Sundance A to Z: Before you go, you need to know . . .

Deseret News (Salt Lake City), Jan 16, 2005 by Jody Genessy Deseret Morning News

If you only cut out one article from the newspaper and tape it to your fridge each year, then, honestly, save your clipping for the Christmas show guide next holiday season.

But if you're willing to cut two articles out, then this "A-to-Z" look at the Sundance Film Festival might be worth the space on the icebox. It's full of useful, useless and usurped information that might come in handy when Robert Redford brings his closest 40,000 friends to town for an independent film love-fest from Jan. 20-30.

A-Team: Don't go get a mohawk -- Mr. T and gang aren't debuting their bandied-about film. But there are a bunch of actors considered to be on the "A-list" who have flicks at Sundance this year.

Namely: Pierce Brosnan (no, a new James Bond isn't Sundancing; Brosnan's in "The Matador"), Michael Keaton, Robert Downey Jr., Adrien Brody, John Goodman, Danny DeVito, Sean Astin, Oumar Makena Diop, Holly Hunter, Kevin Bacon and Kevin Costner. . . . Oh wait, it's not the early '90s anymore; scratch Costner.

B-e-e: One short shows how Jimmy triumphs over the Sultan of Spell and the Queen Bee at the National Spelling Bee. Good luck to him if he has to spell the Sundance movies that have the words "Symbiopsychotaxiplasm," "Kekexili" and "Natchiliagniaqtuguk Aapagalu" in their titles. The latter, FYI, is a flick, according to the subtitles in the festival guide, that's about the time-honored father-son tradition of ""seal hunting with dad."

Curses!: Talk about bad timing. Michael Keaton's in a movie "Game 6" (remember the infamous Billy Buckner error?) that is based partly on how his character's run of bad luck rivals that of his favorite baseball team, the cursed Boston Red Sox. It apparently was made before Boston won the World Series last fall. Is there time left to edit? Call it: "Curse of the Reversed Curse."

Dancing, Sun-style: Currently, remaining individual tickets are on sale at box offices located at the Gateway Center (136 Heber Ave.) in Park City, at Trolley Square (700 E. 500 South) in Salt Lake City, at Sundance Resort in Provo Canyon, and in Ogden (2415 Washington Blvd.). Tickets cost $10. Don't get too traumatized if the films you want are sold out; other options include will-call, day-of-show tickets, wait lists and kissing up to Mr. Redford. Visit www.sundance.org for more info.

Extra! Extra! A Sundance film for everyone: Move over Harry Potter, here comes Helena. "MirrorMask," made in part by the Jim Henson company, is supposed to dazzle audiences young and old as a 15- year-old battles sloths, monkeybirds, scary sphinxes and other creatures to save the world.

Films: When it comes to independent movie selections, just call Sundance the Chuck-A-Rama of film festivals. They've got more than you want and/or could swallow at once. (This comparison does not work, however, for people like film critic Roger Ebert, celluloid guru/movie junkie/esteemed Deseret Morning News writer Jeff Vice or that Atkins Diet dude who got kicked out of Chuck-A-Rama a few months ago for eating too much roast beef.)

Some 208 movies will be seen on Sundance screens, including about 120 feature-length flicks, delving into such sundry subjects as teen geeks ("High School Record"), a comfy recliner ("The Puffy Chair"), not-so-comfy wheelchairs and the quadriplegic athletes who play quad rugby in them ("Murderball"), a marijuana musical ("Reefer Madness"), Enron, Iraq and otherworldly creatures.

At 196 minutes long -- not counting previews, messages from Front- Row Joe and surround-sound promos -- "The Garden" is the best movie if you've got lots of time to kill. In it, you find that Madison Square Garden isn't just where the New York Knicks lose a lot of games, but, per the guide, it's also supposedly "a metaphor for modern urban life, a building where people share ambitions and aspirations" . . . and where the Knicks lose a lot of games.

Four flicks -- "Estes Avenue," "Pizza Shop," "Email to Mom" and "Motion Studies #3: Gravity" -- are so short (four minutes long) you'll miss them if you take a potty break.

Glenn-Dance: It appears one of the requirements to get a film into Sundance for 2005 was to have a part for actress Glenn Close. She is in "Nine Lives," "Heights" and "The Chumscrubber," none of which have boiling-rabbit scenes.

Huh?: Actress (uh-hem) Jenny McCarthy -- the boisterous blonde whose acclaimed thespian resume includes stints on MTV and in nudie magazines -- was given this high praise in the Sundance program guide regarding her supposed comedic style in the film "Dirty Love": " . . . could well establish her as the Lucille Ball of the new millennium." Does that make co-star Carmen Electra the Ethel Mertz of the new millennium? This movie better have a hilarious chocolate- factory scene or the reviewer might have some 'splainin' to do.

Independent movie: Movies that are celebrated wildly at Sundance but mildly at the box office -- the exception being sweet! movies that star red-fro-moonboot-sporting heroes from Idaho who, gosh!, like, totally rule.