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The month of January is widely known as the crap month, where movie studios dump the flicks with the most uncertainty. Movies like Legion and The Lovely Bones are dug their own graves, while the studios are forced to sit back and watch them be buried under the mess of bad critic reviews, bad audience reaction and bad box office.

This past month nothing has even caught my eye to make me want to actually go out and spend $11 on a two-hour train wreck, and the movies I did see in January 2010 were major bombs (The Lovely Bones, cough cough). January is never a good month for Hollywood overall. It’s the month between December, the slate set for epic end-of-the-year blowouts (Avatar, Sherlock Holmes) and the last real bid for Oscar consideration; and February, ready for romantic comedies (Valentine’s Day, Dear John) and the nearly-departed (Shutter Island, for reasons unknown). In January, we were graced with Legion, The Spy Next Door and Leap Year for wide releases. This Friday doesn’t look too good either, with the release of When in Rome and Edge of Darkness. Though I’m hoping Mel Gibson and Martin Campbell are able to prove me wrong.

Despite the moronic trash playing at your local cinema, we were rather lucky this year: we had Avatar. On Monday it broke the all-time world record that Titanic previously shattered to become the highest-grossing movie of all time. Because of its success, nobody is talking about Legion or Tooth Fairy; everyone’s been raving about CGI blue people. There’s nary been a movie nearly as gargantuan as this in the January Graveyard. If you haven’t seen Avatar yet (which I’d be really surprised if you haven’t), I highly suggest you do. Lucky for us, the movie that’s banking more than six zeros on its worldwide sum is actually good.

Of course, there’s also the Little Movies That Could in January, the tiny little indies playing in remote theaters nowhere near the giant AMC with the ticket line out the door. Yes, these are the movies such as The White Ribbon, Fish Tank, and Youth in Revolt. (I know, Revolt had a wide release this month, but come on, did you go to see that or “Avadon” again, as the California governor so sweetly butchered its title at the Golden Globes.) The flicks never do too well with delivering distributors the cha-ching, but they’re the ones that critics recommend you see over the famed Legions out there.

Say you are an invested filmgoer. January is the time of month to catch up on movies you didn’t have time to see when they were originally released, or maybe just want to see again. This could explain Avatar’s success, but it could also explain why Fish Tank was so popular a few weekends ago. There are no real event films to weigh it down. So pass the lines for When in Rome this weekend and spend time with The White Ribbon for a change. Don’t worry, in a few weeks we can all go back to obsessing over whether Channing Tatum leaves or stays with Amanda Seyfried.