May the Force guide you to the best holiday movies this season

Call them what you want: Oscar bait. Holiday treats. An apology for a lackluster summer and fall.

The holiday movies have arrived!

So, what can we look forward to?

• No. 1, the obvious: "Rogue One: A Star Wars Story" (Dec. 16), the first stand-alone movie to have nothing to do with the characters who've come before. The new ones, led by Felicity Jones and Mads Mikkelsen, get involved with a plot to steal plans to the Empire's Death Star. Britain's Gareth Edwards, who gave us "Godzilla" in 2014, directs. Literary spinoffs have been expanding the "Star Wars" universe for years. Finally, movies are catching up.

• Director Denzel Washington's "Fences" (Dec. 25) gives its cast - led by Washington and Viola Davis - ultra-heavy-duty Oscar cred. The film, adapted from August Wilson's Pulitzer Prize and Tony Award-winning play, is the sixth in Wilson's 10-part "Pittsburgh Cycle." The movie has already amassed enough buzz to count its nominations.

• Natalie Portman's showcased performance as iconic first lady Jacqueline Bouvier Kennedy provides the principal attraction in Pablo Larrain's bio-drama "Jackie" (Dec. 2), set during the tumultuous time following the assassination of her husband, President John F. Kennedy. Max Casella plays Jack Valenti, JFK's PR man, later to head the Motion Picture Association of America and create the movie ratings system.

• Director J.A. Bayona has already given us the ultra-frightening "The Orphanage" and the terrorizing tsunami drama "The Impossible." Both made my year-end top 10 lists. Now he presents "A Monster Calls" (Dec. 23), about a scary creature (voiced by Liam Neeson, resembling Vin Diesel's Groot) that comes to 12-year-old Conor (Lewis MacDougall) at exactly 12:07 on the dot. The Monster tells him three stories designed to teach him something about courage and faith when dealing with school bullies, his ill mother ("Rogue One" star Felicity Jones) and his crabby grandmother (Sigourney Weaver).

• We can't forget "Sing" (Dec. 21), an animated musical that gives Matthew McConaughey his most cuddlesome character, Buster Moon, a koala who stages a worldwide animal singing competition in a desperate attempt to save his faltering theater.

• Mark your calendars for Dec. 16, because Damien Chazelle's moody, moving, emotional movie musical "La La Land" arrives, and it's a contender for No. 1 on my top 10 list for 2016.

And don't forget that five heavy-hitters this week officially announce the holiday movie rush is on:

• "Allied," starring Brad Pitt and Marion Cotillard in a World War II romance.

• "Bad Santa 2," with Billy Bob Thornton reprising his gross and crude "Ain't Nick" character from 13 years ago.

• "Rules Don't Apply," celebrating the return of Oscar-winning filmmaker (and legendary sex symbol) Warren Beatty as billionaire Howard Hughes in a 1958 drama.

• "Moana," Walt Disney's animated musical about a tough teenager who teams with a demigod to save her people.

• "Manchester by the Sea," featuring a restrained, Oscar-contending performance from Casey Affleck (Ben's bro) as a devastated man.

See you at the movies.