For a movie to go beyond being good or even memorable into the realm of truly “iconic” (not just the way marketing people use the word “iconic” to give something more gravitas than it has), there has to be something inherently singular about it. It has to be so much its own thing that someone could take any image and modify it in an artistic way and we’d still know exactly the movie and scene in question.
Artist Gustavo Viselner has done this with scenes of very well-known films, many of which among the best in cinema history (at least according to me) and interpreted them using pixel art, reminiscent of old Nintendo games, or certain current indie games. I don’t play video games so I’m at a loss to name any, but maybe you can in the comments!
Here are a couple of my favorites (a fuller gallery can be found below):
Naturally I’d pick this one; it’s my favorite movie of all time! The ending 30-45 minutes of Sergio Leone‘s The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly is, for me, the finest final act in movie history. This image is exactly the few beats before the intense showdown between our three characters, where Clint Eastwood’s Blondie holds all the cards.
This shot from Quentin Tarantino‘s Inglourious Basterds is precisely what you want from a pixel shot: a scalped person, viscera on the ground, and a terrified German soldier.
And this shot from Aliens for obvious, badass-Ripley reasons.
A larger gallery is below featuring shots from Goldfinger, The Princess Bride, Star Wars, and other movies. (There’s one from Watchmen, which I’m still gonna call “iconic” because of the graphic novel, even if the movie ain’t too great.)
Let me know your favorite in the comments below!
—
Images: All art by Gustavo Viselner
Kyle Anderson is the Weekend Editor and a film and TV critic for Nerdist.com. Follow him on Twitter!
