Penguin RushTop 10 movie taglines - updated
A few months back, I sent an article to a magazine for publishing. I got tired of waiting for the green light. I think they prefer NOT to publish it, due to not wanting to have me paid as a result.So, I might as well just 'publish' it here, other than letting it go to waste and not having anyone else read it. Here is the article on "Top 10 movie taglines":
In Titanic (1998), the love between Jack Dawson (Leonardo DiCaprio) and Rose DeWitt Bukater (Kate Winslet) was much stronger and much grandeur than the luxury liner itself. Their love survived the sticky spot, the disapproving mother, the handcuff, the speeding bullets and even the sinking ship. Although nothing on earth could come between them, eventually, the sea water did, at least physically. Jack froze to death due to the icy cold water before sinking into the deep ocean, leaving Rose helpless and strong at the same time. Strong enough for her to hold on and live out her dreams, until she could meet Jack in the same North Atlantic ocean, some decades later.
Have you committed a particular sin? And are you willing to die for it? In the movie Se7en, starring Brad Pitt, Morgan Freeman and Kevin Spacey, the movie makers want you to remember this tagline: seven deadly sins, seven ways to die. The tagline is gripping. It describes the movie as a dark crime thriller not for those with the faint of heart. But at the same time, it entices you to catch the movie (as long as you are 18 and above) and learns what the sins are; gluttony, greed, sloth, pride, lust, envy and wrath, and how the sinners are ‘punished’. Long after watching the movie, you do not want to fall into the traps of these sins.
Have you ever heard or known someone who never seemed to find the right person to be their special partner? They said they believed in love at first sight, and they would know when that happened. Sounded like a romantic story waiting to unfold eh? But in Closer (2004), the movie reveals how such a belief can lead to disastrous consequences because if you believe in love at first sight, you never stop looking, and someone is bound to get hurt. Watch how the lives of Dan (Jude Law), Alice (Natalie Portman), Anna (Julie Roberts) and Larry (Clive Owen) collide when Dan, who despite having a perfectly good relationship with Alice, chases after Anna after meeting Anna only for the first time.
Phone Booth (2003) sees Stu (Colin Farrell), a happily married publicist who treats everyone like dirt. One day, after making a flirtatious call to a woman from a phone booth, the phone rings and he picks it up. The next thing he knows, he is trapped in the booth at gun point by a sniper killer, who demands that he sets all of his problems straight. Things get nasty when while in the booth, he is attacked by hookers and their pimp, cops and newsmen start to surround him and a few people get hurt. Should you ever be in this kind of situation, you’d better pray it won’t be the last time you ever use a phone; because your life relies on the outcome of the phone conversation. Because your life is on the line.
In Alien (1979), a ship is sent to investigate an SOS distress call on an unknown planet. The crew lands to investigate, but they wander too far off into an alien vessel. Ripley’s (Sigourney Weaver) doubt when she says, “It sounds more like a warning than SOS,” proves to be correct when they encounter an alien that begins to kill the crew members one by one. The alien breeds by hugging your face real tight, laying an egg in you, before it dies off. Then, an offspring bursts through your chest, escapes, grows bigger at an enormous rate, has two sets of jaws, has acid as blood and will kill everybody else in no time. No matter how petrified you are, in space, no-one can hear you scream.
In the movie Cocktail (1988), Brian Flanagan (Tom Cruise) is young, ambitious and wants to live the American dream by making lots of money. However, due to his inadequate education background, he fails to secure a place in the lines of sales, marketing and stock exchange. So, he becomes a bartender so that his days are free for the real gig. But when he moves to Jamaica (also to work as a bartender) and meets Jordan (Elisabeth Shue), their romance sheds a new perspective to his self-centered life. In the end, he marries the girl, opens up his own bar and has plans to franchise his business. So, to describe the movie in a tagline as when he pours, he reigns, pun is very much intended.
Reporters, especially those of newspapers often use repetition or words that rhyme in news headlines. But when one reads a movie title Bride of Chucky (1998), followed by its tagline, Chucky gets lucky, one does not need to be a rocket scientist to figure out that in the movie, a character named Chucky finds his bride. But for those who are familiar with the whole movie premise, they know that Chucky is a doll possessed by an evil spirit. Can this mean that Chucky’s bride is also in the form of a doll? Will both of them cause twice the mayhem and double the murders?
Speaking of playing with words, anaphora builds on a particular emotion by repeating the same word(s) at the beginning of successive phrases, clauses or sentences. If (most) movies reach the climax towards the end, so do sentences, especially when they are arranged in ascending order of importance or emphasis. So, when the tagline to the movie Don’t Tell Mom the Babysitter’s Dead (1991) reads as No rules. No curfews. No nagging. No pulse., we can safely assume that the reason the babysitter is imposing no rules, no curfews and does not nag is because, the babysitter is probably dead.
Some people tend to get scared when watching horror/scary movies especially during those shocking scenes. But others don’t really get scared that easy, possibly due to the movies’ predictability. Usually, right from the beginning of horror movies, we can predict who gets whacked and who survives. But when you read the tagline to The Texas Chainsaw Massacre (1974) that says Who will survive and what will be left of them?, your minds start to wonder. Perhaps no hero or heroine who survives in this one? Or even if someone does survive, parts of their body are missing? Quite an intriguing tagline as it triggers different imaginations to us. After all, chainsaw can cause quite a mess if you use it to kill someone.
Before Survivor, there was Candid Camera. Before reality series, there were hidden camera shows. Possibly based on these premises, movies like Ed TV and The Truman Show came out. But The Truman Show (1999) brings a whole new meaning when it comes to capturing someone’s emotions and expressions and broadcasting it for the whole world to see. Because in the movie, Truman (Jim Carey) is on the air, unaware, from the moment he was born, 24 hours a day. But just like any hidden camera programmes, the truth is finally revealed. Truman leaves the giant studio set, goes after the love of his life and lives the real life that he deserves.
So, here are the Top 10 movie taglines, ranked in the order of their catchiness and how they connect to the movies and to us, the movie goers or readers (whichever category is suitable for you).
1. Titanic – Nothing on earth could come between them
2. Alien – In space, no-one can hear you scream
3. Closer – If you believe in love at first sight, you never stop looking
4. The Truman Show – On the air, unaware
5. Se7en – Seven deadly sins, seven ways to die
6. Cocktail – When he pours, he reigns
7. Phone Booth – Your life is on the line
8. The Texas Chain Saw Massacre – Who will survive and what will be left of them?
9. Don’t Tell Mom the Babysitter’s Dead – No rules. No curfews. No nagging. No pulse.
10. Bride of Chucky – Chucky gets lucky
posted by The Pisces Man @ 6:45 pm
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