8 MILE (R) -- C+ Semi-autobiographical
it might be, but 8 Mile is smaller than life. The raw energy and talent
of Eminem is dampened by a too-long script and Curtis Hanson's torpid direction.
Kim Basinger and Brittany Murphy give tired performances in a film only briefly
invigorated by its portrayal of Detroit's hip-hop club scene. (Carlson) AMC
Palace 12, AMC Palace 16, AMC Palace 20, Chalmette, Hollywood Cinemas 9
ABANDONED (NR) -- B+
Arpad Sopsits' autobiographical story
about growing up in a Hungarian orphanage during the Cold War is as grim a coming-of-age
tale as I have ever encountered. A deft metaphor for all of life behind the Iron
Curtain during the Soviet Era, this picture isn't one you'll soon forget. (Barton)
9:15 p.m. daily through Friday at Zeitgeist
ADAM SANDLER'S 8 CRAZY NIGHTS (PG-13)
-- Adam Sandler meets animation meets Hanukkah meets basketball meets musicals
in this bizarre holiday-season film from the popular comedian. Also features
the voices of fellow SNL alums Jon Lovitz and Kevin Nealon. AMC Palace 12,
AMC Palace 16, AMC Palace 20, Chalmette, Hollywood Cinemas 9
APOLLO 13 THE IMAX EXPERIENCE (PG) --
Ron Howard's 1995 film about the doomed space flight (starring Tom Hanks, Kevin
Bacon and Ed Harris) becomes the first 35mm live-action film to be digitally
remastered for IMAX viewing. Entergy IMAX
BOWLING FOR COLUMBINE (R) -- B This
typically heavy-handed and hilarious documentary from liberal gadfly Michael
Moore (Roger and Me) is all over the map in its exploration of America's
love/hate relationship with guns. Moore knows how to get a laugh and make points,
usually by inserting himself into the mix, but has trouble finding a focus in
his theme. (Simmons) Canal Place
BROWN SUGAR (PG-13) -- Record-label
rep Taye Diggs and reporter Sanaa Lathan, two longtime friends, feel themselves
suddenly drawn into romantic entanglements in this romantic comedy from Rick
Famuyiwa (The Wood). Chalmette
DIE ANOTHER DAY (PG-13) -- Unless
you've been living under a rock for the past month, you know the James Bond
series celebrates its 40th anniversary with Pierce Brosnan sexing up American
spy Halle Berry as the two team up to battle the Axis of Evil. Directed by Lee
Tamahori (Mulholland Falls). AMC Palace 12, AMC Palace 16, AMC Palace
20, Chalmette, Hollywood Cinemas 9
THE EMPEROR'S CLUB (PG-13) --
The relationship between a prep-school teacher (Kevin Kline) and one of his
troubled students (Emile Hirsch) over a three-decade span is covered in this
melodrama by director Michael Hoffman. AMC Palace 12, AMC Palace 20
EXTREME OPS (R) -- A film crew shooting
extreme-sports dudes near the former Yugoslavian border accidently catches a
Serbian war criminal on the lam in this action film starring Rufus Sewell, Rupert
Graves and Bridgette Wilson-Sampras. AMC Palace 12, AMC Palace 16, AMC Palace
20, Hollywood Cinemas 9
FAR FROM HEAVEN (R) -- A Todd
Haynes' stylized, almost painterly drama tells the story of a white 1957 suburban
Connecticut housewife whose husband is grappling with his homosexuality, while
she takes refuge in a friendship with her black gardener. This picture is smart,
understated and profoundly affecting. Julianne Moore, Dennis Quaid and Dennis
Haysbert are all superb. (Barton) (Reviewed in this issue.) Canal Place
FRIDA (R) -- B+ Salma Hayek shines in
her portrayal of Mexican artist Frida Kahlo. So does Alfred Molina as husband/artist
Diego Rivera in this paradoxically vibrant and episodic bio-pic from Julie Taymor
(Titus), who does a marvelous job of literally bringing Kahlo's art to
life. (Simmons) Canal Place
FRIDAY AFTER NEXT (R) -- Ice
Cube and Mike Epps reunite for the third installment of the Friday series,
this time with the pair working as mall security guards and trying to catch
the thief who stole their holiday presents. AMC Palace 12, AMC Palace 16,
AMC Palace 20, Chalmette, Downtown Joy, Hollywood Cinemas 9
GHOST SHIP (R) -- A salvage
crew gets more than it bargained for when it finds a long-lost passenger ship
in this seasonally friendly film starring Gabriel Byrne, Ron Eldard and Julianna
Margulies.Chalmette, Downtown Joy,
Hollywood Cinemas 9
HALF PAST DEAD (PG-13) -- No, it's
not about Steven Seagal's flagging career, but it does star Seagal as an undercover
agent in a prison trying to thwart a convict from convincing a death row inmate
into telling him where the condemned man hid tons of stolen government gold.
