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Scheduled to Open Wednesday
THE PASSION OF THE CHRIST (R) --
Mel Gibson's mega-controversial look at the final 12 hours of the life of Jesus
Christ, adapted from texts by St. Anne Catherine Emmerich and St. Mary of Agreda,
as well as the New Testament books of John, Luke, Mark and Matthew. Stars James
Caviezel as Him. In Latin and Aramaic with English subtitles.
Scheduled to Open Friday
BROKEN LIZARD'S CLUB DREAD (R) --
The comedy troupe of Super Troopers fame returns in this horror comedy about a serial killer stalking an island resort. Directed by Jay Chandrasekhar and starring Bill Paxton.
DIRTY DANCING: HAVANA NIGHTS (PG-13) --
American girl-next-door Romola Garia meets stud Cuban dancer Diego Luna (Y Tu Mama, Tambien) on the eve of the communist revolution in this remake of the sleeper 1987 hit starring Patrick Swayze (who makes a cameo) and Jennifer Grey.
TWISTED (R) --
Thriller-friendly actress Ashley Judd (Kiss the Girls, Double Jeopardy) trades in Morgan Freeman for Samuel L. Jackson in this tale of a female cop who becomes a suspect in the murders of her former lovers while working on a murder case of her own. Philip Kaufman (The Right Stuff) directs.
Now Showing
50 FIRST DATES (PG-130 --
Adam Sandler and Drew Barrymore (The Wedding Singer) reunite as a young man and woman who fall in love despite her short-term memory loss in this romantic comedy directed by Peter Segal. Co-stars Rob Schnieder. AMC Palace 12, AMC Palace 16, AMC Palace 20, Chalmette, Grand, Holiday 12, Hollywood Cinemas 9, Movies 8
AGAINST THE ROPES (PG-13) --
Meg Ryan portrays boxing manager Jackie Kallen,
who guided the careers of such noted fighters as Thomas "Hit Man" Hearns.
In this fictional bio-pic, she manages Omar Epps, who plays a composite character
of a handful of Kallen's proteges. Directed by and co-starring Charles S.
Dutton and also featuring Tim Daley and Tony Shalhoub. AMC Palace 12, AMC Palace 16, AMC Palace 20, Chalmette, Grand, Holiday 12, Movies 8
ALONG CAME POLLY (PG-13) --
Risk analyst Ben Stiller takes a chance on romance with a wacky Jennifer Aniston
after he discovers new wife Debra Messing cheating on him. Directed by John
Hamburg, co-screenwriter of previous Stiller vehicles Meet the Parents and Zoolander. Co-stars Philip Seymour Hoffman, Alec Baldwin, Hank Azaria and others. AMC Palace 12, AMC Palace 16, AMC Palace 20, Chalmette, Holiday 12, Hollywood Cinemas 9
BARBERSHOP 2: BACK IN BUSINESS (PG-13) --
Tim Story is out and Kevin Rodney Sullivan is in as director, but the cast
returns and is joined by Queen Latifah (in anticipation of her spin-off movie Beauty Shop) in this film about hair-cutters discussing everything from race to relationships. AMC Palace 12, AMC Palace 16, AMC Palace 20, Chalmette, Grand, Holiday 12, Hollywood Cinemas 9, Movies 8
BETTIE PAGE -- DARK ANGEL --THE MOVIE --
New Orleans becomes only the second city to see this film by Dutch-born director
Nico B about the final years in the life of cult '50s pin-up girl Bettie Page.
