COLDER WEATHER SPARKS HOT STREAK ON BIG SCREEN.

Byline: Bob Strauss and Glenn Whipp Staff Film Writers

Barring an act of God - or the studios - the following films are scheduled to come out during the holiday seasons.

Nov. 24

All About My Mother Pedro Almodovar's widely praised tragicomedy about grief, self-assessment, female solidarity and really bright color schemes in contemporary Spain. (Sony Pictures Classics)

End of Days Arnold Schwarzenegger plays a cop warily approaching the millennium - and for good reason. It seems Satan (Gabriel Byrne) is on the loose, looking to find a bride. If he succeeds, you can forget that New Year's Eve party you were planning. (Universal)

Flawless Robert De Niro plays a tough New York cop who suffers a stroke and rehabilitates with an unlikely source - his drag-queen neighbor. Joel Schumacher tries to atone for ``Batman Forever'' and ``8mm.'' (MGM)

Ride With the Devil Civil War drama starring Tobey Maguire, Skeet Ulrich and Jewel (yes, Jewel) and set in the bloody Kansas-Missouri theater of conflict. Directed by the determinedly versatile Ang Lee (``Sense and Sensibility,'' ``The Ice Storm''). (USA Films)

Nov. 26

Rosetta Top prize winner at this year's Cannes Film Festival, this Belgian drama charts a poverty-stricken teen-ager's determined efforts to land a job. Emilie Dequenne took Cannes' best actress award for her film debut. Written and directed by Luc and Jean-Pierre Dardenne (``La Promesse''). (USA Films)

Dec. 3

Agnes Browne Anjelica Huston directed and stars in this film about a poor Irish mother of seven who unexpectedly gets a new lease on life when widowhood forces her back into the business and dating games. (USA Films)

Beyond the Clouds Could've called this one ``Being Michelangelo Antonioni.'' John Malkovich (who else?) plays a director wandering through four vignettes about love, all based on the Italian master's biographical writings. Antonioni suffered a heart attack during filming; Wim Wenders completed the picture. (Sceneries Entertainment)

The End of the Affair Based on Graham Greene's great novel about a wartime affair that the man and the woman prove, in retrospect, to have viewed very differently indeed. Ralph Fiennes, Julianne Moore and Stephen Rea star. Directed by Neil Jordan of ``The Crying Game'' fame. (Columbia Pictures)

Holy Smoke Harvey Keitel reteams with ``Piano'' director Jane Campion to play a cult deprogrammer who falls in love with a woman he has been paid to find. Kate Winslet co-stars. (Miramax)

A Map of the World A woman's life spins out of control after a tragic accident. Sigourney Weaver and Julianne Moore star in this adaptation of the Jane Hamilton novel. (First Look)

Dec. 10

The Cider House Rules John Irving's best seller has been a six-hour play and, now, a two-hour-plus movie. Story concerns an orphan raised by a kindhearted abortionist who has a thing for ether. Tobey Maguire and Charlize Theron head the sprawling cast. Irving himself wrote the screenplay. Lasse Hallstrom (``What's Eating Gilbert Grape'') directs. (Miramax)

Cradle Will Rock Director Tim Robbins (``Dead Man Walking'') re-creates the political and artistic controversy that surrounded Orson Welles' 1930s staging of a radical play. The huge cast includes Hank Azaria, Ruben Blades, Joan and John Cusack, Bill Murray, Vanessa Redgrave, Susan Sarandon and Emily Watson. (Touchstone Pictures)

Diamonds Three generations of men go on a quest. Film has Kirk Douglas and Lauren Bacall. It also has Jenny McCarthy and Dan Aykroyd. You make the call. (Miramax)

42 Up The folks from ``7Up'' hit middle age and begin to lose their fizz. Michael Apted updates the lives of the people he introduced in that 1964 documentary. (First Run)

The Green Mile Long-in-the-making adaptation of Stephen King's mystical prison story, starring Tom Hanks as the Death Row guard who develops a special relationship with strangely powered inmate Michael Clarke Duncan (``Armageddon''). Frank Darabont, whose previous film was the King prison drama ``Shawshank Redemption,'' directed. (Warner Bros.)

Miss Julie Adaptation of the misogynistic class-conflict classic by Swedish playwright August Strindberg. Saffron Burrows and Peter Mullen star for director Mike Figgis (``Leaving Las Vegas''). (MGM)

Sweet and Lowdown In Woody Allen's latest, Sean Penn plays a high-living 1930s jazz guitarist. Uma Thurman and Samantha Morton co-star in the farcical period comedy. (Sony Pictures Classics)

The War Zone Actor Tim Roth directs this English family drama about coming of age in an incestuous household. Stars the ferocious Ray Winstone (``Nil by Mouth'') and Tilda Swinton. (Lot 47 Inc.)

