"Prometheus" (2012) - World premiere in London

I watched the live streaming of the "Prometheus" world premiere, which took place in London this evening. The film's crew looked amazing, all of them were so friendly and gorgeous while they walked on the blue carpet. So here is my full coverage of this event.

Click on the pictures to enlarge them.

“I think a certain someone named Ridley Scott has something to do with this.” Charlize Theron on why people are looking forward to see this film
“She is complicated as every one of us.” About Meredith Vickers
“I think the sniper will take me out if I say something about the ending.”

“The ideas behind it are exciting and big. People just interested to see what Ridley Scott was thinking about for the last 30 years.” Guy Pearce about the film
“The question is “Where do we come from?” On what question the characters are trying to find an answer

“It was his dream.” Michael Ellenberg (producer) on what persuaded Ridley Scott to return

“I enjoyed doing it. I hate it when it ends. It is like creating a new universe, and I become very attached to everything in it.” Ridley Scott on making this film
“I’m starting another movie in 10 weeks.” He is ready to do something new
“I saw "The Girl with the Dragoon Tattoo", the original, and I thought she is amazing.” On casting Noomi Rapace
“He is a wonderful actor, also a great comedian.” On working with Michael Fassbender

“David is kinda like a housekeeper. But he is very complicated. There may be some human personality underneath.” Michael Fassbender on his character
“In my living room, where I usually read scripts. And playing with house supplies, microwave, toaster.” On how he was preparing playing a robot
“Not that much. Robots don’t run. Noomi did it the most time.” On did he do lots of running for the film

“Chuck Ho as I call him. Together it’s a great combination.” Logan Marshall-Green on his character and Elizabeth Shaw
“We had our weekly conversation about words differences.” On having an international cast
“They build incredible sets to the tiny details. And they shoot the lights out and we had a chance to discover all of it with our flash lights.” On filming on detailed sets
“Tingly. I hope tingly.” What reaction he had when he saw the film, and what reaction he expects from the audience

“She’s an archaeologist, scientist, but she also believes in God. I like the contradiction it creates. She is very Ridley Scott heroine. She is very iconic for me. I loved playing her.” Noomi Rapace on Elizabeth Shaw

“We were out of limit.” Arthur Max, the production designer, about the working environment
“Combination of the known and unknown.” On what is special about this film

“He is amazing to work with. He’s so talented, wonderful with actors.” Kate Dickie (Ford) on Ridley Scott

“I thought it would be cool to name the movie something unpronounceable and pretentious.” Damon Lindelof, the screenwriter, on the title
“I did everything I could to not be fired.” On what to expect
“It looks, it tastes like Ridley Scott.” About what is special about this film

“Tacky. Lots of buttons and switches. It’s ever tacky geek’s dream.” Emun Elliott about the set, where his co-pilot worked
“The word is ‘epic!’. ” How he describes this film

“He’s a little bit out there, to be honest.” Sean Harris about his character
“Frightened.” How he feels about watching the film for the first time, because he joked, he might not make the final cut

“He’s good with landings.” Benedict Wong about his character
“It’s like Sting or Prince.” Why he didn't invent the first name for Ravel

"Les Miserables" (2012) - First teaser and stills

As I wrote a few months ago, "Les Miserables" is one of my most anticipated films of this year. I enjoyed very much the previous film by Tom Hooper, so I hope this one will be also great. Finally its first promo video was released. If you don't know it already, this 19th-century drama has a great cast, which includes Hugh Jackman, Russell Crowe, Anne Hathaway, Amanda Seyfried, Eddie Redmayne, Helena Bonham Carter and Sacha Baron Cohen (he just has to play more serious characters). And you can hear Hathaway's singing a beautiful, but sad song during the time they present many important characters.

By the way, I'm going to read a book of the same name written by French novelist Victor Hugo first. I have plenty of time till December, when the premiere of "Les Miserables" is rumoured to happen.

P.S. Did you see that great anniversary logo of Universal Studios?



Below you can see my favourite stills of this film.

Festival de Cannes 2012 - Winners

I was watching the closing ceremony live here. Gorgeous Bérénice Bejo is the host of this evening!

