Scheduled to Open Wednesday
AROUND THE WORLD IN 80 DAYS (PG) -- Jackie Chan and Steve Coogan co-star in this remake of the 1956 movie based on the Jules Verne classic about an eccentric London inventor (Coogan) who takes a bet on a world trip, with a thief (Chan) along for the ride. Directed by Frank Coraci (The Wedding Singer) and co-starring Kathy Bates, Jim Broadbent, Owen Wilson and Luke Wilson with cameos by Arnold Schwarzenegger, Wim Wenders and Macy Gray.
Scheduled to Open Friday
DODGEBALL: A TRUE UNDERDOG STORY (PG-13) -- Vince Vaughn and the rest of his dorky friends try to save their local gym from a corporate-chain takeover led by Ben Stiller in a dodgeball challenge in Las Vegas in this comedy from first-time writer-director Rawson Marshall Thurber. Co-stars Gary Cole, Jason Bateman, Stephen Root, Justin Long, Missi Pyle and Christine Taylor.
THE TERMINAL (PG-13) -- Eastern European immigrant Tom Hanks finds his visa invalidated at an airport when his country is dissolved in a civil war, and winds up living in an airport in this fact-based story directed by Steven Spielberg and co-starring Catherine Zeta-Jones, Stanley Tucci and Diego Luna.
Now Showing
13 GOING ON 30 (PG-13) -- Unpopular dork Jennifer Garner (hang on) makes a wish and winds up as a hot 30-year-old ad exec (there you go) in this comedy from Tadpole director Gary Winick and co-starring Mark Ruffalo, Kathy Baker, Andy Serkis and Samuel Ball. Yes, we&185;re all thinking Big about this one. Causeway Cinema
BON VOYAGE (PG-13) -- A Jean-Paul Rappeneau&185;s film would likely become one of the biggest commercial hits of the year if it weren&185;t a subtitled foreign film. It is clever, funny, suspenseful and thoroughly entertaining in just the way American movie fans like. Isabelle Adjani and Gerard Depardieu star. (Barton) Canal Place
BREAKIN&185; ALL THE RULES (PG-13) -- Dumped bachelor Jamie Foxx writes a book about getting dumped, and it turns into a bestseller in this comedy co-starring Gabrielle Union, Morris Chestnut and Jennifer Esposito. Grand
THE CHRONICLES OF RIDDICK (R) -- Vin Diesel returns in the title role in this sequel to 2000&185;s Pitch Black, as a futuristic superhero who can see in the dark and gets ensnared in a galactic battle between two worlds. Co-stars Dame Judi Dench, Keith David, Colm Feore and Thandie Newton. AMC Palace 12, AMC Palace 16, AMC Palace 20, Chalmette, Grand, Holiday 12, Hollywood Cinemas 9, Movies 8
THE DAY AFTER TOMORROW (PG-13) -- C- Roland Emmerich&185;s special effects-driven, apocalyptic take on global warming feels all wrong, from the weird science and clunky narrative to the poorly sketched characters and even the eye candy. The cast of Dennis Quaid, Jake Gyllenhaal, Ian Holm, Sela Ward and others are given very little to do but ride the storm out. In trying to keep a more somber tone than the one he provided in the 1996 guilty pleasure, Independence Day, Emmerich doesn&185;t know what movie he wants to make. (Simmons) AMC Palace 12, AMC Palace 16, AMC Palace 20, Grand, Holiday 12, Hollywood Cinemas 9
ETERNAL SUNSHINE OF THE SPOTLESS MIND (R) -- A Michel Gondry directed this typically wild and brilliant Charlie Kaufman script about young lovers who become angry with each other and contract with a neuroscience firm to have all memories of each other erased from their minds. Kate Winslet and Jim Carrey are very fine in the leading roles. The picture is intriguing, wise and emotionally satisfying. (Barton) Canal Place
FAUST (NR) -- The Summer German Film Festival sponsored by Deutsches Haus continues with the screening of the 1926 F.W. Murnau classic about the bet between God and the Devil for the soul of a man. In German with English subtitles. 7 p.m. Thursday at Deutsches Haus
GARFIELD (PG) -- After all these years, the fat, lazy house cat gets the CGI animation treatment, with Bill Murray supplying the voice. Feels about as relevant as, say, a movie version of Bloom County, but we&185;re game. Co-stars Breckin Meyer and Jennifer Love Hewitt and the voices of Debra Messing, Brad Garrett and Alan Cumming. AMC Palace 12, AMC Palace 16, AMC Palace 20, Chalmette, Grand, Holiday 12, Hollywood Cinemas 9, Movies 8
