Scheduled to Open Friday
BENJI: OFF THE LEASH (PG) -- Everybody's favorite mutt sleuth returns to the big screen with Benji teaming up with a dog named Shaggy (zoinks!) to help save Benji's mama. (Regional note: the film is set in Gulfport, Miss., not far from where this Benji was actually found as a stray.) Co-stars Nick Whitaker and Chris Kendrick.
EXORCIST: THE BEGINNING (R) -- Seven years in the making, this troubled fourth installment of the chilly series about dealing with the devil features priests Stellan Skarsgard (Breaking the Waves) and James D'Arcy (Master and Commander) drawing the short straw this time around. Directed by Renny Harlin, who completely re-shot Paul Schrader's version after replacing him on the set on orders from Warner Bros. (Unlike the other follow-ups to William Friedkin's 1973 hit, this one is pitched as a sort-of prequel.)
OPEN WATER (R) -- Married scuba divers Daniel Travis and Blanchard Ryan wind up being stranded by their diving party in the Bahamas and fending off sharks in this fact-based film written and directed by Chris Kentis.
WITHOUT A PADDLE (PG-13) -- City slickers Seth Green, Matthew Lillard and Abraham Benrubi decide to pick up on their dead friend's quest for stolen loot on a canoe trip in this film billed by more than one source as City Slickers meets Deliverance (insert Ned Beatty joke here). Directed by Stephen Brill (Mr. Deeds, Little Nicky). Co-stars, ahem, Burt Reynolds.
Now Showing
ALIEN VS. PREDATOR (PG-13) -- Not since Godzilla and Mothra tangled has there been such an anticipated match-up of very, very bad monsters in this film directed by Paul W.S. Anderson (Resident Evil, Mortal Kombat) and starring Sanaa Lathan and Lance Henriksen. AMC Palace 12, AMC Palace 16, AMC Palace 20, Grand, Holiday 12, Hollywood Cinemas 9
ANCHORMAN (PG-13) -- D This ham-handed Will Ferrell comedy feels like a lame Saturday Night Live sketch stretched into a feature. The talents of Christina Applegate, Paul Rudd and Fred Willard are wasted in a script that makes little sense and produces way too few laughs to merit an outing. Only Steve Carell provides the flick with the barest of a passing grade. (Barton) AMC Palace 20, Holiday 12
BEFORE SUNSET (R) -- A Richard Linklater gratefully lets us all sigh the sigh of relief in this bold sequel to his 1995 talk-fest, Before Sunrise. Linklater could have left well enough alone, but instead he brings lovers Ethan Hawke and Julie Delpy into the here and now -- a little wiser, a little more wistful, and yes, a little regretful. They once again spend the movie talking about love, sex and gender, and Linklater deserves tons of credit for slowly revealing their inner core without melodrama. (Simmons) Canal Place
THE BOURNE SUPREMACY (PG-13) -- Matt Damon returns as David Webb/Jason Bourne in the second installment of the Robert Ludlum spy trilogy, with the CIA in a panic when a fake 'Jason Bourne' assassinates a Chinese official and the real 'Jason Bourne' (Matt Damon) goes on the hunt for him. Director Paul Greengrass (Bloody Sunday) replaces Doug Liman, with Franka Potente, Julia Stiles and Brian Cox returning to the cast. AMC Palace 12, AMC Palace 16, AMC Palace 20, Grand, Holiday 12, Hollywood Cinemas 9
CATWOMAN (PG-13) -- C- Halle Berry is a shy commercial artist who gets dead at the hand of meanies and reincarnated from the breath of a magic kitty. Time to dress like Donna the Dominatrix and kick some serious ass. Sharon Stone as a purveyor of addictive skin cream hangs around for the climactic butt bustin'. (Barton) AMC Palace 12, AMC Palace 16, AMC Palace 20, Chalmette, Grand, Holiday 12, North Shore Square
THE CLEARING (R) -- C First-time director Pieter Jan Brugge and first-time screenwriter Justin Haythe spin a fragmented story about the kidnapping of a wealthy man (Robert Redford) and the impact of the crime on his family. Helen Mirren plays the WASPy wife to perfection, her face a mask of fragility, decorum and loss, but Redford's character is less well-defined. (Carlson) Causeway Cinema
COFFEE AND CIGARETTES (R) -- This ensemble comedy from Jim Jarmusch features Bill Murray, Tom Waits and Iggy Pop, RZA and GZA, Jack and Meg White, Cate Blanchett, Roberto Benigni, and Cinque and Joie Lee, among others. Causeway Cinema
