Buried 2010

Amy Nicholson, Boxoffice Magazine: Lionsgate snatched up the picture at Sundance and there's no doubt everyone behind this minimalist stunt will make their money back from those curious to see how well they pulled off the feat. (Answer: reasonably.) Read more

Stephen Holden, New York Times: Either Mr. Reynolds was directed to rant and rave, or his bellowing tantrums are meant to signal that Paul is a childish fool who isn't very bright. Read more

Joshua Rothkopf, Time Out: Cortes has an invigorating fondness for the zoom lens. But the movie's real asset is Reynolds himself, utilizing his comedy chops for unexpected levity. Read more

Ted Fry, Seattle Times: It may sound like a gimmicky premise, but Buried is as far outside the box as a buried-alive movie can be. Read more

Noel Murray, AV Club: Reynolds is terrific, and Cortes and Sparling overlay a preposterous premise with familiar modern complaints. Read more

Wesley Morris, Boston Globe: Reynolds's default has always been a sarcasm that's locked him out of seeming entirely human. In Buried, he's neutralized. Read more

Andrea Gronvall, Chicago Reader: As a cautionary tale about the perils of nation building, this is both creepy and provocative, but director Rodrigo Cortes blows it in the last few minutes with a rushed ending that feels like a cheat after all the escalating tension. Read more

Michael Phillips, Chicago Tribune: This is shrewdly considered and edited genre work, spiced -- bitterly -- with the right variety of complication. Read more

Lisa Schwarzbaum, Entertainment Weekly: Rodrigo Cortes, the Spanish filmmaker behind this diabolical, Hitchcock-influenced narrative stunt, makes merry mischief with camera angles and lighting; the viewer feels suffocated along with Reynolds... Read more

Rene Rodriguez, Miami Herald: Buried, despite its seemingly impossible premise, is by turns funny, suspenseful, moving and -- in one heart-stopping sequence worthy of Indiana Jones -- incredibly exciting. Read more

Stephen Whitty, Newark Star-Ledger: At its best, Buried is a filmmaker's fondest double-dare challenge. And at its very best, it's considerably more. Read more

Kyle Smith, New York Post: On a technical level Buried is impressive, at times blisteringly suspenseful, making the most of a ripping score and Reynolds' fully charged agony... Read more

Rex Reed, New York Observer: Nothing this underrated actor has done previously measures up to the emotional diversity, focus and self-control required of him in a one-man exercise in underground suspense that Alfred Hitchcock would envy. Read more

James Berardinelli, ReelViews: In the same way it's impossible to turn away from a grisly accident, taking your eyes away from Ryan Reynolds' hypnotizing performance is not an option. Read more

Roger Ebert, Chicago Sun-Times: Although the entire movie takes place in the enclosed space, director Rodrigo Cortes and writer Chris Sparling are ingenious in creating more plausible action than you would expect possible. Read more

Peter Travers, Rolling Stone: Ninety minutes of being buried alive with Ryan Reynolds: Didn't we all suffer that in The Proposal? Read more

Colin Covert, Minneapolis Star Tribune: Buried may be claustrophobic in scale, but its impact is immense. Read more

Rick Groen, Globe and Mail: The suspense is gripping, even when the substance isn't. Read more

Globe and Mail: The basic conceit, which never falters right through to the surprise ending, speaks creepy volumes to a cinematic audience -- blanketed in darkness with no exit strategy. Read more

Peter Howell, Toronto Star: 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. Read more

Mary F. Pols, TIME Magazine: 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. Read more

Tom Huddleston, Time Out: This is a solid, unsettling, at times very entertaining thriller -- but the jury's still out on Reynolds. Read more

Rob Nelson, Variety: In purely cinematic terms, Buried, set in late 2006, is an ingenious exercise in sustained tension that would make Alfred Hitchcock turn over in his grave. Read more

Karina Longworth, Village Voice: Rodrigo Cortes keeps the action bound to the box, limiting his lighting to naturalistic approximations, so that much of Reynolds's performance consists of him grunting and heaving in the dark. Read more

Ann Hornaday, Washington Post: An experiment in limitation that, at least until the movie's deflating final payoff, manages to tap into our deepest anxieties. Read more