Happens every day! Directing debut by Don Michael Paul, who previously shot
his vision through Silk Stalking episodes on USA Network. AMC Palace
12, AMC Palace 16, AMC Palace 20, Chalmette
HARRY POTTER AND THE CHAMBER OF SECRETS
(PG) -- C- This second installment is boring and utterly conventional
-- all two hours and 50 minutes of it. It's pretty apparent that too much time
is spent on how everything looks and not enough on how any of it feels.
Kenneth Branagh as the wryly pompous Gilderoy Lockhart is one of the only bright
spots. Stay home and read the delightful book instead. (Carlson) AMC Palace
12, AMC Palace 16, AMC Palace 20, Chalmette, Downtown Joy, Hollywood Cinemas
9, Prytania
HAUNTED CASTLE (PG) -- Combination of
live-action characters and computer-generated scenes fill this 3-D version of
the Faustian tale. Entergy IMAX
INTO THE DEEP: 3D -- IMAX dives deep
into underwater to explore sea life. Entergy IMAX
JACKASS: THE MOVIE (R) -- The popular
MTV show comes to the big screen, directed by creator/writer Jeff Tremaine.
AMC Palace 12, AMC Palace 16, AMC Palace 20
MY BIG FAT GREEK WEDDING (PG) -- B+
Nia Vardalos wrote and stars in this romantic comedy about a Greek-American
woman from a traditional family who falls in love with a WASPy school teacher
(a charming John Corbett). (Barton)AMC Palace 20
THE IMAX NUTCRACKER 3D (NR)
-- The classic holiday tale comes to the very, very big screen. Entergy IMAX
THE RING (PG-13) -- B- Despite some
nice ideas and a great set-up, Gore Verbinski's frightfest about a journalist
(Naomi Watts) trying to unravel the mystery behind a videotape that leads to
death for all who watch it is ultimately a disappointment. (Simmons) AMC
Palace 12, AMC Palace 16, AMC Palace 20, Chalmette, Hollywood Cinemas 9
THE SANTA CLAUSE 2 (G) -- Santa (Tim
Allen) has to get married to retain his lofty status in this sequel to the 1994
comedy. AMC Palace 12, AMC Palace 16, AMC Palace 20, Chalmette, Hollywood
Cinemas 9
SOLARIS (PG-13) -- B George Clooney
and Natascha McElhone star in Steven Soderbergh's remake of the 1972 sci-fi
thriller by Andrei Tarkovsky, which in turn was adapted from the novel by Stanislaw
Lem. Soderbergh continues to make well-crafted movies, but his focus on the
love story ironically gives the film an unfocused, self-conscious feel. (Simmons)
(Reviewed in this issue.)AMC Palace 12, AMC Palace 16, AMC Palace 20, Chalmette,
Hollywood Cinemas 9
SPACE STATION (NR) --
A 3-D look at the International Space Station. Entergy IMAX
STANDING IN THE SHADOWS OF MOTOWN (PG)
-- Director Paul Justman and writer Alan Slutsky (adapting his own book) reveal
the session players (or Funk Brothers) behind "Hitsville USA," the Detroit label
that Berry Gordy built into an R&B empire. This critically acclaimed documentary
features performance interpretations of some of the Motown classics by contemporary
stars including Ben Harper, Joan Osborne and Me'Shell Ndegeocello along with
Chaka Khan. Canal Place
SWEET HOME ALABAMA (PG-13) -- Reese
Witherspoon must return to her small Alabama hometown and obtain a divorce from
her socioeconomically challenged husband in order to marry her New York City
beau in this romantic comedy directed by Andy Tennant. AMC Palace 20
TREASURE PLANET (G)
-- Co-directors Ron Clements and John Musker (Aladdin, The Little Mermaid)
serve up Disney's holiday animation offering, an outer-space version of Robert
Louis Stevenson's classic Treasure Island.AMC Palace 12, AMC Palace
16, AMC Palace 20, Chalmette, Hollywood Cinemas 9
THE TRIALS OF HENRY KISSINGER (NR)
-- B Documentarians Eugene Jarecki and Alex Gibney are ardent witnesses for the
prosecution in the case against former National Security Advisor and Secretary
of State Henry Kissinger. But charging Kissinger as a war criminal is perhaps
not so easy as they make it seem. This film is marred by sins of omission rather
than commission: there is little acknowledgement that Kissinger did not act in
a vacuum. (Carlson) 7:30 p.m. daily through Friday at Zeitgeist
WES CRAVEN PRESENTS: THEY (PG-13) --
No, the (former) master isn't director; perhaps that's for the best. Robert
Harmon (The Hitcher, Nowhere to Run) directs this thriller about
a grad student who tries to get to the bottom of her old childhood fear of the
dark after getting another round of the willies at night. AMC Palace 16,
AMC Palace 20, Chalmette, Hollywood Cinemas 9
Y TU MAMA TAMBIEN (NR) -- A Alfonso
Cuaron's sexually explicit road "comedy" about two teenage boys and the 28-year-old
runaway wife they take to the beach is really an elaborate allegory about Mexican
history and society. (Barton) 8 p.m. Tuesday at the Mother-in-Law Lounge
