film
8 1/2 (NR) -- A- Frederico Fellini's absurd, cutting self-portrait of a director mired in self-doubt during his latest film project. Marcello Mastroianni (and Fellini, for that matter) is at his best here. (Simmons) 7:30 p.m. Wednesday, March 28, Loyola's Bobet Hall
15 MINUTES (R) -- C Forget important discussions of fame, justice and the media. John Herzfeld's drama is shallow, frenzied and ultimately forgettable. Robert De Niro disappoints with a lackluster performance as a media darling detective on the trail of two killers hell-bent on getting famous and staying that way. (Carlson) Chalmette, Galleria, Palace 16, Palace 20
BEFORE NIGHT FALLS (R) -- A- Julian Schnabel's biography of homosexual Cuban writer Reinaldo Arenas offers a commanding, Oscar-nominated lead performance by Javier Bardem and provides a withering look at the inevitable need of the totalitarian regime to crush the artist who knows a loyalty to beauty always greater than that to any government. (Barton) Canal Place
THE BROTHERS (R) -- NOT RATED When the playboy in a group of four African-American buddies -- Bill Bellamy, Morris Chestnut, D.L. Hughley and Shemar Moore -- announces he's getting married, the other three are faced with their unwillingness to commit. Directorial debut of Gary Hardwick, who wrote Trippin'. Chalmette, Downtown Joy, Galleria, Palace 16, Palace 20, Plaza
CAST AWAY (PG-13) -- A- Robert Zemeckis directed this Robinson Crusoe adventure/love story. Tom Hanks is plane-wrecked on an uninhabited island. Helen Hunt is the deeply loved girlfriend he left behind. At its best this film is a searching existential reflection about dealing with life's inherent unfairness. Oscar-nominated Hanks is terrific. Nominated for two Academy Awards. (Barton) Palace 20
CHOCOLAT (PG-13) -- B Lasse Hallstrom directed this comic fable about a candy store owner (Oscar-nominated Juliette Binoche) in a small French town who falls into disfavor with the mayor (Alfred Molina) who thinks that her exquisite confections will lead the townspeople into a life of wanton surrender to desire. An outstanding cast and an appealing whimsy of magical realism can't quite make us care about this as much as we'd like. Nominated for five Academy Awards including best picture. (Barton) Canal Place, Galleria, Palace 16, Palace 20
CROUCHING TIGER, HIDDEN DRAGON (PG-13) -- B+ Ang Lee (The Ice Storm) directed this martial arts picture in the tradition he loved as a youth. Chow-Yun Fat and Michelle Yeoh are two warriors trying to retrieve a stolen sword. Wonderful photography and dazzling choreography make this worthwhile. Nominated for 10 Academy Awards including best picture. (Barton) Canal Place, Palace 16, Palace 20, Plaza
DAISY MILLER (G) -- NOT RATED Peter Bogdonavich's period piece (from Henry James' novella) earned a 1974 Oscar nomination for best costume design and little else, with Cybill Shepherd in the title role. 7:30 p.m. Monday, April 2, Loyola's Bobet Hall
DESPAIR (NR) -- NOT RATED German impressionist director Rainer Werner Fassbinder adapted Vladmir Nabokov's novel about a Russian émigré who runs a chocolate factory during Hitler's takeover of Germany. Dirk Bogarde stars. 7:30 p.m. Tuesday, March 27, Loyola's Bobet Hall
