By Dennis O’Neil

With the steroid-injected pyrotechnics of summer behind us, it is time to gear up for the fall season and the slew of earnest Oscar contenders that it often carries. While this autumn won’t include tentacle-faced pirates, gravity-defying superheroes or even snakes on planes, here is a brief overview of possible highlights for the months to come. ?

The Departed

With “Gangs of New York” and “The Aviator” behind them, director Martin Scorsese and Leonardo DiCaprio look to continue their collaborative success with “The Departed,” a remake of the 2002 Hong Kong action flick “Infernal Affairs.”

In the film, DiCaprio plays a South Boston cop who infiltrates the mob, and Matt Damon plays a hood who has infiltrated the police department. When both organizations realize that there are traitors in their midst, the men become locked in a struggle to stay alive.

The film marks a historic, first time collaboration between Scorsese and Jack Nicholson, who is already generating Oscar buzz for his portrayal of a sleazy Boston crime boss. Scorsese returns to the type of gritty street drama that made him a legend, and if “The Departed” delivers, Scorsese’s troubles with the Academy (7 directing nominations but no award) may come to an end. ??Flags of our fathers

If history holds any weight, then two-time Academy Award winner Clint Eastwood’s World War II drama “Flags of Our Fathers” may be the film to beat in March.

Adapted from the novel by James Bradley, with Ron Powers, the film tells the story of the historic photograph taken at the Battle of Iwo Jima, and the way it helped shape the nation’s perception of WWII. Ryan Phillipe, “Crash,” Jesse Bradford, “Swimfan,” and Adam Beach, “Windtalkers” star as three of the soldiers depicted in the photograph, and successfully illusrate the disillusionment that their sudden celebrity brought about.

The film, written by Oscar winner Paul Haggis, “Crash,” and William Broyles, Jr. “Jarhead,” seems to move and educate its audience, as it depicts the cultural mythology surrounding Iwo Jima, and the way in which the survivors attempted to give recognition to those who died. ??stranger than fiction

On the comedy end of things, director Marc Forster, “Finding Neverland,” looks to rebound from his “Stay” misfire with “Stranger than Fiction,” which may be the comedy gem of the holiday season. ?Emma Thompson plays a failing novelist attempting to revive her career with her latest book. Little does she know, her protagonist Harold, played by Will Ferrell, is a real person who begins to hear the author’s voice narrating his life wherever he goes. Harold begins to go crazy as a result, and, when he learns of the author’s plans to kill him off, has to stop the end of his story from actually happening. Queen Latifah and Maggie Gyllenhaal co-star.

The fountain

The science fiction epic, “The Fountain” marks Darren Aronofsky’s return to directing after a seven year hiatus, following the two films, “Pi” and “Requiem for a Dream,” that triumphantly opened his career.

It is quite an ambitious return, with a sprawling and complex story that encompasses 1000 years and three parallel stories. In each storyline, Hugh Jackman and Rachel Weisz play a manifestation of the same couple across the 16th, 21st and 26th centuries.

The film functions as both an existential meditation as well as a sci-fi love story, chronicling the relationship of two people fated to be together through eternity.

Though the film will definitely be divisive, Aronofsky’s originality speaks for itself if you’ve seen any of his other work, and “The Fountain,” though bizarre in description, is sure to be a memorable film. ??Children of men

If you need a movie to see on Christmas night, then look no further than acclaimed director Alfonso Cuaron’s dystopian drama “Children of Men.”

The film takes place in 2027, in a world where human beings have lost the ability to procreate, and the human population awaits its own extinction.

Clive Owen stars as a former activist who becomes involved in a crusade to transport a miraculously pregnant woman to a sanctuary at sea, where scientists can study her in the hope of finding a cure to human extinction.

The great “Y Tu Mama Tambien” and “Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban” may have the last piece of the Best Picture puzzle if “Children of Men” delivers what its magnificent trailer indicates that it should.

For more information, visit the Internet Movie Database online at http://www.IMDB.com.