1. Better Luck Tomorrow - Asian-American honor students face crime and consequences. This Sundance Film Festival hit - the best film of 2003, so far - is the kind of artful anarchy MTV Films should promote, rather than Jackass and The Real Cancun.
2. The Good Thief - Nick Nolte's best performance ever, playing an aging crook on a losing streak in Parisian casinos. Directed by Neil Jordan (The Crying Game).
3. X-Men 2: X-Men United - The popular Marvel Comics superheroes return with a new villain, more mutants and an admirable sense of purpose beyond stunts and special effects.
4. Holes - Times Xpress film critic Billy Norris, 15, thinks this Disney adventure, based upon the award-winning novel, is great fun.
5. Ghosts of the Abyss - James Cameron's artistic obsession with the Titanic disaster leads to an engrossing documentary trek to the wreckage. Shown in 3-D (not IMAX) only at Citrus Park 20 in Tampa.
Upcoming releases
May 9: Daddy Day Care; A Mighty Wind
May 15: The Matrix Reloaded
May 16: Down With Love; He Loves Me . . . He Loves Me Not; Pokemon Heroes
May 23: The In-Laws; Bruce Almighty
May 30: Finding Nemo; The Italian Job; Wrong Turn
June 6: 2 Fast 2 Furious; Prozac Nation
June 13: Hollywood Homicide; Rugrats Go Wild; From Justin To Kelly; Dumb & Dumberer: When Harry Met Lloyd; Jet Lag
June 20: The Hulk; Alex & Emma
June 27: Charlie's Angels 2: Full Throttle; 28 Days Later; Valentin
July 2: Terminator 3: The Rise of the Machines; Legally Blonde: Red, White & Blonde; Sinbad: Legend of the Seven Seas
July 9: Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl
July 11: The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen; The Forgotten
July 18: Bad Boys II; Exorcist: The Beginning; How to Deal; Johnny English; The Magdelene Sisters
July 25: Lara Croft Tomb Raider: The Cradle of Life; Seabiscuit; Spy Kids 3-D: Game Over
Aug. 1: American Wedding; Gigli; Confessions of a Dangerous Mind (rerelease); Dirty Pretty Things
Aug. 8: S.W.A.T.; The Fighting Temptations; Matchstick Men; Shaolin Soccer
Aug. 15: Freddy vs. Jason; The Medallion; Uptown Girls Aug. 22: Grind, Marci X, My Boss' Daughter
