10 Films To See At Sundance

Sympathy For Delicious

Scruffily loveable thesp Mark Ruffalo switches to the other side of the camera to make his directorial debut with this comedy drama about a wheelchairbound DJ who discovers he has the power to heal other, but not himself.

It's got bittersweet bizarreness written through it like a stick of rock, but the performances should keep it grounded. Star Christopher Thornton really is in a wheelchair after a climbing accident in his 20s, while cropping up in support you get Ruffalo himself, the ever wonderful Laura Liney, and Juliette Lewis.

On the down side, Orlando Bloom also puts in an appearance but we're trying not to hold that against the film too much.

The Company Men

Ben Affleck, Tommy Lee Jones,Chris Cooper... The top line cast alone on this glossy drama should be enough to get your juices flowing, and that's before you get to supporting turns from Kevin Costner, Craig T Nelson and Maria Bello.

If they get this tale of corporate downsizing right – Affleck, Jones and Cooper are execs sacrificed on the alter of the credit crunch – then they could have a chunky awards contender on their hands (think Up In The Air meets American Beauty...).

Fingers crossed that director John Wells, a graduate of telly's ER, is thinking along the same lines.

Howl

James Franco's an acquired taste – sometimes he seems like the next big thing, at other times like the last big plank – but there's salivating interest around this flick about US Beat poet Alan Ginsburg.

Documentary director Rob Epstein is keeping the details of the film under wraps until the screening, but this isn't just going to be a straight account of Ginsburg's 1957 obscenity trial after the publication of his groundbreaking poem Howl.

We're promised docu chunks, flashbacks and even animation. It could be a mess, but then again it just might be brilliant.

Hesher

Somehow it doesn't feel like a proper Sundance these days unless there's at least one film starring Joseph Gordon-Levitt on the slate. Don't go into this one expecting [500] Days of Summer chirpiness though.

Tattooed, bearded and frequently shirtless, JG-L is almost unrecognisable under a greasy flop of long hair as the spaced out flame-loving loner anarchist who becomes the unlikely mentor to a lad struggling with his mother's death.

Add in both Natalie Portman and Rainn Wilson, as well as helmer/writer Spencer Susser's determination to mix in good dose of black comedy into the tear-jerking, and you end up with a movie we're ridiculously keen to see.

Buried

Ryan Reynolds. Trapped. In a coffin. For 94 minutes.

Rodrigo Cortes' thriller oozes promise and could be the movie that finally lets audiences see what the undoubtedly talented Reynolds can do when he's not gurning and cracking gags. Playing a US contractor in Iraq who wakes up after a firefight to find himself stuck underground with nothing but a lighter and a cellphone should show him in a different - flickering - light.

It's not the only high concept Stuck-Somewhere-Strange movie on the Sundance slate. Watch out too for Frozen, which sees what happens when three skiers find themselves trapped up in the air on a sky lift in sub zero temperatures. If Buried could be a surprise thriller hit, Frozen is aiming more for an Open Water in thermals psychological horror audience.

Tucker & Dale vs Evil

Alan Tudyk and Tyler Labine (from TV's Firefly and Reaper, respectively) are two perfectly innocent hillbillies enjoying a weekend in a cabin.

Then along come a bunch of chirpy college kids to camp in the woods. All it takes is a couple of accidents and before you know it, the kids are convinced that the two perfectly harmless rednecks are psychotic killers.

Horror comedy mayhem ensues...

Looking like it's clever and daft, charming and gory in equal dollops, this tongue-in-cheek spin on the slasher movie has more laughs in its trailer alone than Scary Movie or any of its sequels managed in total.

Tudyk's been inches away from the big hit which would make him a household name for years, while Labine is already jockeying for roles the Seth Rogan and Jack Black used to get.

The Killer Inside Me

Both Affleck boys are making a strong showing at Sundance this year, but Casey could even eclipse big brother Ben with this noir tale of smalltown deceit and murder.

Adapted from a novel by Jim Thompson (The Grifters, The Getaway, After Dark, My Sweet), it casts Affleck as the seemingly respectable Sheriff of a Texan town.

He's leading a double life though, using his authority to disguise the fact that he's actually a sociopathic murderer...

With Brit helmer Michael Winterbottom in charge and a cast that boasts Jessica Alba, Kate Hudson, Bill Pullman, Elias Koteas and the mighty Ned Beatty, just talking about this one has the hairs on the back of our necks standing on end.

Splice

Hands up all those who think that scientists Adrien Brody and Sarah Polley's attempts to mix and match human and animal DNA aren't going to turn out well. Go to the head of the class...

Splice may share the genetic make-up of a hundred straight to video horrors, but it's also got a couple of X-factors in its favour.

One is the presence of Brody and Polley who usually have a good eye for a script.

Two is the fact that in special effect terms it looks top drawer – with the bumfaced baby monster they create looking impeccably real.

Then there's factor three. Namely that Gullermo Del Toro's monicker is slapped on this as executive producer in much the same way that it was attached to Orphanage.

If there's a better seal of eerie horror quality than that, we've yet to see it.

Welcome To The Rileys

Twilight's Kristen Stewart takes her kit off. As a stripper. Ah, that got your attention...

It usually takes starlets a few more years before they get desperate enough to play the “gettin' nekkid” card (heck, even Lindsay Lohan was almost 21 before she tried it in I Know Who Killed Me) so we're a bit surprised to see 19-year-old Stewart doing it so soon.

Then again, in this case it's probably not down to desperation.

After all, this looks like a proper chunky drama. The fact that it's also drawn in James Gandolfini should indicate that (he's the customer still grieving for the death of his own daughter who tries to help Stewart's stripper chick get her life back on track).

Our only worry is that it's directed by Jack 'son of Ridley' Scott, who hasn't made a feature since 1999's highwayman extravaganza Plunkett & Macleane.

Four Lions

Who on god's sweet earth would come up with the idea of making a comedy about a bunch of bumbling jihadist suicide bombers? A big hand please for a certain Christopher Morris...

The twisted genius behind Brass Eye and The Day Today is keeping the precise details of the flick under wraps for the moment, but does say this: “As Spinal Tap understood heavy metal and Dr Strangelove the Cold War, Four Lions understands modern British jihadis... Terrorism is about ideology, but it's also about berks.” You had us at Spinal Tap, Chris...

Of course, it could all be one big Cake-style spoof (remember the fake drug that Morris persuaded MPs was real?), but we really, really hope not. We'll find out in a few days.