Dec. 17

Anna and the King A serious rendition of the actual story on which ``The King and I'' is based. Jodie Foster plays the 19th-century British governess charged with educating the headstrong king of Siam's (Chow Yun-Fat) 58 children. Shot in Malaysia (Thai officials took offense), the film boasts some of the biggest sets built since the 1963 version of ``Cleopatra.'' (20th Century Fox)

Bicentennial Man Robin Williams plays a domestic android who becomes increasingly human over 200 years of service to one family. Directed by cuddle-prone Chris Columbus (``Mrs. Doubtfire,'' ``Stepmom'') and based on an Isaac Asimov story. (Touchstone Pictures)

The Emperor and the Assassin Four thousand years ago, an ambitious Chinese prince tried to merge seven warring kingdoms into one political entity. Chen Kaige drafts his ``Farewell My Concubine'' stars Gong Li and Zhang Fengyi back into duty for this sweeping, intrigue-laden epic. (Sony Pictures Classics)

Magnolia ``Boogie Nights'' writer-director Paul Thomas Anderson takes a different look at our hometown in this ensemble drama - featuring William H. Macy, Julianne Moore, Jason Robards and Tom Cruise - that takes place over 24 hours in the San Fernando Valley. (New Line Cinema)

Stuart Little E.B. White's beloved little mouse gets the big-screen treatment in this mixture of live action and computer animation. Geena Davis and ``Jerry Maguire's'' Jonathan Lipnicki are the human stars; Michael J. Fox provides the rodent's voice. Directed by Rob Minkoff (``The Lion King''). (Columbia Pictures)

Topsy-Turvey British kitchen-sink behavioralist Mike Leigh (``Secrets and Lies'') takes his first strike at real history in this sumptuous account of a stormy stretch in the partnership of 19th-century operetta maestros Gilbert and Sullivan. Jim Broadbent and Allan Corduner star.(USA)

Dec. 21

Girl, Interrupted The true story of a teen-age girl's yearlong stay in a mental institution. Winona Ryder and Angelina Jolie are the inmates; Whoopi Goldberg and Vanessa Redgrave their keepers. (Columbia Pictures)

Dec. 22

Any Given Sunday Oliver Stone's study of pro football should be another over-the-top look at American violence. At least the NFL, which refused to cooperate with the production, thinks it will. The MVP cast includes Al Pacino, Cameron Diaz, Dennis Quaid, Jamie Foxx, Charlton Heston, Ann-Margret and James Woods. (Warner Bros.)

Man on the Moon From the director (Milos Forman) and screenwriters who gave us ``The People vs. Larry Flynt'' comes a film bio of another oddball, the late Andy Kaufman. Jim Carrey stars as the eccentric comedian. Maybe this time he'll get his Oscar nomination. (Universal)

Snow Falling on Cedars Scott Hicks makes his first movie since ``Shine,'' adapting David Guterson's best-selling novel about the small-town trial of a Japanese man accused of murdering a local fisherman. Ethan Hawke stars. (Universal)

Dec. 25

Galaxy Quest Washed-up stars of a 1970s sci-fi series meet and greet their loyalists at conventions. Some of their fans travel a little farther than others. Tim Allen and Sigourney Weaver star. (DreamWorks)

The Talented Mr. Ripley Amoral title character (Matt Damon) discovers that the good life in 1950s Italy can be murder. Gwyneth Paltrow, Jude Law and Cate Blachett co-star; Anthony Minghella (``The English Patient'') directs. Based on Patricia Highsmith's novel. (Paramount)

Titus Julie Taymor, the acclaimed stage director of ``The Lion King,'' makes her film debut with this lavish and violent reworking of Shakespeare's ``Titus Andronicus.'' Anthony Hopkins and Jessica Lange head the bill. (Fox Searchlight)

Dec. 29

The Hurricane True story of middleweight boxer Rubin ``Hurricane'' Carter, who was falsely convicted of murdering three people. Can he beat the rap? Denzel Washington stars in a role that has Oscar written all over it. The venerable Norman Jewison directs. (Universal)

The Third Miracle A disillusioned Catholic priest checks out a blood-crying statue and subsequently must reassess his skepticism regarding miracles. Ed Harris, Anne Heche and Armin Mueller-Stahl star. (Sony Pictures Classics)

CAPTION(S):

5 Photos

Photo: (1 -- 3 -- cover -- color) From top: The cast of ``Galaxy Quest,'' the Eagles and the Rockettes)

(4) Kate Winslet in ``Holy Smoke,'' opening Dec. 3.

(5) Julianne Moore and Ralph Fiennes in ``The End of the Affair,'' opening Dec. 3.