Deck the screens with reels from Hollywood: Sequels, fresh stories ring in holiday season

The holidays are always a great time for moviegoers, who are free to chose between big budget spectacles or future Oscar contenders. This year will be no different. Here is a look at nine upcoming movies that are already generating buzz:

"Solaris"

(opened Nov. 27)

Solaris, which opened last weekend, is just one of the many big movies hitting screens for the holiday season. In the film, George Clooney plays a psychologist who is called on board a space shuttle orbiting a strangely electrified planet called Solaris. Clooney's task is to investigate the strange effects and hallucinations that the crew of the space ship has been experiencing, ostensibly as a result of their proximity to Solaris.

Based on a 1961 novel by Stanislaw Lem and originally adapted for the screen by Andrei Tarkovsky in 1972, the movie was described by The New York Times as possibly "the most radically experimental movie to come out of Hollywood in a decade or two." The audience I saw it with on the opening weekend seemed to agree. Leaving the theater, I heard comments ranging from, "I think its supposed to be . . . deep or something. Too deep for me," to "I didn't get any of it but any movie that shows George Clooney's butt three times is all right with me." That being said, and admitting that I also found the movie confusing, I will say that it was one of the more enjoyable films that I have seen in a long time. (And yes, ladies — you do get to see Clooney's butt).

"Analyze That"

(opens Dec. 6)

Robert De Niro and Billy Crystal reteam in this sequel to the 1999 movie "Analyze This." Sequels often turn out to be pale in comparison to their forerunners, but director Harold Ramis assured Premiere magazine of his confidence in this movie's ability to stand up to the original. "Analyze This" ended with the gangster Paul Vitti (De Niro) going to prison and his analyst (Crystal) marrying his longtime girlfriend (played by Lisa Kudrow). In "Analyze That," Vitti has gotten out of prison and is working as a consultant for a television series about New York gangsters. His analyst has agreed to take him on again as a patient.

"Adaptation"

(opens Dec. 6)

Providing an easily digestible plot synopsis of "Adaptation" isn't easy. When asked by Entertainment Weekly to do just that, director Spike Jonze came up with this awkward response: "It's about this uneducated Florida orchid collector who describes himself as the smartest man he knows, a New Yorker journalist writing a book about him, and a screenwriter, Charlie Kaufman, who is struggling to try and adapt this nonfiction book and ends up writing himself into the screenplay." The real-life story behind the movie's production has the same degree of complication: the screenplay for this movie was written by Charlie Kaufman himself (who also penned "Being John Malkovich" and "Human Nature") as an attempt to adapt Susan Orlean's bestselling book "The Orchid Thief." However, Spike Jonze and Charlie Kaufman are two of the most able and creative men working in the movie business right now and "Adaptation" is one of the most anticipated December movies. Nicolas Cage stars, opposite himself, as Charlie Kaufman and his twin brother Donald Kaufman.

"The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers"

(opens Dec. 18)

For cave dwellers and hermits unfamiliar with the "Lord of the Rings" trilogy, this is the second installment of the film adaptation of J.R.R. Tolkien's classic fantasy stories. Director Peter Jackson has said that this one is going to be more sinister than the last. Frodo and Sam draw closer to Mordor, the remainder of the Fellowship fights the forces of the evil wizard Saruman in the West, and Gollum makes his first appearance. This one is not to be missed.

"Gangs of New York"

(opens Dec. 20)

Daniel Day-Lewis returns after a five year hiatus from acting to play opposite Leonardo DiCaprio in Martin Scorcese's most expensive film yet. "Gangs of New York" is a sweeping American epic about warring 19th century gangs who fight for control of New York City. Loosely based on historical fact, this story depicts the clash between an Irish-American immigrant named Amsterdam (DiCaprio) and a bloodthirsty gangster named Bill the Butcher (Day-Lewis), and the beautiful woman who stands between them (played by Cameron Diaz). In the hands of the masterful Scorcese, this epic story could possibly be the year's best film.

"Two Weeks Notice"

(opens Dec. 20)

The holiday seasons always bring out a nice-sized collection of Hollywood fairy tales/love stories, and "Two Weeks Notice" leads the pack. Hugh Grant plays a feckless and irresponsible billionaire while Sandra Bullock plays his attorney. The two drive each other crazy but find that they might just be crazy in love. We all know how this one turns out. If you're a softhearted sucker for a love story, or if you just want to convince your date that you are, this is your movie.

"Chicago"

(opens Dec. 25)

The Broadway hit finally makes it to the big screen. Miramax's co-chair Harvey Weinstein had apparently been planning to make this musical into a film for years, but it was not until director Rob Marshall pitched his original idea that the project was green-lighted. To ease the transition from stage to screen, Marshall has decided to have all musical numbers take place not in reality but in main character Roxie's mind. Renee Zellweger and Catherine Zeta-Jones play the murderous sexpots Roxie and Velma, and Richard Gere plays Roxie's smooth and self-obsessed lawyer.

"Catch Me if You Can"

(opens Dec. 25)

In the other Leonardo DiCaprio movie coming out this winter, DiCaprio plays Frank Abagnale Jr., a teenage con artist who successfully poses as a pilot, a physician, and a professor, passes millions of dollars in bad checks and, for a time, evades capture by FBI agent Carl Hanratty (played by Tom Hanks). That the story is based on the autobiography of the real life Frank Abagnale Jr. makes it compelling and, in the able hands of director Steven Spielberg, this movie could turn out to be a powerful Oscar contender.

"Confessions of a Dangerous Mind"

(opens Dec. 27)

This movie is yet another compelling story based on true events. In his first major role, Sam Rockwell (you might remember him as Drew Barrymore's duplicitous love interest in "Charlie's Angels"), stars as '70s game show host Chuck Barris, who, according to his unauthorized biography, was also an assassin for the CIA. Mike Myers, Sean Penn, John Cusack, and Johnny Depp had all vied for the part, but director George Clooney (yes, George Clooney, making his directorial debut) was convinced that Rockwell was best for the role. With a script by Charlie Kaufman (also the screenwriter for the aforementioned "Adaption") and a cast that includes Drew Barrymore, Julia Roberts, and George Clooney himself, this is a movie that might get lost amidst the more high-profile pictures, but merits looking into nonetheless.