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She could never be a saint, but she thought she could be a martyr if they killed her quick.—Flannery O’Connor The mist uncovers Japanese soldiers as well as the grim sight of severed heads by the side of the hot springs where Catholic priests are being tortured. A priest kneels down in horror, almost catatonic, unable to bring himself to believe in the evilness of these men, the men of the Inquisitor. Why are these priests, who came to this “swamp of Japan” to spread the Word of the Lord, suffering so immensely on the hands of these soldiers?To the modern, secular audience, the theme of Silence (2016) is of great irony: the all-powerful Catholic Church, the institution that spread terror across Europe for 700 years with her bonfires and witch hunts and enforcing an almost maddening outlook at faith and personal behavior, comes to an unconquerable land where...

“You like naked ladies huh? “ So I was asked by Hiroko Politz, a good friend of mine and a fellow Sgi member and Buddhist. I was telling Hiroko about my recreational time at Paradise Lakes and Lake Como, two of the many nudist resorts north of the Tampa, Florida area. This was in the 1990s and yes, one of the reasons I moved to Florida was to visit these nudist resorts. Because, to be truthful, yes I do like naked ladies. Ladies in general are my favorite people, undressed even more so.

Raised in a church going family I had a Mother was insisted the human body was never to be seen. Accordingly she burned a good many magazines featuring naked ladies. Not just mine but my three older brothers before me. Likely a good many of those magazines might be worth money now.

Being a typical American male, naturally...

Whenever I go to the Sundance Film Festival, the movies that I look forward to seeing most are the Park City At Midnight films. Those are the crazy fun genre movies that a lot of you would also enjoy watching. Sundance has announced the movie lineup for those film as well as the films in the Spotlight and New Frontier sections. It looks like there are a lot of cool movies that are going to be worth watching this year. Especially in the Park City At Midnight lineup. I'm really excited about going this year! Check out the Competition movie line-up here.

Park City At Midnight

From horror flicks to comedies to works that defy any genre, these unruly films will keep you edge-seated and wide awake.

Cop Car / U.S.A. (Director: Jon Watts, Screenwriters: Christopher D. Ford, Jon Watts) — Two 10-year-old boys steal an abandoned cop car. Cast: Kevin Bacon,...

99 Homes

Following yesterday’s announcement of the 2015 Sundance Film Festival’s In-Competition films, the festival has released its lineup of Spotlight, Park City At Midnight and New Frontier Films.

Among the lineup is 99 Homes, Ramin Bahrani’s Middle-America drama on foreclosures starring Michael Shannon and Andrew Garfield. The film premiered at Toronto and Venice earlier this year and will finally get a release early in 2015. Joining it are the British Independent Film Award-nominated ’71, and the much hyped Eden from Mia Hansen-Løve and Girlhood from Céline Sciamma.

On the At Midnight circuit, the hot ticket is Knock Knock from Director Eli Roth and starring Keanu Reeves in what Deadline describes as a “psychosexual home invasion pic”.

Also included in this announcement is a lineup of New Frontier art installations that will be visible across Park City, including one called Way to Go by artist Vincent Morisset, a big collaborator with Arcade Fire.

It’s less than two months until the streets and theaters of Park City are going to be packed with filmmakers, film fans and buyers attending the 2015 Sundance Film Festival from January 22 to February 1. Yesterday the Robert Redford-founded fest announced its U.S. and World Cinema dramatic and documentary competition selections along with the pics in its Next section. Today, with some Andrew Garfield, Keanu Reeves, Greta Gerwig, Kevin Bacon and Charlotte Rampling starrers among them, Sundance revealed its non-competitive Spotlight and Park City At Midnight slates along with the films and installations of the New Frontier category - see the full list below.

Like yesterday’s slate announcements there are some big, big screen names appearing at Sundance this year. Garfield, who has that other gig as certain webslinger, is in the Ramin Bahrani-directed 99 Homes with Michael Shannon and Laura Dern. Having played at Tiff and Venice,...

The 2015 selection includes a strong Latin American flavour, led by Eli Roth’s Chilewood psychosexual Park City At Midnight entry Knock Knock starring Keanu Reeves and Lorenza Izzo.

Mexico-based Dark Factory’s thriller Reversal also premieres in the section, while the New Frontier film slate includes Carlos Moreno’s Liveforever from Colombia-Mexico.

Spotlight — Sundance programmers’ tribute to their favourite films of 2014 — includes Argentinean box office smash and Academy Awards submission Wild Tales (pictured) from Damián Szifrón.

Among the Midnight films are Rodney Ascher’s sleep paralysis documentary The Nightmare, Bruce McDonald’s Hellions from Canada, Cop Car from the Us starring Kevin Bacon and Irish-uk forest-set The Hallow from Corin Hardy.

Spotlight selections also feature Yann Demange’s feted UK thriller ‘71, Kornél Mundruczó’s Hungarian drama White God and Mia Hansen-Løve’s Eden from France. Canadian auteur Guy Maddin is back withThe Forbidden Room, which he co-directed with Evan Johnson, in New Frontier...

