Dumbfounding audience expectations is nothing new in vampire movies.

Many vamp movies have traded on wrong footing the viewer, portraying night crawlers variously as rock stars (“Queen of the Damned, 2002), criminals (“From Dusk Till Dawn,” 1996), addicts (“The Hunger,” 1983), aristocrats (“Interview With The Vampire,” 1994) - and even victims.

Eli the child vampire in Tomas Alfredson’s 'Let The Right One In.'

Kathryn Bigelow’s hugely influential 1987 tale of a farm boy who falls in with the wrong crowd, “Near Dark,” has been credited with reinventing the vampire as a tragic figure, an addict chained to the constant search for fresh blood.

It is a vision that is replicated in comic-book movies, like the “Blade” franchise. Wesley Snipes stars as the titular vampire hunter who is half-man, half-vampire who can walk around by day but shares his half-brothers’ thirst for blood and is tormented by it.

Swedish Tomas Alfredson’s vampire love story, “Let the Right One In,” is the latest example of the surprises the genre can contain. It's being hailed as rethinking the vampire formula and has won an impressive clutch of awards, including Best Narrative Picture at Tribeca Film Festival last year.

Set in the early 80s in a frigid suburb in Sweden - and shot in a bleak social-realist style that brings the temperature down even further - "Let The Right One In" documents the touching relationship between 12 year-old, bullied Oskar, and tough little Eli, who moves in next door.

Oskar is so pale he is almost translucent and his fragility seems to to draw Eli to him, even though when they first meet she tells him, “We can't be friends ... you know.”

What ensues is a touching story of childhood love. Eli, who despite being a vampire is cast as a tragic, almost pathetic soul somehow manages to control her bloodlust around Oskar, and the two outcasts find a soul mate.

But “Let The Right One In” is not all about puppy love. There are grisly murders - after all, we are dealing with a creature that needs human blood to survive - but the anticipation of sensational deaths and thrilling gore we are trained as audiences to expect from vamp movies is pushed firmly into the background.

On the surface Oskar and Eli may look like pure pre-teen soul mates. But, remember, Eli is very, very old. And the underlying question is: is she really a victim or is she an arch-manipulator who is grooming Oskar to be her human caretaker?

What do you think is the greatest vampire movie ever?

The glamorous multitudes heading to to the sun-drenched south of France for Cannes Film Festival this year will be wearing dark glasses of a different kind.

The glasses will be 3D, and movie-goers will need them to watch the festival's opening night film, Disney and Pixar's animation,  "Up," which is being projected in the new format.

DreamWorks CEO Jeffrey Katzenberg models new 3D glasses that look not unlike Ray-Bans.

It's the first time in the festival's 63-year history that Cannes will open with a 3D picture. Indeed, it will be the first time the festival opens with an animation. "Up" will show out of competition.

Are  Cannes' organizers hoping to get in on Hollywood's efforts to reinvent 3D for the 21st century? Disney, for their part, won't mind the extra hype that "Up" opening Cannes will bring the film.

The movie, which tells the story of a 78-year-old man who ties thousands of balloons to his house and flies to South America, is the tenth film from Disney and Pixar and is co-directed by Pete Docter and Bob Peterson.

This is probably a bittersweet moment for DreamWorks CEO Jeffrey Katzenberg: as chief advocate of the new medium, he will be pleased to see a 3D film given top billing at the world's most high-profile film festival. But it is not one of his.

Katzenberg has said that not only is 3D a movie revolution akin to the inception of sound, but that all films will be made in 3D in a few years' time. Admittedly, today's 3D is streets ahead of its 50s predecessor, which was unsuccessful in part due to an unpleasant tendency to induce headaches and vomiting in audiences.

The iconic, if trashy-looking, blue and red lensed 3D glasses have also been ditched. Today's glasses are altogether slicker and look not unlike Ray-Ban Wayfarer knock-offs - especially in the dimmed light of a cinema.

Although recent blockbusters like "Journey to the Center of the Earth" (2008) and "Beowulf" (2007) appeared in the format in certain cinemas, 2009 may be the year 3D finally hits the mainstream.

In January, Lionsgate released "My Bloody Valentine 3D," the first horror film to be shot in 3-D.  It's not just movies either: Boy band The Jonas Brothers recently released a live video in 3D, "Jonas Brothers: The 3D Concert Experience" (indeed U2 released a 3D DVD in 2008).

About a dozen more 3D movies are planned for this year, with many more in the pipeline for 2010.

