The first two post-show chats at Sundance Cinemas have gone pretty well so far — last month’s talk after “Any Day Now,” coincidentally scheduled the same day as the Supreme Court heard oral arguments for and against gay marriage, went quite well.

But I’m really excited for the next one. It’s Shane Carruth’s mindbending “Upstream Color,” a heady film about mind control, true love, and mysterious piglets, and I think it will give us a LOT to talk about. Next Monday, April 22, immediately following the 7:05 p.m. screening at Sundance, we’ll meet over in the theater’s new Overflow Bar (where the gift shop used to be) to try and puzzle out the elliptical and beautiful film together.

It should be lots of fun. Hope you can make it. The next Sundance chat will be for “Lore” some time in May.

Yeah, that’s fair. The week that the Wisconsin Film Festival begins is the same week that two of the films I’ve most looked forward to seeing so far in 2013 open at Sundance. Why not open Terrence Malick’s “To the Wonder” as well and really twist the knife in?

Well, I suppose I should just be happy that Danny Boyle’s “Trance” and Derek Cianfrance’s “The Place Beyond the Pines” are here, and assume they’ll be around after the eight-day festival ends next Thursday.

All week

 “Trance” (Point, Sundance) – Danny Boyle seems to rocket back and forth between Oscar contenders (“Slumdog Millionaire,” “127 Hours”) and gleeful genre fare (“28 Days Later,” “Sunshine”), and the appropriately named “Trance” definitely seems to fall in the latter category. It’s a trippy crime film about an art heist where the audience is never sure what’s real and what isn’t. It looks cool, anyway.

“The Place Beyond the Pines” (Sundance) – Derek Cianfrance’s follow-up to “Blue Valentine” is a similarly bleak drama, this time an epic crime drama about a cop (Bradley Cooper),  a robber (Ryan Gosling), and the connection between their two sons. Reviews suggest Cianfrance may have bitten off more than he can chew, but I’m more than curious.

“42” (Point, Eastgate, Star Cinema, Cinema Café) – Writer-director Brian Helgeland’s biopic about Jackie Robinson looks earnest and inspiring – and would you want it to be any other way? Harrison Ford, playing crotchety baseball owner Branch Rickey, who signed Robinson and cross the color barrier when nobody else would, looks like he’s a ball of fire in this one.

“Scary Movie V” (Point, Eastgate, Star Cinema) – David Zucker, who recently slapped Robert Hays with a fish in the new Wisconsin Department of Tourism ad, goes back to the horror-movie-parody franchise yet again. And by “parody,” I mean “obvious references to recent horror movies that even people who just saw the trailer will get.” Sigh.

Tuesday

“Girl Rising” (7 p.m., Union South) – Back by popular demand, the inspiring anthology film, looking at girls in eight different developing countries and their struggles to get a good education, has a free screening on campus. Highly recommended – here’s my reported from a packed Gathr screening last month.

Banff Mountain Film Festival (7 p.m., Barrymore Theatre) – The touring film festival features nature and environment documentaries from all across the countries, so much so that it’s spread across two nights (Tuesday and Wednesday) this week with different film programs each night. Tickets are $12 in advance ($14 at the door) for a single-day ticket or $20 for a two-night pass; buy advance tickets at barrymorelive.com and check out the film line-up for each night.

Wednesday

Banff Mountain Film Festival (7 p.m. Barrymore Theatre) – See Tuesday listing.

Thursday

“Zero Dark Thirty” (7 p.m., Union South Marquee Theatre) – Kathryn Bigelow’s fact-based thriller about the hunt for Osama Bin Laden doesn’t preach for or against the “enhanced interrogation” techniques – i.e. torture – used along the way. But it does put ownership of those incidents in the lap of the American audience. If we want to cheer Osama’s death, the movie implicitly says, we have to own everything else as well. One of the best films of 2012. Free!

“The Final Member” screens at 10 p.m. Saturday at the Union South Marquee.

Everybody needs a hobby. For Siggi Hjartarson, it was collecting penises.

It started with a dried bull penis, and then grew to a private collection, and then finally a museum in Iceland devoted to displaying the equipment of every species of animal on Earth. (It’s like Noah’s Ark, although Siggi only lets in one of each.) Except one.

