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Scheduled to Open Friday
THE FOG OF WAR (PG-13) -- A
Master documentarian Errol Morris' typically arresting illustrated interview
with Robert McNamara is an account of a brilliant man's stubborn (and not necessarily
successful) search for redemption. Centrally involved in the firebombing of
civilian Japanese populations during WWII, McNamara admits that he would have
been tried as a war criminal had we lost. A spokesman for President Lyndon
Johnson's war policies in Vietnam, he now says that our military action there
was doomed from the outset. As we find ourselves involved in another war not
so easy to be done with, all Americans should watch and learn the lessons of
this film. (Barton) (Reviewed in this issue) Canal Place
HIDALGO (PG-13) --
Viggo Mortensen takes his testosterone act from LOTR land to 1890s Saudi Arabia in this fact-based story of a Pony Express rider who enters a dangerous desert race with a huge prize at steak. Omar Sharif, who knows a little something about the desert, co-stars.
STARSKY AND HUTCH (PG-13) --
Ben Stiller and Owen Wilson (Zoolander) reunite, this time as the popular '70s TV cop duo in this comedy co-starring Mr. Shizz`le himself, Snoop Dogg. Bad news: Stiller and Wilson didn't co-write the script, which appears to have had more than a few hands placed on it.
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 16, AMC Palace 20
BAND OF OUTSIDERS (NR) -- B+
Jean-Luc Godard's widely praised 1964 film about three twentysomethings (Anna
Karina, Claude Brasseur and Sami Frey) flirting with romance and crime in Paris
is considered a New Wave staple. Karina steals the show here, and the dance
scene is one of the most sublime scenes in the history of cinema. (Simmons) 5:30 p.m. Sunday, March 7, at the Bridge Lounge
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 haircutters discussing everything from race to relationships. AMC Palace 12, AMC Palace 16, AMC Palace 20, Chalmette, Grand, Hollywood Cinemas 9, Movies 8
BETTIE PAGE -- DARK ANGEL --THE MOVIE --B
Nico B's bio-pic about pin-up girl and cult film star Bettie Page (starring
Paige Richards) has very little narrative strive, even less of a script, static
cinematography and mediocre performances. The focus appears to be recreating
Page's bondage-centric films, which is fine, but one can't help but wonder
if there's a little Ed Wood irony going on here, and if it serves any purpose. Also showing: Nico B's short film Pig,
about the S&M relationship between a killer and his intended victim. 9 p.m. Tuesday at Zeitgeist
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. AMC Palace 12, AMC Palace 16, AMC Palace 20, Chalmette, Grand, Holiday 12, North Shore Square
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, Holiday 12, Movies 8
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 16, AMC Palace 20, Chalmette, Grand
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) Causeway Cinema, Movies 8
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
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. AMC Palace 12, AMC Palace 16, AMC Palace 20, Grand, Holiday 12, Hollywood Cinemas 9, North Shore Square
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
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
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
IMAX
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
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, Holiday 12, Hollywood Cinemas 9
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. 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
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 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. AMC Palace 12, AMC Palace 16, AMC Palace 20, Canal Place, Chalmette, Grand, Holiday 12, Hollywood Cinemas 9, North Shore Square, Prytania
QUEERLY CANADIAN: RECENT LESBIAN & GAY
SHORTS FROM CANADA --
Collection of short films from the Great White North. 9 p.m. Wednesday-Thursday at 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 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. daily through Thursday at Zeitgeist
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) AMC Palace 20, Canal Place
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. AMC Palace 12, AMC Palace 16, AMC Palace
20, Chalmette, Grand, Holiday 12, Hollywood Cinemas 9, North Shore Square
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, 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 Fog of War
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