Evangeline Lilly, Benedict Cumberbatch and Luke Evansjoining join the cast of The Hobbit

Sir Peter Jackson has added a new entry to his official Facebook page confirming the casting of two actors and announcing the addition of two more. To sum, he confirms the casting of Luke Evans as Bard and Benedict Cumberbatch (Sherlock in the BBC TV series Sherlock) as Smaug (but not the Necromancer). As for the new additions, Lost's Evangeline Lilly has joined as Tauriel a Woodland Elf (not a character in the book) while Barry Humphries (Finding Nemo) will do the motion capture and voice for the CGI Goblin King.

From Peter Jackson: 

I'm thrilled to announce two new cast members who will be joining us for our second block of shooting.

Evangeline Lilly will be playing a new character—the Woodland Elf, Tauriel. Her name means 'daughter of Mirkwood' and, beyond that, we must leave you guessing! (No, there is no romantic connection to Legolas.) What is not a secret is how talented and compelling an actress Evangeline is; we are thrilled and excited she will be the one to bring our first true Sylvan Elf to life.

I'm also highly excited that Barry Humphries will be portraying the Goblin King, in much the way Andy Serkis created Gollum. Barry is perhaps best known for his business and social connections as the long-time manager of Dame Edna Everage. He has also been an ardent supporter of the rather misunderstood and unfairly maligned Australian politician, Sir Les Patterson. However, in his spare time, Barry is also a fine actor, and we're looking forward to seeing him invest the Goblin King with the delicate sensitivity and emotional depth this character deserves.

Evangeline and Barry, along with Welsh actor Luke Evans as Bard and Benedict Cumberbatch as Smaug, just about rounds out the major casting. I cannot wait to get stuck into these new scenes!
More soon, including a flurry of answers to your questions. Sorry for the delay!

Cheers,
Peter J

Source:  The Hobbit Movie Blog: Jackson Announces Two More Cast Members

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The Cranes are Flying (full movie online)

Based on a play by V. Rosov, the Russian The Cranes are Flying is a love story set during the early years of World War II. 

The film was directed at Mosfilm by Mikhail Kalatozov in 1957 and stars Aleksey Batalov and Tatiana Samoilova. The Cranes are Flying won several international awards including the Palme d'Or at the 1958 Cannes Film Festival.

Watch full length movie The Cranes Are Flying online (Russian language, English subtitles)

Excerpts from cranesareflying's review on imdb:

"This film features a Red Army that is NOT victorious, the German invasion of Russia when Germany introduced the Barbarossa Plan, a blitzkrieg invasion intended to bring about a quick victory and the ultimate enslavement of the Slavs, and very nearly succeeded, actually getting within 20 miles of Moscow in what was a Red Army wipe out, a devastation of human losses, 15 to 20 million Russians died, or 20% of the entire population. Historically, this was a moment of great trauma and suffering, a psychological shock to the Russian people, but the Red Army held and prolonged the war 4 more years until they were ultimately victorious...

This film featured brilliant, breathtaking, and extremely mobile camera work from his extraordinary cinematographer Sergei Uresevsky, using spectacular crane and tracking shots, images of wartime, battlefields, Moscow and crowded streets that are extremely vivid and real.

The film was released in 1957 in Russia, and according to some reviews, "the silence in the theater was profound, the wall between art and living life had fallen...and tears unlocked the doors."
- cranesareflying

Reception and Influence

As film scholar Josephine Woll observes, the protagonist Veronika was instrumental in shaping the post-Stalinist Soviet movies by heralding more complicated, multi-dimensional celluloid heroines. It was not only Soviet audiences that accepted and sympathized with Veronika‘s story. The lead actress of Cranes, the beautiful Tat‘iana Samoilova, who was frequently identified with her role, took Europe by storm. Following the film's victory at the Cannes Film Festival in 1958, where it earned the event‘s prestigious Grand Prize, the world celebrated the film‘s main protagonist. Woll notes that the French Liberationcommentator, for example, approvingly contrasted Samoilova‘s purity and authenticity with that Western female icon, Brigitte Bardot

Sources: wiki, allrovi, imdb

First Orbit - See What Yuri Gagarin Saw

A real time recreation of Yuri Gagarin's pioneering first orbit, shot entirely in space from on board the International Space Station. The film combines this new footage with Gagarin's original mission audio and a new musical score by composer Philip Sheppard. For more information visit www.firstorbit.org





The making of First Orbit was a huge challenge. Find out here from the film makers what went into producing this orbital epic!!

