The week before the American Thanksgiving holiday is notoriously quiet, as the majors prepare for the biggest Wednesday of the year … leaving a hole open for everyone else. Oh, and Disney.

“Ballast“: Lance Hammer’s indie drama is a calm, measured and utterly devastating study of three lives on a collision course on the Mississippi Delta. Yes, I know, that’s annoyingly vague; the mechanics of the plot are so delicate that I don’t want to risk denting them. Anyway, great movie, please go see it.

“Bolt”: John Travolta is a talking dog! Miley Cyrus is a talking person! Animated adventure ensues! I, um, had scheduling conflicts.

“Growing Op”: Didn’t see this one, either, but it stars Wallace Langham, whom I’ve enjoyed ever since his glory days fighting with Sarah Silverman on “The Larry Sanders Show” — and Adam found it inoffensive.

“I Can’t Think Straight”: The other Lisa Ray/Sheetal Seth/Shamim Sarif movie to open in Toronto this month, after “The World Unseen” two weeks ago; this one’s a contemporary romantic comedy about women in love, which Susan found far more palatable.

“Repo! The Genetic Opera”: Were you as disappointed as I was when Anthony Stewart Head literally bumped into Johnny Depp in Tim Burton’s “Sweeney Todd”, and wandered off without singing a note? Well, now’s your chance to hear those pipes a-bursting in the service of Darren Lynn Bousmann’s gore-drenched rock opera, which Barrett holds in pretty high regard.

“Twilight”: She gave us this generation’s “Reefer Madness” with “Thirteen”, turned “Lords of Dogtown” into a self-satisfied snooze and turned “The Nativity Story” into a Grade-Z act of Christian pandering; now, Catherine Hardwicke takes Stephenie Meyer’s young-adult novel and turns it into a borderline incompetent movie of the week, built around the wet-blanket Kristen Stewart and the truly ridiculous Robert Pattinson. Yeah, it’s going to make money. No, there won’t be another one any time soon.

Gotta run — CTV Newsnet wants me on to talk about “Twilight”. 11:15 am, Rogers cable 62; check it out, if you’re able.

I am not terribly well-represented in the latest issue of NOW, but don’t worry; it’s just a quirk of timing. I’ll be all over the section next week.

Today’s paper does feature one thing about which I’m reasonably proud, though — an interview with Lance Hammer, the director of a terrific new drama called “Ballast” that’s been picking up some of the year’s strongest reviews on the festival circuit. It opens in Toronto tomorrow, and is well worth watching even at one of the shoeboxes in the Carlton.

It’s not for everyone, but it’s infinitely more satisfying than, say, Rod Stewart’s manky cover of Ron Sexsmith’s lovely “Secret Heart”, which is playing on CBC Radio 2 as I type these words. Seriously, what the hell?

My cousin Mark’s documentary, “Waiting for Sancho“, just received a very positive review in Variety — very nearly a rave, except for the bit where John Anderson acknowledges that the movie has virtually no commercial prospects.

Fair enough. It really doesn’t have a hope in hell of conquering the box office. But it’s a very unique, very engaging movie, and it’s gratifying to see Anderson have the same response to it that I did.

Mark’s currently taking “Sancho” on a tour of European festivals — next stop, Belfort — and based on the mounting buzz, I think it’s high time for Mongrel or filmswelike or Seville or the newly-founded Evokative — any of our various art-house distributors, really — to think about picking it up for a limited run at the Royal or something.

It’d make a fine double-bill with “Birdsong”, though that might be a little too much austerity and dry wit for even Toronto’s hardiest cineaste.

I am just thinking out loud, you understand. Except with typing.

To celebrate the bizarro-universe joys of “JCVD”, this week’s Sympatico/MSN gallery runs down a list of other films in which actors play themselves.

(And yes, I know this is two straight weeks of Neil Patrick Harris citations. Dude’s awesome, he can take it.)

Incidentally, I just found out that Entertainment Weekly has a similar gallery in their latest issue. Oh, sure, they remembered Billy Zane, but I’ve got Elisabeth Shue …

The week’s cinematic landscape is dominated by a pair of awfully brawny gentlemen. Why don’t we dive right in?

“JCVD”: Is Jean-Claude Van Damme really reinventing himself as a thoughtful has-been, or is he just taking credit for being smart enough to sign onto Mabrouk El Mechri’s zippy meta-thriller before Steven Seagal could get hold of it? (And why can’t it be both?) Barrett and Jason are both pretty high on the movie, as am I. Check it out before it’s tarnished by Van Damme’s next direct-to-video crapfest.

“Quantum of Solace”: The Bond franchise backslides a little in this new outing, which finds director Marc Forster looking for a compromise between the elegance of “Casino Royale” and the more visceral expectations of the “Bourne” audience, and misjudging the ratio a little. The first hour is terrific, thanks to Daniel Craig’s stellar interpretation of 007 as a blunt instrument rather than a tuxedoed suavester and Mathieu Almaric’s obvious delight at playing his scheming nemesis, Dominic Greene; the last act falls victim to the formulaic bloat that’s plagued most Bond adventures since “Thunderball”. But it’ll still be a smash.

Also opening this week: A documentary about counterculture poster art called “Died Young, Stayed Pretty”, for which neither Barrett nor Adam had much patience. Me, I’d recommend you catch “Slumdog Millionaire” as soon as possible … but then, I said that yesterday.

I’ve interviewed Danny Boyle so many times in the last few years that it doesn’t even feel like work; between his convivial enthusiasm and the Northern accent, it’s like sitting down for a chat with one of my brothers-in-law.

It also helps that I love his work. “Shallow Grave”, “Trainspotting”, “Millions”, “Sunshine” — spin up any one of those and be transported. And yeah, the last third of “28 Days Later” goes pear-shaped, but the first hour is an expertly controlled exercise in mounting zombie horror.

Boyle’s new movie, “Slumdog Millionaire”, opened yesterday; here’s my review, and here’s our TIFF interview. You’re probably tired of hearing me say this, but don’t wait for the DVD — see this one on a big screen.

Over at the Atlantic’s website, reformed conservative Andrew Sullivan suggests that the Obama victory doesn’t so much as turn the page on the Bush era as reboot America: “Now,” he writes, “we get our lives back.”

Which may explain why the country flocked to that “Madagascar” sequel in droves over the weekend, pushing it to a staggering $63.5 million box-office tally. I guess people needed the release, huh? Either that, or Ben Stiller truly is a money machine these days.

I bet Sony’s regretting the decision to push “Quantum of Solace” back a week now … imagine the escapism appeal there!

In a slightly lighter vein than usual, my latest Sympatico/MSN gallery tips its hat to “Role Models” by offering up several recent movie characters whom we would be ill-disposed to emulate.

Look, I’m going to bring up “Fight Club” every chance I get. Just accept it.