Voss Caltrez said:

DominicCobb said:

I agree that Struzan's SE posters are pretty dull, but his PT ones a great no matter what people think of the movies themselves. Anyway, it seems strange to complain about Struzan or even Struzan imitators (I quite liked that Super 8 poster) when they're the only ones trying to keep the old fashioned poster style. I'd rather a second-rate Struzan poster for TFA than a photoshop job.

Good point. However, if Struzan and his imitators are simply doing photo realistic collages how is that competing with Photoshop-created movie posters that utilize the same style: photos done in collage? It's okay for people like us who are nostalgic but what about the general public?

I'd rather have painted movie posters that were more stylistic and making use of the variety the medium allows then just trying to make something look like a photograph. A style that expresses a certain tone or evokes strong feeling.

A fair argument. Nostalgia doesn't tint my view of painted posters the way it does others, as I am fairly young. My issue with photo collages is there's always a distinct sense of unreality to them. Painted collages embrace that unreality, obviously, but they come across more fancifully, if that makes any sense, due to the medium. Instead of the uncanny valley there's a colorful whimsy, which suits the Star Wars franchise well. Even if they're in a photorealistic style, they're still clearly paintings (by the way, my favorite SW posters are not Struzan's, to be clear).