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Because nobody's seen them yet, it's hard to tell which of this year's Sundance movies are most worth seeing.
Figuring out which films will attract the most advance buzz, however, is easy.
Anticipation always builds around movies that, for one reason or another, look cool. Maybe it's a new work by an audacious filmmaker. Or a provocative documentary. Or something with a great cast. Or even just a clever concept.
With these criteria in mind, here are 10 Sundance selections that'll likely be on almost everyone's lips this month:
"U2 3D" - Take the world's biggest rock band, add digital 3-D photography and throw in surround sound, and you have a concert-film experience that the Sundance film guide says "will leave you fumbling around on the ground for your jaw." Unless, of course, you don't like U2. Co-directors Catherine Owens and Mark Pellington assembled their footage from multiple concerts on U2's 2006 South American tour, giving viewers a front-row seat to the Irish rockers' dynamic live shows. Plus you'll get to wear those cool 3-D specs.
"Patti Smith: Dream of Life" - Shot over 11 years, this documentary has the potential to be an intimate and fascinating portrait of the poet, activist and punk-rock pioneer.
"Choke" - This black comedy is adapted from the novel by Chuck (Fight Club) Palahniuk, who has a sizeable following for his dark, often twisted books. Its intriguingly bizarre story combines sex addiction, chronic masturbation and a man (Sam Rockwell) who earns his living by pretending to choke in fancy restaurants.
"The Wackness" - Jonathan Levine wrote and directed this idiosyncratic urban tale about a teenage stoner and his oddball shrink, played by Ben Kingsley. The movie already has drawn buzz for a makeout scene between Kingsley and - yikes! - Mary Kate Olsen.
"A Complete History of My Sexual Failures" - This British comedy is just what it sounds like. Sometimes all you need to get people talking about your movie is a great title.
"What Just Happened?" - This comedy premiere about two weeks in the life of a Hollywood movie producer may have the festival's best cast: Robert DeNiro, Bruce Willis, Sean Penn, Catherine Keener, Stanley Tucci and John Turturro. Oh, and it was directed by Barry Levinson.
"Where in the World is Osama bin Laden?" - Four years ago, crusading filmmaker Morgan Spurlock went on an all-McDonalds diet for his Sundance hit "Super Size Me." Now, in this fish-out-of-water documentary, the regular-guy American wanders the Middle East in search of the world's most wanted man.
"George A. Romero's Diary of the Dead" - The legendary horrormeister is back with another installment in his pioneering zombie series. This time, the undead plague a group of film students making a low-budget horror film in the Pennsylvania woods. Think of it as "Night of the Living Dead" meets "The Blair Witch Project."
"Hell Ride" - There also will be blood in this biker-gang flick exec-produced by Quentin Tarantino and starring a barful of bad-asses, including David Carradine, Vinnie Jones and Dennis Hopper.
"Shorts Program III" - Stalker alert! Among these seven brief films is "Welcome," a 12-minute short directed by Kirsten Dunst, who is expected to attend.
Here, based on little more than Sundance's history of honoring underdog films with no-name casts, are our highly speculative odds on five possible favorites to win the festival's biggest award: the Dramatic Grand Jury Prize.
"Sleep Dealer" - Innovative Spanish-language sci-fi set in futuristic Mexico. The last two Dramatic grand prizewinners have been Hispanic films. 7 to 1
"Ballast" - An African-American-themed drama set in rural Mississippi. Sundance likes minority stories. 9 to 1
"American Son" - This drama chronicles a young Marine's four-day leave before being sent to Iraq. Sounds timely. 10 to 1
"Frozen River" - Two broke, desperate single moms team up to smuggle immigrants into the U.S. from Canada. 12 to 1
"Anywhere, USA" - This experimental ensemble comedy, described in the film guide as "wildly original," could be brilliant or a train wreck. 15 to 1