Sundance 2010 is facing some fierce competition this year. It’s from Sundance 2009. Take a look at our mini-guide from last year. In the Premieres were some of the finest films of the year: In the Loop, (500) Days of Summer, Adventureland, An Education, The Cove and Precious. There were some very good films as well such as Rudo y Cursi and Moon. That’s a hard act to follow.

This year’s mini-guide looks, much like last year’s pre-festival, like a bunch of indistinct titles. But a Precious or a Cove could be hiding behind each one. That’s why figuring out which films this year will be fondly recalled next year is such a difficult matter. Since most of the directors are new (well, new in that this is often their first or second feature) there’s no little to no track record. Stars are no indication. Sam Rockwell is just as likely to be in the depressing, smothered Snow Angels and the horror hiccup Joshua as he’s likely to be in Choke or Moon. Last year, just one of the films that I was most excited to see was Big Fan, written and directed by Robert Siegel (the guy who wrote The Wrestler) and starring my favorite comedian, Patton Oswalt. Not so much.

So, with some hesitation, but fervent hope, here are just some of the titles of note this year:

Franco in Howl

Howl: Sundance’s opening night film stars James Franco stars as the poet Alan Ginsberg whose poem “Howl” (with its most famous line: “I’ve seen the greatest minds of my generation destroyed by madness…”) became the subject of an obscenity trial in the late ‘50s. Directors Rob Epstein and Jeffrey Friedman have made some fine documentaries (such as The Celluloid Closet and Paragraph 175) but how they’ll do with the narrative form is as yet unanswered. If Howl is a screed look for it to retain its greatest accolade as Sundance’s opening night film.

The Company Men: Stars Ben Affleck , Kevin Costner, Tommy Lee Jones and Maria Bello in a movie about corporate downsizing from writer/director John Wells. Now, John Wells uses flats of $100 bills to protect the mats in his car, since he was an executive producer behind not only “The West Wing” but “ER” too, so this must be a proverbial labor of love. Pretty respectable cast too.

The Runaways: Twilight: New Moon star Kristen Stewart plays Joan Jett in this bio-pic about the now-infamous all-girl band The Runaways. Sporting a cast which includes Dakota Fanning, Alia Shawkat (quite good in last year’s otherwise overrated Amreeka) and Scout Taylor-Compton it’s directed by Floria Sigismondi. This feels like it’s a movie that would have shone if it had been directed by Penelope Spheeris but that’s what Sundance is for, to introduce us to the new Penelope’s out there.

Welcome to the Rileys: Kristent Stewart also stars in Rileys as a prostitute cared for by a wayward family man, played by James Gandolfini. It’s directed by Jake Scott (son of Ridley) and written by Ken Hixon (Inventing the Abbotts). It feels dour already but the pedigree and the cast demand it be seen.

Night Catches Us: It’s director Tanya Hamilton’s first feature but it stars two fine actors, Anthony Mackie and Kerry Washington. Mackie plays Marcus, a young man who came of age during the Black Power movement, who returns to Philadelphia, revisiting his past and rekindling old flames.

The Extra Man: Shari Springer Berman and Robert Pulcini, who brought us American Splendor (and, it must be admitted, The Nanny Diaries) are back as co-writer/directors in Extra Man. It stars Paul Dano and Kevin Kline, and also features John C. Reilly.

Get Low: Robert Duvall stars as 1930’s hermit Felix Bush, who decides to throw a funeral party for himself while he’s still alive. Also stars Bill Murray, Lucas Black and Sissy Spacek.

There’s also some actors trying their hands behind the camera including Philip Seymour Hoffman, who directs Jack Goes Boating and Diego Luna directing Abel.

This is only a partial list and we’ll try to give you an idea of what’s going to be worth noting as the festival opens right here in the Road to Sundance.