Scheduled to Open Friday
A DIRTY SHAME (NC-17) -- John Waters' latest raunch-fest features uptight, sexually repressed convenience story owner Tracey Ullman turning into a nymphomaniac after suffering a concussion -- first exciting and then exhausting husband Chris Isaak. Co-stars Selma Blair, Mink Stole, Patricia Hearst and Johnny Knoxville.
FIRST DAUGHTER (PG) -- President's daughter Katie Holmes falls in love with fellow college student Marc Blucas not realizing he's a Secret Service agent covertly assigned by her father (Michael Keaton). Haven't we been down this road before? Jenna, your thoughts? Directed by Forest Whitaker (Waiting to Exhale) and co-starring Michael Keaton as the president.
THE FORGOTTEN (PG-13) -- Grieving parent Julianne Moore joins forces with another grieving parent (Dominic West) after both have been told their supposedly dead children were just figments of their imagination in this thriller directed by Joseph Ruben (Return to Paradise). Co-stars Alfre Woodard, Anthony Edwards, Gary Sinise and Linus Roache.
THE LAST SHOT (R) -- Indie filmmaker Matthew Broderick's movie is saved by producer Alec Baldwin, who in reality is an FBI agent using the production of the film in Providence, R.I., as part of a sting operation to uncover Mafia connections to labor in this comedy directed by first-timer Jeff Nathanson (screenwriter for Catch Me If You Can, The Terminal). Co-stars Tim Blake Nelson, Toni Collete, Tony Shalhoub and Calista Flockhart.
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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. Movies 8
ANACONDAS: THE HUNT FOR THE BLOOD ORCHID (PG-13) -- The cast is new but the snake is as big and menacing as ever in this sequel to the campy, so-bad-its-good 1997 hit that starred Ice Cube, J-Lo and Jon Voight. This cast features Johnny Messner, Morris Chestnut, Peter Curtis and Eugene Byrd. AMC Palace 12, AMC Palace 16, AMC Palace 20, Chalmette, Grand, Holiday 12, Hollywood Cinemas 9, Movies 8
THE BOURNE SUPREMACY (PG-13) -- Matt Damon returns as David Webb/Jason Bourne in the second installment of the Robert Ludlum spy trilogy. Causeway Cinema
CELLULAR (PG-13) -- Kidnapped woman Kim Basinger places a panicky phone call to stranger Chris Evans in the hopes of saving herself and her family from kidnapper Jason Statham in this thriller directed by David R. Ellis. Co-stars Jessica Biel and William H. Macy. AMC Palace 12, AMC Palace 16, AMC Palace 20, Chalmette, Grand, Holiday 12, Hollywood Cinemas 9, Movies 8
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 a deadly way, in this film, while Foxx provides an almost perfect counterpart as his flummoxed, unwilling partner. (Simmons) AMC Palace 12, AMC Palace 16, AMC Palace 20, Grand, Holiday 12, Movies 8
COOKOUT (PG-13) -- NBA rookie Storm P finds himself a fish out of water when he throws a picnic for his family and old friends in a posh white neighborhood in this comedy directed by first-timer Lance Rivera and co-starring Eve, Queen Latifah, Danny Glover, Tim Meadows, Vincent Pastore, Ja Rule, Frankie Faison and Farrah Fawcett. AMC Palace 12, AMC Palace 16, AMC Palace 20, Chalmette, Grand, Hollywood Cinemas 9, North Shore Square
DOLPHINS (NR) -- Fa love Pa! Actor Pierce Brosnan narrates Greg MacGillivray's documentary about the study of dolphins' communication skills. Featuring music by Sting. Entergy IMAX
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. AMC Palace 16, AMC Palace 20, Chalmette
GARDEN STATE (R) -- B+ Zach Braff (TV's Scrubs) wrote, directed and stars in this self-consciously offbeat comedy-drama about a semi-successful actor who returns home to New Jersey for his mother's funeral and to confront both his past and his future. (Simmons) AMC Palace 20, Canal Place
