Apocalypto (R for graphic violence and disturbing images). Mel Gibson directs this adrenaline-charged, mythical melodrama set during the decline of the Mayan civilization. Designated to serve as a sacrifice to the gods atop a great pyramid, Rudy Youngblood stars as a young tribesman, who flees the kingdom to avoid his fate only to return, ultimately, to exact retribution and to find his family.
Babel (R for sex, expletives, violence, nudity, and drug use). International thriller starts when the wife (Cate Blanchett) of an American tourist (Brad Pitt) is shot in the neck atop a mountain in Morocco. Three-tiered storyline also involves parallel plots unfolding in Mexico and Japan. Cast includes Elle Fanning (Dakota's little sister) and Gael Garcia Bernal.
Blood Diamond (R for profanity and graphic violence). Historical drama, set in Sierra Leone in the Nineties during a civil war, follows the efforts of a fisherman (Djimon Hounsou) and a mercenary (Leonardo DiCaprio) who join forces to recover a priceless diamond and to secret it out of the country with the help of an American journalist (Jennifer Connelly).
Bobby (R for profanity, violence, and drug use). The movie reconstructs the events leading up to the June 4, 1968 assassination of Bobby Kennedy from the perspective of 22 witnesses who happened to be at the Ambassador Hotel in Los Angeles that day. Cast includes Sir Anthony Hopkins, Helen Hunt, Laurence Fishburne, Demi Moore, William H. Macy, Ashton Kutcher, Nick Cannon, Lindsay Lohan, Heather Graham, Harry Belafonte, Joy Bryant, Sharon Stone, Elijah Wood, and Emilio Estevez.
Borat (R for profanity, crude sexuality, and nudity). Sacha Baron Cohen stars in the title role of this zany comedy as a journalist dispatched to the U.S. from his native Kazakhstan to make a documentary about America. Cast includes Pamela Anderson, Pat Haggerty and Ken Davitian.
Casino Royale (PG-13 for sexuality, nudity, torture, and violence). Daniel Craig is introduced as the new James Bond for the 21st installment of the 007 franchise. This remake, originally released in 1967 as a spoof starring Woody Allen, is based on the debut novel in Ian Fleming's famed series. Bond is on a mission to Madagascar to track down a terrorist (Sebastien Foucan) planning to fund a diabolical plot with casino prize money. Cast includes Dame Judi Dench, Jeffrey Wright, Giancarlo Giannini, Caterina Murino, and Eva Green.
Deck the Halls (PG for off-color language, and crude humor). Comedy features Matthew Broderick and Danny DeVito as next-door neighbors competing to outdo each other's outdoor Christmas light display. Cast includes Kristin Davis and Kristin Chenoweth as their spouses, respectively.
Déjà Vu (PG-13 for sensuality, disturbing images, and sequences of terror). Denzel Washington stars in this sci-fi adventure as an ATF Agent who travels back in time to prevent the detonation of a weapon of mass destruction on a New Orleans ferry boat only to end up falling in love with one of the people (Paula Patton) about to be murdered in the process. Cast includes Jim Caviezel, Val Kilmer, and Elle Fanning.
DOA: Dead or Alive (PG-13 for nudity, sexuality, and pervasive martial arts action). Adaptation of the best-selling video game unfolds as a high-stakes, martial arts test of survival in which four, voluptuous vixens (Devon Aoki, Sarah Carter, Natassia Malthe and Jamie Pressley) square-off in a fighting tournament staged on an exotic island.
Fast Food Nation (R for profanity, drug use, disturbing images, and graphic sexuality). The junk food industry is satirized by director Richard Linklater in this fictionalized version of Eric Schlosser's best-selling expose of the same name. Cast features Greg Kinnear, Bruce Willis, Ethan Hawke, Kris Kristofferson, Patricia Arquette, Luiz Guzman, Wilmer Valderrama, and Bobby Cannavale.
Flushed Away (PG for crude humor and mild epithets). Claymation animated adventure about a pampered pet mouse (Hugh Jackman) living high on the hog in a posh, penthouse apartment who gets an instant lesson in how the other half lives when he's accidentally flushed down the toilet and ends up in the streets of London. With character voiceovers by Kate Winslet, Jean Reno, Bill Nighy, Ian McKellen and Andy Serkis.
For Your Consideration (PG-13 for sex and expletives). Parody, set in the forties, examines the fallout visited upon the cast and crew of an independent film influenced by pre-release Oscar buzz to make some last-minute changes to the script. Top-flight cast features Eugene Levy, Catherine O'Hara, Harry Shearer, Ed Begley, Jr., Christopher Guest, Parker Posey, Sandrah Oh, Bob Balaban, Fred Willard, Larry Miller, Ricky Gervais, and Claire Forlani.
The Fountain (PG-13 for sensuality, profanity, and intense violence). Immortality explored as theme of this millennium-spanning, sci-fi fantasy which starts in 16th Century Spain and revolves around a Conquistador (Hugh Jackman) in search of the Fountain of Youth in order to save the love (Rachel Weisz) of his numerous lives.
Happy Feet (PG for peril and crude humor). Animated, Antarctic adventure about a tone deaf penguin (Elijah Wood) who finds himself a mate (Brittany Murphy) through tap dancing, instead of through singing like the rest of his species. With voicework by Robin Williams, Hugh Jackman, Hugo Weaving, Nicole Kidman, and Steve Irwin.
The Holiday (PG-13 for sex and expletives). Christmas comedy about a California girl (Cameron Diaz) and a British bird (Kate Winslet) both in need of a break from a bad relationship who meet online and decide to swap lives for two weeks only to find true love with guys (Jude Law and Jack Black, respectively) they meet in their new locales. With Edward Burns, Rufus Sewell and Eli Wallach.
The Nativity Story (PG for violence). Biblical drama chronicles the trials and tribulations endured by the Virgin Mary (Keisha Castle-Hughes) and Joseph (Oscar Isaac) during their 100-mile trek from Nazareth to Bethlehem before the birth of the Christ child in a manger.
The Queen (PG-13 for brief profanity). Helen Mirren handles the title role in this biopic about the crisis which confronted the British royal family when Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II and company were not inclined to mourn publicly in the wake of the death of Princess Diana. With Michael Sheen as Tony Blair, James Cromwell as Prince Philip, Sylvia Syms as the Queen Mum.
The Santa Clause 3: The Escape Clause (G) Tim Allen reprises his role as Scott Calvin, aka Saint Nick, now a newlywed with a pregnant wife (Elizabeth Mitchell). This adventure has Santa matching wits with his nemesis Jack Frost (Martin Short) who is trying to appropriate the Christmas holiday.
Stranger Than Fiction (PG-13 for sex, expletives, nudity and disturbing images). Will Ferrell stars in this surrealistic fantasy as an IRS agent who hears the voice of a novelist (Emma Thompson) in his head only to realize that she's not only controlling what happens in his life but also has plans to kill off his character. Cast includes Dustin Hoffman, Queen Latifah, Maggie Gyllenhaal and Kristin Chenoweth.
Unaccompanied Minors (PG for crude humor and coarse language). Holiday comedy about the misadventures of a motley crew of kids stranded by a snowstorm in a Chicago airport where they spend Christmas Eve without adult supervision except for the uptight passenger relations manager (Lewis Black) and his assistant (Wilmer Valderrama) who they promptly proceed to drive crazy.
Van Wilder 2: The Rise of Taj (R for nudity, profanity, and sexual content). This comedy features an expansion of co-star Kal Penn's supporting role as an enterprising East Indian college student now headed to Oxford to help the uptight Britons get the party started.