This pre-holiday weekend, Hollywood dishes up a diverse movie lineup designed to send viewers away from the big-screen happy and hungry.  Family gatherings await, and Hollywood is giving us plenty to talk about around the Thanksgiving dinner table.

The most anticipated film of the season is finally here, Twilight, a story of forbidden romance, based on the first of a four-book series by Stephenie Meyer. Kristen Stewart plays the part of Bella Swan, a high school student, and a loner, who encounters her true love, Edward, played by Robert Pattinson. He is very different from other teenage boys. Edward is mysterious and handsome, but he is struggling to keep a deep dark secret from Bella; that he is a vampire. Though he falls in love with Bella, he warns her to stay away. But Bella can’t resist and their bond grows stronger. Bella enters Edwards’s dark world, where human blood is what vampires crave. Viewers will shutter in their seats waiting to see if Bella is destined to become a vampire, or worse — Thanksgiving Dinner for these bloodthirsty creatures. Twilight is rated PG-13 for some violence and a scene of sexuality. 

Bolt is a Walt Disney animated production in 3D.  Voiced by John Travolta, Bolt is more than a man’s best friend; he is a canine superhero in a hit TV show in Hollywood.  When Bolt is accidentally shipped from his Hollywood home to the middle of New York City, he is lost and confused. But he knows his superpowers will carry him through. There’s only one problem: Bolt only has superpowers on his Hollywood soundstage. An adventure begins as he devises a plan to get back home; along the way he picks up Mittens, an abandoned housecat voiced by Susie Essman, and a Hampster named Rhino, voiced by Mark Walton, who lives in a ball, obsessed with television. Families, gear up for a cross-country journey with these characters that is full of action. Bolt is rated G for good clean fun.

Special, is an independent film starring Michael Rapaport as Les Franken, an average Joe working as a meter maid, who is addicted to reading comic books. He seems to be stuck in a rut and going nowhere in life.  But, Les comes up with a plan; He signs up for a drug study for a new and powerful anti-depressant. Suddenly Les is transported to another world—in his own mind of course. He begins to believe he is a superhero who can read minds, walk through walls, and also has the ability to protect people from evil forces just like he reads in comic books. Soon the press gets a hold of Les’s actions and he is posted all over TV sets across the nation. The businessmen marketing this new drug are not happy about this bad publicity, and set out to put this superhero out of business. Special is rated R for language, some violence, and brief drug use.

Movie goers who need a laugh before the stress of the holidays can check out The Dukes, a comedy starring Chazz Palminteri and Robert Davi as two doo-wop singers who are out of work and broke. In the 60’s and 70’s these two were living it up, but those days are over. Now desperate, these two devise a plan to steal a ton of gold from a dental lab. The Dukes is Rated PG-13 for brief sexuality and drug references.

 —Christina Mennella