Also showing: Nico B's short film Pig,
about a the S&M relationship between a killer and his intended victim. 9 p.m. Monday-Tuesday, March 1-2, at Zeitgeist
BIG FISH (PG-13) --
B Tim Burton's account of a son's attempt to reconcile with a dying father has effective if underdeveloped performances by Albert Finney, Ewan McGregor, Billy Crudup, Jessica Lange, Alison Lohman, Helena Bonham Carter and Steve Buscemi. (Barton) AMC Palace 12, AMC Palace 20
THE BUTTERFLY EFFECT (R) --
Ashton Kutcher keeps trying to fix his life by going back in time and changing
events that had adverse effects on him, but it keeps making his life worse
in this psychological thriller directed by Eric Bress and J. Macky Gruber and
co-starring Eric Stolz and Amy Smart. AMC Palace 12, AMC Palace 16, AMC Palace 20, Chalmette, Grand, Holiday 12, Movies 8
CALENDAR GIRLS (PG-13) --
Based on a true story about middle-aged English women who agree to pose nude
while performing various homemaking chores to benefit a cancer hospital, this
film stars Helen Mirren and Julie Walters. Directed by Nigel Cole. Hollywood Cinemas 9, North Shore Square
CATCH THAT KID (PG) --
Lovable kids band together to pull off a heist to help a friend's ill father.
Now that's love! Directed by Bart Freundlich and starring Jennifer Beals, Kristen
Stewart, Max Thierot and Sam Robards. AMC Palace 12, AMC Palace 16, AMC Palace 20, Chalmette, Grand, Holiday 12, North Shore Square
CHEAPER BY THE DOZEN (PG) --
C- Steve Martin grimaces his way through this updated remake of a 1950 adaptation of a memoir of a turn-of-the-century family. Here, the double-Brady-sized clan moves to a snobby Chicago suburb while Dad pursues his dream of coaching in the big leagues. (Tisserand) AMC Palace 12, AMC Palace 16, AMC Palace 20, Holiday 12, Movies 8
CITY OF GOD (R) --
A- Oscar-nominated director Fernando Meirelles' harrowing drama about astonishingly violent gangs of children in a Rio housing project isn't a perfect film, but it's one viewers won't soon forget. Raised in poverty, ignorance and hopelessness, boys in their teens and even younger kill each other to control territory not worth having. The miracle is that we meet one child who manages to survive and ultimately escape. Nominated for four Academy Awards. (Barton) Canal Place
COLD MOUNTAIN (R) -- B
The Weinstein Brothers double-dog dare you to love Anthony Minghella's (The English Patient)
epic take on Charles Frazier's epic novel of a Confederate soldier leaving
battle for the woman he loves. But the Oscar-friendly trio of Nicole Kidman
and Oscar nominees Jude Law and Renée Zellweger are no match for John
Seale's cinematography or the old-timey music. Brendan Gleeson is a huge bright
spot as the redemptive Stobrod. Nominated for seven Academy Awards. (Simmons), Causeway Cinema
CONFESSIONS OF A TEENAGE DRAMA QUEEN (PG-13) --
Lindsay Lohan (Freaky Friday) plays a popular Greenwich Village high school student transferred to a Jersey suburb school where she immediately faces a rival (Sara Sugarman), in this film based on the popular young adult novel by Dylan Sheldon. AMC Palace 12, AMC Palace 16, AMC Palace 20, Chalmette, Grand, Holiday 12, Hollywood Cinemas 9, Movies 8
THE DREAMERS (NC-17) --
Bernard Bertolucci adapts Gilbert Adaire's novel about three teens -- a Parisian
brother and sister and an American male --exploring their sexuality against
the backdrop of 1968 Paris. Stars Michael Pitt, Eva Green and Louis Garrel. Canal Place
EUROTRIP (R) --
