13 CONVERSATIONS ABOUT ONE THING (R) -- NOT RATED Jill Sprecher (Clockwatchers) directs Matthew McConaughey, John Turturro, Clea DuVall and Amy Irving, in this ensemble piece about interconnected lives in New York City and the possibility of karma. Canal Place
AMRAM JAM (NR) -- NOT RATED Free screening of the 1996 documentary
of composer David Amram, who will appear to answer questions and sign copies
of his book, Offbeat: Collaborating With Kerouac. 7 p.m. Tuesday UNO
Downtown Theatre
AU STIN POWERS IN GOLDMEMBER (PG-13) -- A- Perhaps the funniest of
the Austin Powers trilogy, Goldmember introduces the eponymous bad guy,
a Dutch madman maimed in a smelting accident (Mike Myers), as well as Powers
patriarch, Nigel (Michael Cainvbhje). (Carlson) AMC Palace 12, AMC Palace
16, AMC Palace 20
BAD COMPANY (PG-13) -- NOT RATED CIA veteran Anthony Hopkins recruits the "street-smart" brother (Chris Rock) of his late, Harvard-educated partner to go after the bad guys in this action romp from Joel Schumacher. AMC Palace 16, Chalmette
BLOOD WORK (R) -- C Clint Eastwood exudes his usual charisma as a retired F.B.I. agent with a heart transplant back at work on a serial murder case. (Barton) AMC Palace 12, AMC Palace 20
BLUE CRUSH (PG-13) -- B Director John Stockwell (Crazy/Beautiful) delivers tasty waves and a slightly cool buzz of a plot in this surprisingly charming film about a surfer girl (Kate Bosworth) who tries to pull herself up with a decent showing at a championship meet in Hawaii. (Simmons) AMC Palace 12, AMC Palace 16, AMC Palace 20
CITY BY THE SEA (R) -- NOT RATED New York cop Robert De Niro investigates a murder only to find his erstwhile son James Franco is a prime suspect. Frances McDormand and Eliza Dushku co-star. AMC Palace 12, AMC Palace 16, AMC Palace 20, Chalmette, Hollywood Cinemas 9, Prytania
THE FAST RUNNER (NR) -- NOT RATED This critically acclaimed film, which won Best First Feature at last year's Cannes Film Festival, hits town for an expected one-week run. An Inuit tribe member is forced to flee when he tangles with his romantic rival in this debut from Zacharias Kunuk. Canal Place
FEAR DOT COM (R) -- NOT RATED Police detective Stephen Dorff teams up with health examiner Natascha McElhone to investigate a series of bizarre deaths, all of which appear to be related to a Web site. AMC Palace 12, AMC Palace 16, AMC Palace 20, Chalmette, Downtown Joy, Hollywood Cinemas 9
THE GOOD GIRL (R) -- A- This black comedy starring Jennifer Aniston exposes the thin veneer of morality to reveal the bedrock selfishness in human behavior. Jennifer Aniston does Oscar-worthy work as a retail clerk cheating with a co-worker (Jake Gyllenhaal) on her doofus husband of seven years (John C. Reilly). (Barton) Canal Place, AMC Palace 20
HAUNTED CASTLE (PG) -- NOT RATED Combination of live-action characters and computer-generated scenes fill this 3-D version of the Faustian tale. Entergy IMAX
MARTIN LAWRENCE LIVE: RUNTELDAT (R) -- NOT RATED The comic presents his first concert performance on film since 1994's wildly popular You So Crazy. AMC Palace 16, AMC Palace 20
MEN IN BLACK II (PG-13) -- B+ The sequel to the 1997 box office barn
burner Men in Black is fresher and funnier -- although even more familiar
-- than ever. Tommy Lee Jones, Will Smith and Rip Torn obviously relish the
opportunity to reprise their roles. (Carlson) AMC Palace 12, AMC Palace 16,
AMC Palace 20, Chalmette, Hollywood Cinemas 9
