The leaves are falling, the temperature is dropping and the bears are pondering hibernation. But while bears escape into the dark confines of nearby caves to avoid the surrounding snows, movie buffs tend to seek refuge in the dimly lit world that is the local movie theater. While these theaters do not always offer warmer temperatures, come fall they do showcase the best movies of the year.

Want to be an Oscar winner? Your best bet is to be released sometime in November or December. Don't want to win? Pick any other month and be forgotten as quickly as this year's summertime bomb "Pluto Nash." But now that we have weathered those first nine months of action films and box office wannabes, the studios see it fit to flood all theaters with as many Oscar hopefuls as possible. Bring on the waters!

No fall movie preview can start with any film besides "The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers" (Dec. 18). Director Peter Jackson cleverly ended his first of three films with an actual cliffhanger, unlike some other recent trilogies (read: "Star Wars Episode One"), and everyone, including the millions upon millions who have read the books and know what happens, cannot wait to see what non-stop action sequences Jackson has planned next for our lovable fellowship of nine.

As with any other movie season, almost every other Friday features another sequel or continuation of a series. While "Lord of the Rings" is probably the most anticipated, "Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets" (Nov. 15) does not follow far behind. The obscenely popular series of books debuted with a cinematic smash last November and returns this year, much like our friends the hobbits, almost one year to the date later. While director Chris Columbus brings a darker edge to the first sequel, cinemaphiles everywhere are already looking ahead to next year's second sequel to be directed by "Y Tu Mama Tambien" filmmaker Alphonso Cuaron.

James Bond and the cast of "Star Trek: The Next Generation" also continue their movie franchises this fall, in separate movies of course. Pierce Brosnan returns with new Bond girl and teary-eyed Oscar winner Halle Berry in "Die Another Day" (November 22nd). Patrick Stewart and crew reassemble for what is rumored to be the last time in "Star Trek: Nemesis" (Dec. 13), once again taking on those evil Romulans with the help of Data, Worf and the rest of that crazy crew have come to love, kind of.

Two other comedic sequels highlight the upcoming final months of 2002. Three years after enjoying the success of the "Sopranos"-if-it-were-a-comedy hit "Analyze This," Robert DeNiro and Billy Crystal re-team for "Analyze That" (Dec. 6) to once again prove Bobby D can be funny, too. Ice Cube is also back in the strangest of trilogies finale "Friday After Next" (Nov. 22) but once again, note Chris Tucker is not along for the ride.

A list of some of the big time Oscar favorites also reads as a who's who of contemporary American directors. Martin Scorsese's much-delayed Miramax big-budget tale of 19th century gang conflicts on the streets of New York "Gangs of New York" finally hits theaters Christmas day. Scorsese's return to the American film mainstream stars Leonardo DiCaprio and Cameron Diaz. If that's not enough Leo for you, then "Catch Me if You Can," also released Dec. 25, might whet your appetite. Steven Spielberg's true story of a con artist (DiCaprio) and the FBI agent who hunts him down (Tom Hanks) has the star power and hype to make any movie fan excited, but remember, so did "Minority Report."

Younger American filmmakers Steven Soderberg and P.T. Anderson also have the Oscar buzz swooning around them for "Solaris" (Nov. 27) and "Punch-Drunk Love" (Oct. 11), respectively. Soderberg's version of Stanislav Lem's 1961 space epic features George Clooney (Soderberg must have trouble finding other actors) and the hype is so strong that people are throwing out "2001" Kubrickian comparisons with a straight face. As for the genius behind "Boogie Nights" and "Magnolia," Anderson received Best Direction honors at this year's Cannes Film Festival for "Punch-Drunk" and the off-beat love story, which runs at half the running time of the frogstomp "Magnolia," provides Adam Sandler with his first real dramatic role, not including his humorless performance in "Mr. Deeds."

A film season without star power is like an episode of "Friends" without Monica annoying the hell out of you, but the biggest star appearing in a movie this fall has never even headlined a movie before. Marshall Mathers (you know, that guy who hates Moby) makes his film debut in Curtis Hanson's "8 Mile" (Nov. 8). Shot on the streets of Detroit and Highland Park, Hanson ("Wonder Boys") wanted nothing but authenticity for his story of a struggling rapper, including the controversial burning of a condemned house (shouldn't we be thanking him?).