HARRY POTTER AND THE PRISONER OF AZKABAN (PG) -- A- Finally a film that matches the gorgeous imagination of author J.K. Rowling. Harry and friends return for a third year at Hogwarts, shadowed by prison escapee Sirius Black (Gary Oldman). Michael Gambon dutifully steps into the role of Dumbledore, but predictably, the late Richard Harris is sorely missed. Thankfully, director Alfonso Cuarón also steps in, and no one misses Chris Columbus one bit. With his artist&185;s eye and Gothic-tinged sensibility, Cuarón provides the texture, dimension and thrill that has been missing from this superbly cast film series all along. (Carlson) AMC Palace 12, AMC Palace 16, AMC Palace 20, Chalmette, Entergy IMAX, Grand, Holiday 12, Hollywood Cinemas 9, Movies 8, Prytania
KILL BILL VOL. 2 (R) -- B Those not killed in the fantastic first film return for the too-talky sequel. Quentin Tarantino&185;s homage to Hong Kong action movies slows down considerably in Vol. 2, remaining interesting and original but lacking Vol. 1&185;s electricity. Stars Uma Thurman. (Carlson) Movies 8
LAWS OF ATTRACTION (PG-13) -- Competing divorce attorneys Pierce Brosnan and Julianne Moore put down their briefs just long enough to get married and then fret over committing the same mistakes as their clients in this romantic comedy. (Adam&185;s Rib, anyone?) Directed by Peter Howitt of Sliding Doors fame, and co-starring Parker Posey, Nora Dunn and Frances Fisher. Causeway Cinema
LEWIS & CLARK: GREAT JOURNEY WEST (NR) -- The famed explorers, here portrayed by Kelly Boulware and Sonny Surowiec, set out West commissioned by President Thomas Jefferson in this IMAX version of their story. Entergy IMAX
MAN ON FIRE (R) -- Bodyguard Denzel Washington goes after the bad guy who kidnapped the daughter of the family he&185;s protecting in Mexico City in this second film adaptation of A.J. Quinnell&185;s novel. Directed by Tony Scott and adapted by Oscar-winning screenwriter Brian Helgeland. (The 1987 version starred Scott Glenn, Danny Aiello and Joe Pesci.) AMC Palace 12, Causeway Cinema
MEAN GIRLS (PG-13) -- B Saturday Night Live&185;s Tina Fey adapted the screenplay and co-stars in this story about a teen (Lindsay Lohan) trying to survive the cliques in her high school. (Fey adapts Margaret Talbot&185;s New York Times article about a high school counselor who works with teens and cliques.) Directed by Mark S. Waters (Freaky Friday) and co-starring Tim Meadows, Amy Poehler and Louisiana&185;s own Lacey Chabert, Mean Girls has been overly praised for its portrayal of the Darwinian world of high school, and Lohan has yet to find the role that truly works for her. But at least it&185;s a game attempt. (Simmons) AMC Palace 12, AMC Palace 16, AMC Palace 20, Holiday 12, Movies 8
NASCAR 3-D: THE IMAX EXPERIENCE (PG) -- The IMAX cameras go deep inside the race cars and race tracks of NASCAR land. Entergy IMAX
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
RAISING HELEN (PG-13) -- On-the-go model agency exec/self-absorbed yuppy Kate Hudson gets stuck with three kids when her sister and brother-in-law are killed in a car accident in this comedy from warhorse director Garry Marshall (Runaway Bride). Co-stars John Corbett, Helen Mirren and Paris Hilton for the obligatory model jokes. Script alert: one revision and one polish. Beware! AMC Palace 12, AMC Palace 16, AMC Palace 20, Chalmette, Holiday 12, Hollywood Cinemas 9
SAVED! (PG-13) -- B+ This sweet and funny look at life in the halls of a Christian high school is written with all the affection of the proximate. Saved! is definitely an inside job, its satire knowing and notable, from the altar-call school assemblies of wannabe hipster Pastor Skip (Martin Donovan) to the holier-than-thou head trips of cheerleadery church girl Hilary Faye (Mandy Moore). Brian Dannelly and Michael Urban&185;s story focuses on Jena Malone (Stepmom, Cold Mountain), making good use of her permanently protruding lower lip as Mary, a confused high school senior who sleeps with her gay boyfriend because she has a vision of Jesus telling her to help him. She gets pregnant, and Christ-filled chaos ensues. Urban and Dannelly, who also directs, take a page from Christopher Guest (Waiting for Guffman) and actually seem to like the people they make the most fun of. Saved! isn&185;t a searing (or particularly subversive) indictment of religion; its believers are simply human with all the attendant absurdities of trying to do good and be good in a world where very few of us can do either on our own. Look for Mary-Louise Parker, Macaulay Culkin, the ever-charming Patrick Fugit (Almost Famous) and Eva Amurri. (Carlson) AMC Palace 20, Canal Place