MY BIG FAT GREEK WEDDING (PG) -- NOT RATED Nia Vardalos wrote and stars in the screen adaptation of her autobiographical one-woman play about the misadventures of a Greek woman marrying a non-Greek man. AMC Palace 16, AMC Palace 20, Canal Place, Chalmette
POSSESSION (PG-13) -- A- Neil LaBute artfully adapts the much-loved A.S. Byatt novel, which tells the story of two modern-day academics (Gwyneth Paltrow and Aaron Eckhart) and their pursuit of the romantic tale of two Victorian-era poets (Jeremy Northam and Jennifer Ehle). (Carlson) AMC Palace 20
ROAD TO PERDITION (R) -- C Sam Mendes' rampantly disappointing follow-up to American Beauty is a Depression-era crime drama that ought to be about a father's search for redemption but is instead about a father's search for revenge. (Barton) AMC Palace 12, AMC Palace 20
SERVING SARA (R) -- NOT RATED Process server Matthew Perry gets duped into serving divorce papers for shady lady Elizabeth Hurley in this romantic action comedy from Reginald Hudlin (House Party, Boomerang). AMC Palace 12, AMC Palace 16, AMC Palace 20, Canal Place, Chalmette, Hollywood Cinemas 9
SIGNS (PG-13) -- B- M. Night Shyamalan continues what feels like a downward career trajectory after his thrilling debut, The Sixth Sense, with this manipulative, choppy and ultimately thin exploration of a creeping alien invasion. (Simmons) AMC Palace 12, AMC Palace 16, AMC Palace 20, Chalmette, Hollywood Cinemas 9, Plaza
SIMONE (PG-13) -- B+ Writer/director Andrew Niccol's comedy stars Al Pacino as an unsuccessful movie director who salvages his career by creating a beautiful, talented, daring "synthespian" to star in his films. (Barton) (Reviewed in this issue.) AMC Palace 12, AMC Palace 16, AMC Palace 20, Chalmette, Hollywood Cinemas 9
SPACE STATION (NR) -- NOT RATED -- A 3-D look at the International Space Station. Entergy IMAX
SPIDER-MAN (PG-13) -- B Tobey Maguire spins a believable web as your friendly neighborhood Spider-Man in this Sam Raimi effort. (Carlson) MC Palace 12, AMC Palace 16, AMC Palace 20, Chalmette, Hollywood Cinemas 9
SPY KIDS 2 (PG) -- NOT RATED Robert Rodriguez's follow-up to last year's successful romp with a brother-sister team taking over for their spy parents (Antonio Banderas, Carla Gugino) when mom and pop are put out of action. AMC Palace 12, AMC Palace 16, AMC Palace 20, Chalmette, Hollywood Cinemas 9
STUART LITTLE 2 (PG) -- B This sequel still doesn't measure up to E.B. White's book, but it easily tops the first film in whimsy and age-appropriateness. Michael J. Fox voices the squeaky hero and James Woods is a villainous falcon, but Nathan Lane gets the film's best laughs as a bitchy house cat. (Tisserand) AMC Palace 16
SWIMFAN (PG-13) -- NOT RATED Fatal Attraction goes to high school when new girl Erika Christensen seduces stud swimmer Jesse Bradford then gets rabbit-boiling mad when he blows her off. AMC Palace 12, AMC Palace 16, AMC Palace 20, Chalmette, Hollywood Cinemas 9
UNDISPUTED (R) -- NOT RATED Boxing champ Ving Rhames gets sent to prison on a rape charge, only to be forced into a bout with prison boxing champ Wesley Snipes in this film co-starring New Orleans' own Master P as the leader of a prison rap group. AMC Palace 12, AMC Palace 16, AMC Palace 20, Chalmette, Downtown Joy, Hollywood Cinemas 9, Plaza
XXX (PG-13) -- NOT RATED Overnight action hunk Vin Diesel reunites with The Fast and the Furious director Rob Cohen and producer Neil Moritz in this story of an on-the-edge, extreme-sports wild man (Diesel) recruited by the government's Samuel L. Jackson to bust up a Russian crime gang. AMC Palace 12, AMC Palace 16, AMC Palace 20, Chalmette, Downtown Joy, Hollywood Cinemas 9
