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25TH HOUR (R) -- A Spike Lee's subtlest and most effective film since Clockers is the story of a convicted drug dealer (Edward Norton) on the last day before he goes to prison for seven years. (Barton) AMC Palace 20
ABOUT SCHMIDT (R) -- A Alexander Payne and Jim Taylor's offbeat comedy-drama
is the story of a widower (Oscar-nominated Jack Nicholson) who struggles to decide
whether he should
dissuade his daughter from marrying her boyfriend. Kathy Bates scored the film's
other Oscar nomination for Best Supporting Actress. (Barton) Canal Place,
AMC Palace 20
ADAPTATION (R) -- A Director Spike Jonze and writer Charlie Kaufman (Being John Malkovich), have done it again with this story of a blocked screenwriter (Nicolas Cage) trying to adapt The Orchid Thief, a nonfiction bestseller by Susan Orlean (Meryl Streep) about a renegade Florida botanist (Chris Cooper). (Winner of four Oscar nominations.) (Barton) Canal Place
BIKER BOYZ (PG-13) -- Veteran biker champ Laurence Fishburne tries to
retain his title as the top biking dog in Cali in this vroom-vroom film. AMC
Palace 12, AMC Palace 16, AMC Palace 20
CHICAGO (PG-13) -- A- A spectacular staging of the hit Broadway
musical showcases a sizzling Catherine Zeta-Jones as the notorious Velma Kelley.
Richard
Gere and Renée Zellweger both give more than able performances as huckster
lawyer Billy Flynn and his new leading lady Roxie Hart, respectively. (Winner
of 13 Oscar nominations including Best Picture.) (Carlson) AMC Palace 16,
AMC Palace 20, Chalmette, Hollywood Cinemas 9, Prytania
CIRQUE DU SOLEIL JOURNEY OF MAN (NR) -- A chance to capture another show
by the famous circus, this one exploring how
humans develop over time. Entergy IMAX
CRADLE 2 THE GRAVE (R) -- Romeo Must Die's DMX and Jet Li reunite as a gang leader (DMX) who recruits a Taiwanese agent (Li) to help pull off a caper in order to free the gangster's kidnapped daughter from an international criminal. Chalmette, Hollywood Cinemas 9
DAREDEVIL (PG-13) -- Matt Murdoch (Ben Affleck) is a lawyer for the underdog
by day and a man-in-tights superhero at night, ably assisted by his girlfriend
Elektra (Jennifer Garner)
in this comic book cum movie. AMC Palace 12, AMC Palace 16, AMC Palace
20, Chalmette, Hollywood Cinemas 9
DARK BLUE (R) -- Kurt Russell and Ving Rhames are LAPD cops dealing with
a racially charged murder in the shadow of the impending Rodney King verdict
in 1992. AMC Palace 12, AMC Palace 16, AMC Palace 20, Chalmette, Hollywood
Cinemas 9
DARKNESS FALLS (PG-13) -- A troubled young man tries to help his lone
friend's younger brother, who is haunted by spirits from long ago. AMC Palace
20
DELIVER US FROM EVA (R) -- Gary Hardwick (The Brothers) wrote
and directed this romantic comedy about a man (LL Cool J) recruited by his three
friends -- all brothers -- to woo and marry their perfectionist sister (Gabrielle
Union, from Bring it On). AMC Palace 16, AMC Palace 20, Chalmette,
Hollywood Cinemas 9
DRUG WAR FILM FESTIVAL -- Benefit for May's Million Marijuana March includes
screening of films Grass, Traffic and Reefer Madness. 3
p.m. to 9 p.m. Saturday at 735 Club
FINAL DESTINATION 2 (R) -- David Ellis takes over for James Wong in directing
the sequel to the surprise thriller hit of 2000 about a person who can see future
dead people. AMC Palace 12, AMC Palace 16, AMC Palace 20, Chalmette
GANGS OF NEW YORK (R) -- A Martin Scorsese's look at ethnic and religious
violence in 19th century Manhattan is cinematically brilliant. It has stunning
production design, haunting cinematography,
searching themes and great acting headed by Daniel Day-Lewis and Leonardo DiCaprio.
