky C.

I will be wary of any future Criterion titles starting with the letter 'C'.

Kinda makes me wish that Criterion would release C.C. and Company.

[dx23]

All 4 covers are shoe in for the Worst DVD cover thread. Fanfan La tulipe and Chunking Express are just horrible. They really look like fan art, in the worst way possible.

[Matt]

I'd like the Chungking Express cover if it were for any other movie. It makes the movie look so sad and doesn't capture any of its joy.

[Sloper]

What makes the Spy cover quite funny is the certifiably mad enlargement of the words 'spy' and 'cold' - if you read the cover out loud, it sounds like innuendo. 'The SPY who came in from the COLD - oo-er, missus.' Maybe that's just me. Anyway they're all crap.

[Cinephrenic]

It just goes good with the new Cold War at the moment.

[godardslave]

scores out of 10:

Bottle Rocket 8/10
Chungking Express 5/10
Fanfan la Tulipe 1/10 (maybe its a joke?)
Spy 3/10

[Mr Pixies]

correction...

They'd still have to solve MY problem of having all that red against pink. It looks so unbelievably ugly.

I love red on pink, it's one of my favorite color combination, look at the work of Philip Guston.

These covers look fine to me, I'm not dazzled at all, but that's more to do with the films than the covers.

[Svevan]

They'd still have to solve MY problem of having all that red against pink. It looks so unbelievably ugly.

I love red on pink, it's one of my favorite color combinations, look at the work of Philip Guston.

These covers look fine to me, I'm not dazzled at all, but that's more to do with the films than the covers.

Red on pink is a color combo Anderson's used before (though I don't think it was present in this movie). Both garish and complementary color combos (often between text and background as in this cover) are a huge part of Anderson's filmmaking, despite his protestation that character and story are his primary concern. I think the cover is ugly, but for some reason that fits.

Chungking is attractive but vapid, Spy Who Came In From the Cold looks about as empty as the movie, and re: Fanfan, I've said before how much I hate these awkward hand-drawn cartoony covers (Amarcord barely gets away with it, but Thief of Baghdad is ugly).

[Murdoch]

I really like the Chungking if only because I'm glad they did original artwork for the cover and didn't just use a still. I guess I'm just unwilling to admit the art is bad because it's my favorite film.

Fanfan la Tulipe, however, may be one of the worst covers I've ever seen and Spy is just dull. Not a fan of the Bottle cover, but I wasn't a fan of the others and knew it would be a similar design so it doesn't bother me.

[mfunk9786]

Red on pink is a color combo Anderson's used before

When? Where?

[swo17]

I was hoping for Marienbad this month, but now I don't want it to come out until they hire new cover designers.

[Jeff]

I think Chungking Express might be one of my favorite covers. Seriously. Why would it matter how long the cover designer spent working on it? I would imagine that swimminghorses spends hours laboring over his horrible joke covers. That doesn't make them good. There's beauty in simplicity.

The others all seem kind of unfinished. Fanfan is pretty terrible, but I'm betting that it is a work in progress. I would imagine that the faces in particular will end up getting a more painterly look instead of looking like they were cut out of a magazine and stuck on with a glue stick. Spy is pretty boring, but not offensively bad like Fanfan. I actually like the red on pink of Bottle Rocket, but the foreground figures and the fucking labels on them (?) have got to go.

The Blu-ray covers on the sell sheets look to be identical to the standard def covers, but they appear to have a slightly translucent blue sticker with a "Wacky b" and the word Blu-ray on them.

[Bete_Noire]

I think Chungking Express might be one of my favorite covers. Seriously. Why would it matter how long the cover designer spent working on it? I would imagine that swimminghorses spends hours laboring over his horrible joke covers. That doesn't make them good. There's beauty in simplicity.

Except that it resembles an undergrad's first project on Photoshop and doesn't match the film at all. Even the Tarantino face cover on the Rolling Thunder release was better. Think about that for a moment.