1. Lost in Translation - Bill Murray and Scarlett Johansson deserve Oscar nominations in Sofia Coppola's bittersweet, funny tale of strangers spending time together in Tokyo.
2. Out of Time - Director Carl Franklin offers a textbook lesson on how to keep a thriller thrilling, led by another incredibly credible Denzel Washington performance.
3. 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.
4. Tampa International Gay and Lesbian Film Festival - The annual showcase of gay cinema is always full of provocative films, uplifting music and fascinating forums.
5. 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.
Upcoming releases
Oct. 10: Kill Bill, Volume 1; Mystic River; Intolerable Cruelty; Good Boy!; The House of the Dead