(Winner of 10 Oscar nominations including Best Picture.) (Barton) Canal
Placce, AMC Palace 20, Chalmette
GODS AND GENERALS (PG-13) -- Writer-director Ron Maxwell (Gettysburg)
returns with this tale about the events leading up to and during the early
period of the Civil War. AMC Palace 12, AMC Palace 16, AMC Palace
20, Hollywood Cinemas 9
THE HOURS (PG-13) -- B Stephen Daldry and David Hare's adaptation of Michael
Cunningham's book about Virginia Woolf and two women later influenced by her
work offers a stellar
cast including Nicole Kidman, Julianne Moore, Meryl Streep and Ed Harris. (Winner
of nine Oscar nominations including Best Picture.) (Barton) AMC Palace
12, AMC Palace 20, Canal Place
HOW TO LOSE A GUY IN 10 DAYS (PG-13) -- C Donald Petrie's lame romantic
comedy stars Kate Hudson as a magazine writer and Matthew McConaughey as an
ad agent in a contest of ill-imagined romantic
gamesmanship. (Barton) AMC Palace 12, AMC Palace 16, AMC Palace 20,
Chalmette, Hollywood Cinemas 9
THE JUNGLE BOOK 2 (G) -- C Awash in jungle greens, this latest from the Disney sequel factory looks better than it sounds. John Goodman proved in Monsters, Inc. that he can infuse character into a character, but his Baloo can't compete with the late jive-talker Phil Harris. (Tisserand). AMC Palace 12, AMC Palace 16, AMC Palace 20, Chalmette, Hollywood Cinemas 9
KANGAROO JACK (PG) -- Anthony Anderson and Jerry O'Connell must retrieve $10,000 in stolen loot they
were supposed to deliver for the mob in Australia in this romp from David McNally
(Coyote Ugly). Estella Warren (Planet of the Apes) co-stars. AMC
Palace 12, AMC Palace 16, AMC Palace 20, Chalmette
THE LIFE OF DAVID GALE (R) -- F Alan Parker's story of a former death
penalty abolitionist (Kevin Spacey) on death row for the rape and murder of a
colleague (Laura Linney) is an unholy
mess. The narrative is cliched and at once predictable and preposterous. Ostensibly
designed to attack capital punishment, this film, unintentionally or not, serves
to support it. This is as annoying a movie as I've seen in some time. (Barton)
(Reviewed in this issue.) AMC Palace 12, AMC Palace 16, AMC Palace 20
THE LORD OF THE RINGS: THE TWO TOWERS (PG-13) -- A+ Director Peter Jackson
presents this spectacular sequel to The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship
of the Ring. (Winner of six Oscar nominations including Best Picture.) (Carlson) AMC
Palace 12, AMC Palace 20
NATIONAL SECURITY (PG-13) -- A white ex-cop (Steve Zahn) who once beat
the crap out of an African-American man (Martin Lawrence) winds up working
alongside him as a security guard in
this comedy from Dennis Dugan. AMC Palace 16
OLD SCHOOL (R) -- Thirtysomething buddies Will Farrell, Luke Wilson and
Vince Vaughn decide to relive their college days with by opening their own frat
house near campus. The
students are intrigued. AMC Palace 12, AMC Palace 16, AMC Palace 20, Chalmette,
Hollywood Cinemas 9
THE PIANIST (R) -- A Roman Polanski's true story of a Polish pianist (Oscar-nominated Adrien Brody) who survived the Holocaust but lost his entire family in the process. This film asks searching questions about the nature of humankind. (Winner of seven Oscar nominations including Best Picture.) (Barton) Canal Place
THE RECRUIT (PG-13) -- C+ Roger Donaldson's thriller involves old CIA hand Al Pacino's relationship with new operative Colin Farrell. Some surprises and an earnest performance by Pacino don't succeed in raising a fundamentally predictable plot above the mediocre. (Barton) AMC Palace 12, AMC Palace 16, AMC Palace 20
REEL IDENTITIES -- The New Orleans Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender
Film Festival serves up a four-day collection of related movies including The
Cockettes (reviewed in this issue, on Sunday) and The Rocky Horror Picture
Show (Saturday). For complete schedule, visit, www.lgccno.org. Thursday
through Sunday at Le Chat Noir
SHANGHAI KNIGHTS (PG-13) -- B This sequel to 2000's surprise hit Shanghai
Noon soars, just not quite so high. Chon Wang (Jackie Chan) and Roy O'Bannon
(Owen Wilson) reunite to chase a murderer through the streets of merry old England
and to stop a plot to kill the royal family. (Carlson) AMC Palace 12, AMC
Palace 16, AMC Palace 20, Chalmette, Hollywood Cinemas 9
| AMC Palace 12 734-2020; AMC Palace 16 734-2020; AMC Palace 20 734-2020; Canal Place 581-5400; Chalmette 277-9797; Downtown Joy 522-7575; Entergy IMAX 581-4629; Plaza 245-0102; Prytania 891-2787; Zeitgeist 525-2767
Compiled by David Lee Simmons
Contributors: Rick Barton, Shala Carlson, David Lee Simmons |
Other Stories This Week in Movies:
Balcony Seats
The Life of David Gale
The Cockettes
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