Holiday season FILM PREVIEW

McClatchy-Tribune New Service

The holiday movie season usually brings with it the Oscar contenders. Here’s a look at what will be coming to multiplexes in the next two months.

Nov. 2:

“Flight” (Paramount): Robert Zemeckis leaves his “Polar Express” motion-capture mania behind for this live-action thriller about a pilot (Denzel Washington, right) who becomes a hero after a crash, only to be questioned as further details of his behavior come to light. With Don Cheadle and John Goodman.

“Jack and Diane” (Magnolia): Juno Temple, Riley Keough, Cara Seymour and Kylie Minogue star in this young-lesbians-in-love romance.

“The Man With the Iron Fists” (Universal): Russell Crowe is the heavy in this martial arts-slasher picture about a weapons-maker/blacksmith (RZA) in feudal China who gets caught up in a sword-slashing power-grab. RZA also directed this, with Rick Yune and Lucy Liu in the cast.

“This Must Be the Place” (Weinstein): Sean Penn, Frances McDormand and Judd Hirsch star in this oddball dramedy about a bored cross-dressing rocker (Penn) who sets out to find his father’s World War II-era tormentor. (Limited)

“Wreck-It Ralph” (Walt Disney): There’s trouble in the arcade when a longtime video-game villain who wants to be a hero breaks out and into a new game and unleashes mayhem in the form of a new super-villain in this animated action comedy starring the voice of John C. Reilly.

“A Late Quartet” (eOne Films): Oscar winners Philip Seymour Hoffman and Christopher Walken, with Catherine Keener and Imogen Poots, are in the cast of this drama about a world-famous string quartet coping with the death of a member and that member’s replacement. “Insuppressible lust” and “egos,” the studio promises us. Yes, that’s classical music all right.

Nov. 9:

“Anna Karenina” (Focus): Keira Knightley has the title role, and Jude Law is her cuckolded husband in this lush period piece based on the Tolstoy novel. (Limited, opens wide Nov. 16 and 21)

“Royal Affair” (Magnolia): Mads Mikkelsen, Alicia Vikander and Mikkel Boe Fxlsgaard star in this Danish period piece about the love triangle between a queen, a king and the queen’s attentive, revolutionary physician.

“Nature Calls” (Magnolia): The year’s second Scout troop camping comedy (after “Moonrise Kingdom”) stars Patton Oswalt, Johnny Knoxville, Rob Riggle, Maura Tierney, Patrice O’Neal and Darrell Hammond.

“Skyfall” (Sony): Daniel Craig returns as James Bond, with Judi Dench, Javier Bardem and Ralph Fiennes along for the ride as Bond must face an enemy from his boss’s past.

Nov. 16:

“Lincoln” (Touchstone): Steven Spielberg’s film biography stars Daniel Day Lewis as Abraham Lincoln, presiding over a bipartisan cabinet during the Civil War, and is based on Doris Kearns Goodwin’s book “Team of Rivals.”

“The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn — Part 2” (Summit): The sweeping saga of teens Bella, Edward and Jacob comes to a toothy conclusion as Bella and her new baby face one last threat from the Volturi.

Nov. 21:

“Life of Pi 3D” (Fox 2000): Ang Lee’s film of Yann Martel’s novel about an Indian zookeeper’s son who is shipwrecked with a lifeboat full of animals stars Tobey Maguire, Irrfan Khan and Tabu.

“Red Dawn” (MGM/Open Road): This remake of the Reagan- era commie-invasion thriller features Chris Hemsworth, Josh Hutcherson and Josh Peck in a tale of high school kids who lead a revolt against the, um, North Koreans, after they take over their town. (No sense offending the Chinese or Russian audiences, is there?)

“Rise of the Guardians” (Paramount): The Easter Bunny (Hugh Jackman), the Tooth Fairy (Isla Fisher), Jack Frost (Chris Pine) and others team up to save Santa (Alec Baldwin) from the Boogeyman in this animated holiday comedy.

