To commemorate the day on which the pilgrims invented persistence of vision, Hollywood is releasing a whole bunch of movies in the middle of the week. There's a little something for everyone, from horror-thriller to arthouse-biopic to barfbag-melodrama.

The Mist
After the titular mist engulfs a small Northeastern town, a group of folks trapped in a local supermarket must work together to survive a monster attack. But when the poo hits the fan, the line between humans and monsters begins to blur, and a hunky dad must take drastic steps to protect his son. This is the first Frank Darabont film since The Majestic (2001) and the first Stephen King story he's directed since The Green Mile (1999). We missed two recent sneak screenings, so we can't tell you much more about it, but opinion seems split. The usually hard-to-impress Nick Schager at Slant gave it three stars, while Ebert called it semi-watchable "formula". Either way, we still wanna see it. [Trailer] [Website]

I’m Not There
Four movie stars, an English stage actor and a kid you've never heard of all play Bob Dylan in this experimental biopic. Director Todd Haynes has a fairly limited filmography, but we totally loved his last film, Far From Heaven, and we think I’m Not There looks interesting. On the other hand, it could be a pretentious, 135 minute, fans-only borefest. Who knows!? [Trailer] [Website]

Hitman
From the Trainee Assistant Director of Double Team comes a movie about some kind of good guy hitman. Let's hope this one doesn't tarnish the as-yet-unblemished tradition of movies based on video games. [Trailer] [Website]

Enchanted
Disney pokes fun at its back catalog in this comedic fairy tale come to life. Starring Patrick Dempsey, Susan Sarandon and that cute girl from "The Office", Enchanted follows an animated princess as she escapes her cartoon world to real-life Manhattan. Plus, there's a prince and a witch. What a great way to re-purpose existing intellectual property! Whoever came up with the idea should be promoted to VP In Charge Of Avoiding Actual Creativity. [Trailer] [Website]

August Rush
Felicity and that guy who played Elvis on TV have a sexy one-night-only rooftop encounter resulting in a bastard child who's secretly given away (huh?) by Felicity's controlling father. The kid turns out to be some kind of musical prodigy, and calls out to his estranged parents through the power of his music. Eww. [Trailer] [Website]

This Christmas
After years apart, a family comes back together for Christmas. Then they discover the true meaning of family or something. This one's rated PG-13 for "comic sexual content", which we can only assume involves a vibrator shaped like an elf or a joke about "coming down the chimney". Oh lordy this one's gonna be good! [Trailer] [Website]

[Showtimes]