Man.

The hilariously straight-faced documentary “The Final Member” chronicles Siggi’s quest to find that lucky donor. Like any good Christopher Guest mockumentary, it’s full of oddball characters who take something way more seriously than they should, and it pulls up just shy of openly making fun of them.

Siggi, in particular, cuts a rather sympathetic figure, an old man who tends to his cows, loves his family, and is a scholar on the side who translates centuries-old books. He just wants a legacy to live on after he goes, and a museum full of penises dunked in formaldehyde has somehow become that legacy.

At first, Siggi has a donor — 93-year-old “adventurer” Pall Arason, who claims to have slept with hundreds of women, which makes you wonder when he made time for “adventuring.” But Pall is getting up there, and Siggi worries that certain aging processes (in the words of George Costanza, “shrinkage”) will mean the specimen isn’t big enough for his museum.

Enter an American, Tom Mitchell, and “Elmo.”

Elmo is certainly big enough to make it into the museum, but Tom is one seriously weird dude. He’s obsessed with his little sidekick (frontkick?), dressing him up in little costumes, getting him a stars-and-stripes tattoo, even commissioning a comic book starring Elmo. Tom is so thrilled at the idea of Elmo becoming famous that he’s even considering donating Elmo to the museum WHILE HE IS STILL ALIVE to head Pall off at the pass. If Tom wasn’t a real person, Will Ferrell would have had to invent him.

Much hilarity ensues, including a riotous sequence in which Pall tries to get a plaster-of-Paris cast of his equipment made, with disastrous results. Ouch. In the end, Siggi gets his museum acquisition, and the rest of us have watched a very strange and funny film. (By the way, one of the editors of the film is a UW grad, whose name is . . . and I’m not kidding . . . Andrew Dickler.)

“Nameless Gangster” plays at 6:45 p.m. Friday and 2 p.m. Monday at Sundance Cinemas, and advance tickets are still available for both shows.

If you get squeamish at the sight of somebody getting a good beatdown in a film, steer clear of “Nameless Gangster: Rules of the Time.”

Guns barely appear in the film, but it seems everybody is carrying a big stick in this South Korean gangster epic, and not afraid to use it to punish their enemies. Even the prosecutor, a so-called “good guy,” delivers a thrashing to an unarmed prisoner cowering in his cell.

That’s part and parcel of this cynical but engrossing film, where might makes right, everyone is on the take somehow and the idea of a criminal “code” is laughable. Yoon Jong-bin’s film has the epic sweep and detail of a gangster movie like “Scarface,” but none of the mythologizing.

For example, the hero isn’t a young up-and-comer like Henry Hill in “Goodfellas,” but a sad-sack, deeply corrupt customs official named Choi (Choi Min-Sik). His crew routinely skims their own percentage off the illegal goods coming into Seoul, but he’s about to be made the fall guy when their corrupt schemes can’t go ignored any more.

Then he discovers a shipping container full of drugs, meant to be sold in Japan, and sees his play. He seizes the drugs and plans to sell them himself, rationalizing in a hilarious monologue that it’s payback for Japan’s occupation of Korea. (“It’s called patriotism!” he insists to his partner.)

The sale puts him in the orbit of South Korea’s real criminal underworld, especially the smooth and lethal Hyung-bae (Ha Yung-woo). Choi is desperate to survive in a world he clearly isn’t cut out for, and Choi’s performance as an ordinary middle-management sort of guy way in over his head is a revelation, as he goes from false bravado to fawning obsequience, changing alliances recklessly, anything to keep him alive. It’s not a likable performance, but it is a memorable one.

The film has none of the stylish action one might expect from an Asian gangster movie; the cruel violence is shot plainly and unsparingly, underscoring just how dangerous this world is and how ill-prepared Choi is to survive in it. “Nameless Gangster” is a different kind of mob movie, but one that gangster movie fans should definitely seek out.

“The Gatekeepers” is now playing at Sundance Cinemas. PG-13, 1:41, three stars out of four

The six men featured in the Oscar-nominated documentary “The Gatekeepers” all agree: the current political strategy in Israeli has been a failure, and the state needs to open constructive dialogues with Palestine and the other Arab states.

