Director Rodrigo Cortés and Ryan Reynolds in Park City

Buried: OK, so Ryan Reynolds is undeniable eye candy, and in Buried he serves up a believable performance as a trucker doing contract work in Iraq (though the movie was shot in Barcelona) who is kidnapped and interred in a coffin, outfitted with only lighter and a cell phone. Spaniards are continuing to prove they are the master of creating tense, visceral thrillers such as [Rec], and Buried is no exception. Director Rodrigo Cortés succeeds in finding creative ways to lense the story to make the audience feel claustrophobic, serving up multiple camera perspectives despite the tight confines of a box.

At times the credibility of the character’s actions are ridiculously unpractical, yet this thriller succeeds in grabbing you by the cojones, pulling tight, and not letting you go until the end credits roll. Similar to Sherlock Holmes, the film also offers a couple of off-camera voices worth looking up later.

All My Friends Are Funeral Singers: Spirits confront a fortune teller played by Angela Bettis of May fame in this talky, handsome experimental film/long-form music video/mescaline trip from Tim Rutili, leader of the Chicago indie-folk band, Califone. Consciously freaky and resolutely outsider, I think the film would work best with Califone playing the score live (which they did at its Sundance premiere). Otherwise, it could feel like a major character is missing from the piece. Strangely, Rutili’s gift for lyrical imagery, one of Califone’s strongest offerings, is mostly absent here.

Enter the Void: What you expect from Gaspar Noé of Irreversible infamy. Noé has a signature style, but there are advancements here in terms of his use of hyper-technicolors, refined camerawork, respect for J-culture, and Void‘s invigorating opening credits, which have earned insider respect at Sundance. The credits demand you pay attention as Noe takes you on a journey based on the Tibetan Book of the Dead and centered on a brother/sister duo with a bond that cannot be broken, even in death. Noé’s signature violence and sexual peccadilloes are on display here, but his new film is also incredibly romantic and hopeful, despite what his usual naysayers might proclaim. In fact, his ideas are incredibly mainstream and the emotions he uncovers are universal, as long as you allow yourself to endure the sex and violence.

Please Give: Catherine Kenner can do no wrong; she has the ability to spit out one-liners that tap into a series of emotions: brittle, sensitive, painful, giving, and caustic. In Please Give, however, we see a softer side of C.K. in the soon-to-be-released film from Sony Pictures Classics. The story is a day in the life of disparate New Yorkers navigating obligations to family, to their own moral dilemmas, and the challenges of living in a city where contradictions exist around every corner. True to writer-director Nicole Holofcener‘s previous work, she has a knack for delivering comic dialogue in the most uncomfortable situations. She knits together an ace cast, including a surprisingly credible performance by Oliver Platt, and a refreshingly caustic Amanda Peet, who obviously has been cutting her teeth in the school of Neil LaBute (she was recently in LaBute’s ill-fated Broadway plan, Reasons to Be Pretty). The story is timely since it taps into the human side of the paranoia and interpersonal conflicts that are fueled by today’s economic climate. The fact that it doesn’t offer any feeling of escapism might make it tricky to market, but Holofcener has posse so we’re not fretting.

Splice: This sci-fi/thriller benefits from commitment of two strong actors, Adrien Brody and Sarah Polley. The mix of body horror and fantasy is overseen by executive producer Guillermo del Toro, and Dren, the creature created and nurtured by a pair of bio-chemists, is a definite homage to Pan’s Labyrinth. Dark humor and wicked twists abound, but in truth, Splice could use a cut (edit). And though it might be edgy for non-genre fans, it might not go far enough for people steeped in the genre. Furthermore, this might be a clichéd case too many cooks involved behind the scenes; I feel like one group of producers want it to be really grungy similar to Frank Henenlotter movie (Basket Case or Bad Biology), while the other set want something more accessible, given the amount of time and money spent on the project.

Frozen: Taking a cue from the school of “what would happen if…”, Frozen primarily delivers the suspense and scares, with a cast of appealing actors, a wintry setting, and distributor Anchor Bay’s penchant for aggressively loud sound design to inflict horror upon the auditory senses. Overall it’s an effective thriller from Adam Green, the director of Hatchet (Hatchet 2 is in production now). Minor continuity problems include some make-up inconsistencies; moreover, there’s a simple solution to the predicament here (snowboarders trapped on a chairlift with no help in sight), but the characters make decisions that usually end in stupid, bloody results. To be fair, check your brain at the door and just go along for the ride.