Top 5 movies

1 Monster's Ball -- An excellent ensemble cast -- especially Halle Berry and Billy Bob Thornton -- breathe life into a suffocating tragedy of racism, capital punishment and family skeletons. The best new movie produced in 2001.

2 Kandahar -- A Western woman's journey through Afghanistan reveals the emotional wreckage resulting from Taliban rule. Director Mohsen Makhmalbaf's quasidocumentary is a sobering piece of work.

3 Black Hawk Down -- Director Ridley Scott commands a gripping, fact-based story of a U.S. Special Forces operation in Somalia in 1993. A movie war more hellish than Saving Private Ryan. One of the best films of 2001.

4 Gosford Park -- A hunting party among British elites brings sex, deception and murder while the servants watch. Golden Globe-winning director Robert Altman's multicharacter style blooms with the best ensemble cast of 2001 at his disposal.

5 A Beautiful Mind -- Russell Crowe places himself in Oscar contention with a sterling portrayal of John Forbes Nash, a schizophrenic mathematician. Winner of four Golden Globes including best dramatic film, actor, screenplay and supporting actress (Jennifer Connelly).

Upcoming releases

Feb. 15: No Man's Land, Iris, John Q, Frailty, Super Troopers, Hart's War, Return to Neverland, Waking Up in Reno, The Son's Room

Feb. 22: The New Guy, Queen of the Damned, Dragonfly, Italian for Beginners, The Endurance

March 1: -- 40 Days 40 Nights, Storytelling, Lantana

March 8: The Time Machine

March 15: Death to Smoochie, Juwanna Mann, Harrison's Flowers

March 22: E.T.: The Extraterrestrial, The Independent, Sorority Boys, Monsoon Wedding

April 19: The Scorpion King

May 3: Hollywood Ending

May 24: Spirit: Stallion of the Cimarron

June 7: The Tuxedo

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