That those six men are all former heads of Shin Bet, Israeli’s internal security agency, the ones who have been implementing that strategy against the Palestinians, is striking.

Much like Errol Morris’ “The Fog of War,” Dror Moreh’s film is a sobering inside look inside history, at mistakes made and opportunities missed. In this case, it was the mistaken belief that Israel could occupy Palestine indefinitely, with a long-term permanent solution to be determined later. As one security head puts it, it was there job to keep Palestinian unrest at a “low flame” — 20 attacks per year instead of 20 per week — to give the politicians the breathing room they needed to pursue a solution.

But that solution never came. Instead, Moreh shows from the inside of Shin Bet how they saw the conflict got worse and worse — bus bombings on one side, targeted assassinations and interrogations on the other. It’s an endless cycle, with every victory only setting the stage for the next defeat. For example, Moreh tells the story of one “elegant” assassination against a Palestinian terrorist, in which a bomb was hidden inside the terrorist’s cell phone, and detonated remotely when he’s talking to his father. The bomb goes off, and one terrorist gets taken off the board. But then the others are enraged, and the attacks worsen.

“Gatekeepers” looks into several key incidents, including an incident in which two terrorists are beaten to death while in custody. (The Shin Bet head in charge at the time is cagey, telling Moreh he regrets that the incident happened — because a reporter was there and the story got out.) In addition to the interviews, Moreh uses a wealth of archival footage, from horrific images of terrorist bombings to eerily antiseptic satellite footage of a terrorist killed by a missile.

But perhaps the most dispiriting for the Shin Bet heads is when the agency also had to start contending with a far-right Israeli faction that wants to trigger a holy war by blowing up a Muslim shrine, the Dome on the Rock. And, in 1995, when a young assassin kills Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin for signing the Oslo Accords, it’s a body blow to Shin Bet. Not only as an intelligence failure, but it’s a recognition that, as one head puts it, “we can win every battle and still lose the war.” One head quotes a Palestinian physician who tells him that, even as the Israelis use their superior firepower and intelligence, they can’t ever claim victory. For the Palestinians, he says, “Victory is to see you suffer.”

If there’s a ray of hope in the otherwise dispiriting history lesson of “The Gatekeepers,” it’s that these six men saw and know more about the situation than most, and they’ve come to the conclusion that peace is the only option.

With Spring Break upon us, the UW Marquee Theater is shut down for the week, which will keep this column a little shorter. Still we’ve got more movies than usual opening around town, including four new ones at Sundance, and the UW Cinematheque has the lights on all weekend as well.

All week

“Spring Breakers” (Point, Eastgate, Star Cinema, Sundance) — If you can’t get away next week, Harmony Korine’s new film will simulate the Spring Break experience — provided that experience includes armed robbery and James Franco wearing cornrows. Korine, the enfant terrible behind “Trash Humpers” and “Kids,” seems to have succeeded in making the most subversive commercial film of the year.

“Admission” (Point, Eastgate, Star Cinema, Sundance) — Couples don’t get much more likable than Tina Fey and Paul Rudd, here playing a college admissions officer and a teacher with a bright kid. It’s directed by Chris Weitz (“About a Boy”), who has a flair mixes comedy and drama, so definitely worth a look.

“Olympus Has Fallen” (Point, Eastgate, Star Cinema, Cinema Cafe) — It’s “Die Hard” in the White House, as a former Presidential guard tries to save the day when terrorist seize the Oval Office. Implausible, sure, but after the disappointment of “A Good Day to Die Hard,” our action-movie standards are pretty low.

“The Croods” (Point, Eastgate, Star Cinema, Cinema Cafe) — This animated film about a family of cavemen looking for a new home looked pretty dumb to me, but reviews have actually been pretty good, with critics say it doesn’t have much depth, but it’s entertaining and eye-poppingly beautiful to look at.