GARFIELD (PG) -- D- Perhaps the worst five minutes you'll spend with any kid this summer is watching a CGI Garfield crooning 'New Dog State of Mind.' (If you don't go to the movies with kids, feel free to move on to the next blurb.) Not even Bill Murray's voicing of Jim Davis' cartoon feline can help this sorry display of tired gags, relentless product placement and clunky special effects that make old Meow Mix commercials look like The Matrix. (Tisserand) Holiday 12, Movies 8
HERO (PG-13) -- B Zhang Yimou's (Raise the Red Lantern) film can be enjoyed as visual and kinetic art, appreciated for its bursts of color and grace of movement. But in the end the picture takes an unsavory turn. The picture's final lesson is that when something as grand as the construction of a country is the goal, the cost in blood is never too high. That's a premise Slobodan Milosovic would embrace in a heartbeat. (Barton) AMC Palace 16, AMC Palace 20, Chalmette, Grand, Holiday 12, North Shore Square
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. (Barton) AMC Palace 12, AMC Palace 20 Grand, Holiday 12, Movies 8
INTO THE DEEP (NR) -- IMAX cameras take a journey through the undersea world. Entergy IMAX
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. Denzel Washington, Meryl Streep and Liev Schreiber star. (Barton) AMC Palace 20
MARIA FULL OF GRACE (R) -- B+ First-time filmmaker Joshua Marston's tense drama about a young Colombian woman who agrees to transport pellets of latex-wrapped heroin from Bogota to New York in her stomach benefits from a galvanizing title performance by Catalina Sandino Moreno. Another director might paint Maria as a victim without alternatives, but Marston's script renders her a compellingly complicated character who becomes a drug mule with eyes mostly wide open. (Barton) Causeway Cinema
MR. 3000 (PG-13) -- Hall of Fame baseball player Bernie Mac is forced out of retirement when he learns that three of his 3,000 hits don't count on his career stats total in this comedy directed by Charles Stone III (Drumline). Co-stars Angela Bassett, Chris Noth (Mr. Big!), Paul Sorvino and Michael Rispoli. AMC Palace 12, AMC Palace 16, AMC Palace 20, Chalmette, Grand, Holiday 12, Hollywood Cinemas 9, North Shore Square
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' '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
NATIONAL LAMPOON'S GOLD DIGGERS (PG-13) -- Gary Priesler directed this comedy about down-and-out con men Chris Owen and Will Friedle seeing their plan of marrying older women Louise Lasser and Renee Taylor blow up in their faces. AMC Palace 16, AMC Palace 20, North Shore Square
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. 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
PAPARAZZI (PG-13) -- Movie star Cole Hauser has revenge on his mind when wife Robin Tunney and his son are injured in an automobile crash caused by celebrity-stalking photographers in this thriller co-starring Tom Sizemore and Dennis Farina with cameos by Chris Rock, Mel Gibson, Vince Vaughn and Matthew McConaughey. AMC Palace 12, AMC Palace 16, AMC Palace 20, Grand, Hollywood Cinemas 9
PICCADILLY (NR) -- Henri Schindler's Classic Film Series continues with a screening of E.A. Dupont's 1929 melodrama with Anna Mae Wong as a maid who suddenly becomes a London nightclub star. Restored version courtesy the British Film Institute. 6:30 p.m. Thursday at NOMA's Stern Auditorium
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. AMC Palace 12, AMC Palace 16, AMC Palace 20, Chalmette, Grand, Holiday 12, Hollywood Cinemas 9, North Shore Square
RESIDENT EVIL: APOCALYPSE (R) -- The sequel to the popular 2002 horror film (directed once again by Paul Anderson) features Milla Jovovich as a military type who joins other survivors of a virus outbreak to battle the zombified victims of the outbreak. Co-stars Sienna Guillory, Mike Epps, Oded Fehr and Jared Harris. AMC Palace 12, AMC Palace 16, AMC Palace 20, Chalmette, Grand, Holiday 12, Hollywood Cinemas 9, North Shore Square
