Jaap Buitendijk Leonardo DiCaprio, left, and Djimon Hounsou star in "Blood Diamond."

By Barbara Vancheri., Pittsburgh Post-Gazette

As that Christmas chestnut says, it's the most wonderful time of the year ... for movie lovers, in particular. With the kids jingle-belling (as their cell phones ring in the theater, in the restrooms, in the lobby) and everyone telling you be of good cheer ... after all, Borat didn't catch you doing or saying embarrassing things on camera.

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	Jay Maidment Daniel Craig is the latest James Bond in "Casino Royale," opening Friday. Click photo for larger image. Related articles List of "official" James Bond films How well do you score with 007? Catching up with Craig Daniel Craig files

The holiday season is here, with "The Santa Clause 3: The Escape Clause" in theaters, "Deck the Halls" with Matthew Broderick and Danny DeVito as Christmas-crazy neighbors on the way, and four new movies arriving Friday.

Daniel Craig joins one of Hollywood's most elite and scrutinized clubs -- actors who have played James Bond -- in "Casino Royale." Elijah Wood speaks for a penguin named Mumble who's gotta dance, gotta dance in the animated "Happy Feet," while "Fast Food Nation" serves up unappetizing insights about your drive-thru dinner.

Also opening Friday is "Let's Go to Prison," a comedy about a crook (Dax Shepard) who seeks revenge by arranging to become cellmate to the son of the judge who sent him to jail.

Santa's sack has a little something for everyone, from "The Nativity Story" for Catholic school field trips and "The Holiday" for women jonesing for a chick flick to another "Rocky" installment for fans of the fight franchise, and "Pursuit of Happyness," for dads who need to be reminded what it means to have a roof over your head, a regular paycheck and a little boy who loves and trusts you.

As always, dates are subject to change and while "Little Children" starring Kate Winslet and Patrick Wilson still has no Pittsburgh slot, "Last King of Scotland" has just been booked for Jan. 19.

NOV. 22

"DEJA VU" -- Denzel Washington is an ATF agent who travels back in time to try to save a woman from being murdered and hundreds of ferry passengers from dying in a bomb blast in New Orleans.

"DECK THE HALLS" -- Matthew Broderick is a Massachusetts optometrist and king of the Christmas holidays who meets his match in a new neighbor, a slippery car salesman played by Danny DeVito.

"FOR YOUR CONSIDERATION" -- Christopher Guest spoofs a subject close to Hollywood's heart at this time of year: Oscar buzz. A mention on the Internet throws the cast and crew of an independent movie for a laugh-filled loop.

"THE FOUNTAIN" -- Hugh Jackman plays a 16th-century conquistador, a modern-day scientist and a 26th-century astronaut, struggling through time and space to save the woman he loves. Rachel Weisz and Ellen Burstyn co-star.

"TENACIOUS D IN THE PICK OF DESTINY" -- Jack Black and Kyle Glass cut loose in this musical adventure about the birth of their band and their search for a guitar pick carved from the devil's tooth.

"FUR: AN IMAGINARY PORTRAIT OF DIANE ARBUS" -- Nicole Kidman plays the title role, a devoted wife and mother whose innate talents and dark obsessions are profoundly at odds with the conventional life she leads in 1958 New York. Robert Downey Jr. co-stars.

NOV. 23

"BOBBY" -- Writer-director Emilio Estevez mixes fictional characters with moving archival footage to tell the story of the night Bobby Kennedy was shot and killed at the Ambassador Hotel.

NOV. 24

"AMERICAN HARDCORE" -- Inspired by Steven Blush's book, this documentary examines punk rock in America from 1980-86 and how it shaped rock music and culture.

"RIDING ALONE FOR THOUSANDS OF MILES" -- Zhang Yimou film about a father who attempts to reconcile with his estranged son, dying of cancer, and finds himself tracking down a folk opera in rural China.

ALSO IN NOVEMBER

"SHUT UP & SING" -- Oscar winner Barbara Kopple turns her sympathetic gaze to the Dixie Chicks who paid a price for criticism of President Bush. The musicians, often shown with their young children, alienated their country radio base but regained their passion.

DEC. 1

"THE NATIVITY STORY" -- On Nov. 26, this movie about the birth of Christ will become the first feature to premiere at the Vatican. Some 7,000 guests have been invited to the event, which will raise money for construction of a school in the village of Mughar, Israel, which has a population of Christians, Muslims and Druze.

"VAN WILDER DEUX: THE RISE OF TAJ" -- Kaj (Kal Penn), Van Wilder's assistant in the 2002 movie, steps into the lead. Here, he heads out on his own to a prestigious English university, adopting a group of misfits and showing uptight students a thing or two.

"TURISTAS" -- College-age backpackers on vacation along the Brazilian coast end up stranded, drugged and kidnapped. Josh Duhamel, Melissa George and Olivia Wilde star.

DEC. 8

"THE HOLIDAY" -- Two blondes from opposite sides of the globe meet on the Internet and swap houses for the Christmas holiday. Kate Winslet, Cameron Diaz, Jude Law and Jack Black star.

"BLOOD DIAMOND" -- The chaos and civil war of 1990s Sierra Leone provide the backdrop for this story of a South African mercenary (Leonardo DiCaprio), a Mende fisherman (Djimon Hounsou) and a rare pink diamond that can transform their lives.

"UNACCOMPANIED MINORS" -- When a blizzard shuts down an airport, five unaccompanied minors run, trying to outwit officials played by Lewis Black and Wilmer Valderrama.

"APOCALYPTO" -- Variety recently reported that small screenings of the still-unfinished Mel Gibson film, about the ancient Maya, are quietly taking place. The verdict: "Another brilliant exercise in filmmaking, extremely violent, yet compelling. The inner demons that play havoc with his personal life continue to energize his creative vision."