Palme d'Or

"Amour" by Michael Haneke

Grand Prix

"Reality" by Matteo Garrone

Prix de la mise en scène

Carlos Reygadas for "Post Tenebras Lux"

Prix du scénario

"După dealuri" ("Beyond The Hills") by Cristian Mungiu

Jury Prize

"The Angels' Share" by Ken Loach

Prix d'interprétation féminine

Cosmina Stratan and Cristina Flutur for "După dealuri" ("Beyond The Hills")

Prix d'interprétation masculine

Mads Mikkelsen for "The Hunt"

Festival de Cannes 2012 - Part 3

This post is dedicated to the interesting films, which were premiered at the few last days of the 65th Cannes Film Festival.

Read about Days 1-7 of Festival de Cannes 2012!

Director Lee Daniels, who is famous thanks to his "Precious", gathered a nice crew to create "The Paperboy", which was presented on 24th May. Zac Efron, Nicole Kidman, Matthew McConaughey, John Cusack came to support it, telling how unusual, daring, nasty etc. etc. this film is. Efron wears only his underpants almost the whole film, Kidman was ready to experiment, Cusack plays a disgusting character. Critics say that the main heroine is incredible there. So don't be tricked by the innocent description of this film.



We know that Michael Haneke's "Amour" was the film that forced people to tear a little (and a lot), but British dark comedy "Sightseers" became the one that made them laugh. It's not the first film directed by Ben Wheatley, but the few previous ones didn't made him famous. Now he along with Edgar Wright tells a story about a couple, which takes around the world trip. However some events turn this adventure into a remarkable one. The main parts are played by the screenwriters, Alice Lowe and Steve Oram.

While her mother presents her freakish debut work, Kristen Stewart along with a great team, which includes Kirsten Dunst, Viggo Mortensen, Sam Riley and director Walter Salles came to Cannes with an adventurous film, "On the Road". This story is dedicated to the Beat Generation, so at least its soundtrack has to be good.

Criminal drama "Mud" by Jeff Nichols has already been named 'the biggest surprise' and 'one of the best In Competition'. It is named after the main character, but its title also describes what he has to overpass on his way to freedom and the girl he loves. This drama is about two teenagers, who are helping a fugitive. It sounds a bit creepy, but it seems like Matthew McConaughey was the right choice for this part. And Reese Witherspoon is also in there, probably she is that girl.



Also "Cosmopolis" was shown In Competition. It is second year in a row, when David Cronenberg presents his new work at the Cannes Film Festival. As we know Cronenberg, his films have to be a bit crazy. Robert Pattinson played the main part. He decisively, like his long-term co-star Stewart, needs to shake off his gloving character, and this film might help him. All his billionaire Eric Packer wants is to get a new haircut, but there are some serious traffic problems on the way, because the President came to the city. So he is stuck in his limo, where he meets different people.



And there is sad news about one of the actors, who is rumoured to be a serious candidate for best actor prize this year. Aniello Arena,  who played the main character in Matteo Garrone's "Reality", is sentenced to spend the rest of his life in a Tuscan jail for murder.

I'm going to watch the closing ceremony live now, and I definitely post the winners list in real-time streaming.

"The Dark Knight Rises" (2012) - New awesome poster

This week is about new kick-ass character posters for upcoming "The Dark Knight Rises". But oddly aggressive poses of actors in those tight costumes aren't much interesting. On the other hand, there are a few posters with a Batman sign, and my favourite is the one where Selina Kyle aka Catwoman steps with her gorgeous heel on it and smashes it into two pieces. Plus there is a kiss from her and XX near the title.

Does anyone else have goose bumps about it?

More posters - KinoPoisk

Quote of the day

"What I love about keys is they all open something."

from Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close (2011)

This quote was said by an episodic character, who appears on the screen just for a few minutes. But for me it was the line, which defined Oskar's pursuit to find the lock for this particular key. Truly inspiring.

Festival de Cannes 2012 - Part 2

I continue following the most interesting premieres and other events of this year's Cannes Film Festival. This post will tell you what happened on 4th, 5th, 6th and 7th days in a beautiful French city, where the weather played some evil tricks, causing downpours and even roof collapses.

Read about Days 1, 2, 3 of the 65th Cannes Film Festival!

One of the surprises of those days was a film about a section of the Los Angeles County Jail reserved for homosexuals, AIDS patients and transsexuals. This drama is called "K-11", and is directed by Jules Mann-Stewart, Kristen Stewart's mother. It sounds like a hard story, which definitely shouldn't be mistaken with a 1990s comedy "K-911", starring James Belushi.

