The Sundance Film Festival recently announced the promising lineups for a few of the festival’s categories, and we’ve now got the first images from some films that will be playing in competition as part of the U.S. Dramatic category.  Briefly:

• Afternoon Delight – Written and directed by Jill Soloway, starring Kathryn Hahn, Juno Temple, Josh Radnor, and Jane Lynch.
• Ain’t Them Bodies Saints – Written and directed by David Lowery, starring Rooney Mara, Casey Affleck, Ben Foster, Nate Parker, and Keith Carradine.
• C.O.G. – Written and directed by Kyle Patrick Alvarez, starring Jonathan Groff, Denis O’Hare, Corey Stoll, Dean Stockwell, Casey Wilson, and Troian Bellisario.
• Concussion – Written and directed by Stacie Passon, starring Robin Weigert, Maggie Siff, Jonathan Tchaikovsky, Julie Fain Lawrence, Emily Kinney, and Laila Robins.

Hit the jump to check out the images and synopses.  The 2013 Sundance Film Festival runs January 17 – 27.

On Season 5 of HBO’s True Blood, actor Giles Matthey plays Claude, a mysterious fairy who has caught the eye of vamp Jessica (Deborah Ann Woll).  Distantly related to Sookie (Anna Paquin), he will be mentoring her in the ways of all things fairy, later on in the season.

During this recent exclusive phone interview with Collider, Giles Matthey talked about his crazy audition for the hit TV show and how he had no idea what role he was actually auditioning for, how he caught up on the previous four seasons and became an obsessive fan himself once he was cast, that he loves meeting fans of the show that are as excited about it as he is, how he sees Claude as loyal and protective, and how much fun his introduction into the story was.  He also talked about what attracts him to a specific project and what inspired him to try his hand at acting, in the first place.  Check out what he had to say after the jump.

HBO’s True Blood is back this Sunday, June 10th, at 9pm, and the show’s fifth season is sure to be full of bloody mayhem that will hopefully rectify some of last year’s lackluster performance.  As the number of magical creatures and love triangles (love-dodecahedrons, at this point) continues to increase, it may be hard to keep track of who’s alive, who’s dead, who came back and what kind of magic they possess.  Take a spoiler-filled refresher course after the jump to relive the last four seasons of True Blood, including some of the best, worst and weirdest surprises from Bon Temps over the last few years (or moments, if you’re on fairy time).

Frankly, I gave up on vampires a long time ago, and it takes a lot for me to get interested in them, and that includes the HBO series True Blood. However, we know that there are plenty of True Blood-thirsty fans out there clamoring for every bit of hype as we lead up to the fifth season premiere on June 10th at 9/8c. Therefore, you’ll be happy to know that in addition to the most recent trailer and teaser poster, we now have a batch of 12 character posters (with Anna Paquin, Alexander Skarsgard, Stephen Moyer and more) that have so much red on them they would make Shaun of the Dead blush.

Honestly, they’re not all that special, but for fans who have a favorite character (or enjoy seeing Christopher Meloni with fangs), they could make a cool iPhone background or something like that. Anyway, you can check out all 12 of the new posters, along with the most recent trailer, after the jump.

This is a fair warning to anyone who is reading this and hasn’t been keeping up with our American Horror Story recaps: turn back now or risk ruining some fantastic surprises from this series. When last we left the Harmon house, we learned that Vivien’s (Connie Britton) twins had, not one, but two fathers. We also watched as Ben (Dylan McDermott) came to certain revelations about the house and its inhabitants. Hayden (Kate Mara) was up to her old tricks again and ill-advisedly added a new member to the ghost line-up: Travis (Michael Graziadei). The episode “Spooky Little Girl” ended with a spoon-fed foreshadowing of the birth of Vivien’s demonic (read: antichrist) baby. But what have the other kids, Violet (Taissa Farmiga) and Tate (Evan Peters) been up to? Hit the jump to find out.

FX’s psycho-sexual thriller American Horror Story, from executive producers Ryan Murphy and Brad Falchuk, revolves around the Harmons, a family of three who moved from Boston to Los Angeles as a means of reconciling personal anguish and getting a fresh start. But, they quickly discover that their new home comes with its own kind of baggage, as numerous heinous and terrifying acts have occurred there, and the property itself seems to have a strange effect on its residents.

During a recent exclusive phone interview with Collider, actor Denis O’Hare talked about the mysterious burned man that he plays on the show, how he sees Larry Harvey as both sympathetic and scary, the more than three hours of detailed make-up work he goes through to bring the character to life, and how he sees this as a show about our deepest fears. He also talked about how excited he is now that the door has been opened for Russell Edgington to return to True Blood in Season 5, his love for his character on The Good Wife, the experience of doing a role in Clint Eastwood upcoming drama J. Edgar, and that he’s preparing for a one-man show. Check out what he had to say after the jump:

My high school European History teacher joked that the Holy Roman Empire wasn’t holy, Roman, or an Empire.  Similarly, Kevin Macdonald’s The Eagle is a dramatic Roman action flick than isn’t particularly dramatic, Roman, or action-packed.  Everywhere The Eagle could make its mark, it comes up short.  The relationship between the main characters is underdeveloped, there’s very little sense of consistency or setting, and the action is poorly-shot and awkwardly-bloodless.  Despite the presence of actor Jamie Bell and the usually reliable Macdonald at the helm, The Eagle never manages to take flight.