Cunningly Taylor!

Irrelevantly enough, I had to post this! It seems that -for once- Ms. Lohan took something seriously. Quite a few images of her portraying Elizabeth Taylor circulated around the web, but this one is gorgeous!

Let's hope this will be a comeback.

The Host

Stephenie Meyer, the person responsible for the mind-numbingly annoying Twilight Saga, also wrote a book which does not involve, or revolve around, the bland love story between a girl (who seems to be constantly drowsy) and a vampire (who seems to be incapable of using his facial muscles to their full capacity). I am sure that the Twilight books are much better than the movie franchise, but this one actually looks really good. "The Host" tells the story of a woman in the middle of an interesting alien invasion scenario, where aliens create the perfect society by integrating themselves to the majority of the human population. 

Saoirse Ronan stars in the film and Diane Kruger is in it too, so that's some great casting so far! The film comes out March 2013 and I can say that I can't wait to see it. (Cool trailer soundtrack by the way)

My "Best" of 2011. Now Give Us 2012

This past year was an intensely awkward one, for all of us. It was a challenging, troubling year from whichever point of view one chooses to examine it. 2011 was, confessedly, an intensely awkward year. However, I -being the eternally "half-full glasses" I am- believe that it was not an absolute and total loss, (ironically though, "loss" was -for many- a defining word for this year). Some aspects of it seemed to gleam "through the ashes"; some events of significant, life-altering gravity, in a positive light this time,  did occur as well. So, what we should do is focus on some of the good things 2011 left us with. 

On a personal/professional level, 2011 was life-changing for me. This past, turbulent, year set the foundations -in a challenging way- for things which felt that they were meant to happen. I was urged to make choices and take actions for which I am the only person to be held responsible for the outcome, whatever that may be. 

I am not going to get all profound and mushy in this post, though I am prone to doing that lately; I will just focus on the "lighter" things which stood as some sort of "psychological support" -if you like- this past year. Below you will find a humbly assembled list of my personal "bests" and "favorites" of 2011. 

**There's more inside the post**

Snow White & The Huntsman

This looks really promising! (Despite the title's fittingness to a film of another genre...)

Whoever cast Charlize Theron as the Evil Queen is a genius... then again, it must be the same person who cast Kristen –bland-faced– Stewart as Snow White, so I retract my previous statement. However, I am willing to also retract what I wrote about Stewart, if she actually shows a hint of emotion in this film. 

The trailer looks phenomenally good and I am looking forward to seeing the special effects and the queen, of course. The soundtrack, if they go with what's in the trailer, sounds really interesting too. Now, let's wait until the summer.

City Of Children

This past couple of years Greek cinema has had an unexpected boom. I say unexpected, because with everything else going "south" in Greece it's a miracle the art of cinema -or anything remotely related to art, for that matter- has (sort of) flourished. Last year, Yorgos Lanthimos's  "Dogtooth" strolled around the world, making an impression at important movie festivals and Athena Rachel Tsangari's "Attenberg" has had a fair share of exposure (and awards) and this year, Lanthimos's "Alps" is doing it again. 

"City of Children" (trailer at the end of the post) is an independent film by Yorgos Gkikapeppas which explores how modern "metropolitan" couples perceive and act upon the idea of a pregnancy. The film tells the stories of four couples in Athens who come across "childbearing" and react to it in defferent ways and goes even further to "share" how men and women behave differently on the matter. The film will be shown at the 52nd Thessaloniki International Film Festival, this November. I just hope I get a chance to see it before next year's Cyprus Film Festival. 

From what I see, the cast of "City of Children" consists of both established actors and newcomers. Again, unlike all the other sectors in "the motherland", it's nice to see that young people are welcomed and given the opportunity to shine. (If only they did the same with politics…)

"Martha Marcy May Marlene" Movie Poster

"Martha Marcy May Marlene" is a movie I probably won't be able to see in theaters here. I'm not sure when I'll finally see it, but I'm sure it will be one of those intense emotion-inducing films, of the likes of "The Virgin Suicides" only a bit harsher, I guess, and from what I read. (Dare I say: Finally, an Olsen sister with talent!)

Anyway, the reason I decided to post about this film is the above brilliantly designed poster.

More information on the film and a trailer here.

Linotype: The Film

This post might not "touch" everyone, but the typographically aware and design aficionados will definitely feel a certain warmth. 

Linotype: The Film is a documentary film about the Linotype casting machine. The Linotype casting machine revolutionized printing and communication at a time when the process of casting and printing text was a manual and time-consuming procedure. What the Linotype essentially did, was to set a full line of type (Line o' Type) instead of having it done by hand, character by character (or matrix by matrix in this case). 

I remember trying to manually set a body of text when I was college and I found it extremely hard, frustrating and stressful. So, I can imagine (and I envy) the enthusiasm and admiration these people bear for the Linotype. I mean, if something came along and took away a painfully dreadful procedure of my work (hello, quotations and invoicing) I would worship it the exact same way, if not more.

Re-Possessed

Last night I went to the opening of Re-Possessed which is a thematic segment in this year's Cyprus Film Festival: "Cyprus Film Days 2011", curated by Dr Markos Hadjioannou (film theorist) and Loizos Olympios (visual artist).

This segment explores the concept of possession in contemporary cinema from a variety of aspects, spanning from that which occurs by the supernatural, to the possession by one's passion and desire. 

Last night's screenings were Peter Tscherkassky's 1999 short film Outer Space (impressively disturbing if I may say) and Hans-Christian Schmid's Requiem from 2006. 

The video above was created by Ioannis Papaloizou. For more info on Re-Possessed go to the official event page.

Hanna (definitely not Montana)

This ain't Hannah Montana for sure! 

From Focus Feature Films: "A teenage girl goes out into the world for the first time – and has to battle for her life. Director Joe Wright weaves elements of dark fairy tales into the adventure thriller Hanna, filmed on location in Europe and Morocco."

I'm not sure when this will come my way, (the rest of the world gets this on April 8) but I really want to see it... Starring: Eric Bana & Cate Blanchett (as the villain, she really does make for an awesome villain) and Saoirse Ronan, directed by Joe Wright. Also the fact that the soundtrack for "Hanna" is by The Chemical Brothers makes it even more interesting. The trailer says it all.

Adidas Is All In

This might actually be the most high-profile Adidas campaign ever!!

I mean, Romain Gavras directing it, Justice featuring their brand new single in it, Sid Lee (Montreal) producing it, and a legion of superstars studding the whole thing; this is Adidas's biggest campaign. Among others, David Beckham, Lionel Messi, Katy Perry and B.o.B. are flashing their faces in this 2-minute ad.

Gavras maintained his rough, at times violent and abrupt, style for this piece, while I am almost positive that he had something to do with the fact that Justice lend their new single "Civilization" to be the soundtrack of this production. 

Though I like this, I am not going super-crazy about it. What excites me the most is the "advertisement war" that's going to break out between sports brands. I am more than eager to see what Nike will do now!