COLLATERAL (R) -- B+ Hitman Tom Cruise forces cab driver Jamie Foxx to help drive him around as he does his 'errands' over the course of one night in this taut and surprisingly cheeky noir thriller from Michael Mann. Cruise is at his coolest in this film, while Foxx provides an almost perfect counterpart as his flummoxed, unwilling partner. Mann, who's always had a thing or two to say about professionalism, works the clock as smoothly as ever, shooting his cast (which includes Jada Pinkett Smith, Mark Ruffalo and Javier Bardem) digitally against a blurry L.A. nightlife. (Simmons) AMC Palace 12, AMC Palace 16, AMC Palace 20, Chalmette, Grand, Holiday 12, Hollywood Cinemas 9
COMEDIAN HARMONISTS (R) -- The Deutsches Haus' Summer German Film Festival continues with Joseph Vilsmaier's 1997 film about the German vocal sextet that formed in the early days of Nazi Germany, and how the band struggled to survive. (Note: There are plans in the works to continue this series beyond the summer. Stay tuned.) 7 p.m. Thursday at the Deutsches Haus
DE-LOVELY (PG-13) -- D Another failed attempt at a film version of Cole Porter's life, De-Lovely is better than 1946's Night and Day, but only just. Screenwriter Jay Cocks sinks this film with an over-thought but underdeveloped script that relies too heavily on sophomoric narrative devices. The unconventional relationship of Cole (Kevin Kline) and his wife, Linda (Ashley Judd), is terribly simplified; the film -- which purports to be the whole truth -- does acknowledge his bisexuality, but any sense of sexual freedom is downplayed in favor of his unconvincing love affair with Linda. (Carlson) AMC Palace 20, Causeway Cinema
THE DOOR IN THE FLOOR (R) -- B+ Children's author/artist Jeff Bridges and wife Kim Basinger remain in their own separate worlds of grief following the deaths of their teen sons in this film directed by Tod Williams and based on the first part of John Irving's novel A Widow for One Year. And though it does indeed feel like only part of a story, the typically brilliant but subtle Bridges and the engaging Basinger keep the narrative going with their somber performances. Jon Foster is the x-factor as a student hired to be Bridges' assistant for the summer who ultimately becomes a pawn in the couple's relationship, while Mimi Rogers does a rather bizarre turn as one of Bridges' many models and mistresses. (Simmons) (Reviewed in this issue.) Canal Place
FAHRENHEIT 9/11 (R) -- B Oscar-winning director Michael Moore's scathing indictment of the Bush administration's reaction to the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks and subsequent invasions of Afghanistan and Iraq is as polemic and loose with the facts as his previous work. But there is so much humanism to see here -- rarely seen footage of U.S. military and Iraqi civilian casualties, interviews with disillusioned military members and families of soldiers, reasoned accusations from observers and members of Congress -- that Fahrenheit 9/11 remains a compelling work. (Simmons) AMC Palace 20, Canal Place
HAROLD AND KUMAR GO TO WHITE CASTLE (PG-13) -- Korean-American twentysomething Harold (John Cho) and Indian-American pal Kumar (Kal Penn) learn a little lesson about life in an all-night journey that involves curing the munchies by eating at the fast-food chain of the title. (Better known as Dude, Where's My Burger?) Co-stars Jamie Kennedy, Anthony Anderson and Neil Patrick Harris (as himself). AMC Palace 12, AMC Palace 16, AMC Palace 20, Chalmette, North Shore Square
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). Thankfully, director Alfonso Cuarón steps in, and no one misses Chris Columbus one bit. With his artist'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) Entergy IMAX
I, ROBOT (PG-13) -- C Will Smith contributes his usual summer action feature. This time he's a homicide detective who hates robots and thinks some artificial malevolence is involved in the apparent suicide of a leading robotics designer. Will takes on hundreds of robots at a time, but don't bet against him. In short, we've seen this all before, and we'll see it again. For the robots have already established their foothold in our world. It's called Hollywood. (Barton) AMC Palace 12, AMC Palace 16, AMC Palace 20, Grand, Holiday 12, Hollywood Cinemas 9, Movies 8
INTO THE DEEP (NR) -- IMAX cameras take a journey through the undersea world. Entergy IMAX
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
LITTLE BLACK BOOK (PG-13) -- Young TV producer Brittany Murphy (Just Married) is so suspicious of commitment-averse boyfriend Ron Livingston (Office Space) that she &140;interviews' all of his past girlfriends to find out his problem in this romantic comedy directed by Nick Hurran and co-starring Holly Hunter and Kathy Bates. AMC Palace 12, AMC Palace 16, AMC Palace 20, Chalmette, Grand, Holiday 12, Hollywood Cinemas 9, North Shore Square