DOWN TO EARTH (PG-13) -- NOT RATED An African-American comedian (Chris Rock, appropriately enough) who accidentally dies before his time returns to Earth as a rich white man who's the murder target of his wife and mistress in this latest update of Here Comes Mr. Jordan. Co-directed by Paul Weitz (American Pie) and Chris Weitz. Chalmette, Downtown Joy, Palace 16, Palace 20, Plaza
ENEMY AT THE GATES (R) -- B Jean-Jacques Annaud eventually finds his mark in this fact-based story of Russian sniper Vassili Zaitsev (Jude Law). His romantic triangle with a fellow shooter Rachel Weisz and propagandist Joseph Fiennes isn't nearly as interesting as his showdown with Nazi marksman Ed Harris. (Reviewed in this issue.) (Simmons) Galleria, Palace 16, Palace 20
EXIT WOUNDS (R) -- NOT RATED Steven Seagal is a tough New York cop trying to find as many ways as possible to apply violence to clean up corruption in his precinct. Rapper DMX is around to provide that demographic boost. Chalmette, Downtown Joy, Galleria, Palace 16, Palace 20, Plaza
GALAPAGOS (NR) -- A- Smithsonian marine biologist Carole Baldwin leads an expedition of the mysterious islands explored by Charles Darwin more than 160 years ago. An amazing use of IMAX 3D technology, the film is a feast for the eyes, if not the intellect. (Carlson) Entergy IMAX
GEORGE WASHINGTON (NR) -- NOT RATED David Gordon Green's impressionistic and organic portrayal of a multiracial set of kids surviving the dog days of a North Carolina summer made several critics' (Roger Ebert's included) top-10 lists for 2000. Green assembled a group of non-professional actors and allowed lots of room for improv. Opens Friday, March 30, for one week at the Plaza
GET OVER IT (PG-13) -- NOT RATED High school jock Ben Foster tries out for a Shakespeare play in order to win back his ex-girlfriend but winds up falling for his best friend's younger sister (Kirsten Dunst). R&B blonde Sisqo co-stars as his teammate. Palace 16, Plaza, Palace 20
HANNIBAL (R) -- C Ridley Scott's sequel to The Silence of the Lambs is a serious disappointment. Like a comedy which assumes scatological jokes are inherently funny, this lukewarm chiller assumes gore is natively scary. A peeled face, a rope of intestines and a live man fed slices of his own brain do not entertainment make. (Barton) Chalmette, Palace 16, Palace 20
HEARTBREAKERS (PG-13) -- NOT RATED A mother-daughter con team (Sigourney Weaver and Jennifer Love-Hewitt) decide to set up shop in Palm Beach and start picking off their prey, until the daughter falls for one of her marks (Jason Lee). Chalmette, Galleria, Palace 16, Palace 20
THE HOUSE OF MIRTH (PG-13) -- B Terence Davies' adaptation of the Edith Wharton novel is an imperfect film with significant narrative gaps. It features an outstanding lead performance by Gillian Anderson, however, and comments memorably on the sad way throughout most of human history women have been defined by the men to whom they were attached. (Barton) Canal Place
THE MAME-LOSHEN (NR) -- B Pierre Sauvage produced, wrote and narrated this film directed by Cordelia Stone that provides a probing, didactic look at the Yiddish language and its place in Jewish culture. Highlights include interviews with comedian David Steinberg and author Leo Rosten. (Simmons) 12:30 p.m. Tuesday, March 27, Jewish Community Center (5342 St. Charles Ave.)