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• Yuri Gagarin: First Man in Space
• Yuri Gagarin Photos  

X-Men: First Class - Official Trailer

X-Men: First Class is an upcoming American superhero film, directed by Matthew Vaughn, based on the characters appearing in Marvel Comics. The film is the fifth installment of the X-Men film series and a prequel to the first three movies. X-Men: First Class is scheduled for release on June 3, 2011.

The film, set during the 1960s, will focus on the relationship between Professor X and Magneto and the origin of their groups, the X-Men and the Brotherhood of Mutants. The film stars James McAvoy as Professor X and Michael Fassbender as Magneto. Other cast members include Kevin Bacon, January Jones, Rose Byrne, Jennifer Lawrence and Lucas Till. The film is mostly being shot in England and parts of the United States. Fox envisions this film as the first in a new trilogy.

X-Men: First Class - Russian Trailer

X-Men First Class Poster

Poster for X-Men First Class by Ben Sutherland, on Flickr

Premise

The film is a prequel to the first three movies, set during the 1960s, with John F. Kennedy as president of the United States. X-Men: First Class parallels the history of the Cuban Missile Crisis and the Civil Rights Movement. The villains of the film will be the Hellfire Club. The plot is as follows:

"X-MEN FIRST CLASS charts the epic beginning of the X-Men saga, and reveals a secret history of famous global events. Before mutants had revealed themselves to the world, and before Charles Xavier and Erik Lehnsherr took the names Professor X and Magneto, they were two young men discovering their powers for the first time. Not archenemies, they were instead at first the closest of friends, working together with other Mutants (some familiar, some new), to prevent nuclear Armageddon. In the process, a grave rift between them opened, which began the eternal war between Magneto's Brotherhood and Professor X's X-Men."

via wiki

Inception Fan Art

“What’s the most resilient parasite? A bacteria? A virus? An intestinal worm? … An idea. Resilient, highly contagious. Once an idea has taken hold in the brain, it’s almost impossible to eradicate. An idea that is fully formed, fully understood? That sticks.”
- Dom Cobb

Inception

Inception.by ~o8connell

Inceptionby ~ShiNiQ

"I wish. I wish more than anything. But I can't imagine you with all your complexity, all your perfection, all your imperfection. Look at you. You are just a shade of my real wife. You're the best I can do; but I'm sorry, you are just not good enough."

- Cobb
Inception

Inception Arthurby *Jacky-tatze-1

Extractor and Architectby ~Ary88

INCEPTIONby ~andell

Inception buddiesby ~selene231

INCEPTION - Tiltby *YoukaiYume

INCEPTION - The Last Donutby *YoukaiYume

Oscar Winners 2011

Oscar 2011 Academy Awards Winners


   Ann Hathaway and James Franco Opening


BEST PICTURE

The King's Speech


BEST ACTOR

Colin Firth


BEST SUPPORTING ACTRESS

Melissa Leo, The Fighter


VISUAL EFFECTS

Ken Ralston, David Schaub, Carey Villegas and Sean Phillips, Alice in Wonderland


COSTUME DESIGN

Colleen Atwood, Alice in Wonderland


ART DIRECTION

Robert Stromberg (production design); Karen O'Hara (set decoration), Alice n Wonderland


FOREIGN FILM

In a Better World (Denmark)


BEST SUPPORTING ACTOR

Christian Bale, The Fighter


CINEMATOGRAPHY

Wally Pfister, Inception


DOCUMENTARY SHORT FILM

Strangers No More


SHORT FILM

Luke Matheny, God Of Love


DOCUMENTARY FEATURE

Inside Job


FILM EDITING

Angus Wall and Kirk Baxter


MAKEUP

The Wolfman


BEST ACTRESS

Natalie Portman


BEST DIRECTOR

Tom Hooper, The King's Speech


BEST ORIGINAL SONG

We Belong Together, Music and Lyric by Randy Newman, Toy Story 3


ANIMATED SHORT FILM

The Lost Thing


ANIMATED FILM

Toy Story 3


ADAPTED SCREENPLAY

Aaron Sorkin, The Social Network


ORIGINAL SCREENPLAY

David Seidler, The King's Speech


ORIGINAL SCORE

Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross, The Social Network


SOUND MIXING

Gary A Rizzo & Ed Novick, Inception


SOUND EDITING

Richard King, Inception

oscar.go.com  

Oscar Nominee List