"Titanic" director James Cameron is currently shooting sci-fi "Avatar" for Fox, a live action movie in 3D that's slated for release late this year. George Lucas has also said he is remastering the original Star Wars movies in 3D.

Of course, all of this is fine and well, but there is one aspect of the festival organizers' choice of "Up," which has caused some commentators to cock a quizzical eyebrow: "Up" is missing one element which many consider to be crucial to the opening night of Cannes - glamour.

The film is seriously lacking the kind of a-list actors and high octane beauties that are traditionally considered to be a must for an opening night at the world's most high profile festival.

So, can technological wizz-bangs suffice as a stand in for the glitz of Hollywood's finest? We'll have to wait and see.

These days it seems Joaquin Phoenix’s time on screen is confined to dubious chat show appearances and even more dubious performances in his new guise as a rapper.

Beauty and the beast: Gwyneth Paltrow looks pained. Joaquin just looks...

The two-times Oscar nominated star of "Gladiator" and "Walk the Line" star has barely left the headlines over the past few months since he announced his decision to retire from acting to launch a new career as a rapper.

The latest is a confrontation with a heckler at a hip hop gig in Miami last week: “We have a f*****g a*****e in the audience,” Phoenix shouted.

“I’ve got a million f*****g dollars in my bank account. What have you got?” he ranted and launched himself off stage heading for the dissenting audience member, before being pulled away by security guards.

Then yesterday Gwyneth Paltrow, Phoenix’s co-star in James Gray's “Two Lovers,” the final film he made before announcing his retirement rather scathingly suggested he get some “authenticity” on MTV UK.

All this, amid fierce speculation in the geekosphere that the whole thing is an elaborate hoax (well, that and "could he have gone mad?").

It all started back in October 2008 when he announced his retirement from acting. This was followed in February by a bizarre appearance on U.S. chat show Letterman.  Sporting his now trademark shaggy beard, dark glasses and rotund belly, the formerly bankable star mumbled his way through the appearance, at one point sticking his chewing gum under Letterman’s desk.

This was closely followed by the actor’s announcement that he was giving up acting to launch a career as a hip hop artist.

But, by this point fans had already had their first dose of Phoenix’s comical attempts when someone posted a video of him falling off the stage during a shambolic performance in Las Vegas  on YouTube.

So, is it all just an elaborate hoax?

The 34 year-old said that he has built a recording studio at his house and is recording tracks and every aspect of the former film star’s budding hip hop career is being filmed by actor Casey Affleck for a feature length documentary about his career change, according to The Hollywood Reporter.

It is this fact, combined with the title of Phoenix’s first track “Can I Get a Refund?” that has fans everywhere wondering if it can really be for real.

Paltrow added to the speculation this week when she hinted to MTV that perhaps Phoenix wouldn’t be giving up acting for good.

“I’m not a hundred percent sure that that’s really going to be the case.

“I think that there might be some other explanation or something going on, I’m on quite sure what. But I can’t believe that he’s really going to quit forever to become a rapper. It seems odd,” she said.

What do you think? Is Joaquin for real or is this all a stunt?

If you want to be an innovative filmmaker these days, the best plan is to follow the crowd.

Pete Postlethwaite who plays The Archivist in Franny Armstrong's 'The Age of Stupid.'

That's exactly the revolutionary approach activist filmmaker Franny Armstrong has taken to independently fund her new part-fact, part-fiction climate change documentary, "The Age of Stupid."

"The Age of Stupid" has not been funded by banks or large media organisations like many movies, but by an innovative system which harnesses the cash of ordinary folks for a cut of the movie's profits. It is called crowd-funding and it is the first time this method has been used to fund a film in the UK.

"When we first showed our plans to our lawyer," Armstrong, who is best known for 1998 documentary "McLibel" in which a postman and a gardener take the McDonalds Corporation to court, told UK newspaper The Guardian, "he told us: 'It's the most original film funding scheme I've seen in 25 years working in the industry.'"

The premise is simple: Investors sink a minimum of £5,000 ($6,900) into production of the film and in return they get a "share" of the film's profits. Interested parties with shallower pockets can donate from £20 upwards towards the documentary.

And what do people get in return? First on the list of benefits on the film's website is the  "warm fuzzy feeling" of contributing to a worthwhile cause.

The fictional section of Armstrong's film stars Oscar-winner and Pete Postlethwaite as an archivist in a devastated future earth looking back to today asking why mankind didn't make changes when it had the chance.

