Holiday movie forecast: Gloomy, but with a chance for Oscar

St. Louis Post-Dispatch (MCT) - A racist neighbor. Teenage vampires. A secret agent bent on bloody vengeance.

Happy holidays, from your friends in Hollywood.

Usually we rely on year-end movies to ennoble or entertain us. But in the midst of so many real-world worries, 2008 could be a year that holiday movies leave us shaken, not stirred.

Instead of cherubs, the herald angels of this season's grim greetings are assassins. The cold-weather movie season should get off to a hot start with "Quantum of Solace" (Nov. 14), the 22nd James Bond movie. In his sophomore effort as secret agent 007, Daniel Craig races from Italy to Bolivia to pay back the villains who turned his lady-love against him in the previous installment, "Casino Royale."

Josh Brolin, currently playing our 43rd president in "W.," portrays a political hitman in Gus Van Sant's highly anticipated "Milk" (Nov. 26). It's the true story of a San Francisco supervisor (Sean Penn in the title role) who was gunned down by a homophobic rival (Brolin).

A vigilante hitman is the protagonist of "Punisher: War Zone" (Dec. 5) and of a Christmas Day lump of coal called "The Spirit" (Dec. 25). And a would-be assassin is the hero of Bryan Singer's "Valkyrie" (Dec. 26), starring Tom Cruise in the true story of the Nazi colonel who tried to terminate the reign of Adolf Hitler.

The unlikely heroes of "Twilight" (Nov. 21) are teenage vampires. But they're in love, so commercial hopes are sky-high for this project, which is based on a popular book series.

Artistic hopes are high for another adaptation of a downbeat book, "The Boy in the Striped Pajamas" (Nov. 14). It's about a German lad who befriends a Jewish boy through the barbed-wire fence of a concentration camp.

The same conflict provides the background of "Defiance," (Dec. 31 in New York And LA), a true story starring Daniel Craig about Jewish resistance in the woods of Poland, and "The Reader" (Dec. 10 in New York and LA), a Holocaust-themed love story starring Ralph Fiennes and Kate Winslet.

Ethnic strife is also the undercurrent in "Gran Torino" (Dec. 17 in New York and LA). Director Clint Eastwood, playing an angry Korean War veteran whose prized car is stolen by an Asian neighbor, may be racing to the front of the Academy Award pack, as potential contenders such as "The Road" and "The Soloist" have been moved to next year.

Halloween now marks the unofficial start of the Oscar race, and other upcoming releases with legitimate award hopes include:

_Danny Boyle's "Slumdog Millionaire" (Nov. 12 in New York and LA), a festival favorite about a poor kid from India who strikes it rich on a game show.

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_Charlie Kaufman's "Synecdoche, New York" (Nov. 7), with Philip Seymour Hoffman as a playwright who reconstructs his life.

_"Seven Pounds" (Dec. 12), which teams Will Smith with the director of "The Pursuit of Happyness" in a drama about a depressed IRS agent who vows to change seven people's lives.

_John Patrick Shanley's "Doubt" (Dec. 12 in New York and LA), with Hoffman as a priest accused of sexual abuse.

_Steven Soderbergh's epic "Che" (Dec. 12 in New York and LA), with Benicio Del Toro as communist revolutionary Ernesto Guevera.

_"Nothing But the Truth" (Dec. 19 in New York and LA), a ripped-from-the headlines drama with Kate Beckinsale as a jailed journalist.

_"The Brothers Bloom" (Dec. 19 in New York and LA), a con-man comedy from the director of "Brick" starring Adrien Brody and Rachel Weisz.

_Darren Aronofsky's "The Wrestler" (Dec. 19), starring Mickey Rourke as a has-been grappler.

_Ron Howard's "Frost/Nixon" (Dec. 25), in which the disgraced president (Frank Langella) defends himself to a TV inquisitor (Michael Sheen).

_David Fincher's "The Curious Case of Benjamin Button" (Dec. 25), in which Brad Pitt plays an old man who grows progressively younger after the First World War.

_"Last Chance Harvey" (Dec. 26 in New York and LA), a grown-up romance starring Dustin Hoffman and Emma Thompson.

_Sam Mendes' "Revolutionary Road" (Dec. 26 in N.Y. and LA), in which "Titanic" co-stars Kate Winslet and Leonardo DiCaprio reunite as frustrated '50s suburbanites with romantic dreams of moving to Paris.

Amidst all this gloom, a genuine romantic escape is promised by "Australia" (Nov. 14). Baz Luhrman's epic romance stars Nicole Kidman as the proper Englishwoman who inherits a ranch in the Outback and Hugh Jackman as the wrangler who takes her down under.

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Other escapist antidotes to seasonal depression should include "Soul Men" (Friday), in which Samuel L. Jackson and the late Bernie Mac reunite their R&B group; "Role Models" (Friday), in which Paul Rudd and Seann William Scott mentor some incorrigible brats; "Four Christmases" (Nov. 26), in which Reese Witherspoon and Vince Vaughn divvy their merriment among their various parents; "Yes Man" (Dec. 19), in which Jim Carrey can't say no to anything; "Bedtimes Stories" (Dec. 25), in which Adam Sandler's tall tales spring to life; and "Marley and Me" (Dec. 25), in which Jennifer Aniston and Owen Wilson learn life lessons from a puppy.

Animated gifts for the tots include the sequel "Madagascar: Escape 2 Africa" (Friday), the 3-D dog adventure "Bolt" (Nov. 26) and the rodent romance "The Tale of Despereaux" (Dec. 19).

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Something out-of-this-world arrives under the tree with "The Day the Earth Stood Still" (Dec. 12), a sci-fi update starring Keanu Reeves as the alien with big plans for our small planet. The same young male audience should queue up for the third installment of "Transporter" (Nov. 26), the violent series about a package-delivery man who is definitely not Santa Claus. At least not the way we remember him.

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© 2008, St. Louis Post-Dispatch.