"D.O.A.: Dead or Alive" -- Video-game adaptation with an ensemble that includes Jaime Pressly and Eric Roberts, along with Aussie pop star Holly Valance.

"... SO GOES THE NATION" -- Fascinating documentary about the 2004 presidential race, as seen through the prism of Ohio.

"TIDELAND" -- Terry Gilliam directs this adaptation of Mitch Cullin's novel about a girl who escapes from the harsh reality of her childhood into her active imagination. Jeff Bridges and Jodelle Ferland star.

"RENAISSANCE" -- Paris in the year 2054 provides the backdrop for this film, which uses live-action motion capture, animated in 3-D and rendered in high contrast black and white to mimic a graphic novel come to life. A cop (Daniel Craig) is on the trail of a scientist whose company exports eternal youth and beauty.

	Zade Rosenthal Real-life son and father Jaden Smith, left, and Will Smith star in the drama "The Pursuit of Happyness." Click photo for larger image.

DEC. 15

"CHARLOTTE'S WEB" -- Dakota Fanning and a procession of adorable pigs star in this adaptation of the best-selling children's book by E.B. White. Julia Roberts, John Cleese and Oprah Winfrey are among the many celebrity voices.

"PURSUIT OF HAPPYNESS" -- Will Smith will make up for being MIA over Fourth of July with this real-life story about a homeless dad who becomes a millionaire stockbroker. His son, Jaden, co-stars.

"ERAGON" -- Newcomer Edward Speleers is a young man whose destiny is revealed when he learns he's part of an elite troop of Dragon Riders in a fantasy adventure based on the Christopher Paolini novel.

"CANDY" -- Heath Ledger is a charming but reckless young poet who falls in love with a beautiful young art student (Abbie Cornish) from a comfortable middle-class family. In order to get closer to him, she starts shooting up.

DEC. 22

"WE ARE MARSHALL" -- Inspirational drama, based on true events, about how a small town in West Virginia struggled to restore its community after one of the worst disasters in the history of American sports.

"THE GOOD SHEPHERD" -- Robert De Niro directs and stars alongside Matt Damon and Angelina Jolie in this espionage drama about a Yale student who goes from the Skull and Bones to the precursor to the CIA during World War II.

"NIGHT AT THE MUSEUM" -- Ben Stiller plays a security guard at a natural history museum where the dinosaur skeletons and other exhibits come to frightening life during his graveyard shift. Based on the Milan Trenc book.

"ROCKY BALBOA" -- After a virtual boxing match declares Rocky Balboa the victor over current champion Mason "The Line" Dixon, the legendary fighter's passion and spirit are reignited.

"THE HISTORY BOYS" -- Adaptation of the Tony Award-winning play of the same name, about an unruly class of bright, funny history students in pursuit of an undergraduate place at Oxford or Cambridge. With the key stage cast, led by Richard Griffiths as their maverick English master.

DEC. 25

"DREAMGIRLS" -- Jennifer Hudson is already generating Oscar talk for this adaptation of the Broadway musical that also stars Jamie Foxx, Beyonce Knowles, Danny Glover, Eddie Murphy and Anika Noni Rose.

"BLACK CHRISTMAS" -- A sorority house is terrorized by a killer who makes frightening phone calls before murdering the sisters during Christmas break. Michelle Trachtenberg leads the cast.

EARLY JANUARY

"CHILDREN OF MEN" -- Clive Owen, Julianne Moore and Michael Caine star in a thriller set in London in a time, one generation from now, when the world has fallen into anarchy on the heels of an infertility defect in the population. (Jan. 5.)

"THE PAINTED VEIL" -- Naomi Watts, Edward Norton and Liev Schreiber appear in this story, based on the novel by W. Somerset Maugham, about a British couple who find love amid a cholera epidemic in 1925 China. Ron Nyswaner, a Greene County native and University of Pittsburgh graduate, wrote the screenplay. (Jan. 5.)

"PERFUME" -- British actor Ben Whishaw stars, with support from Alan Rickman, Rachel Hurd-Wood and Dustin Hoffman, in this tale of murder and obsession set in 18th-century France. Based on the novel by Patrick Suskind. (Jan. 5.)

"HAPPILY N'EVER AFTER" -- Animated, satirical retelling of Cinderella story, with the voices of Sarah Michelle Gellar, Freddie Prinze Jr. and Sigourney Weaver. (Jan. 5)

"HOSTEL: PART II" -- Writer-director Eli Roth has his grisly formula down pat. Take a couple of young Americans traveling in Europe and plunk them into some sort of seriously sick setting. This time around, the cast includes Heather Mattarazzo, Lauren German and Bijou Phillips. (Jan. 5.)

"THE GOOD GERMAN" -- George Clooney and Cate Blanchett star in this black-and-white drama about an American war correspondent and his former lover in post-World War II Berlin.

"BREAKING AND ENTERING" -- Anthony Minghella wrote and directed this London-based story, featuring Law, Robin Wright Penn and Juliette Binoche, about breaking and entering offices, lives and hearts.

"NOTES ON A SCANDAL" -- Cate Blanchett is an art teacher having an illicit affair with a teenage student and Judi Dench is a nosy older teacher who becomes obsessed with the details in this adaptation of Zoe Heller's 2003 novel, "What Was She Thinking?"

"VENUS" -- Peter O'Toole and Leslie Phillips play veteran actors whose comfortable routine is interrupted and illuminated by the arrival of a grand-niece.

"PAN'S LABYRINTH" -- Set against the postwar repression of Franco's Spain, this Guillermo del Toro film is about a lonely and dreamy girl living with her mother and adoptive father. In this gothic fairy tale, she creates a world of fantastical creatures and secret destinies.