Transamerica: Felicity Huffman plays a transsexual who discovers she has a son from when she was still a man. The two start a crosscountry journey which proves to be beautiful and awful all at once. A far cry from her Desperate Housewives role, Felicity Huffman makes a gutsy jump to a performance which is being floated as an early Oscar contender. (Dec. 2)
Brokeback Mountain: Heath Ledger and Jake Gyllenhaal are cowboys who fall in love while on the range, but try to continue living normal lives and deny their hearts. My boyfriend got really mad about this one, claiming that cowboys that could be gay is un-American, but they can be, and by God they are. Bring the tissues for this one. (Dec. 9)
Memoirs of a Geisha: Remember the chick from Crouching Tiger Hidden Dragon? Now she's a whore. She was going to be a really good one too before she decided that she wanted to have her own life. Oh yeah, and one of those huge World Wars got in the way, too. This is definitely one of those epics that could be up for multiple statuettes; it's a good book, so it will probably be a good movie. (Dec. 9)
King Kong: Picture Jurassic Park meets Mighty Joe Young only in the '30s. Now add Naomi Watts, Adrien Brody, Jack Black and put everyone on a mysterious island. Director Peter Jackson proved that sci-fi is Oscarworthy with The Lord of the Rings, but first he better make sure this is a step up from Matthew Broderick's Godzilla. (Dec. 14)
Munich: Eric Bana is a part of a group of assassins aiming for the Palestinian terrorists who murdered 11 Israeli athletes during the 1972 Olympics. I feel as though making any snide remarks about this powerful film would be irreverent. (Dec. 23)
The New World: A more realistic version of Pocahontas with Colin Farrell as John Smith, some 15-year-old as Pocahontas and Christian Bale, too. (Dec. 25)
Rumor Has It: Jennifer Aniston suspects her family was the inspiration for The Graduate. Oscar to Jen: "Ms. Aniston, are you trying to seduce me?" (Dec. 25)
