TOP FIVE
Current movies recommended by the Times:
1. The Sea Inside - A paralyzed man (Javier Bardem) fights for his right to die with self-respect. Golden Globe winner for best foreign language film.
2. The Woodsman - A paroled pedophile (Kevin Bacon) finds it difficult to go straight. Less lurid than expected; more thoughtful than the crime usually commands.
3. Hotel Rwanda - Don Cheadle earned a Golden Globe nomination for this true-life story set against genocidal conditions in Africa. Terry George's film was also nominated for best dramatic film.
4. Kinsey - Liam Neeson plays the scientist who jump-started the sexual revolution, in a film as uninhibited about its subject as was his research. One of 2004's best films.
5. Sideways - Two buddies (Paul Giamatti, Thomas Haden Church) spend a week in California wine country sorting through the wreckage of their lives. Golden Globe winner for best musical/comedy motion picture and screenplay.
UPCOMING RELEASESJan. 28: Million Dollar Baby; Vera Drake; Alone in the Dark; Hide and Seek; Straight-Jacket
Feb. 4: Boogeyman; The Wedding Date
Feb. 11: Hitch; The Assassination of Richard Nixon; Bride and Prejudice; Pooh's Heffalump Movie
Feb. 18: Constantine; Because of Winn-Dixie; Son of the Mask; Bad Education
Feb. 25: Man of the House; Diary of a Mad Black Woman; Cursed