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Top five movies and upcoming releases

STEVE PERSALL
Published September 18, 2003

Top Five

1. American Splendor - The strange, downbeat life of comic book author Harvey Pekar (Paul Giamatti) gets a suitably weird treatment in one of the year's best films.

2. Thirteen - Catherine Hardwicke's film is an unflinching look at one girl's shaky passage into adolescence. Tough stuff, but just what parents need to know.

3. Secondhand Lions - A boy (Haley Joel Osment) gets dumped into the custody of great-uncles (Robert Duvall, Michael Caine) who don't want him. Manipulative but effective family entertainment.

4. Once Upon a Time in Mexico - Antonio Banderas returns as El Mariachi, but Johnny Depp steals the show as a strange CIA agent in Robert Rodriguez's violent sequel to Desperado.

5. Matchstick Men - A con artist (Nicolas Cage) deals with a tough sting and a curious daughter (Alison Lohman) in a sprightly caper from director Ridley Scott.

Upcoming Releases

Sept. 26: Lost in Translation; Duplex; The Rundown; Under the Tuscan Sun

Oct. 3: Out of Time; School of Rock

Oct. 10: Kill Bill, Volume 1; Mystic River; Intolerable Cruelty; Good Boy!; The House of the Dead

Oct. 17: Runaway Jury; Veronica Guerin; Texas Chainsaw Massacre

Oct. 24: Gothika; Beyond Borders; Brother Bear; Scary Movie 3; Radio

Oct. 31: The Human Stain; In the Cut; Pieces of April; Alien: The Director's Cut (rerelease)

Nov. 5: The Matrix Revolutions

Nov. 7: Elf

Dec. 17: The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King

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