So the underlying precept of the below poster for Superhero Movie, releasing March 28 from Weinstein Company and MGM, seems to basically be, “Why try?” After all, the one-sheet for the latest genre catch-all spoof flick is such a straight rip-off of the Photoshop-happy Scary Movie poster(s) that one kind of hopes no one actually got paid for it, that some college kid just got internship credit for working it up with a few loose pointers from the producers. Oh well, I guess… “ain’t broke, don’t fix it,” “dance with who brung ya,” “stick with what works,” yadda, yadda, yadda. Any real irritation I might have felt is ebbing out of me with each keystroke.

What might (and I do emphasize that word) give Superhero Movie a leg up on 20th Century Fox’s recent spoof slate (Date Movie, Epic Movie, Meet the Spartans) is the fact that it’s written and directed by Craig Mazin, who did some heavy lifting on the last two Scary Movie flicks, and maintains The Artful Writer, a very literate, engaging and witty blog on the life of screenwriting. This means Superhero Movie could have actual jokes instead of just bewigged impressions, (arguably) comedic reenactments of scenes from recent hits and punches to the balls. Of course, this poster doesn’t really let us know one way or another, except for the fact that it does pack in 10 in 11 sight gags, letting us know that the movie will at the very least keep swinging.

The poster for Michael Haneke’s memorably tense Funny Games (Warner Independent, March 14), an English language remake of his 1997 French film of the same name, is a striking, effective thing, I think mostly because we rarely see such rubbed-raw emotion captured in one-sheet form.

After the disaster of their long-lead teaser one-sheet, and this still-less-than-inspiring other poster, Warner Bros. finally has it right with what I assume is the final art and billboards for the full national campaign for Fred Claus. I couldn’t grab an image in a cursory search online, and quite honestly just didn’t feel like navigating the tedious download process from WB’s press site, but you’ve seen the picture — Paul Giamatti in the background, hands on hips, and Vince Vaughn rockin’ the Big Wheel in front of him, a look of pure Christmas morning glee on his face. This captures exactly the sort of anarchic tone they should’ve been selling all along — not stupid ninja elves.

Babylon A.D., the ’70s-set movie charts the aspirant fortunes of an ABA franchise led by owner-player-coach Jackie Moon (Ferrell). Kent Alterman directs, from a screenplay by Scot Armstrong (Old School), and rounding out the rest of the cast are Woody Harrelson, Maura Tierney, Andre Benjamin, Andy Richter, Jackie Earle Haley, Rob Corddry and David Koechner. Oh, and Will Arnett too.

It’s an immediate eye-catcher, this poster, though I think they should have colored the jersey something other than white. It’s definitely a sign of Ferrell’s drawing power, too. Still, let’s all hope this doesn’t bring back the muttonchops…

So not to go on a total poster bitch-fest jag, but the one-sheet for the forthcoming Whiteout, starring Kate Beckinsale, has dropped, and it also looks like a weird Photoshop job, albeit a better one than Good Luck Chuck‘s sorry poster.

After all, that’s a large part of the reason that to this day I bear a grudge against the Inuit. Well… that, and the fact that they clubbed the rest of my family to death with baby seals when I was 10.

The one-sheet for Wes Anderson’s next film, The Darjeeling Limited, has been released (below), and its trailer is now online as well in theaters, appended to most prints of Fox Searchlight’s Sunshine and Once.

Above is the very bottom of the poster; the top extends to include the intricate, blue-green tile and artwork of the religious chapel-ish structure. Starring Owen Wilson, Adrien Brody and Jason Schwartzman, the movie — cowritten by Anderson with Schwartzman and Roman Coppola — is billed as an emotional comedy about three brothers re-forging fraternal bonds on a train ride across India, and its trailer unfolds in the same twee style that has long been a signature of the filmmaker. It seems mostly a hits routine for Wilson and Schwartzman (albeit a decidedly low key one), but the unifying flavor here may be Brody, though it’s too early to tell.

It’s been three years since The Life Aquatic, which is about right in terms of a break between these sorts of films. One thing I don’t get, though, is that the poster — which inverts its credits, putting them under the main title but over the above picture — reads, “In select theatres this fall,” which, consciously or not, gives off a certain vibe of we’re-dumping-this-pretentious-bauble. I can’t recall another recent film that has so advertised its limited run. Exclusivity isn’t what needs to be touted or highlighted with this movie; its subject matter and tone will do that just fine.

For those in the Los Angeles area, the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences is celebrating the 50th anniversary of its Foreign Language Film award category by showcasing posters from five decades of winners in its lobby, January 19 through April 15. The exhibition, dubbed “From Amarcord to Z,” features mostly original international posters, and includes the one-sheets for La Strada, Kolya, All About My Mother and The Discreet Charm of the Bourgeoisie, among many others. Admission is free. For more information, click here.