THE SHAMELESS OLD LADY (NR) -- Rene Alio directed this 1965 French film about an old woman (Sylvie) reflecting on the death of her husband and deciding to live the remainder of her life on her own terms. Based on the short story by Bertolt Brecht, the film is screened in anticipation of George Tabori's Brecht on Brecht theater piece performed by the Four Humors Theatre Company, which opens Saturday. 7:30 p.m. Thursday at Zeitgeist
SILVER CITY (R) -- John Sayles (Sunshine State) returns with this satire on George W. Bush, with Chris Cooper playing an intelligence-deficient gubernatorial candidate whose campaign is tripped up by a dead body. Co-stars Tim Roth, Maria Bello, Billy Zane and Darryl Hannah. Canal Place
SKY CAPTAIN AND THE WORLD OF TOMORROW (PG) -- Sky Captain Jude Law teams with ex-girlfriend and reporter Gwyneth Paltrow to prevent a mad scientist from destroying the world in 1930s New York City in this sci-fi film written and directed by first-timer Kerry Conran, a CGI whiz. Co-stars Michael Gambon, Giovanni Ribisi and Angelina Jolie. AMC Palace 12, AMC Palace 16, AMC Palace 20, Chalmette, Grand, Holiday 12, Hollywood Cinemas 9, North Shore Square, Prytania
SUPERBABIES 2: BABY GENIUSES (PG) -- Talking babies assume superpowers and fight evil in the form of Jon Voight. Stars Scott Baio and Vanessa Angel. Bob Clark directed. AMC Palace 16, AMC Palace 20, Grand
THE THREE-PENNY OPERA (NR) -- Georg Wilhelm Pabst's 1931 adaptation of Bertolt Brecht's classic stage play, which in turn was inspired by John Gay, about the infamous bandit Mack the Knife. 7 p.m. Thursday at Deutsches Haus
VANITY FAIR (PG-13) -- Mira Nair (Monsoon Wedding) directed Reese Witherspoon in yet another (seventh?) theatrically released adaptation of the William Makepeace Thackeray novel about a working girl in 1820s London who cunningly works her way up the social ladder. The higher she climbs, the more complicated life becomes. Co-stars Jonathan Rhys Meyers, Gabriel Byrne, Jim Broadbent, Eileen Atkins and Rhys Ifans. AMC Palace 12, AMC Palace 20, Canal Place
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. (Simmons) AMC Palace 20, Chalmette, Holiday 12, Movies 8
VOLCANOES OF THE DEEP SEA -- Actor Ed Harris narrates this look at life 12,000 feet below sea level, including the strange creatures that thrive near underwater volcanoes. Entergy IMAX
WE DON'T LIVE HERE ANYMORE (R) -- John Curran directed Naomi Watts, Mark Ruffalo, Laura Dern and Peter Krause as disaffected mate-swappers in this story based on a combination of Andres DuBus' (In the Bedroom) novella of the same name and his short story 'Adultery.' Causeway Cinema
WHAT THE #$*! DO WE KNOW? (NR) -- C This 'documentary' is one part primer about quantum physics, one part rumination about how God perhaps works through sub-atomic particles (which are certainly curious stuff) and one-part narrative about an unhappy photographer (Marlee Matlin) who needs an attitude adjustment. Too much talk; too little light. (Barton) (Reviewed in this issue.) Canal Place
WICKER PARK (PG-13) -- Heartbroken investment banker Josh Hartnett can't move on with his life, including an upcoming wedding, when he thinks he sees his previous flame in a restaurant and becomes obsessed in this thriller remake of the 1996 French film, L'Appartement. Directed by Brandon Boyce (Apt Pupil) and co-stars Matthew Lillard, Jessica Pare, Diane Kruger and Rose Byrne. AMC Palace 12, AMC Palace 16, AMC Palace 20, Holiday 12, Movies 8
WIMBLEDON (PG-13) -- Fading tennis player Paul Bettany (Master and Commander) romances promising but rebellious newcomer Kirsten Dunst during his last shot at the All-England Lawn Tennis Championships in this film directed by Richard Loncraine (Richard III). Co-stars Jon Favreau and Sam Neill. AMC Palace 12, AMC Palace 16, AMC Palace 20, Holiday 12, Hollywood Cinemas 9, Movies 8
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). AMC Palace 12, AMC Palace 16, AMC Palace 20, Chalmette, Holiday 12, Hollywood Cinemas 9, Movies 8
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. Chalmette
| 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 |
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