It links together documentary footage of six people affected by and affecting climate change. Among them are 82-year-old French mountain guide Fernand Pareau in the Chamonix valley, where the glaciers are melting and lifelong Shell employee Alvin DuVernay, who rescued 100 people after Hurricane Katrina.

For the less romantically inclined, the returns break down like this: invest £5,000 and get 0.05 percent of profits, 0.10 percent of profits for an investment of £10,000 ($13,833) and 0.20 percent for £20,000 ($27,666) - but only if the film makes a profit. If not, the money is lost.

While some investors are wealthy, many of the investors are made up of groups of people from - there is a hockey team, a mother's group and a women's health center.

Armstrong will also keep the rights to the film for herself (the usual model is to sell the rights to a film to a distributor), which will allow anyone who logs on to the Web site and pays a small licence fee to hold a screening of the film allowing all kinds of small-scale screenings to take place in schools, church halls and other local venues.

Ultimately, Armstrong hopes that 250 million people will see her film in the run up to the UN climate talks in Copenhagen in December and that she can harness the power of the crowd to force governments to take action.

Would you invest in a movie? Tell us below.

I may be a film fan, but I must admit I haven't waited in the cold for hours to catch a glimpse of the stars on the red carpet at many movie premieres.

Even so, the prospect of joining the CNN team at the premiere of new movie about the early life of Britain's famous Queen Victoria, "The Young Victoria" offered the unexpected and interesting chance to see just how different things are from the other side of the fence.

'The Young Victoria' stars Emily Blunt and Rupert Friend at the UK premiere.

The event in Leicester Square, the traditional home of London film premieres, promised to be a glamorous affair at which stars and royalty would mingle on the red carpet.

As we arrived to take our places in the rather pejoratively named "press pen," the famous red carpet was being replaced by a rich royal purple carpet and the classical film score booming from speakers around the square added to the regal atmosphere.

The stars of the film - which chronicles Princess Victoria's romance with the young Albert and the turbulent years of her ascension to the throne of what was world’s most powerful nation - started to arrive just before 6p.m.

Emily Blunt who plays Victoria, Rupert Friend, the dashing Prince Albert and the Duchess of York, Sarah Ferguson were all greeted with screams of appreciation from the crowds. "Rupert! Rupert!" and "Emily! Emily over here!!" shouted fans, almost drowning out the background music.

The Duchess of York, who was wearing a royal purple Vivienne Westwood dress, shares producing credits with royalty from the film world such as Martin Scorsese and Graham King (who teamed up on the multi-Oscar-winning film “The Departed”).

“You become a pest, but for 15 years I waited to do it." she told CNN. "For the last five years, I kept going to Graham King, saying 'Graham make my movie, make my movie, make my movie, and it’s pretty extraordinary that he did it for me.”

The idea was referred to Oscar-winning screenwriter Julian Fellowes who produced a script which delighted producers King and Scorsese. It also caught the eye of actress Emily Blunt, who told CNN:

"[Victoria] was so passionate and rebellious. I was excited to see her in a different light."

When it came to casting the lead role, King says Blunt gave him little choice, refusing to leave his office until he agreed to make her his Victoria. We put this to Emily, who laughed: "I think he might be overselling it a bit, I certainly wasn’t down on my knees, I mean, I guess emotionally I was because I knew I’d probably kick up a stink if someone else played it because it’s one of those parts, and I rarely make a plea like that for a part and I really did want this one."

Co-star Rupert Friend says the experience on set was a positive one and that was mainly down to Blunt.

"I can't pretend that it was a hardship! Emily sets a tone. She was the lead in the film and she does a fantastic job. I have been a fan for a long, long time and she really hit the tone that we were gonna work hard and play hard and that was her mantra really."

Among the last to walk the carpet were the Duchess of York’s daughters. Princess Beatrice, who features in a non speaking role as a lady-in-waiting, arrived wearing a toga-style blue dress with her younger sister Eugenie in tow.

I had imagined a frenzy of camera crews and journalists shouting each other down and shoving for the best spot but was surprised at the calm camaraderie as colleagues from rival networks shared jokes and clutched cups of coffee to keep their hands warm in the chilly London evening.

It was only when the last guests had been ushered into the mezzanine and we began to pack up our equipment that I realized my hands were numb from cold.

I also had a new found respect for the fans who wait so patiently in the freezing cold for hours to catch a glimpse of their favourite stars.

Do you have a memorable story from a film premiere?