Can't be in Park City this week? We feel your pain, and while most of us will have to wait for months and perhaps even a year to eventually see some of the movies unspooling at Sundance, hopefully this batch of new images will be enough to tide you over for now.
Last year's darling of the festival, Elizabeth Olsen, returns with two movies in her arsenal in 2012. First up is "Liberal Arts," the sophomore feature from "How I Met Your Mother" star Josh Radnor. The film centers on a 35-year-old man (Radnor) who can’t leave his college life behind as he comes to grips with the responsibilities of adulthood. Olsen will play Zibby, a 19-year-old college student who falls for Jesse over their mutual love of music and literature, but their difference in age starts to get in the way as Jesse moves farther away from a hedonistic lifestyle. Richard Jenkins, Allison Janney, John Magaro and Elizabeth Reaser round out the cast. While we weren't exactly fans of "happythankyoumoreplease," the cast is winning, and the premise has promise, so we'll how this one goes. The film premieres on Sunday, January 22nd.
Olsen will also feature in the mysterious "Red Lights," director Rodrigo Cortes' followup to his single-setting coffin thriller "Buried." Sharing screentime with heavyweights Robert De Niro, Sigourney Weaver and Cillian Murphy, the film tells the story of a psychologist (Weaver) and her assistant (Murphy) whose study of paranormal activity leads them to investigate a world-renowned psychic (De Niro). The psychologist attempts to debunk the psychic's work after he steps back into the limelight after 30 years. Sparks will fly. This one premiers tonight.
Already headed to Berlin, folks at Sundance will be the first to taste James Marsh's thriller "Shadow Dancer." Based on the novel by Tom Bradby, the film will center on The Troubles in Ireland in the 1960s, and tell the story of a young woman — a former IRA terrorist turned informer for Blighty’s MI5 — whose brothers are both heavily involved with the IRA. When she is arrested over an aborted bombing attempt in London, she is forced to reveal her past if she wishes to see her children again. Clive Owen and Gillian Anderson star, in what looks to be a pretty charged drama. The critics will start weighing in on this one after it hits on January 24th. Pics below.
