5 films from Sundance I look forward to

Sundance festival, where often times some of the most exciting movies of the year premiere, is happening right now. I was reading reviews of the films that were shown there this week and few of those sound really exciting. The best part? We only have to wait 2 days for one of those!:

5. Official Secrets
Director: Gavin Hood
Cast: Keira Knightley, Matthew Goode, Ralph Fiennes
Plot: Based on the book The Spy Who Tried to Stop a War, Official Secrets tells the true story of British secret-service officer Katharine Gun, who during the immediate run-up to the 2003 invasion of Iraq leaked a top-secret National Security Agency memo. The memo—which exposed an illegal U.S.-U.K. spying operation against members of the United Nations Security Council—proposed blackmailing smaller, undecided member states into voting for war.

I love Keira and I really like political films based on real events. This is getting really good reviews and I'm definitely going to check it out when it's released.

4. Paradise Hills
Director: Alice Waddington
Cast: Emma Roberts, Milla Jovovich, Elsa Gonzalez
Plot: When Uma wakes up alone on a strange island called Paradise, she instantly suspects it’s anything but. Helmed by the Duchess (Milla Jovovich), Paradise Hills is a center for emotional healing that at its core serves as a reformatory-style boarding school for privileged young women. Yet behind the rose-covered pathways and fairy-tale decor, Uma and her friends learn something more sinister is at work.

While the reviews for it aren't great, this looks like Stepford Wives crossed with Alice in Wonderland a little bit and production design and costumes will probably make it worth watching. Plus Emma Roberts is always fun to watch.

3. The Report
Director: Scott Z. Burns
Cast: Adam Driver, Annette Bening, Jon Hamm
Plot: In the aftermath of the 9/11 attacks, CIA agents begin using extreme interrogation tactics on those they think were behind it.

Acquired by Amazon. This could be a serious awards contender and it is being compared to Spotlight. Driver could be in for another nomination here.

2. Velvet Buzzsaw
Director: Dan Gilroy
Cast: Jake Gyllenhaal, Rene Russo, Toni Collette
Plot: After a series of paintings by an unknown artist are discovered, a supernatural force enacts revenge on those who have allowed their greed to get in the way of art.

This drops on Netflix THIS Friday! So at least we won't have to wait long - remember when I was hyped about The VVitch which also premiered on Sundance and then had to wait a year to see it? Unbearable! The film got a really good reception and apparently it is surreal, fun and hilarious.

1. The Lodge
Directors: Severin Fiala, Veronika Franz
Cast: Riiley Keough, Richard Armitage, Alicia Silverstone
Plot: Devoted to their devastated mother, siblings Aidan and Mia resent Grace, the younger woman their newly separated father plans to marry. They flatly reject Grace’s attempts to bond, and they dig up dirt on her tragic past—but soon they find themselves trapped with her, snowed in in a remote holiday village after their dad heads back to the city for work. Just as relations begin to thaw, strange and frightening events threaten to unearth psychological demons from Grace’s strictly religious childhood.

Acquired by Neon. From the directors of Goodnight Mommy. This got a lot of good reviews, some of them hailing it as this year's best horror movie (that's a fairly premature claim, let's remember Midsommar is coming this year!). Described as Hereditary mixed with The Shining and The Others apparently this is yet another movie that will make us afraid of having kids.