For some strange reason I’m really feeling the alternative-universe design stuff recently, and designers are happy to fufill my every need. Check these out: Antrepo Design gives us some more alternative movie posters, except these ones are ultra-modern, based solely in typography, and list all the brand placement inside some big name films.

There’s nothing wrong with brand placement anyway–a film is a film, and I don’t take these posters as criticism; they’re just a creative way to express a statistic. The fact that a few of the films with the longest list of brand placements are actually quite good (Iron Man, The Bourne Ultimatium), should dispel whatever argument might be brewing in your head at the moment.

I don’t care if people are hopping in nice shiny cars–if you’re going to play a rich character and Lamborghini wants to sponsor you, that’s great–it’s the kind of car I’d expect your character to be driving anyway. No problem! Phones and computers and other things are obvious too: we use these things, so why not movie characters? They just happen to use nicer, cooler versions of them, which work as advertising.

Where brand placement does go crazy, though, is when it temporarily hijacks the film and makes it feel like a commercial. I’m talking about when the actual dialogue of the film suddenly runs off the rails for a second, and characters start talking about the brands themselves. I can think of only one giant example off the top of my head, and it’s from 2006′s Casino Royale. Check out the last 15 seconds of this clip:

“Rolex?” she says.
“Omega,” he replies.
“Beautiful.”

Aye. Subtle. Although I guess one notable film from my childhood was actually far worse, with the entire film being a gigantic advertisement for Nintendo. This scene is pretty cringe-worthy these days, especially considering what a terrible product the Power Glove actually was. I suppose “I love the Power Glove” is a bit more direct than Eva Green’s “beautiful” line.

What a commercial, though: I saw The Wizard twice, putting my anticipation for Super Mario Bros. 3 absolutely through the roof afterwards, and it didn’t abate until I had it in my hands.