HispanicBusiness

-- "Lincoln": Daniel Day-Lewis is always exciting on screen, even when he goes over the top. His presence in the role of the United States' 16th president promises to flesh out Lincoln well beyond the four-score-and-Ford's-Theatre sketches we usually get. Steven Spielberg directs and Tony Kushner ("Angels in America") wrote the script. Do American movies get more prestigious? (Nov. 16)

-- "Life of Pi": Based on the acclaimed 2001 novel by Yann Martel, the film tracks the experiences of Pi, the spiritually curious son of a zoo owner. Most of the story takes place on a lifeboat on which Pi is stranded with a Bengal tiger. From the looks of the trailer, this film by director Ang Lee ("Brokeback Mountain") is chock full of stunning, and computer-generated, imagery. (Nov. 21)

-- "Anna Karenina": Director Joe Wright is the Scorsese to Keira Knightley's Robert De Niro, the Ingmar Bergman to her Liv Ullmann, the Judd Apatow to her Seth Rogen. Except those actors do fine in other directors' movies as well. Knightley can flounder when she's not being directed by Wright, director of two of her best films, "Pride & Prejudice" and "Atonement." But she is working with him again here, so all is right. The prospect of seeing Wright's staging of ballroom scenes entices, as does the promise of a fur-hatted fashion parade. You know it's a pretty movie when Jude Law is playing the cuckold. (November)

-- "The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey": The first film in Peter Jackson's three-part prequel to his "Lord of the Rings" trilogy follows young Bilbo Baggins, played by Martin Freeman of the British version of "The Office." Ian Holm also appears, as the older Bilbo, and "Rings" trilogy favorites Cate Blanchett and Ian McKellen come back as well. A couple of people probably will go see this film. If they can get a bargain price on a matinee. (Dec. 14)

-- "Les Miserables": This adaptation of the long-running stage musical, in turn adapted from the Victor Hugo novel, brings together actors who really can sing. Hugh Jackman (Broadway's "The Boy From Oz"), Anne Hathaway (the 2009 Oscar show, with Jackman), Russell Crowe (lead singer of his own band) and Amanda Seyfried ("Mamma Mia!") star for Tom Hooper, who directed "The King's Speech." (Dec. 14)

-- "Zero Dark Thirty": Kathryn Bigelow and Mark Boal, Academy Award-winning director and screenwriter of "The Hurt Locker," collaborate again on this film that follows the decade-long hunt for, and killing of, Osama bin Laden. Joel Edgerton ("Warrior") and Jessica Chastain -- the former Sacramento stage performer and ubiquitous Oscar-season screen presence -- star. The movie already has stirred controversy. A Republican lawmaker claims the filmmakers, in researching the movie, saw classified information they should not have seen. (Dec. 19)

-- "Django Unchained": Jamie Foxx plays a slave who helps out a bounty hunter (Christoph Waltz, from "Inglourious Basterds"), wins his freedom and sets out to find his wife (Kerry Washington). Don Johnson and Leonardo DiCaprio play antebellum sleazes. This Quentin Tarantino movie looks absolutely nuts. So did Tarantino's "Inglourious Basterds." And it was. It was also great. (Dec. 25)

-- "Hyde Park on Hudson,"Set in 1939, the movie focuses on a visit by King George VI to the home of President Franklin Delano Roosevelt (Bill Murray) and his wife, Eleanor (Olivia Williams). War with Germany is looming, and the king needs America's help. The story is told from the perspective of FDR's distant cousin and confidante, Daisy Stuckley (Laura Linney). (December)