SCOOBY-DOO 2: MONSTERS UNLEASHED (PG) -- Freddie Prinze Jr., Sarah Michelle Gellar, Matthew Lillard, Linda Cardellini and the computer-generated dog of the title return in this sequel to the 2002 hit. Causeway Cinema
SHREK 2 (PG) -- A- Mike Myers is certainly seeing the green, as everyone&185;s favorite ogre returns with his new wife, Fiona (Cameron Diaz), for this record-breaking sequel. The animation is twice as sophisticated, Myers is just as lovable, and the script is, at times, almost as crazily clever as the 2001 original. Aided considerably by Ab Fab&185;s Jennifer Saunders as a scheming fairy godmother and the purrfect addition of Antonio Banderas as a positively feline Puss in Boots, the story turns Fiona&185;s homeland of Far, Far Away -- and every accepted fairy tale convention -- on its ear. Nothing could match the come-from-nowhere charm of the original, but Shrek 2 is undeniably a very close second. (Carlson) AMC Palace 12, AMC Palace 16, AMC Palace 20, Chalmette, Grand, Holiday 12, Hollywood Cinemas 9
SOUL PLANE (R) -- An African-American man wins a multimillion dollar lawsuit against an airliner and decides to start up his own, um, demographically correct airline service that caters to the unique traveling needs of the black community in this farce directed by first-timer Jessy Terrero. Co-stars Kevin Hart, D.L. Hughley, Method Man, Snoop Dogg and Tom Arnold. AMC Palace 12, AMC Palace 16, AMC Palace 20, Chalmette, Grand, Movies 8
THE STEPFORD WIVES (PG-13) -- Nicole Kidman and Matthew Broderick co-star in this remake of the darkly satiric 1975 film about a couple that moves to a posh suburb, and the wife becomes suspicious of the robotic, subservient behavior of the women. With a supporting cast including Christopher Walken, Bette Midler, Glenn Close, Faith Hill and Jon Lovitz. Directed by the king of the pseudo-nasty comedy, Frank Oz (Dirty Rotten Scoundrels, Bowfinger). AMC Palace 12, AMC Palace 16, AMC Palace 20, Chalmette, Grand, Holiday 12, Hollywood Cinemas 9, Movies 8
SUPER SIZE ME (NR) -- B+ Documentary filmmaker Morgan Spurlock (Best Director, Sundance Film Festival) provides a one-man show as he does the unthinkable: live for one month on McDonald&185;s fat-laden, cholesterol-amping offerings. Spurlock, who is sort of a poor man&185;s Michael Moore but with better research, is likeable enough as he balances the dueling narrative elements of his descent into ill health, personal observations of same, and a nicely paced series of interviews with all the proper talking heads. The rhythm starts to falter toward its rather predictable conclusion, but Super Size Me remains personal filmmaking at its most entertaining and informative. (Simmons) Canal Place
TROY (R) -- C+ Wolfgang Petersen&185;s account of the Trojan War turns Homer&185;s The Iliad on its head. The Greeks are brutes. Achilles (Brad Pitt) is his century&185;s Terminator. And the Trojans are the noble doomed. At least this film bothers to denounce arrogant religious presumption. Had the Trojan king (Peter O&185;Toole) listened to his wise son, Troy would have endured, but instead he listened to his high priest who was wrong and wrong again. Take note, George W. Bush. Wary should be the leader who chooses courses because he thinks God is on his side. (Barton) AMC Palace 12, AMC Palace 16, AMC Palace 20, Holiday 12
VAN HELSING (PG-13) -- Legendary monster hunter Abraham Van Helsing (Hugh Jackman) takes on the greatest hits of monsterdom: Count Dracula (Richard Roxburgh), Frankenstein (Schuler Hensley) and the Wolf Man (Will Kemp) in this potential franchise-starter from Mummy franchise director Stephen Sommers. Co-stars Kate Beckinsale. AMC Palace 12, AMC Palace 16, AMC Palace 20, Chalmette, Holiday 12
YOUNG ADAM (NC-17) -- B+ Adapted from the Alexander Trocchi novel, David Mackenzie&185;s bleak drama is the story of a would-be writer (Ewan McGregor) who works on a barge after breaking up with the girlfriend (Emily Mortimer) who supported him and engages in a torrid but spiritless sexual affair with his married boss (Tilda Swinton). The picture&185;s morality resides in its judgment. We are innately sinful creatures, and we aren&185;t going to change. We ought to do and be better, but we won&185;t. (Barton) (Reviewed in this issue.) Canal Place
