127 Hours

One of the most fascinating and realistic movies I've ever seen, 127 Hours will go down as an all-time favorite of mine. By pairing Danny Boyle's gritty, energetic directing style with the surreal, otherworldly landscape of the Canyonlands, the survivalist nightmare experienced by Aron Ralston is presented to you in a way that demands reliving his experience in an ultra-realistic fashion.

When I really enjoy a movie, I'll pull up a variety of websites and spend a few hours researching its creation, the time and effort involved, and, in the case of this movie, the true story behind it all. In the course of this research I came across the movie poster, which I had never before seen.

This is it:

What I love so much about the design in this poster is that the canyon walls create an hourglass, which I didn't immediately notice. The gradient, from a peaceful blue at the top, to a dangerous red at the bottom, tells you that as time passes, Aron experiences a descent from a harmless weekend of fun into a life-threatening nightmare. It's not often that you see meaningful, well constructed design in a movie poster nowadays. It made me appreciate the movie even more.

If you haven't seen it yet, you must.

-Barry