It’s the most wonderful time of the year…

For movies, that is. Every autumn, as the leaves turn gold, Hollywood studios roll out productions that they hope will turn their bottom lines gold as well. Expect among the offerings:

a. Classy, well-made flicks with notable cast members and top-shelf directors. These are the ones being positioned for Oscar nominations.

b. Not so classy, but funny (or heartwarming) audience-pleasers, designed to pull in little kids, older kids home on winter break and families looking for something to do after the leftover turkey goes in the fridge.

We’ve prepared a list of five that will open between Halloween and New Year’s Day. Sorry, we don’t yet know whether they’ll fall into the “a,” “b,” or even the dreaded and unmentioned “c” category.

Johnny Depp in the Rum Diary

1. The Rum Diary (opens October 28)
Johnny Depp in his second film based on gonzo journalist Hunter S. Thompson’s “literary” works (1998’s Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas was the first). This time Mr. Depp doesn’t hide his beauté under a bald cap (a real plus, in Paula’s opinion). The picture has been called a drama-crime-mystery, but the trailer sells it like a manic comedy. Thompson once wrote, “For every moment of triumph, many souls must be trampled.” Let’s hope they’re not ours.

2. Anonymous (October 28)
Was William Shakespeare a fraud? Theatre people love the question, arguing regularly whether the Bard wrote the works that bear his name. You can find books on the topic (talk about biting the hand that feeds you!) in the Oregon Shakespeare Festival’s gift shop. Personally, we don’t buy a word of the smear campaign against Will’s authenticity, but director Roland Emmerich (2012, Independence Day) is no slouch

Anonymous

at helming crowd-pleasing entertainment. The trailer for this one does make it look like a drama-crime-mystery. We’re intrigued.

3. J. Edgar (November 9)
Yes, that’s J. Edgar Hoover, the first director of the FBI. Leonardo DiCaprio, who plays the title “character,” has the ability to lose himself in each role he takes on. As a movie director, Clint Eastwood has proven better each time out. The combination makes us predict this is a “can’t lose.” We hear that the FBI is quite annoyed with Clint for the story he’s depicting here. With such an endorsement, how could we stay away?

4. Hugo (November 23)
Bet you thought you’d never hear the words “Martin Scorsese” and “children’s film” together in a sentence. Hugo is an adaptation of Brian Selznick’s fantasy novel, “The Invention of Hugo Cabret.” The script is by John Logan (The Gladiator, The Last Samurai). This story follows the exploits of Hugo, an orphan who lives in a Paris railway station. His only companions are plucky, young Isabelle and a broken automaton built by his late father (Jude Law). Scorsese’s challenge was to pull off a fantasy palatable to both adults and children. It looks utterly charming—but will it play like Harry Potter?

5. Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close (December 25 in limited release; wide release January 20, 2012)
Thematically, this movie has a lot in common with Hugo. But where Hugo is an enchanting fantasy, Loud starts on a chord so “real” that we suspect we’ll be glad we brought along a pocketful of tissues. Like Hugo, the protagonist is a young boy with a missing father (Tom Hanks). The twist is that Oskar’s dad was lost on 9/11. Living with his mom (Sandra Bullock), the boy tries to solve a mystery that will help him connect with the missing man. In each movie, a mysterious key plays a significant role in the action. But there’s a difference: this one has Oscar nominee written all over it.

Tickets, as usual, will fall into the ten buck range. You can guess our critique of that sad story.

Paula and Terry each have long impressive-sounding resumes implying that they are battle-scarred veterans of life within the Hollywood studios. They’re now happily relaxed into Jacksonville.