15) Bad Santa (November 26th)

HO HO HO! Now put your hands up!

Billy Bob Thornton and Tony Cox play two guys who dress up as Santa and an elf. Sounds okay so far. But instead of passing on the good will of the season, they take advantage of good-natured citizens and rob them blind. And their plan is going along just fine, until they run into an eight-year-old boy who reminds them of the true meaning of Christmas.

The Coen Brothers are the executive producers on the film, which adds some credibility to the production. Plus, we have a veteran director and seasoned writers. This film had the potential of becoming a holiday classic, but its R-rating will not help it in that department.

14) The Haunted Mansion (November 26th)

Haunted Mansion is based on the Disney theme-park rides of the same name, and stars Eddie Murphy as a real-estate agent who accidentally gets his family locked inside the eponymous structure, along with its phantom inhabitants. Turns out that the resident spectres don't like visitors, although they paradoxically trap the family within the house, perhaps the better to haunt them in comedic fashion. In order to escape possibly becoming denizens of the dastardly den, Murphy and his family must solve a variety of puzzles before the house clock strikes 13.

Disney's batting .500 with movies based on rides, with Country Bears being nearly as big a bomb as Pirates of the Caribbean has been a success. One of the reasons for the difference between the fates of those two films may lie in the back story of the ride itself. The Country Bears Jamboree offered little that could be done in terms of storyline, whereas Pirates not only offered a wealth of material, but a variety of avenues for future exploration, AKA sequels. The Haunted Mansion would seem to fall more towards the Pirates end of the spectrum, as the reasons why the mansion is haunted and how the ghosts came to be trapped there should make for fascinating plot points. And though Eddie Murphy's box office track record is rather spotty as of late, his family-fare films have consistently scored well.

But the real stars of the Haunted Mansion are the disembodied spirits, some of which will be carried over from the ride itself. They are the real focus of the film, and they will be the link between this first film in a hoped-for franchise and those that will follow. Given what can be done with computers, they should be wonderful to behold, and if provided with interesting back stories, could become engaging characters. But whether they become substantial characters -- well, as much as ghosts can be -- or simply remain cool effects to ooh and ah over, the film of Haunted Mansion should prove to be as much of a fun ride as its namesake theme-park attraction.

13) The Cat in the Hat (November 21st)

The sun did not shine.
It was too wet to play.
So we sat in the house
All that cold, cold, wet day.

This is the beginning of arguably one of the most famous books in children’s literature –- The Cat in the Hat by Dr. Seuss. Following the huge success of the live-action adaptation of The Grinch Who Stole Christmas, you knew the studio heads would push to have another Seuss classic brought to life. But which one? Of course, The Cat in the Hat was the natural choice.

Jim Carrey gave a brilliant performance as the Grinch and Mike Myers is hoping to do justice to the Cat in the Hat character. Once again, the sets look like they were pulled right out of a Seuss book. The make-up for Mr. Myers looks fabulous. And the casting of the other supporting characters seems to be inspired.

12) 21 Grams (November 21st)

The recent boom in Mexican cinema has brought us films such as Y Tu Mama Tambien and El Crimen del Padre Amaro, and has allowed Mexican filmmakers to move onto bigger venues (including one of the biggest venues with Alfonso Cuaron making the newest Harry Potter movie.) The director of the film that kicked off this latest wave (Amores Perros) returns with his first U.S. film. The title of the film refers to the supposed amount of weight the human body loses upon death (and therefore the proposed weight of the human soul.) The story focuses on a tragic car accident that brings together the lives of three characters. It helps that those three characters are played by Benicio del Toro, Sean Penn, and Naomi Watts. Amores Perros was a rather brutal movie, and it doesn't seem like Innaritu took a happy-fun pill before making 21 Grams either. It may not be an obvious choice tonally for a movie to enjoy over the holiday period, but sometimes you need to take that bitter pill to go with all that sweet Thanksgiving pie.

11) Looney Toons: Back in Action (November 14th)

Though everyone's favorite 'toons were fun enough with Michael Jordan in Space Jam, that movie is generally perceived as not having truly captured the spirit of the series. With quirky director Joe Dante on board for Looney Tunes: Back in Action, the chances are much greater that the subversive qualities that make us so love Bugs, Daffy, Porky, and Company are present and in full effect. We're really counting on the guy who infused films like Gremlins, The Howling, and Piranha with subtle humor amidst horror to be the perfect director for a movie that places our cartoon heroes alongside human near-cartoons like Brendan Fraser and Steve Martin. And though we haven't quite forgiven Martin for the abomination that was Bringing Down the House, his performance here as the evil villain can go a long way toward generating some goodwill.