 |
AMERICAN SPLENDOR (R) -- B+
Shari Spring Berman and Robert Pulcini's comic book-like rendering of underground
comic book writer Harvey Pekar (Paul Giamatti) is hilarious, if a little pandering,
in its glorification of misanthrope as hero. (Pekar does a much better job in
the comic book of the same title.) Still, novel filmmaking techniques and performances
by Giamatti and Hope Davis make this a fun, quirky film. (Simmons) Canal Place
ANYTHING ELSE (R) --
A- Woody Allen's latest romantic comedy turns the love troubles over to
writer Jason Biggs and his actress girlfriend Christina Ricci and frees Allen
to provide much of the humor as a curmudgeonly schoolteacher. For Allen fans,
this picture is like a fine meal in a favored restaurant: You've had the same
thing before, but that doesn't mean this time it isn't delicious. (Barton) (Reviewed
in this issue.) AMC Palace 12, AMC Palace 20
BAD BOYS II (R) --
Actors Will Smith and Martin Lawrence reunite with the filmmaking team of director
Michael Bay and producer Jerry Bruckheimer in this slam-bang sequel to the 1995
hit. Grand
CABIN FEVER (R) --
In this horror flick from Eli Roth, five friends are spooked by a mysterious virus
on a camping trip after graduation. AMC Palace 16, AMC Palace 20, Chalmette,
Grand
COLD CREEK MANOR (R) --
Parents Sharon Stone and Dennis Quaid move their city-bound family to the country
but run into major trouble when the previous owner of their new home gets out
of prison and tries to get his house back. Directed by Mike Figgis (Leaving
Las Vegas). AMC Palace 12, AMC Palace 16, AMC Palace 20, Grand,
Hollywood Cinemas 9
DICKIE ROBERTS: FORMER CHILD STAR (PG-13) --
In order to win a regular adult role, former kid actor David Spade tries to relive
a childhood he never had because of early Hollywood fame. AMC Palace 12, AMC
Palace 16, AMC Palace 20, Chalmette, Hollywood Cinemas 9
DIRTY PRETTY THINGS (R) -- B+
The latest from director Stephen Frears (The Grifters, High Fidelity)
overcomes niggling plot missteps and clumsy symbolism to craft a thriller with
a heart about desperate immigrants struggling to survive (and ultimately leave)
contemporary London. Features great performances by Chiwetel Ejiofor, Audrey Tautou
(Amelie) and Sergi Lopez (With a Friend Like Harry ... ). (Simmons)
Canal Place
DUPLEX (PG-13) --
Murder and mayhem surround yuppie couple Ben Stiller and Drew Barrymore as they
try to land a sweet piece of New York City real estate in this latest film by
Danny DeVito, who loves to make semi-dark comedies (Throw Momma From the Train,
The War of the Roses). Co-stars Maya Rudolph, Wallace Shawn, Swoosie Kurtz
and Justin Theroux. AMC Palace 12, AMC Palace 16, AMC Palace 20, Chalmette,
Grand, Hollywood Cinemas 9
THE FIGHTING TEMPTATIONS (PG-13) --
New York ad exec Cuba Gooding Jr. must form a gospel choir in his former Georgia
hometown in order to collect on the inheritance left him by his dead aunt. (Happens
every day.) Co-stars a slew of music types including Beyonce Knowles, Montell
Jordan, Faith Evans and Melba Moore, as well as New Orleans' own Wendell Pierce
(Waiting to Exhale). AMC Palace 12, AMC Palace 16, AMC Palace
20, Chalmette, Grand, Hollywood Cinemas 9
FREAKY FRIDAY (PG) --
Jamie Lee Curtis and Lindsay Lohan assume the roles previously played by Barbara
Harris and Jodie Foster, respectively, in Disney's remake of its own 1976 comedy.
AMC Palace 16, AMC Palace 20, Chalmette, Grand
FREDDY VS. JASON (R) --
Everyone's two favorite titans of terror face off in the grudge match of all time.
Freddy Krueger (Robert Englund) slices and dices his way into the dreams of Jason
Voorhees (Ken Kirzinger). Who will survive? AMC Palace 20, Chalmette, Grand
HAUNTED CASTLE 3-D --
A young musician discovers spirits nesting inside his grand new home in this Halloween-friendly
IMAX film. Entergy IMAX
HOP (NR) --
Zeitgeist's fall film screenings return with this debut work by Belgian director
Dominique Standaert about Burundi immigrants living in Brussels. Also screening:
Sofia Coppola's short film Lick the Star. 8 p.m. daily through Thursday
at Zeitgeist
INTO THE DEEP: 3D
-- IMAX dives deep into underwater to explore sea life. Entergy IMAX
JEEPERS CREEPERS 2 (R) --
A basketball team along with its coach and cheerleaders are terrorized on the
road back from a game by a winged monster in this sequel to the surprisingly successful
(and good) 2001 thriller. AMC Palace 16, AMC Palace 20, Grand
LEWIS & CLARK: GREAT JOURNEY WEST (NR) --
The adventures of the famous 19th century explorers hit the very big screen. Entergy
IMAX
LOST IN TRANSLATION (R) -- A-
Writer-director Sofia Coppola (The Virgin Suicides) continues to establish
herself as a filmmaker with her own voice in this subtle tale of the relationship
between a fading movie star (Bill Murray in his best performance) and the young
wife (Scarlett Johansson) of an L.A. photographer while in Tokyo. Coppola's ability
to resist temptation on several levels and create space for her actors to play
to their strengths help make this the best film I've seen this year. Plus, it
makes karaoke cool again. (Simmons) (Reviewed in this issue.) Scheduled to
open Friday, Oct. 3, at Canal Place
LUTHER (PG-13) --That's Luther, as in Martin Luther, the trouble-making
Catholic monk whose frustrations with and protestations against Pope Leo X led
to the establishment of such Protestant churches as the Anglican church in England
and the Lutheran church. Stars Joseph Fiennes (Shakespeare in Love), Alfred
Molina and Peter Ustinov. AMC Palace 16, AMC Palace 20
THE MAGDALENE SISTERS (R) --
The Catholic Church takes another shot in the gut in writer-director Peter Mullan's
fictionalized '60s account of the Irish order of Catholic nuns and their sometimes
brutal treatment of the supposedly troubled girls in their care. Stars Geraldine
McEwan, Dorothy Duffy and Anne-Marie Duff. Canal Place
MATCHSTICK MEN (PG-13) --
A- Ridley Scott's often humorous drama about a neurotic flim-flam man's
relationship with the 14-year-old daughter he just met offers terrific performances
by Nicolas Cage and Alison Lohman and a story that takes you places you don't
expect. It's not perfect, but it's close. See it before you let anyone tell you
much about it. (Barton) (Reviewed in this issue.) AMC Palace 12, AMC
Palace 16, AMC Palace 20, Chalmette, Grand, Hollywood Cinemas 9, Prytania
THE MATRIX RELOADED (R) --
A The badass Wachowski brothers are back with a sequel that's equal, as
Matrix Reloaded rejoins Neo (Keanu Reeves) on his quest for digital self-fulfillment.
