Half the fun of the Sundance Film Festival is playing movie sleuth — as you try to figure out which movies will be must-sees and which ones will at least be interesting.

Next year will mark my ninth Sundance as a professional movie critic, so I think I've gotten good — or at least better — at that. Oh, and for those who don't already have it circled on your calendars, the 2005 Sundance Film Festival runs Jan. 20-30, in a variety of Park City and Salt Lake locations (as well as Ogden and at the Sundance resort in Provo Canyon).

Already on my must-see list is the premiere film "Mirrormask" from comics-artist-turned-filmmaker Dave McKean. It's an adaptation of the fantasy book he illustrated, by author Neil Gaiman. (The two have collaborated on several projects, including the award-winning "Sandman" comic-book series.)

I'm also more than a little intrigued by "Happy Endings," a comedy written and directed by Don Roos and starring indie-movie goddess Maggie Gyllenhaal. This one opens the festival in Park City.

Given my interest in the horror genre, I'm sort of anxious to see "Three . . . Extremes," which was co-directed by infamous Japanese filmmaker Takeshi Miike. That movie will be featured in the festival's Park City at Midnight section.

Also, I was a huge fan of Steven Chow's goofily entertaining "Shaolin Soccer," so I'm anxious to see what his follow-up, "Kung-Fu Hustle," is like. It's another of the festival's Premiere films.

Other premiering features at the festival are "3-Iron," from South Korean filmmaker Kim Ki-Duk; "The Ballad of Jack and Rose," Rebecca Miller; "Chumscrubber," Arie Posin; "Dear Wendy," Thomas Vinterberg; "Drum," Zola Maseko; Michael Hoffman's "Game 6"; "The Girl From Monday," Hal Hartley; "Heights," Chris Terrio; and "Inside Deep Throat," Fenton Bailey and Randy Barbato.

Also, John Maybury's "The Jacket"; "Lackawanna Blues," George C. Wolfe; "Layer Cake," Matthew Vaughn; "Loverboy," Kevin Bacon; "Marilyn Hotchkiss Ballroom Dancing & Charm School," Randall Miller; "The Matador," Richard Shepard; "Mysterious Skin," Gregg Araki; "Nine Lives," Rodrigo Garcia; "Reefer Madness," Andy Fickman; "Rory O'Shea Was Here," Damien O'Donnell; "Snowland," Hans W. Geissendorfer; and Mike Binder's "The Upside of Anger."

Among the films competing for honors in the festival's dramatic competition section are "Between," David Ocanas; "Brick," Rian Johnson; "Dying Gaul," Craig Lucas; "Ellie Parker," Scott Coffee; "Forty Shades of Blue," Ira Sachs; "How the Garcia Girls Spent Their Summer," Georgina Garcia Riedel; "Hustle & Flow," Craig Brewer.

Other dramatic competition selections include "Junebug," directed by Phil Morrison; "Loggerheads," Tim Kirkman; "Lonesome Jim," Steve Buscemi; "Me and You and Everyone We Know," Miranda July; "Police Beat," Robinson Devor; "Pretty Persuasion," Marcos Siega; "The Squid and the Whale," Noah Baumbach; "Thumbsucker," Mike Mills; and Travis Wilkerson's "Who Killed Cock Robin?"