Creepy, right? I have not seen Haunting and will probably wait for DVD or pay cable, but that is a weird, startling, attention-grabbing image. As a movie junkie, I love good movie art. The best movie posters are evocative. They capture what a movie is all about without giving away the mystery. There are certain movie posters that instantly put me back in that theatre experiencing the film for the very first time. The best movie posters are not just promotional tools. They stand as a work of art on their own. These are my favorites, buit it is by no means a definitive list. Feel free to add your favorites (and subtract any of mine).

#1 – JAWS
I saw this all-time classic as a 9-year-old on opening day, and saw it a second time at the Saturday matinee. To this day, I am afraid to swim in the ocean. That shark is always there in my imagination. The poster is literal, but haunting.

#2 – CHINATOWN
This is truly a work of art. The smoke shrouding the ultimate mystery of Evelyn Mulwray, and the stylized version of Jake Gittes (played by Jack Nicholson), the hard-boiled detective who unravels it all.

#3 – THE DARK KNIGHT
Impossible to separate Heath Ledger’s death from his remarkable interpretation of The Joker. This is an amazing image. In 30 years, I will look at this poster and immediately feel the impact of Christopher Nolan’s masterpiece.

#4 – BREAKFAST AT TIFFANY’S
You can almost hear Audrey Hepburn warbling “Moon River” at the sight of this iconic poster. Every woman wanted to be her and every man wanted to be with her.

#5 – SECRETARY
The 2002 cult classic about a sadomasochistic relationship between a demanding lawyer (James Spader) and a submissive secretary (Maggie Gyllenhaal). The movie is an under-appreciated gem. The poster may be even better.

#6 – UNFORGIVEN
This is my favorite poster made for Clint Eastwood’s masterful revisionist Western. Simple. Classic. Tells you everything you need to know about Clint’s Bill Munny character.

#7 – AMERICAN BEAUTY
A beautiful image that suggests the perversity that lies just beneath the surface of the suburban neighborhood created by screenwriter Alan Ball and director Sam Mendes.

#8 – SILENCE OF THE LAMBS
“You will let me know when those lambs stop screaming, won’t you?” You can almost hear Dr. Hannibal Lecter say it. The Death’s-head moth “lodged” in Clarice Starling’s throat. Brilliant image.

#9 – VERTIGO
An ode to acrophobia as Detective Scottie Ferguson (as played by Jimmy Stewart) battles his fear of heights while becoming obsessed with Madeleine Elster (the stunning Kim Novak). This kaleidoscopic design immediately brings the strains of Bernard Hermann’s amazing score into my head.

#10 – PULP FICTION
Uma Thurman as Mia Wallace in all her swagger. Yes, she does wind up with a sharpie circle on her chest and a shot of adrenaline, but the whole gritty movie is captured with this image.

HONORABLE MENTION
- in no particular order -
A CLOCKWORK ORANGE
SWEENEY TODD
MEAN STREETS
AMADEUS
GONE WITH THE WIND
METROPOLIS
KING KONG (1939 Fay Wray version)
CLOVERFIELD
THE SEVEN YEAR ITCH
2001: A SPACE ODYSSEY

Steve Mason is on Facebook and now also on Twitter@LAMase.

Amadeus is the best movie ever made. It’s not up for debate. Okay, maybe it’s almost as good as Jaws. We’ll throw in Star Wars, Raising Arizona, 300, Aliens and Raiders above it too.

There are good ideas rolling around in Amadeus but none more central than the idea that being a good artist has nothing to do with virtue. Hitler appreciated the arts, Maxfield Parrish screwed his models, and the best writers are drunk, emotional narcissists. I hope I didn’t miss anyone. Anyways, being correct on any position does jack for one’s artistic ability.

F. Murray Abraham plays Salieri, a jealous Vienese court composer convinced that by remaining chaste to God he should be able to write music that will transcend his own death. Salieri knows his own music is just acceptable so that when he hears the music of Mozart he assumes the composer must be a man of great portence and stature. To Salieri’s horror, his anger at God is doubled when he finds Mozart to be a foul twit.

I’ve been a religious man for a great deal of my life and an artist even longer. I get comments from some folks that my work is, “a great gift.”  I don’t know exactly what we mean by that, but even as I study the great gifts in the Bible, art is never mentioned. Given the artists I’ve known it’s no wonder. Perhaps my desire to do art is a gift, because I can never explain why I’m compelled to draw every day. I draw no matter if there’s money in it or not. I just plain dig it. So my appetite may have been set by God, but my talent is not. It’s a skill that comes from a lot of friggin’ hard work.

If we’re using the phrase “gift” in the traditional context, supernatural gifts from God would arrive in a complete package. God doesn’t make junk, so why do I look at my sketchbooks from high school and see sucky art? Gifts can’t be earned. Crafts can only be earned. Gifts are free or they’re no gift at all. So if I got a gift to draw-act-write-sing-speak it should come as a complete, miraculous package…and it never does. Not a freebie. It’s a skill.

I could have saved Salieri a lot of anguish, but he’s dead. Luckily, we’re still alive to ponder the tie between our character and our creation. Nobody seems to be as confused as my fellow Christians, Republicans and the people behind those sucky Iraq movies. I know one hundred Christians in the arts, and many think that their correct position is the ticket to getting a project made. Wrong. Lefties assume that having the correct position allows them to make sloppy, lazy, caricatures of conservatives and their ideology. Finally, Republicans think having the right position gives them permission to remain unable to articulate an argument and sport hair-styles that look like motorcycle helmets.

One of President Bush’s clear faults was that he rarely made a public case for any of his administration’s positions. Bush and Cheney are two of my heroes (You hear that? That’s the sound of me losing three deals in Hollywood just now) but they aren’t my heroes of communication.

While we have a rich history of fine Christian content in the past, it’s the exception today. The rule is for Christian art to be mediocre. We have a high opinion of our correct position but place form a little too far down the ladder from function. There is beauty and truth to be found in a story well told and a position well argued. Look at President Obama. This is a man who won an election purely on form, eloquent sound bites, a snappy suit and backlit with a halo. I would never advocate emptying our heads to dance with Ellen, but charisma is a valuable tool in politics, and we’ll need access to every tool possible to defeat the Democrat party and their media juggernaut.

I don’t think art is just packaging either. It’s not a skin we stretch over an ideology. The artful package is also a kind of an end unto itself. It’s not just a sham or the beauty that is only skin deep. I didn’t spend most of my life drawing to make cute pictures. I draw because there is a wonder to providing an elegant vessel to carry our stories to each other. In fact, being a good artist is no different than being a good Christian or a good politician, since these are all communicative genres that benefit from compelling presentation.

The great artists I’ve known personally or studied with were consumed by their craft. They threw themselves into the study of form, presentation, manipulation of materials and practiced daily. I think my camp would do well in showing a little more respect for the art of presentation because it’s not a gift.

Since it’s not a gift we should continue to work on the craft or assume our role as the patron saint of mediocrity and bad hair.