From the production company that provided us Road Trip and Old School comes this comedy about four young Americans traveling to Europe seeking love, sex and other worthwhile adventures. Directed by Jeff Schaeffer and starring Scott Mechlowicz, Jacob Pitts, Travis Wester and Michelle Trachtenberg, with appearances by Lucy Lawless and Joanna Lumley. AMC Palace 12, AMC Palace 16, AMC Palace 20, Chalmette, Grand, Holiday 12, Hollywood Cinemas 9, North Shore Square
GIRL WITH A PEARL EARRING (PG-13)
-- B
Adapted from the best-selling novel by Tracy Chevalier, Peter Webber's
drama is the story of 17th century painter Johannes Vermeer's master
work. A superb performance by Scarlett Johansson as the scullery maid
who poses for the painting and memorably beautiful, Oscar-nominated
cinematography by Eduardo Serra can't entirely make up for a slow pace,
a thin story and a disappointing emotional mutedness. Nominated for
three Academy Awards. (Barton) Canal Place
THE GOSPEL OF JOHN (PG-13) --
Philip Saville directed this version of the biblical story as interpreted from
the American Bible Society's Good News Bible. Stars Henry Ian Cusick, Stuart Bunce, Lynsey Baxter and others. AMC Palace 20
THE LAST SAMURAI (R) -- A
Tom Cruise's newfound dramatic dignity provides the steady center of this stunning
epic film directed by Edward Zwick. Cruise's physical transformation from an
alcoholic Civil War veteran to a formidable samurai warrior is riveting. Co-star
and Oscar nominee Ken Watanabe's wise warlord Katsumoto represents a shattering
English-speaking debut. Nominated for four Academy Awards. (Carlson) Prytania
LEWIS AND CLARK: GREAT JOURNEY WEST (NR) --
This IMAX film stars Kelly Boulware and Sonny Surowiec as the famed explorers
during their early 19th century trek westward. Entergy I
MAX
THE LORD OF THE RINGS: THE RETURN OF THE KING (PG-13) -- A-
Director Peter Jackson provides a fitting ending to his groundbreaking trilogy.
Overly long and swimming in narrative and thematic deja vu, Return of the King is nonetheless redeemed by the strength of the LOTR oeuvre as a whole and by its own many moments of greatness -- the slow spiritual ascension of Aragorn (Viggo Mortensen) to the throne of Gondor, the genderless courage of Eowyn (Miranda Otto), the madness of Denethor the Steward (John Noble). Nominated for 11 Academy Awards including Best Picture. (Carlson) AMC Palace 16, AMC Palace 20, Causeway Cinema
LOST IN TRANSLATION (R) -- A-
Oscar-nominated 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 an Oscar-nominated 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 of 2003. Plus, it makes karaoke cool again. Nominated for four Academy Awards including Best Picture. (Simmons) Causeway Cinema
MASTER AND COMMANDER: THE FAR SIDE OF THE WORLD (PG-13) -- B+
Lucky Jack leaps to the big screen in this Peter Weir adaptation of the Patrick
O'Brian novels. A spare script leaves plenty of time for stunning visuals and
fascinating evocations of life aboard a 19th-century British warship. Weir's
nearly flawless directorial eye is aided by the intelligent casting of Russell
Crowe and Paul Bettany (A Beautiful Mind) as friends Jack Aubrey and Stephen Maturin. Nominated for 10 Academy Awards including Best Picture. (Carlson) Movies 8
MIRACLE (PG) --C-
Gavin O'Connor's account of the U.S. hockey team's 1980 Olympic gold-medal
run concentrates not on the players who scored the goals but on the bullying
coach (Kurt Russell) who hectored them all along their road to improbable glory.
