The Oscars never gave an award to Barbara Stanwyck or Greta Garbo, failed to acknowledge The Magnificent Ambersons and Mulholland Drive and generally have handed out statuettes to now-forgettable blockbusters like copies of The Watch Tower. But there's one excellent service that the Academy Awards offer: They scare the studios into trying to make a few smart films.

With the Oscars coming up in two months' time, the great release of potentially good films is on, and many of them will be opening in Prague in a timely fashion. Following are just a few promising films that will be hitting the screens here over January and February.

Blood Diamond—Edward Zwick, director. Leonardo DiCaprio, Jennifer Connelly and Djimon Hounsou star. There has been some critical bashing of Edward (The Last Samurai) Zwick's new film, but its heart is in the right place. Blood Diamond tackles the African diamond trade, which has been responsible for much of the instability and violence on that troubled continent. Star DiCaprio pushed hard for this project, just as he did for his own upcoming film on global warming. Yes, it will probably be tendentious, tryingly so, but it will at least start some needed conversation. Opens Jan. 25

Apocalypto—Mel Gibson, director. Rudy Youngblood, Dalia Hernandez and Mayra Serbulo star. When not out perfecting anti-Semitic slurs, Mel Gibson is, of course, cranking out films in nearly dead languages. In the Atkins buffet that was The Passion of the Christ, his actors were speaking in Aramaic and Latin. For his latest, Apocalypto, the dialogue is in Yukatek Mayan, a surviving remnant of the once mighty Mayan empire. The film is set in the waning days of the Mayans' power, long before whitey sailed in bringing his priestcraft and smallpox. Critics Stateside have been generally enthusiastic about the film, so perhaps we should give poor Mad Mel a break after all. Opens Jan. 25

Breaking and Entering—Anthony Minghella, director. Jude Law, Juliette Binoche and Robin Wright Penn star. Minghella's newest film takes a look at the underbelly of London, that side seldom seen in the likes of Love, Actually or Notting Hill. Jude Law plays a high-powered architect, who finds himself enmeshed in the hidden world of the city's political refugees. Opens Jan. 25.

Goya's Ghost—Miloš Forman, director. Natalie Portman, Javier Bardem, Stellan Skarsgĺrd and Randy Quaid star. The long-awaited new film from one of the Czech Republic's great directors. The action is set toward the end of the famous Spanish artist's life, when he must face the fearful Inquisition to help a friend who has been accused of heresy. Opens Feb. 1

Flags of Our Fathers—Clint Eastwood, director. Ryan Phillippe, Adam Beach and Jesse Bradford star. This is the film that everyone is betting on for the Oscars' Best Picture, and the word from film critics is that Eastwood might have done it again. The story is based on the lives of the men who lifted up the U.S. flag on the hilltop in Iwo Jima during World War II and of how that moment of fame fairly well ruined their lives afterward. It is a war picture, but one that apparently doesn't flinch at portraying war as little more than a waste — both during the fighting and after. Opens Feb. 15