Scorsese, Stone, Burton, and a 3-D Depp

The new year, and new decade, get going with new entries from a formidable trio of top-tier Hollywood auteurs: There's a lysergic-looking reimagining of Lewis Carroll's Alice in Wonderland from Tim Burton; a roiling Gothic thriller, Shutter Island, from the just-honored-at-the-Golden Globes Martin Scorsese, and a timely revisit to the trading floors in Oliver Stone's Wall Street sequel.

In the horror vein, The Wolfman, with Benicio Del Toro in lycanthrope mode, looks hair-raising. Kids have two or three titles to check out, while Mel Gibson returns with a revenge number. (While they're not on the list that follows, there's strong art-house fare, too, including the Romanian procedural Police, Adjective; the Christopher Plummer-Helen Mirren Tolstoy tragicomedy The Last Station, and the serial murder trilogy Red Riding Hood.)

So, herewith, a dozen notable titles to hold you till May, when Iron Man 2 jump-starts the summer frenzy.

Edge of Darkness. A Mel Gibson thriller, update of a 1985 BBC series, with Himself as a homicide detective investigating the murder of his daughter and uncovering clues about her secret life. In the film's most quotable line, the detective defines two kinds of men: "You better decide whether you're hangin' on the cross or bangin' in the nails." (Jan. 29)

- C.R.

Percy Jackson & the Olympians: The Lightning Thief. Every teenage boy would like to look like a Greek god. Percy Jackson (Logan Lerman) discovers he's related to one. When he opens his mythology book, gods and goddesses leap off the page and accuse him of stealing Zeus' lightning bolt. Chris Columbus directs from Rick Riordan's young-adult novel. (Feb. 12)

- C.R.

The Wolfman. Just in time for Valentine's Day, Benicio Del Toro howls in this reboot of the Lon Chaney Jr. classic about the nobleman who returns to his haunted ancestral estate in Victorian England and gets bitten by a feral beast as he's trying to save his brother's girlfriend (Emily Blunt) from attack. (Feb. 12)

- C.R.

Shutter Island Leonardo DiCaprio and Martin Scorsese reunite for this '50s-era haunting with DiCaprio and Mark Ruffalo as U.S. marshals investigating the disappearance of an escaped mental patient from a fortresslike asylum. Based on the Dennis Lehane novel. (Feb. 19)

- C.R.

The Art of the Steal. The buzz of the 2009 Toronto Film Festival, Don Argott's doc delves into the controversy behind the Barnes Foundation's move from a staid Merion manse to its new site on the Benjamin Franklin Parkway. A story of angry neighbors, power politics, and ridiculous quantities of Cezannes, Matisses, and Renoirs. (Feb. 26)

- S.R.

Alice in Wonderland. Director Tim Burton jumps into Lewis Carroll's rabbit hole with 3-D glasses on, and with Johnny Depp as the Mad Hatter, Christopher Lee as the Jabberwock, and Helena Bonham Carter and Anne Hathaway as the Red and White Queens, respectively. (March 5)

- S.R.

Hot Tub Time Machine. At last - a John Cusack comedy! Our nomination for most playful title costars Cusack and Rob Corddry as buds disillusioned with their lives but delighted with a cosmic Jacuzzi that transports them back to 1986 when they still had illusions - and fun. (March 19)

- C.R.

The Runaways. Kristen Stewart zips up her motorcycle jacket and rips out some power chords, starring as Joan Jett in this '70s flashback about the breakthrough all-girl group. With Dakota Fanning as bandmate Cherie Currie. (March 19)

- S.R.

I Love You Phillip Morris From the team that wrote the acerbic Bad Santa and Cats & Dogs comes this fact-based dramedy starring Jim Carrey as a policeman-turned-con man whose belated discovery of his sexual preference rocks his world. (March 26)

- C.R.

Diary of a Wimpy Kid. Middle-school sturm und drang in this live-action adaptation of the mega-selling illustrated novel by Jeff Kinney. Fun for the kids. (April 2)

- S.R.

MacGruber. Will Forte brings his hapless action hero to the big screen in the latest Saturday Night Live sketch-comedy big-screen spinoff. Ryan Phillippe and Kristen Wiig join forces with Forte in a last-ditch effort to save the world from the evil Val Kilmer. (April 23)

- S.R.

Wall Street: Money Never Sleeps. Michael Douglas is back as iconic greedhead Gordon Gekko in Oliver Stone's money-biz sequel, with Shia LaBeouf as an idealistic young trader, and Charlie Sheen, Josh Brolin, and Carey Mulligan playing the market for all it's worth. (April 23)

- S.R.