Strong films coming soon

We’re coming into the home stretch of a good year for cinema — especially crowd-pleasers, says Chronicle Pop Culture Critic Peter Hartlaub, author of this week’s cover story on holiday releases. Don’t expect a lot of stuffy period dramas among the best picture Oscar nominees to be announced in 2013, but, he says, “I’m betting there will be at least one film based on comic-book characters.”

Among the year-end movies Hartlaub is most excited about are “The Hobbit” (“Obviously,” says the Tolkien fan); “Killing Me Softly,” with Brad Pitt as a mob thug; and Tarantino’s “Django Unchained.”

“Quentin Tarantino has aged gracefully as a director, while still pushing the envelope,” Hartlaub says. “Who else could pull off a spaghetti Western set during the U.S. slavery era?”

More and more each year, Hartlaub is also interested in the fare known in B-movie circles as “Dumpuary” — the films studios put out in January. “I’ve marked the date ( Jan. 18) for Arnold Schwarzenegger’s return to leading-man action as a sheriff in ‘The Last Stand,’ ” he says. “That has to be good, right?”

Pick your own favorites from Hartlaub’s story on Page 18. The cover package also includes Pam Grady’s piece on Ang Lee, director of the much-anticipated “Life of Pi” (Page 20), and Ruthe Stein’s look at holiday indie releases (Page 21).

Next week: “The Book of Mormon” comes to town.