“The Silver Linings Playbook” (The Weinstein Co.): Bradley Cooper stars in this David O. Russell film, based on the Matthew Quick novel, about a teacher who goes to live with his parents after getting out of a mental institution, and tries to reconcile with his ex-wife. Robert De Niro plays his dad, with Julia Stiles and Jennifer Lawrence.

Nov. 23:

Hitchcock (Fox Searchlight): Based on a Stephen Rebello book, film director Alfred Hitchcock (Anthony Hopkins) and his wife, Alma Reville (Helen Mirren), struggle to get the movie “Psycho” made. Limited, opening wider throughout December).

Nov. 30:

“Universal Soldier: Day of Reckoning” (Magnet): Jean-Claude Van Damme and Dolph Lundgren reunite in this revival of the B-movie action franchise.

“The Collection” (LD Entertainment): Josh Stewart plays a guy who survives an encounter with the serial-killer known as “The Collector” in this slasher picture. (Limited)

Dec. 7:

“Hyde Park on the Hudson” (Focus): Bill Murray (above) is FDR in this serio-comic period piece about the king and queen coming to visit the president at his private home.

“Deadfall” (Magnolia): Eric Bana and Olivia Wilde play siblings-robbers on the run from a heist gone wrong. It’s snowing. And they stumble into a Thanksgiving family gathering where Oscar winner Sissy Spacek presides.

Dec. 14:

“The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey 3D” (New Line/Warner Bros.): Peter Jackson goes back to Middle Earth for this three-part prequel to “Lord of the Rings,” with Martin Freeman starring as the young Bilbo Baggins, a hobbit sent on an epic adventure by the wizard Gandalf the Grey (Ian McKellen).

SFlbDec. 19:

“Amour” (Sony Classics): Emmanuele Riva and Jean-Louis Trintignant star in this French tale of 80somethings whose love is tested late in life. Isabelle Huppert is in the cast of this Michael Haneke film. (Limited)

“Zero Dark Thirty” (Columbia): More than a few Brits and one Aussie have been cast in this film from the “Hurt Locker” writer and director about the hunt for and killing of Osama bin Laden — Tom Hardy, Idris Elba, Rooney Mara, Jennifer Ehle and Guy Pearce

Dec. 21:

“Cirque du Soleil: Worlds Away” (Paramount): Tumbling, dancing, high-wire magic, in story form, from the artists of Cirque du Soleil.

“The Impossible” (Summit): Naomi Watts and Ewan McGregor star in this drama-spectacle set against the backdrop of the worst tsunami disaster of modern times.

“Jack Reacher” (Paramount): Tom Cruise is the ex-MP turned private eye in this possible action franchise, based on the Lee Child novels.

“Not Fade Away” (Paramount Vantage): David (“The Sopranos”) Chase tries to flip the genre script with this 1960s period piece about Jersey kids who want to make it as rock stars. It used to have a better title — “Twylight Zones.”

“This is 40” (Universal): Judd Apatow’s growing-older-but-not-up comedy stars that “Knocked Up” supporting couple, Paul Rudd and Leslie Mann, and Jason Segel and Megan Fox.

Dec. 25:

“Django Unchained” (Weinstein): Jamie Foxx, Samuel L. Jackson and Leonardo DiCaprio star in Quentin Tarantino’s tale of violence and revenge in the post-Civil War South.

“The Guilt Trip” (Paramount): Seth Rogen (above) is the inventor who has to take his annoying mom (Barbra Streisand) on the road with him as he tries to sell his latest invention.

“Les Miserables” (Universal): Victor Hugo’s classic novel, rendered into a hit musical, comes to the screen with Hugh Jackman’s (above) Jean Valjean squaring off against Russell Crowe’s Inspector Javert. Anne Hathaway, Helena Bonham Carter and Sacha Baron Cohen also are in the cast.

“Parental Guidance” (Fox): Billy Crystal co-wrote and stars in this comedy about a grandpa who resorts to “old school” methods when he’s stuck babysitting the grandkids. Bette Midler, Marisa Tomei and Bailee Madison also star.

“West of Memphis” (Sony Classics): The final film in the documentary saga of The West Memphis Three, young people railroaded by prosecutors into prison for a murder they did not commit.