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Top five movies and upcoming releases

By STEVE PERSALL, Times Film Critic
Published January 20, 2005

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 RELEASES

Jan. 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

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