Brad Pitt arrived to present his latest thriller "Killing Them Softly". I was hoping to see him and Angelina Jolie on the red carpet, but it wasn't meant to be. He was there along director Andrew Dominik, who has almost the same hairstyle and beard as Pitt, and it makes them look like brothers. By the way, this film has been already named "this year's Drive", which makes me even more excited to see it!

Another film I'm anxious to see is "Lawless". It was presented by the whole crew, including Tom Hardy, Shia LaBeouf and Jason Clarke, who play three brothers with a dangerous bootlegging business. They say Hardy was in a great mood, joking and telling about funny behind-the-scenes moments. Director John Hillcoat told the journalists that this films was inspired partly by Sergio Leone's westerns.



23-years-old director Xavier Dolan traditionally presented his third film at the Cannes Film Festival. His "Laurence Anyways" is 3-hours long love story between a man and a woman, which becomes even more complicated after the first one decides to change his sex. His previous works, "J'ai tué ma mère" and "Les amours imaginaires", were highly appreciated at this Festival. This time there was a standing ovation for 5 minutes after its premiere.



Michael Haneke has already got 7 prizes from Cannes, ans his new drama "Amour" may bring him another one. It turns out to be very touching, many journalists were in tears after they watched it. This film is about love of two old people. The wife is dying and husband tries to comfort her, while their daughter insists to put her mother into the nursing home. It has to be also heartbreaking, so all critics loved it so far!



There will be another post about a few last days of the 65th Cannes Film Festival, and a few entries while I will watch the closing ceremony!

"A THERAPY" (2012) - Short film

A new short film by Roman Polanski was presented at the 65th Cannes Film Festival today. "A Therapy" is just 3 minutes long, its plot is simple, but intriguing and hilarious. It is produced by Prada, so it kinda looks like an ad.

Helena Bonham Carter plays a very rich, by miserable woman, who visits a therapist to have someone to talk to. Ben Kingsley is that psychiatrist, but he doesn't really care about his gorgeous patient. This character has something else on his mind... Watch this video to discover what it is.

Festival de Cannes 2012 - Part 1

The previous year I wrote about every day of the Cannes Film Festival, telling you what interesting press conferences, photocalls, premieres, awkward and great moments took place. This year I have no time to process such amount of information, so there will be just a few entries dedicated to the events, which are happening in Cannes right now. This entry is about those first three days of this international film event, which have already passed.

The Presidents of three Juries (In Competition, Un Certain Regard, Cinéfoundation and short films) are Nanni Moretti, Tim Roth and Jean-Pierre Dardenne, so they and their mates are watching all films very attentively, trying not to miss the really good ones to praise them fairly.

"Moonrise Kingdom" was the opening film this time, and unexpectedly for me, almost all critics loved it! Bruce Willis, Bill Murray, Edward Norton, Tilda Swinton along with Wes Anderson came to support their new adventurous comedy about some weird adults, who try to find two twelve-year-old runaways in love.

Of course, such huge festival couldn't be missed by one of the most eccentric actors nowadays. Sacha Baron Cohen arrived with his female bodyguards to present his new dark comedy "The Dictator", directed by Larry Charles. The promo campaign of this film is incredibly intrusive, you must remember how he has spilled ashes over Ryan Seacrest on the Academy Awards red carpet, so I'm very glad that it is finally over, because "The Dictator" is already out in cinemas.



Among other films, which were presented out of competition, are two DreamWorks' animations "Rise of the Guardians" and "Madagascar 3: Europe's Most Wanted". Isla Fisher jokes that the first one is like "The Animated Avengers", because it's a story about a team of the mythical fairy-tale characters, who have to save the world. Probably, it is more like "The Avengers for little kids". And the third film of the famous franchise is rumoured to be the last one, but who knows, if it will earn enough money.

French filmmaker Jacques Audiard, who won the Grand Prix at the Cannes Film Festival in 2009, returns with his new shocking drama called "De rouille et d'os" ("Rust and Bone"). The critics like it so far. Marion Cotillard and Matthias Schoenaerts, who played the main parts, also came to support their film. It is about two people in love, but one of them is unemployed and the other is a killer whale trainer, who has lost both her legs. There must be passion, hate, blind love and many tragic circumstances.

Also "Reality" by Matteo Garrone was shown in Competition, a story about one happy family man, whose life changes rapidly after he has this obsessive idea to become a reality star and to prove everyone that he is very special.