Amazing choreography by Yuen Wo Ping and the ever-ingenious imaginations of the
Wachowskis fuel a film packed with unbelievable action and that now-familiar mystic
sensibility. (Carlson) Entergy IMAX
MYSTERIES OF EGYPT (NR) --
Omar Sharif narrates this IMAX look at the ancient history and culture of Egypt,
sponsored by National Geographic. Entergy IMAX
ONCE UPON A TIME IN MEXICO (R) --
Director Robert Rodriguez apparently lays to rest yet another trilogy (Spy
Kids being the other) in this third installment of his El Mariachi
series, reuniting Antonio Banderas and Salma Hayek and adding Johnny Depp and
Eva Mendes. AMC Palace 12, AMC Palace 16, AMC Palace 20, Chalmette,
Grand, Hollywood Cinemas 9
PIRATES OF THE CARIBBEAN: THE CURSE OF THE BLACK PEARL (PG-13) -- B+
Gore Verbinski's action/comedy employs Hollywood conventon from the ultimate victory
of the heroes to the benedictory kiss of the star-crossed lovers. The picture
is quality summer popcorn fun, however, due to a witty script and the performances
of Geoffey Rush as the lip-smacking villain and the fascinating Johnny Depp as
the film's eccentric pirate hero. (Barton) AMC Palace 12, AMC Palace
16, AMC Palace 20
THE RUNDOWN (PG-13) --
Can you smell what the bounty hunter is cookin'? Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson and
Seann William Scott team up to hunt for gold in the Amazon and battle evil-doers
like Christopher Walken in this film by Peter Berg (Very Bad Things). Co-stars
Ewen Bremner and Rosario Dawson. AMC Palace 12, AMC Palace 16, AMC Palace
20, Chalmette, Grand, Hollywood Cinemas 9
SECONDHAND LIONS (PG) --
Shy teen Haley Joel Osment (yes, he's growing up) bonds with great-uncles Michael
Caine and Robert Duvall while he's visiting with troubled mom Kyra Sedgwick in
this film set in 1960s-era Texas. Directed by Tim McCanlies (Dancer, Texas)
and co-starring Nicky Katt and Josh Lucas. AMC Palace 12, AMC Palace
16, AMC Palace 20, Chalmette, Grand, Hollywood Cinemas 9
S.W.A.T. (R) --
The fascist '70s TV show gets the big-screen treatment with Samuel L. Jackson,
Colin Farrell and others doing battle with evil drug lord Olivier Martinez. Let's
just hope the theme song is as cool as the one for the TV show. AMC Palace
12, AMC Palace 16, Grand
THIRTEEN (R) -- B
Writer-director Catherine Hardwicke and co-screenwriter/co-star Nikki Reed are
at their best when picking over the harrowing details of growing up as a teen
girl in L.A., but not so much when it comes to developing an actual story arc.
Evan Rachel Wood's Tracy and her seductive, dangerous pal Evie (Reed) are sexually
charged but scattered, using every weapon at their disposal to survive the horrors
of teen life. Thirteen succeeds with the little picture while sacrificing
a bigger picture that never comes into focus. (Simmons) Canal Place
UNDER THE TUSCAN SUN (R) --
Diane Lane (Unfaithful) continues to mine the fields of mid-life crisis,
this time as an attorney who tries to "get away from it all" and buy a little
house in Italy so that she can find herself and a hunky younger Euro (Raoul Bova).
(What, Olivier Martinez wasn't available?) Very, very loosely based on Frances
Mayes' best-selling 1996 memoir. AMC Palace 12, AMC Palace 16, AMC Palace
20, GHollywood Cinemas 9
UNDERWORLD (R) --
In one of the more bizarre updates on Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet, vampire
tough-chick Kate Beckinsale falls for human dude Scott Speedman, whose blood the
werewolves covet mightily. Feature-film directing debut by music-video director
Len Wiseman. AMC Palace 12, AMC Palace 16, AMC Palace 20, Chalmette,
Grand, 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:
Film Review
Anything Else
Lost in Translation
|
|
