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It's a wonderful time of year to be a movie critic! All the Oscar hopefuls, all the top-notch actors, all the adventurous directors, and so little of the tripe that's usually stuffed down our throats. Sure, Rob Schneider has seen fit to defile this holy season, but there are so many other interesting, intriguing choices that we can safely ignore him and his ilk. Here to help you sort out your holiday movie schedule is my annual Holiday Preview.

Now that Harry Potter and James Bond have had their runs, the slate is clear for this winter's true movie giant--The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers. I'm happy to announce that all of your hopes and dreams are fulfilled in this film. It is a glorious three-hour epic full of magic and sorcery, bravery and romance, intrigue and awe. It is a near-perfect adaptation of Tolkien's book, condensing his complicated narrative into a single breathtaking film. Readers of this space will know that I enjoyed Fellowship of the Ring, but didn't love it. The Two Towers I love. I haven't been this giddy about a movie in a long, long time, and I encourage even those unsuited to sword and sorcery to give this one a shot. It is a great movie and a testament to director Peter Jackson's storytelling powers. It opens everywhere next Wednesday (Dec. 18).

I can also highly recommend Antwone Fisher, a movie situated in the present day without any spells or orcs. Rather, it's the "based on a true story" of Antwone Fisher and how he overcomes a childhood of abuse to become a strong, upstanding young man. Fisher is a Navy sailor but one with a big temper. After one too many fist fights, he's sent to a Navy psychologist, played by Denzel Washington. The movie is the story of their relationship and how Fisher overcomes his upbringing. I found the story powerful and moving, and Washington's directorial debut shows him to be a director of great sensitivity. It was also nice to see an African-American film that dealt with serious issues but didn't have any guns around. It opens in Chicago on Dec. 20 and nationwide on Christmas.

Other movies I can recommend this season include About Schmidt, starring Jack Nicholson. Jack plays a retiring insurance man whose wife suddenly dies. Confronted with the prospect of his own mortality (he's been calculating others' his whole life), he feels the need to do something meaningful. This includes deepening his relationship with his daughter, sponsoring a poor child overseas, and traveling the country in his Winnebago. Director Alexander Payne (Election) brings his cynical perspective to the material, though that doesn't undermine Nicholson's gripping performance. About Schmidt is a compelling story that might be a little too smart for its own good, though it's definitely worth checking out. It opens here in Chicago on Dec. 27.

Fans of the Bob Fosse musical Chicago might want to stay home from the movie adaptation. Not that it's bad (I actually enjoyed myself), but the decision to cast actresses instead of dancers seriously undermines Fosse's brilliant choreography. So instead of Fosse's razzle dazzle, we have an interesting story about murder and fame. Renee Zellweger is a great actress (not so great dancer), but Catherine Zeta-Jones seems cast merely for her star power. The story is still entertaining, and Richard Gere makes for a nicely slimy lawyer while Queen Latifah is solid as a prison matron. Just don't go in expecting some great hoofin'.

I'm not sure what anyone should expect from Confessions of a Dangerous Mind, the bio-pic based on the "unauthorized autobiography" of Chuck Barris. Barris was the mastermind behind such television masterpieces as The Dating Game and The Gong Show. Then he dropped off the face of the earth. He returned with a book claiming he had been a CIA agent while he was a television producer. The movie's relationship to its material is provocative. It's never clear if we're supposed to believe Barris is actually crazy or just putting us on. George Clooney, also making his directorial debut, has a flair for dramatic lighting and compositions, and the movie never lags. But I still felt a little weird when I stepped out into the real light of the sun. This one and Chicago open here sometime in January.

I haven't been able to see even half of the Oscar possibilities, so I can only mention that I'm really looking forward to seeing Spike Lee's new movie, The 25th Hour, in which a drug dealer (played by Ed Norton) spends his final night of freedom before heading off to prison. I'm also excited about Martin Scorsese's Gangs of New York, starring Leonardo Dicaprio. Leo's also in Steven Spielberg's new flick, Catch Me if You Can, which looks like an entertaining romp with Tom Hanks as the catcher and Leo as the catchee. Rabbit-Proof Fence is a small movie that explores a different side of Australia's past, while Jennifer Lopez re-creates the Cinderella story for a modern-day audience with Maid in Manhattan.

Literary adaptations are always the rage in the winter. So we have The Hours, which mines Virginia Woolf; Nicholas Nickelby, from the Dickens novel; and Adaptation, from the Susan Orleans book The Orchid Thief. This last one, which is from the creative team behind Being John Malkovich, is actually about the process of adapting a literary work so, if nothing else, it will surely be different. And finally, the young and young at heart will be thrilled to hear that The Lion King is returning, this time on the very big IMAX screen. Hakuna Matata, indeed.

by J. Robert Parks