Buried (2010)

Buried, despite its seemingly impossible premise, is by turns funny, suspenseful, moving and -- in one heart-stopping sequence worthy of Indiana Jones -- incredibly exciting.

Buried may be claustrophobic in scale, but its impact is immense.

If the aim is to be unpredictable and to revel in cynicism, you run the risk -- realized here -- that the movie becomes more an authorial statement of purpose than a story the audience can believe in.

Whatever the reasons that draw us to the movies, spending 90 minutes trapped in a box with Ryan Reynolds isn't one of them.

The tension keeps building, right to the end. Proving yet again that in movies, even though the space may get smaller, the picture doesn't have to.

The suspense is gripping, even when the substance isn't.

Buried is a one of a kind experience that goes well beyond just a movie with a neat idea. It's a thriller that really works and is one of the best films I've seen all year.

A nifty gimmick rarely translates into satisfying cinema, but Buried qualifies as an exception.

Remind yourself to breathe.

With little more than one actor, a mobile phone, a (very full) Zippo and a few disembodied voices, director Rodrigo Cortés has created a 95-minute panic-attack-made-movie.

Reynolds and Cortés deserve credit for their ambition and Buried is a tense but enjoyable experience for anyone interested in the core 'buried alive' concept.

Director Rodrigo Cortes continually achieves the seemingly impossible.