Movie Madness Returns: the Holiday Movie Season!

I do love my movies. This means that for me, the year is broken up into Summer Movie Season, Holiday Movie Season, and the Limbo of Lame Flicks that occupies all other times. Generally speaking, summer is for blockbuster, loud, colorful, mindless fun, while winter is for family films, often second-tier action movies, silly holiday-themed flicks, and Oscar Bait. Lots and lots of Oscar Bait.

Summer 2008 was, overall, a good one, buoyed up by the joys of "Iron Man," The Dark Knight," and "Tropic Thunder."

Now it's time to look forward to the holiday movie season. What flicks will I be going to see with my cronies? I'm thinking these:

• "Quantum of Solace." New James Bond film. What can I say? Granted, Dirty Harry hated it and Christian Toto isn't crazy about the movie either, which means that I lower my expectations. Also, can someone please tell me what the heck is a "quantum of solace"? And can solace actually be measured in any meaningful way? Why does the title sound like something right out of a physics seminar? One more thing, if I may: I know the whole "Daniel Craig is Bond" is an attempt to reboot the franchise, but are the moviemakers going to wipe out everything that make a Bond flick a Bond flick and not just another spy action movie? I'm talking about Moneypenny, gadgets, quips, giggleworthy names, and all that.
  
• "Bolt." OK, fine. It's a cutesypoo cartoon. Puppies.
  
• "Twilight." Oh, this thing is going to be dreadful, so naturally La Parisienne and I are planning to go see it so we can mock and jeer. Hey, nobody said you had to like a movie in order to see it. In fact, we're thinking that a happily harsh little hatefest might be cathartic!
• "Australia." Why? I want some gorgeous Aussie cinematography, that's why. I don't care about Nicole Kidman, but Hugh Jackman's OK.
  
• "Transporter 3." I won't be going because I want to, but I can guarantee you that the Cinema-Mad Sibling will want to see it -- and will drag me along. Same for the next one:
• "Punisher: War Zone."
  
• "The Day the Earth Stood Still." Science fiction! Admittedly, the presence of Keanu Reeves (have you noticed that his expression never changes from movie to movie?) is something of a warning, but then again, it couldn't possibly be worse than "Constantine."
• "The Tale of Despereaux." It looks like "Ratatouille" Redux, but a little cuteness might be good after the guaranteed bloody nonsense of "Transporter" and "Punisher."
  
• "The Curious Case of Benjamin Button." Fascinating premise, but I don't care much for Brad Pitt. Makeup should be amazing.
  
• "Defiance." A girl can only watch a certain number of World War II period filcks over Christmas holidays, and I think I'd rather see Daniel Craig than Tom "Valkyrie" Cruise.

I'm not even really excited about any of these. I feel jaded!