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The Oscar race is on

GET OUT the Oscar scorecards because next week Hollywood launches its new movie season, with a typical fall mix of adult dramas dealing with more serious topics than this past summer's popcorn flicks.

Movies like western '3:10 to Yuma', starring Russell Crowe and Christian Bale, and 'Elizabeth: The Golden Age' aspire to be early frontrunners in the race for Oscars, the world's top film honors, which are given out in winter by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences.

But lovers of adventure and comedy should not despair. Plenty of other titles also fill the bill, ranging from Jodie Foster's actioner 'The Brave One' to Ben Stiller's comedy 'The Heartbreak Kid' and Disney fairy tale 'Enchanted'.

"I think people want to be entertained. I think they want to be moved. I think they want to be taken on a journey, and the last thing they want is be preached at," actress Charlize Theron told Reuters recently.

Theron stars in one of September's more serious movies, 'In the Valley of Elah', from writer/director Paul Haggis, who brought out Oscar-winning 'Crash'.

Other top September tickets are 'The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford' with Brad Pitt, and 'King of California' starring Michael Douglas. Sean Penn directs drama 'Into the Wild', and Ang Lee brings out 'Lust, Caution', a thriller about seduction and betrayal in 1940s China.

September bang, October laughs

September ends in a bang with action flick 'The Kingdom', starring Jamie Foxx and Jennifer Garner as FBI agents sent to Saudi Arabia to investigate a bombing, sparking a culture clash between mid-East and Western ideology.

October starts on a lighter note with Stiller's 'The Heartbreak Kid' from comedy writing and directing brothers Peter and Bobby Farrelly, who were behind Stiller's 1998 hit 'There's Something About Mary'.

One offbeat comedy creating big advance buzz in Hollywood is director Wes Anderson's 'The Darjeeling Limited', about three friends who go on a spiritual quest throughout India.

Movies also get serious in October. George Clooney, who scored an awards hit in 2005 with 'Good Night, and Good Luck', is back with 'Michael Clayton', playing a man hired by a law firm to straighten out an attorney drawn into a conspiracy.

Finally in October, John Cusack stars in 'Grace is Gone', a hit at 2007's Sundance Film Festival about a father grieving the loss of his wife in Iraq.

Holiday horizon

By early November, Hollywood returns to fare aimed at mostly younger audiences, and computer animated 'Bee Movie', created by comedian Jerry Seinfeld, fits that bill. It tells of a bee who escapes his hum-drum hive for life in Manhattan.

Another animated wonder in November will be 'Beowulf', directed by Robert Zemeckis, who uses motion-capture technology to retell the epic poem that follows Beowulf's battles.