In glorifying a jerk, this film tarnishes a treasured sports memory. (Barton) AMC Palace 12, AMC Palace 16, AMC Palace 20, Chalmette, Grand, Holiday 12, Hollywood Cinemas 9, North Shore Square
MONSTER (R) -- B+
Charlize Theron, the golden goddess of 2 Days in the Valley and The Italian Job, slides under the skin of convicted serial killer Aileen Wuornos in this surprising effort from first-time writer-director Patty Jenkins. Theron gives a powerhouse performance, full of wounded rage and malevolence, that's Oscar-worthy and then some. (Carlson) AMC Palace 20, Canal Place, Causeway Cinema, Hollywood Cinemas 9
MY BABY'S DADDY (PG-13) --
An African-American (sort of) version of the popular Three Men and a Baby movie (based on a French film), with Eddie Griffin, Anthony Anderson and Michael Imperioli learning the baby-raising ropes. Chalmette, Grand
MYSTERIES OF EGYPT (NR) --
National Geographic meets IMAX in this film about this ancient civilization's pyramids, tombs, mummies and monarchies, starring Mr. Egypt himself, Omar Sharif. Entergy IMAX
MYSTIC RIVER (R) -- B+
Not quite the modern masterpiece it has been christened by critics starved
for decent dramatic fare, Mystic River is still an intelligent, powerful film. Three south Boston friends (Oscar nominees Sean Penn and Tim Robbins, and Kevin Bacon) find themselves struggling with loss and revenge in this adaptation of the Dennis Lehane bestseller. As a grieving father and vengeful ex-con, Penn delivers an amazing performance that outweighs other minor missteps. Nominated for six Academy Awards including Best Picture. (Carlson) AMC Palace 16, AMC Palace 20, Causeway Cinema, Grand, Holiday 12, North Shore Square; leaves Prytania on Tuesday
OCEAN WONDERLAND (NR) --
IMAX takes its cameras to the Great Barrier Reef in Australia and the coral
reef of the Bahamas. Directed by Jean-Jacques Mantello. Entergy IMAX
THE PERFECT SCORE (PG-13) --
Scarlett Johansson continues her assault on New Orleans as part of a merry
band of high school students pulling an SAT heist (an SAT heist?). Directed
by Brian Robbins and co-starring Erika Christensen and Darius Miles. North Shore Square
REEL IDENTITIES --
The New Orleans Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender Film Festival features
a wide range of related short and feature-length films. Reception 6 p.m. Thursday
at Ariodante Crafts Gallery. For more info visit www.reelidentities.org. Thursday through Sunday at Le Chat Noir and Zeitgeist
SOMETHING'S GOTTA GIVE (PG-13) -- B-
Nancy Meyers (Baby Boom) reunites with Oscar nominee Diane Keaton and tosses in Jack Nicholson for a weak romantic comedy about a cradle-robbing womanizer (Nicholson) falling in love with a middle-age playwright (Keaton). (Simmons) AMC Palace 12, AMC Palace 20, Holiday 12
TARIQ EL HOB (RETURN TO LOVE) --
Remi Lange's semi-documentary on the lives of gay Arab men. 7:30 p.m. Monday, March 1, through March 4 at Zeitgeist
TORQUE (R) --
If you've once again been feeling the need for speed, here's the story about
a rev-happy (but gang-free) motorcyle racer (Martin Henderson) who is framed
for the murder of a serious biker-gang dude (Ice Cube, keepin' it real) by
a rival biker dude. Directed by music-video director Joseph Kahn. Chalmette, Grand
THE TRIPLETS OF BELLEVILLE (PG-13) -- B
Sylvain Chomet's French animated feature tells the story of a bicycle racer
who is kidnapped by the mafia and dragged off to a New York clone where everyone
is apple-shaped and gigantic and the Statue of Liberty holds a hamburger rather
than a torch. Hallucinogenic and arresting as this Oscar-nominated film sometimes
is, it defies any attempt to assess it as a satisfying whole. (Canal Place
also screens Destino, an animated short project started by Salvador Dali for Walt Disney.) (Barton) (Reviewed in this issue.) AMC Palace 20, Canal Place
WELCOME TO MOOSEPORT (PG-13) --
Hardware-store owner Ray Romano battles retired President Gene Hackman for
the office of mayor of a small New England town in this comedy directed by
Donald Petri (How to Lose a Guy in 10 Days) and co-starring Maura Tierney, Marcia Gay Harden, Christine Baranski, Fred Savage and Rip Torn. AMC Palace 12, AMC Palace 16, AMC Palace 20, Chalmette, Grand, Holiday 12, Hollywood Cinemas 9, Movies 8
YOU GOT SERVED (PG-3) --
Two street dancers experience a personal rift
just as they're about to enjoy huge success in this comedy starring
Marques Houston and Omarion and directed by Chris Stokes. AMC Palace 12, AMC Palace
16, AMC Palace 20, Chalmette, Grand, Hollywood Cinemas 9, North Shore Square
| 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
The Triplets of Belleville
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