As if turkey recipes, Black Friday bargain hunting and year-end vacations weren't enough, here's something else to work into your busy schedule: The holiday film avalanche is upon us.

Between now and January, Hollywood will unleash its biggest and most serious Oscar contenders, with the hopes that at least a few of them also happen to become box office sensations.

Here is a list of the major 2008 films heading our way, including some that will spill over into January. Somewhere on this list probably lurks next year's Best Picture winner:

TODAY

Bolt: review, Page 18.

I've Loved You So Long: review, Page 17.

Tru Loved: The teenaged daughter (Najarra Townsend) of two lesbian mothers struggles to fit into conservative suburbia in this comedy made notorious by film critic Roger Ebert, who recently panned it in a review where he admitted he could only manage to sit through its first eight minutes. Playing at Sunrise Cinemas Gateway in Fort Lauderdale.

Twilight: review, Page 15.

NOV. 26

Australia: Director Baz Luhrmann (Moulin Rouge) barely finished his epic drama, about the wartime romance between a dainty aristocrat (Nicole Kidman) and a rough-and-tumble cattle herder (Hugh Jackman), in time to meet its release date. The 10-minute reel of footage distributor 20th Century Fox recently screened used snippets of music from Gone With the Wind, so you know Luhrmann is aiming for an Epic, capital E and all.

Four Christmases: A married couple (Vince Vaughn and Reese Witherspoon) must meet familial obligations and visit all four of their divorced parents (including Robert Duvall, Sissy Spacek and Jon Voight) on one majorly dysfunctional Christmas Day.

Milk: Sean Penn gives his loosest, most charismatic performance in years as San Francisco City Supervisor Harvey Milk, who became the first openly gay man elected to public office in 1977 -- and was assassinated the following year. James Franco, Josh Brolin, Emile Hirsch and Diego Luna co-star for director Gus Van Sant.

Transporter 3: Jason Statham returns for a third outing in the slick, action-intensive franchise about a delivery man with a penchant for ticking off the wrong people.

DEC. 5

Cadillac Records: Director Darnell Martin (I Like It Like That) chronicles the 1950s rise of Chess Records and its stable of legendary musical artists, played here by Beyoncé Knowles, Jeffrey Wright, Mos Def, Cedric the Entertainer and Columbus Short.

Flow: Director Irena Salina's award-winning documentary investigates the ongoing world water crisis.

Nobel Son: A young man (Bryan Greenberg) used to living under the shadow of his famous father (Alan Rickman) is kidnapped and held for ransom after Dad wins the Nobel Peace Prize.

Punisher: War Zone: Thomas Jane is out and Ray Stevenson is in as Marvel Comics' vigilante hero, who this time goes up against the evil Jigsaw (The Wire's Dominic West). Hey, you don't know. It might be good.

DEC. 12

The Day the Earth Stood Still: Finally, someone has seized on Keanu Reeves' spacey screen persona and cast him as an alien. Reeves stars in this remake of the 1951 classic as the extra-terrestrial Klaatu, who steps out of a spaceship and warns mankind its days are numbered. Jennifer Connelly co-stars for director Scott Derrickson (The Exorcism of Emily Rose).

Delgo: Animated fantasy about a teenage hero (voiced by Freddie Prinze Jr.) who must negotiate peace between his people and their winged tormentors. Val Kilmer, Burt Reynolds, Anne Bancroft, Louis Gossett Jr. and Jennifer Love Hewitt (how's that for eclectic?) round out the voice cast.

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