“Stoker” (Sundance) — I’ve very excited to see the English-language debut of South Korean director Park Chan-wook (“Oldboy,” “Lady Vengeance”). It’s basically a stylized retelling of Hitchcock’s “Shadow of a Doubt,” with a creepy uncle (Matthew Goode) moving in with his niece (Mia Wasikowska) and grieving sister-in-law (Nicole Kidman). But, man, what style!

“Any Day Now” (Sundance) — A gay couple try to adopt a teenage boy with Down syndrome and hit a brick wall of a system in 1970s California in this sensitively-acted drama. I’m doing a post-show chat after the 6:50 p.m. Tuesday show at Sundance — it’s a film with lots to say. My review is here.

“InAPPpropriate Comedy” (Eastgate, Point) — Apparently because he couldn’t get a part in “Movie 43,” Adrien Brody makes an appearance in this sketch-comedy film alongside Rob Schneider and Lindsay Lohan. Yeesh.

Friday

“The Connection” (7 p.m., UW Cinematheque, 4070 Vilas Hall, 821 University Ave.) — Filmmaker Shirley Clarke takes a gritty look at the world of heroin addicts in this feature about a group of junkies waiting for their supplier. Free!

Saturday

“If You Meet Sartana Pray For Your Death” (7 p.m., UW Cinematheque) — A laconic hero tracks down the mastermind behind a bloody stagecoach robbery in this spaghetti Western with an undeniably awesome title. Free!

“Tron” (8 p.m., Majestic Theatre) — This is the original 1982 classic, in which a computer programmer and arcade owner find themselves sucked into the world of computers. Tickets are $5, which is about how much I’d sink into the arcade game on an average Saturday of my youth.

Sunday

“Whisper of the Heart” (2 p.m., Chazen Museum of Art, 800 University Ave.) — Two teenagers become friends one summer and have a magical adventure in this charmer from director Yoshifumi Kondo, a protege of legendary Japanese animator Hayao Miyazaki who tragically died at the age of 47, leaving this his only feature. Free!

One thing you learn fast about those Wisconsin Film Festival fans — do not dilly-dally around them.

Tickets went on sale at noon Saturday at the 15th annual festival’s box office in Union South (and online at wifilmfest.org), and in less than an hour folks were already reporting the first sellout.

Ahem. Called it!

While I was correct in prognosticating that the much talked-about “Much Ado About Nothing” was the first film to sell out (prompting one follower on Twitter to accuse me of witchcraft), take heart. The film opens in its regular theatrical run on June 21, making a return to Sundance Cinemas this summer a certainty.

Here’s the other films that, based on a Monday morning perusal of the online schedule at wifilmfest.org, sold out over the weekend. Where possible I’ve tried to denote which films have alternate screenings for which tickets are still available. In addition, the festival has left some programming wiggle room in the back half of the festival so it can book additional showings of hot films. I’ll update this list periodically, so keep an eye here and, of course, at wifilmfest.org.

“56 Up” — all three screenings are sold out. One of the subjects of the doc, Nick Hitchon, will be speaking at the Saturday screening only.

“7 Boxes” — The 5:15 p.m. Friday show is sold out, but tickets remain for the 9 p.m. Tuesday.

“Breakfast with Curtis” — 11:30 a.m. Saturday is sold out, but tickets remain the 12:15 p.m. Friday show.

“The End of Time” — 11:15 a.m. Saturday is sold out, but tickets remain for 12:30 p.m. Friday.

“Flicker” — 7:45 p.m. Saturday is sold out, but tickets for 12:15 p.m. Friday and 4 p.m. Monday remain.

“Key of Life” —  7 p.m. Wednesday is sold out, but tickets for 1:30 p.m. Thursday remain.

“Kon-Tiki” — 6:30 p.m. Sunday sold out

“Lore” — both screenings sold out

“M” — 7:30 p.m. Saturday sold out

“Much Ado About Nothing” — 9 p.m. Thursday sold out

“Pretty Funny Stories” — 5 p.m. Saturday sold out

“Short Films From Wisconsin’s Own” — 2 p.m. Sunday sold out

“Stories We Tell” — 6:45 p.m. Thursday sold out

“The World Before Her” — 7:30 p.m. Friday sold out

By my count, that leaves tickets available for 12 of the 15 movies on my can’t-wait-to-see list still available.