Well, the post-Christmas quiet has lifted and it’s back to the regular release calendar, as awards bait continues to trickle up from New York to Toronto. Shall we get to it?

August: Osage County: Tracy Letts’ Pulitzer Prize-winning family saga comes to the screen in a tin-eared all-star adaptation directed very haphazardly by John Wells . And in a movie of ill-considered performances, Benedict Cumberbatch comes off worst … and that’s really saying something. (Susan liked it, but she’s the first to admit she has a blind spot for Meryl Streep.)

Gabrielle: Louise Archambault’s drama about a mentally challenged young woman (Gabrielle Marion-Rivard) pushing for personal and sexual independence condescends to its characters and its audience in equal measure, but because it was Canada’s submission for the foreign-language Oscar it’s automatically a very important movie. Except that it isn’t, and Rad explores that tension nicely in his review.

I Am Divine: Glenn is quite taken with Jeffrey Schwarz’ biography of the most memorable member of John Waters’ infamous repertory company. And I would quite like to see it myself.

Lone Survivor: Peter Berg’s grotesque re-creation of a 2005 Afghanistan firefight between four Navy SEALs and  dozens of Taliban gunmen  is one of the most shamelessly fetishistic, jingoistic and morally repugnant films I’ve ever seen pitched for awards consideration. Which means it’ll probably land a Best Picture nomination.

Persistence of Vision: Richard Williams’ decades-long quest to make the movie that ultimately became The Thief and the Cobbler is chronicled in somewhat frustrating fashion by documentarian Kevin Schreck, who’s clearly limited by the people and footage available to him but still could have made a sharper movie.

Oh, and don’t miss John’s excellent evaluation of Abel Ferrara’s grindhouse breakout Ms. 45, back on the big screen this weekend in a restoration of questionable value.

There, that should do it. And it looks like I might be live-tweeting the Golden Globes on Sunday night, so you might wanna follow me on Twitter or just keep an eye on the widget to your left. See you there!