Month: June 2011

REVIEW: Green Lantern [2011]

Jared Mobarak

“This is the worst eleventh birthday party I’ve ever been to” And here I thought green was the color of envy. Leave it to the DC Universe to set the record straight on how wrong that is in what could be the most implausibly convoluted mythology of any comic book entity ever—especially for a superhero who lives in the same world as Batman and Superman, two guys heavily steeped in reality, with some artistic flourishes of course. Green Lantern is hindered from an easy transition to the big screen at…

Read More

REVIEW: Happythankyoumoreplease [2011]

Jared Mobarak

“Who says Santa’s pants have to be red?!” It only took about halfway through Happythankyoumoreplease before I began to think about the one thing I probably should have latched onto from the start. The comparisons between this and 2004’s Garden State are unmistakable. And it’s not just the obvious—or what should be obvious if my brain had been working—that each starred and was written and directed by the star of a hit television sitcom, it’s also the sense of heart behind every single moment, the off-kilter eccentricity of certain characters…

Read More

ARTWORK: India, Consumerized [Taj Mahal]

Jared Mobarak

After a vacation in India—and 1,100 photos—I decided to continue my Buffalo, Consumerized series with an off-shoot aptly named India, Consumerized. The following is a horizontal and vertical offering of the famous Taj Mahal in Agra. All aspects of the design motifs come from the architecture of the tomb and the surrounding structures. The logo is derived from the gorgeous in-laid precious stone work glued on the marble, re-appropriated and combined to form an icon in the shape of the actual building. The starburst motif is taken from the interior…

Read More

DESIGN: Theodore’s Original Hot Dogs [spec]

Jared Mobarak

When Theodore’s Original Hot Dogs was in its infancy, I was asked to develop some ideas on a logo design. Seven iterations later, the final circular crest below, in two colors, was made as a start to what could have been a full-scale branding of the company. In the end, the company decided to go in a different direction, but the designs exist nonetheless as follows. Three early examples from the initial seven designs. The first playing off a circular squirt of condiments; the second an abstract flame from yellow…

Read More

REVIEW: Le Concert [The Concert] [2009]

Jared Mobarak

“This is the real communism” By no means as madcap as I had been under the impression it would be, Radu Mihaileanu’s Le concert [The Concert] is most definitely the uplifting comedy it’s American poster proclaims. The laughs it elicits are often earned by scenes hiding truths, their revelations the joke, and absurd nonsense during the chaotic whirlwind of three days in Paris to ready for a sold out concerto featuring ‘The [Russian] Maestro’, famously embarrassed in a public assassination on stage thirty years previous, and the incomparable Anne-Marie Jacquet,…

Read More

DESIGN: The 2011 Decorator’s Show House Program

Jared Mobarak

2011 The 2011 Decorator’s Show House Program, sponsored by Junior League of Buffalo and The Buffalo News published by Buffalo Spree Publishing, Inc. Front Cover: After receiving a photo of the Bayliss-Oshei Residence for the cover, I decided to add some texture to the background, utilizing the green and reds of the interior design, overlaying with the elegant font chosen by the Junior League. Our goal was to infuse bright, vibrant colors throughout the book, contrasting the plain, grayscale books of the past. Inside Layout: Building off of 2009’s design,…

Read More

REVIEW: Super 8 [2011]

Jared Mobarak

“Cut! … That was mint.” When the silhouette of a boy and his bike floats across a moon as a blue Amblin wavers its way over, you know you’re in for something special. A flood of nostalgia overwhelms and you feel like a kid again, anticipating the heartfelt tale of mystery and adventure that waits. Credit producer Steven Spielberg for refusing to update his shingle’s iconic look, retaining the fuzzy quality devoid of the computers we had become accustomed to in the 80s. Couple it with J.J. Abrams’s Bad Robot…

Read More

REVIEW: Jane Eyre [2011]

Jared Mobarak

“We shall root out the wickedness from this small, ungrateful plant” No, the words from friends and family about the dry, dull, laborious task it is to read the Brontë sisters didn’t sway my desire to see Cary Fukunaga’s adaptation of Charlotte’s Jane Eyre. Between my adoration of the director’s previous effort, Sin Nombre; the uneasy, ethereal quality of tone and aesthetic of the trailer; and the drop-dead gorgeous poster, (yes, I do judge books by their covers), my ticket was punched long before acclaim showered down. Considering its publishing…

Read More

REVIEW: X-Men: First Class [2011]

Jared Mobarak

“Mutant and proud” The new world order begins and sides are chosen as Matthew Vaughn—five years late—finally gets his crack at the world of Marvel mutants. X-Men: First Class arrives to tell us the origins of what we’ve seen in the original trilogy, retreating back into the 40s, paralleling of the Holocaust with the world’s inevitable reaction to a new breed of evolution and how the oppressed become the oppressors to survive. It’s a very fine line between good and evil, right and wrong, retribution and revenge. Charles Xavier hones…

Read More

REVIEW: The Company Men [2011]

Jared Mobarak

“You know the worst part? The world didn’t stop.” Independent and television producer/writer John Wells makes his feature directorial debut with The Company Men, a film about three men coping with the recession, corporate downsizing, and how—for the upper crust of America—unemployment may just be harder work than having a job. The conceit is one that audiences can wrap their heads around, especially with so many having family, friends, co-workers, or perhaps themselves affected in much the same way. But despite this universal theme, the implementation can be a bit…

Read More