Michel Gondry's "The We and the I" was the first film presented in Directors' Fortnight selection. 35 kinds are traveling in a bus during the different centuries, so none of them is going to be the same after this adventure. It was followed by Pablo Larrain's historical drama "No", starring Gael García Bernal. He portrays a PR manager, who has to persuade people to begin a revolt against Chilean dictator Augusto Pinochet.

One of the biggest announcements so far was that Jackie Chan is done being an action film star. He is one of my all time favourite actors, and now "Chinese Zodiac" is going to be his last film as a leading hero. Though I understand how tired he can be after decades of being hurt while filming, but Jackie Chan did incredible things on the set, which no other actor can do. Now he wants to be a dramatic actor, which is also very good, because he has a real talent and no matter which film genre he chooses, he will succeeded.

So this is all for now, I'll write another post about Festival de Cannes 2012 in a few days, covering the most interesting films and moments.

MR. BEAN - "First Aid" scene

I always loved watching this weird TV series about a man, who acts like a child, is great at creating troubles and manages to find the most simple and hilarious solution to any problem. Yes, I'm talking (actually, I'm writing) about "Mr. Bean".

There are so many favourite moments, so it is like choosing the best from the best for me. But this particular scene from episode "Mr. Bean Rides Again" is incredible! How creatively the main character saves the other man's life! Rowan Atkinson definitely is one of the most talented British comic actors of all time.

"The Avengers" (2012) - Memorable Quotes

There were a few strange dialogs, but honestly I really liked many quotes from "The Avengers", and I want to share them with you, my readers.

I'll update this post soon, when I'll find more great quotes from this superhero film. Enjoy!


And don't forget to vote POLL: Which Avenger would you like to be?
More about "The Avengers" (2012)!

Agent Phil Coulson: Agent Fury, I think it's time.

Nick Fury: You think you're the only superhero in the world? Mr. Stark, you've become part of a bigger universe. You just don't know it yet.

Tony Stark: But let's do a head count here. Your brother, the demigod. A super soldier, living legend who kinda lives up to the legend. A man with breathtaking anger management issues. A couple of master assassins and you've managed to piss off every single one of them.

Tony Stark: And I'm a huge fan of the way you lose control and turn into an enormous green rage monster.
Bruce Banner: Thanks.

Tony Stark: No offense, but I don't play well with others.
Steve Rogers: Big man, in a suit of armour… take that away, what are you?
Tony Stark: Genius, billionaire, playboy, philanthropist.

Bruce Banner: We're not a team. We're a time bomb.

Pepper Potts: Hey, Phil!
Tony Stark: Phil? I thought his first name was Agent.

Loki: I have an army.
Tony Stark: We have a Hulk.

Tony Stark: I thought I didn't qualify. I was considered, what was it… "volatile, self-centered, and I don't play well with others."

Thor: He's my brother.
Natasha Romanoff: He killed 80 people in 2 days.
Thor: He's adopted.

Captain America: There is only one God, and I don't think he dresses like that.

Agent Phil Coulson (to Steve Rogers): I watched you while you slept.

Tony Stark: If we can’t protect the Earth, you can be damn sure we'll avenge it!

"Dark Shadows" (2012) - Personal quiz

It is left a few days till the premiere of Tim Burton's comic-and-tragic vampire love story, "Dark Shadows". Tired of waiting and re-watching trailers, I took a little character quiz, which showed that I'm more like the main character, Barnabas Collins:

"You're a creature of the night. Like Barnabas Collins, you prefer the coziness of shadows to the harsh glare of the sun, though you are a bit claustrophobic. You value family above all else. You're charming; a classic throwback in a modern world. But be careful who you flirt with – jealous witches are your Achilles heel."

Obviously, it doesn't describe me exactly, but maybe there is something true about it. Anyway, this quiz is a lot of fun.

Visit the official film site to discover which character you are. And don't forget to tell me your results in comments below.

Read my 10 Reasons to Be Exited about "DARK SHADOWS".
More about "Dark Shadows" (2012)!

POLL: Which Avenger would you like to be?

I finally saw "The Avengers" today and told you everything about its pros and cons on my Twitter profile (@ElenaStrBlogger). I know that this story is partly science-fiction, but let's be honest, it is very unlikely that someone will make a real Iron Man suit, survive a gamma bomb explosion, become a super soldier or come from Asgard with a power of a god.

But imagine that everything is possible and you could become one of the Avengers assemble. So who would you like to be, at least for a day?

Make your choice based not only on their physical appearance (yes, Hulk isn't the most attractive, but he has a very brave heart), but also count their character features.





Poster - Kinopoisk