THE MANCHURIAN CANDIDATE (R) -- A- Jonathan Demme's remake of the 1962 classic political thriller about a sinister attempt to control the American presidency stands on its own as worth seeing even by those thoroughly familiar with the original. The plot plays out with key differences, and the ending is entirely different. Denzel Washington, Meryl Streep and Liev Schreiber star. (Barton) (Reviewed in this issue.) AMC Palace 12, AMC Palace 16, AMC Palace 20, Chalmette, Grand, Holiday 12, Hollywood Cinemas 9, North Shore Square, Prytania
NAPOLEON DYNAMITE (PG) -- A- Co-writer and director Jared Hess has created one of the most blissfully abstract comedies in recent memory in his story about Napoleon Dynamite (Jon Heder), a dorky high school student who might actually be a superhero. In what almost feels like a goof on John Hughes' &140;80s teen comedies, Hess has produced something thoroughly offbeat and surprisingly profound, displaying a love for people who aren't nearly as ordinary as we think. Plus, it has one of the coolest opening title sequences of all time. (Simmons) Canal Place
NASCAR 3-D: THE IMAX EXPERIENCE (PG) -- The IMAX cameras go deep inside the race cars and race tracks of NASCAR land. Entergy IMAX
THE NOTEBOOK (PG-13) -- Ryan Gosling and Rachel McAdams co-star in Nick Cassavetes' adaptation of the Nicholas Sparks romance novel about a romantic triangle recalled by an older man (James Garner) to his former love (Gena Rowlands), who is now suffering from Alzheimer's disease. (Gosling and McAdams play two of the younger lovers.) Rowlands, it should be noted, is the mother of Cassavetes and widow of John Cassavetes. AMC Palace 12, 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 PRINCESS DIARIES 2: ROYAL ENGAGEMENT (G) -- Now that American teen Anne Hathaway is firmly set as the princess of Genovia, she now must find her prince in this sequel to the 2001 hit. Co-stars Julie Andrews, Heather Matarazzo and Hector Elizondo. AMC Palace 12, AMC Palace 16, AMC Palace 20, Chalmette, Grand, Holiday 12, Hollywood Cinemas 9, North Shore Square
SHREK 2 (PG) -- A- Mike Myers is certainly seeing the green, as everyone'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'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'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 a very close second. (Carlson) AMC Palace 16, AMC Palace 20
SPIDER-MAN 2 (PG-13) -- A- Director Sam Raimi finally displays his spidey sense in this superior sequel to the 2002 hit movie. An unhinged-yet-sympathetic Doctor Octopus (Alfred Molina) is the villain, but the real struggle here is between identity and secret identity, as Peter Parker (Tobey Maguire) wrestles with the tangled question: to be or not to be a webslinger. (Tisserand) AMC Palace 12, AMC Palace 16, AMC Palace 20, Chalmette, Grand, Holiday 12, Hollywood Cinemas 9
THUNDERBIRDS (PG) -- Jonathan Frakes (of Star Trek: the Next Generation fame) directed this film adaptation of the popular &140;60s British TV puppet/animation show about a family of rescuers led by an Air Force veteran (Bill Paxton). Co-stars Ben Kingsley, Anthony Edwards and Ron Cook. AMC Palace 12, AMC Palace 16, AMC Palace 20, North Shore Square
THE VILLAGE (PG-13) -- C M. Night Shyamalan's career trajectory continues ever downward with yet another 'movie with a secret' approach that spoils a fairly intriguing story. Rural villagers who adhere to a Luddite lifestyle -- filled with its own creepy superstitions -- start to panic when someone inadvertently breaks a truce with their menacing neighbor in the nearby woods. Shymalan's deftness with color and sound as atmosphere is typically wondrous, and the ensemble cast (featuring newcomer Bryce Dallas Howard, Ron's daughter) is capable, but this secret ending is Shymalan's most ludicrous yet. Let's kill the Hitchcock comparisons now, can we? Co-stars William Hurt, Sigourney Weaver and Adrien Brody. (Simmons) AMC Palace 12, AMC Palace 16, AMC Palace 20, Canal Place, Chalmette, Grand, Holiday 12, Hollywood Cinemas 9
YU-GI-OH! (PG) -- The popular Japanese animation show comes to the big screen courtesy of director Ryosuke Takahashi, with the evil spirit Anubis rising from the sands of Egypt. AMC Palace 12, AMC Palace 16, AMC Palace 20, Chalmette, Grand, Holiday 12, Hollywood Cinemas 9
