As we may have mentioned earlier today, most people agree that 2010 wasn’t exactly a banner year for great films. But what did hit theaters inspired some amazing “alternate” posters made by graphic designers and illustrators. Click through to check out some of our favorites, visually-stunning artwork inspired by films that range from Oscar contenders like 127 Hours to big popcorn movies like Tron: Legacy.

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We all know that Kim Jong-Il enjoys looking at things. We just didn’t realize that those things included movies. Recently, a copy of the beloved leader’s book of film criticism, On the Art of Cinema, crossed our desk. It’s a basically unreadable blend of propaganda, theory, and all-caps commandments about the film industry that Kim published in the late 1970s. (One such missive: “COMPOSE THE PLOT CORRECTLY.”) We decided to judge the year’s top-grossing films, as best we can, using the North Korean leader’s formula.

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Remember when you went to see Transformers only to have the experience totally eclipsed by what you didn’t realize at the time was a teaser for J.J. Abrams’ upcoming thriller Cloverfield? Well, prepare to have it happen again this weekend. According to Collider, a surprise trailer for Super 8 — a film which Abrams hasn’t even begun shooting yet — will screen in theaters this weekend before Iron Man 2.

We find it interesting that Abrams is choosing to go this route again; it felt like Cloverfield (which we thought was good, but only got a so-so reception from both audiences and critics) never stood a chance of living up to its original teaser. That said, as Collider points out, Cloverfield set a box office record in its opening weekend, taking in more than it would for the rest of its run in theaters. So maybe that’s why.

With the polarizing reception of Matthew Vaughn’s foul-mouthed Kick-Ass, the superhero genre is in full swing for 2010. There’s the highly anticipated sequel to Iron Man and Seth Rogen donning green tights for Michel Gondry’s The Green Hornet. On top of that, this is also when shooting ends for Thor and most likely starts for Captain America. So what’s the big deal?* According to designer Fonografiks, a ’60s dime store aesthetic-meets-comic legend is a design category worthy of singular interpretation.

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We’ve all seen those groaner moments in a film where a character prominently filibusters in support of some real life product that-surprise!-contributed a hefty sum to said movies financing in exchange for the positive plug. Now, an article in today’s New York Times describes how these product placement deals are being cut progressively earlier in the filmmaking process, with rough scripts and situations prematurely doctored to optimize branding potential. Of course, with ballooning production costs this kind of product placement is almost inevitable. So we say, why not embrace it?

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Today at Flavorpill, we listened to the first single from the new Hole album, “Skinny Little Bitch,” on repeat. Bravo, Courtney. We viewed burger chain dominance through the prism of Star Wars. We took a peek inside of the ancient Egyptian burial chamber of Queen Behenu. We were excited to see a new trailer for Iron Man 2, which is set to debut after the Oscars. We wanted to lather up with this typography soap. We were mesmerized/horrified by the “One Term President” rap. We wondered if Lil Wayne is any good at Monopoly. And finally, we were surprised by multiple instances of Hurt Locker-related drama. Do you think this is a bad sign for its Best Picture odds come Sunday?

In 2007, Jon Favreau had the audacity to make an Iron Man movie that was actually good. Two years later, we have our first glimpse of the inevitable sequel. What follows is a play-by-play breakdown of the new trailer for Iron Man 2 (or, as we call it, War Machine: Origins), featuring Mickey Rourke’s Burning Man-appropriate metal teeth, Scarlett Johansson’s laughable attempts at be-leathered badassery, and the brazen ripoff of a Dark Knight set-piece.

For your pleasure, we’ve highlighted some of the best parts (Sam Jackson as Nick Fury) and some of the worst (basically all the parts that do not include Sam Jackson as Nick Fury).

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The phenomenal success of the first Iron Man film meant moviegoers were going to get another chance to see Robert Downey Jr.’s reformed Tony Stark character. But there were some major transformations in order before they could start filming the sequel, and the buzz behind the scenes has been almost as interesting as Iron Man itself. There have been reports about a feud between Scarlett Johansson and Gwyneth Paltrow. Don Cheadle replaced an unhappy Terrence Howard as Stark’s sidekick, James Rhodes (War Machine), and Mickey Rourke landed the role of an energy whip-wielding villain known as Whiplash.

Check out the film stills as we explain every development and more after the jump.

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