THE MEXICAN (R) -- B+ Low-level hood Brad Pitt doesn't know it, but he has to recover a legendary pistol or girlfriend Julia Roberts is gonna get smoked by loveable hitman James Gandolfini. Pitt and Roberts show great maturity in letting the material do a lot of the work in this delightful road comedy, with Gandolfini providing the moral center. (Simmons) Chalmette, Galleria, Palace 16, Palace 20 Prytania
MUCH ADO ABOUT NOTHING (PG-13) -- B+ Kenneth Branagh's second attempt at making Shakespeare accessible for mainstream audiences is as breezy as its material, with great performances by Emma Thompson and a mugging Michael Keaton. (Simmons) 7:30 p.m. Thursday, March 29, Loyola's Bobet Hall
O BROTHER, WHERE ARE THOU? (PG-13) -- C+ The Coen Brothers based this action comedy on Homer's The Odyssey with George Clooney as a 1930s convict trying to survive various adventures to make his way back home to wife Holly Hunter. John Turturro and John Goodman also star. Seriously quirky but infrequently funny, this will disappoint the Coens' many devoted fans. Nominated for two Academy Awards. (Barton) Palace 20
POLLOCK (R) -- B- Ed Harris' biography of the great abstract expressionist painter Jackson Pollock has justifiably nominated performances (his own and that of Marcia Gay Harden as Pollock's wife Lee Krasner) and a handful of terrific scenes. The whole, though, fails to answer key questions and neglects to raise others of importance. Pollock was an irredeemable jerk, and the film could have used more focus on the loyal, talented wife he abused and betrayed. (Reviewed in this issue.) Canal Place, Palace 20
RECESS: SCHOOL'S OUT -- (G) -- D+ Disney goes head-to-head with the Rugrats and comes up short. A gang of mischievous kids, who normally reside on Saturday morning television between commercials for pre-sweetened cereal, band together to save the world. (Tisserand) Chalmette, Palace 16, Palace 20
SAVE THE LAST DANCE (PG-13) -- C- Thomas Carter directed Julia Stiles and Sean Patrick Thomas in this interracial romance about a white suburban girl and an inner-city black guy who share a love for dancing. The leads are plenty attractive, but, alas, this is another too-typical Hollywood flick that just doesn't get it. The picture's bedrock insensitivity smacks loudly of paternalism no matter its pretense of better intentions. (Barton) Palace 20
SAY IT ISN'T SO (R) -- NOT RATED Boy (Chris Klein) meets girl (Heather Graham). Boy thinks girl is his sister. Boy loses girl. Boy finds out someone was pulling his leg. Boy tries to stop girl from marrying her ex-fiance. Sound like the Farrelly Brothers (Something About Mary)? Close enough; J.B. Rogers, their first assistant director, mans the helm of this comedy. Galleria, Palace 16, Palace 20
SEE SPOT RUN (PG) -- NOT RATED Postal worker David Arquette (who often seems like he's gone postal) finds himself in hot water when he picks up a dog who happens to be a drug-sniffer for the FBI recently put into its witness protection program. Michael Clarke Duncan plays the pooch's trainer/partner. Martin Lawrence originally was slotted for Arquette's role but backed out. Wonder why. Chalmette, Palace 16, Palace 20, Plaza
THIRTEEN DAYS (PG-13) -- A- Roger Donaldson directed this thriller about the Cuban Missile Crisis. Kevin Costner stars as Kenneth O'Donnell, the presidential aide who stood at John F. Kennedy's side as he formulated the decisions that forced the Russians to back down without triggering a nuclear war that could have ended human civilization. Tense and well acted, this picture drives home the thousands of ways in which the tiniest of human miscommunications could yet render eternal oblivion. (Barton) Palace 20
TRAFFIC (R) -- B+ Steven Soderbergh directed Michael Douglas, Don Cheadle, Benicio Del Toro and Catherine Zeta-Jones in this complicated thriller about the federal government's incessant and hopeless war on drugs. An artfully complicated plot looks at both U.S. and Mexican cops, the family of a drug lord and that of a suburban user. Taut action doesn't quite disguise occasional elements of implausibility. Nominated for five Academy Awards including best picture. (Barton) Palace 16, Palace 20
THE WEDDING PLANNER (PG-13) -- NOT RATED Adam Shankman directed this romantic comedy about a busy professional wedding planner whose own love life is a disaster until she meets a new client: the prospective groom. Jennifer Lopez and Matthew McConaughey star. Palace 16, Palace 20
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Canal Place 581-5400; Chalmette 277-9797; Downtown Joy 522-7575; Galleria 838-8309; Entergy IMAX 581-4629; Jewish Community Center 897-0143; Loyola Film Buffs 865-2152; Palace 16 (West Bank) 263-1618; Palace 20 (Elmwood) 734-2020; Plaza 245-0102; Prytania 891-2787
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Compiled by David Lee Simmons
Contributors: Rick Barton, Shala Carlson, David Lee Simmons, Michael Tisserand
