The world’s supposed to end in 2012, if you believe certain folks. But before it does, there’s a boatload of big movies to eagerly anticipate. I tried to pick just one per month, but my resolve quickly fell apart there.

January
There’s plenty of Oscar talk surrounding Meryl Streep as Margaret Thatcher in “The Iron Lady.” As an Anglophile as well as a person who doesn’t mind getting often-grossly-error-ridden history from movies, I can’t wait for this one.

Don’t be afraid! Well, be afraid for your wallet, if you’ve got a hankering for one of the two known Cowardly Lion costumes from “The Wizard of Oz.” The lion costume will be joining one pair of Dorothy’s ruby slippers (as previously reported) from the film in an auction later this month, according to The Daily Mail. Each piece is expected to fetch up to $3 million.

LOS ANGELES — It’s Thanksgiving this week, a time to reflect on the people and things for which we’re grateful. Since I love movies, I thought it would be a good time to choose five for which I’m thankful. These are the cinematic equivalent of comfort food, ones I can watch over and over again, and always rely on to make me laugh, lift me up or provide an escape. (The inclusion of anything by John Hughes goes without saying.)

Ask me tomorrow and this list might be different. But for today, dig in:

‘Rushmore’ (1998)

(EW.com) — Tragedy befell the lighthearted game show “Cash Cab” Friday when a producer for the Canadian branch of the show struck and killed an elderly pedestrian in Vancouver.

The driver was returning the mobile set to a storage facility after filming for the day wrapped when he hit the 61-year-old Surrey, British Columbia, resident in the city’s Downtown Eastside district. The victim, whose name hasn’t been released, died in a local hospital soon after the collision.

NEW YORK — Robin Williams made either a risky, or courageous, choice for his Broadway acting debut by depicting the ghost of a Bengal tiger slinking around the bloody streets of Baghdad trying to make sense of humans and war.

There are stars, and there are superstars. And then there’s Angelina Jolie and Johnny Depp.

The two A-listers and paparazzi magnets could illuminate a galaxy with their star power. Columbia Pictures hopes they will also light up the box office when “The Tourist” debuts on Dec 10. The glitzy overseas thriller marks the first collaboration between the two international superstars.

NEW YORK — Rick Sanchez didn’t mince any words. He said he was wrong and he screwed up.

Interviewed on ABC’s “Good Morning America” a week after being fired from his hosting job at CNN, Sanchez apologized Friday for his slams at CNN and at Comedy Central’s Jon Stewart, whom he had called a “bigot.”

Those remarks were aired on a radio program on Sept. 30.

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Sanchez explained that he was tired when he made the radio appearance, and that “my daughter had a softball game I desperately wanted to go to, and I was a little impatient. I said some things I shouldn’t have said. They were wrong. Not only were they wrong, they were offensive.”

The tribe has spoken: Brendan was voted out by the alliance led by Tyson and Coach, and that will just make Coach’s ego even bigger than it already is. “Brendan’s the dragon, I’m the dragonslayer, this is going to be the biggest power move to date of this game, no question about it,” Coach said, later calling himself “the chosen one.” Ultimately, Brendan left apparently because no one trusted him; Brendan and Taj formed the Exile alliance, but even she voted for him, making Brendan the first jury member.

That’s the second best opening ever for a movie fronted by Dwayne Johnson alone, trailing only the first feature that starred the artist formerly known as The Rock, “The Scorpion King,” which banked $36.1 million in its 2002 debut.

It’s apparently Bankruptcy of Ideas Week at your local cineplex: Grown-ups get the grisly remake of “The Last House on the Left” and that stew of Sundance clichés “Sunshine Cleaning,” while the kids can see Disney’s retread of 1975’s “Escape to Witch Mountain,” now appropriately retitled “Race to Witch Mountain,” since this new version piles on one car chase after another