Just in time for its 40th year anniversary, Shout Factory has amassed a glorious Blu-ray remastering of Brian De Palma’s 1974 classic, Phantom of the Paradise. A glam-rock musical that’s enjoyed a sizeable cult following after an initial muted theatrical release, it represents the filmmaker’s most enjoyable attempt at comedy in this vintage satire about consumerism vs. creative control.

On the eve of unveiling his glam rock palace The Paradise, cutthroat music mogul Swan is struggling with how to open with just the right song to be performed by doo-wop group the Juicy Fruits (modeled after Sha Na Na). When Swan hears the music of aspiring singer songwriter Winslow Leach (William Finely, a De Palma regular), he decides he wants his music, an epic cantata modernizing Faust, but not the man. After his tunes are stolen, the songwriter tries to barge his way into Swan’s rehearsals but is thrown out,...

Rebecca Hall (The Town) is in negotiations to join Iron Man 3 in a role previously described as "a sexy scientist every bit as smart as Tony Stark" (does that pic to the right from "Bazaar" say sexy scientist to you?). Hall is taking the role Jessica Chastain declined recently due to what she described as a "jammed packed" schedule. [source] Cameron Diaz has reportedly signed on to fill the role previously eyed in Ridley Scott's The Counselor, joining previously cast Michael Fassbender, Brad Pitt and Javier Bardem. The film is an original screenplay written by Cormac McCarthy in which Fassbender will play a present-day Southwest lawyer who thinks he can dip a toe into the drug business without getting sucked down. Diaz will play a character named Malkina described as a hyper-sexualized Argentinean woman who's hooked up with Bardem's character. Angelina Jolie was lobbying hard for the part, but...

In 2009, the best film in Competition at the Berlinale was Maren Ade's Everyone Else (Fwiw, it came away with 1.5 Silver Bears, the 1 for Best Actress Birgit Minichmayr, the .5 for tying with Adrián Biniez's Gigante for the Jury Grand Prix; the Golden Bear that year went to Claudia Llosa's The Milk of Sorrow). Three years on (!), the trio that made Everyone Else worth talking up to this day (see, for example, Kevin B Lee's new video essay on a key scene at Fandor; see, too, Mike D'Angelo on the same scene a year ago at the Av Club) is back in Competition, albeit in three different films. Lars Eidinger has drawn the shortest straw, taking on the lead in Hans-Christian Schmid's rather dismal Home for the Weekend. Minichmayr's fared better opposite Jürgen Vogel in Matthias Glasner's new film, though I seriously doubt many of us will...

I figured Burt Chance ran something more than just a landscaping business, didn't you?

On "A Short Time in Paradise, the spotlight once again shined on Dr. Rosen, who has the unenviable job of protecting his team from all sides, whether that include the government or other Alphas, while also serving as a judge and jury to them.

It all came to a head this week.

Rosen could no longer stand behind logic and persuasion to get his point across. His back was against a wall with Jonas, who wasn’t listening to logic and preferred to burn thousands of innocent people he brainwashed to death. So Rosen had no choice: he pulled the trigger and killed Jonas.

It was a pivotal moment for the doctor and I have to commend David Strathairn for showing the weight and remorse Rosen felt in that scene. It was palpable. So where does Rosen go from here?...

Yesterday, the first wave of films for Austin’s Fantastic Fest 2011 were announced. Since experiencing this festival for the first time last year, I have been waiting, impatiently, for September to roll around to attend this year. We published a “wishlist” of sorts of films we thought might play at Fantastic Fest and it looks like we scored two in this first wave – we aren’t counting Fulci’s Zombie because that was sort of a cheat. Read beyond the break to find out what films will be playing.

From the Press Release:

Austin, TX—Thursday, July 14th, 2011— Fantastic Fest is proud to announce our first wave of programming for the seventh edition of Fantastic Fest, happening September 22-29 in Austin, Texas.

This batch of 20 films spans the globe from Japan, Belgium, Mexico, Russia, Hong Kong, Korea and of course the USA. We’re debuting digital restorations of Italian horror...

Essential Viewing 12.31.10The Week in PicturesThis holiday week has seen our fav celebs jet setting to warmer climates, our President shooting 18 holes of golf with his friends, Prince rocking "America," and so much more. Let's take a look back at this final week of 2010 in pictures...Khloe Kardashian & Lamar OdomKhloe Kardashian and Lamar Odom attend the Kardashian's holiday party in L.A. What a cute couple!Jamie Foxx & Gabrielle UnionJamie Foxx and Gabrielle Union at Delano in Miami Beach.The First FamilyBarack Obama eats a shaved ice alongside Malia in Kailua, Hawaii. Looks yummy.Judith JamisonDance legend Judith Jamison rings the closing bell at the New York Stock Exchange in New York City.Kanye WestKanye West attends a Christmas Day game between LeBron and Miami Heat and Kobe and the Lakers in L.A.Nicki MinajNicki Minaj performs at the Paradise Theater on Christmas Day in New York City.PrincePrince...