A couple things I miss since the pandemic began, going to the movies, and going to professional sporting events. I enjoy seeing the coming attractions as I walk up to the theater, the movie posters and cardboard cutouts inside, and the previews before the movies.

On the sports side, and in particular, going to NBA games, it’s all about the star players. When the Thunder came to town, you went to see Westbrook, Durant, and before he was traded, James Harden as well. When the Celtics came, it was to see Paul Pierce, KG, Ray Allen, etc… Obviously the stars move around more these days, but it’s all about which star players are in town.

I opened a lot of retail packs of 2009-10 Upper Deck basketball. It always seemed to be on sale at Target, both the blasters and the rack packs, and I opened a bunch of them. They had awesome dual materials memorabilia cards, one per blaster, of which I pulled several, and lots of rookies and legend cards. On the insert front, I remain a fan of the ‘Masterpieces’ set- it’s a large one with players past and present. In fact, I even sent one to Chris Paul to get signed, and it came back. It’s actually one of my favorite cards in my collection. And then when you add to it the fact that 2009-10 is the last year Upper Deck released cards with NBA logos, it’s a set that brings back some good memories for me.

The other insert from the 2009-10 Upper Deck retail packs is ‘Now Appearing’, a set that shows basketball stars on movie posters, a set I am all for. In fact, I think it’s one of Upper Deck’s best. The set has a variety of styles, as you can see above. The Durant is my favorite of the three. I definitely miss him as a member of the Sonics/Thunder, but this gives the best movie poster feel with the text at the bottom, The color schema looks great in the background too.

The Westbrook almost looks like a Warriors card with the colors. In my mind it was, until I thought about the fact that Westbrook hasn’t played for the Warriors. Hard to believe he’ll be playing for his 4th franchise this coming year. It’s going to be strange seeing him in a Lakers uniform, but I think it’s going to be an effective trio with LeBron and AD, when they’re all healthy.

And here’s the one I have in my player collection, and it’s a great one. The LeBron has the same design. Love the clouds in the background with some game action below.

It’s worth doing a search and looking at some of the other designs. The Garnett has a Matrix looking background. The MJ has a design that none of the other cards in the set have, and I love it.

The card backs have a standard design, made to look like a movie ticket stub. It’s a sharp design. The scan makes it look like a die-cut, but it is not. The right is just white space. Notice KD still in a Sonics uniform.

I think it would have been fun to include some nicknames in this set. It would work well with the movie poster theme. Now Appearing – The Truth!

The checklist is almost entirely modern stars as of the 2009 season. The exception is Michael Jordan, who is the only retired player in the set.

Upper Deck also released an insert set called ‘Now Showing’ for the 1999-00 season. Any other movie themed sets out there?