CHEAPER BY THE DOZEN 2 (PG-13) — Steve Martin, Bonnie Hunt, Hilary Duff and Piper Perabo return in this sequel to the 2003 film about a blended family featuring 12 kids and many misadventures. Adam Shankman takes over directing duties. Co-stars Eugene Levy.

FUN WITH DICK AND JANE (PG-13) — Jim Carrey and Tea Leoni fill in for George Segal and Jane Fonda in this remake of the 1977 comedy about a once-well-to-do couple forced into a life of crime during troubled economic times. Dean Parisot directs.

Scheduled to Open Friday

MUNICH (R) — Steven Spielberg directed this look at Israel's response to the 1972 Summer Olympics massacre in Munich, Germany, in which Palestinian terrorists held hostage and then murdered 11 Israeli athletes. Stars Eric Bana, Daniel Craig, Geoffrey Rush and Matthieu Kassovitz. (For more on the Munich Massacre, see the ÒDVD CornerÓ review of One Day in September in this issue.)

THE RINGER (PG-13) — Johnny Knoxville, no stranger to Jackass humor, stars as a yuppy who begrudgingly participates in the Special Olympics in order to raise needed cash in this comedy directed by Barry Blaustein and co-starring Brian Cox.

Scheduled to Open Dec. 25

CASANOVA (R) — Heath Ledger, in his other, very non-gay performance of the season ( Brokeback Mountain being the other), stars as the legendary lothario in Lasse Hallstrom's film, co-starring Sienna Miller, Jeremy Irons, Lena Olin and Oliver Platt.

THE NEW WORLD (PG-13) — Terrence Malick (The Thin Red Line) takes on the legend of the settling of America, complete with John Smith (Colin Ferrell) and Pocahontas (Q'Orianka Kilcher). Co-stars Christian Bale and Christopher Plummer.

THE PRODUCERS (PG-13) — Nathan Lane and Matthew Broderick reunite in their Broadway musical roles as Max Bialystock and Leo Bloom, respectively, whose efforts to consciously produce a Broadway dud backfires with the infamous Springtime for Hitler . Directed by Broadway vet Susan Stroman and co-starring Uma Thurman and Will Ferrell.

RUMOR HAS IT (PG-13) — Jennifer Aniston travels home to her sister's wedding only to find out her family may have been the inspiration for Charles Webb's novel and Mike Nichols' film The Graduate , with Kevin Costner as the Benjamin Braddock-inspired character and Shirley MacLaine the Mrs. Robinson-inspired character. Co-stars Mark Ruffalo and Mena Suvari, directed by Rob Reiner.

Now Showing

AEON FLUX (PG-13) — Four hundred years in the future, apparent terrorist Aeon Flux (Charlize Theron) is ordered to assassinate apparent evil dictator Trevor Goodchild (Marton Csokas), only to find that things are not as they seem. Girlfight director Karyn Kusama retains many of the weird gadgets and reality-bendings of the MTV cartoon series in this big-screen adaptation (including a nifty device that warps the wearer between different dimensional frequencies within the same room). At first, the Trevor-Aeon chemistry is dead-on — a scene where he has her captured in a cell will give chills to hardcore Flux fans. Sadly, much like in Judge Dredd , an initially spot-on characterization ends up deconstructed and rebuilt into Hollywood clichŽ. A perfect Aeon Flux would have been like a cross between David Lynch's Dune and David Cronenberg's Dead Ringers , though it's hard to imagine such a thing getting the greenlight. Kusama offers moments of inspiration, but it frustrates like hell that she couldn't nail it completely. (Thompson) AMC Palace 10, AMC Palace 12, AMC Palace 16, AMC Palace 20, Holiday 12, Hollywood Cinemas 9

CHICKEN LITTLE (G) — On select screens, Chicken Little will be presented in ÒDisney Digital 3-D,Ó a brand-new system created with George Lucas' special-effects team. It's revolutionary! It' s state of the art! It's É not being screened in this format prior to opening day. Watching the movie in 2-D when it was clearly conceived with an extra dimension in mind is like watching a porno with all the naked parts trimmed out — you can tell when something exciting is supposed to happen, but have to imagine what you thought you were going to see. What ensues is a lame alien invasion story featuring the famously paranoid Chicken (voiced by Zach Braff) and friends Abby ÒUgly DucklingÓ Mallard (Joan Cusack), Runt of the Litter (Steve Zahn), and Fish Out of Water (Dan Molina). If Chicken Little were in 3-D, shown in a theme park as you sit in motion simulators, the lame gags might not be so much of a problem. (Thompson) AMC Palace 10, AMC Palace 12, AMC Palace 16, AMC Palace 20, Holiday 12, Hollywood Cinemas 9

THE CHRONICLES OF NARNIA: THE LION, THE WITCH AND THE WARDROBE (PG) — C.S. Lewis' children's classic comes to the big screen, directed by Andrew Adamson (co-director of Shrek ) and starring Tilda Swinton, Jim Broadbent, Liam Neeson and Rupert Everett. AMC Palace 10, AMC Palace 12, AMC Palace 16, AMC Palace 20, Holiday 12, Hollywood Cinemas 9

DERAILED (R) — Mikael Hafstrom's thriller stars Clive Owen as a Chicago advertising man, husband and father who threatens to wreck his life when he starts an affair with investment banker Jennifer Aniston (who gives still further evidence that she's the member of the Friends cast with the acting chops to become a big-screen mainstay). Like a twisting roller-coaster, the picture keeps us nicely off balance, whipping us through as many unexpected moments as a two-hour flick can deliver. (Barton) AMC Palace 12, AMC Palace 20, Causeway Cinema

DOLPHINS (G) — Marine biologists study the communication of dolphins in nature. Narrated by Pierce Brosnan with music by Sting. Kenner MegaDome

THE FAMILY STONE (PG-13) — Ensemble family/romantic comedy set during the holiday season stars Dermot Mulroney, Diane Keaton, Sarah Jessica Parker, Claire Danes, Rachel McAdams, Luke Wilson and Craig T. Nelson. Written and directed by Tom Bezucha. AMC Palace 10, AMC Palace 12, AMC Palace 16, AMC Palace 20, Holiday 12, Hollywood Cinemas 9

GET RICH OR DIE TRYIN' (R) — 50 Cent sounds articulate in his raps, but as a lead actor, he talks like his mouth is filled with food. Get Rich or Die Tryin' , named after one of 50's albums, seems to have begun life primarily as a marketing tool: Like Eminem's 8 Mile and Howard Stern's Private Parts , it's consciously styled to show the more sensitive side of a guy known primarily for macho swagger, and in the process expand his audience to women and older folks who may have been otherwise put off. But it's also designed to give director Jim Sheridan some hipster points with the kids, as 8 Mile did for Curtis Hanson. Loosely based on 50 Cent's real life, it's a reasonably entertaining story, and would be better if it had a reasonably entertaining actor at its heart. Is this a thriller? A social statement? Oscar bait? It's not really any one of those. Get Rich never seems to come out and condemn the violence it depicts, but neither is it willing to revel in it. (Thompson) AMC Palace 20

GOOD NIGHT, AND GOOD LUCK (PG) — Writer-director George Clooney's look at the See It Now 1950s broadcasts by which Edward R. Murrow exposed the demagoguery of Joseph McCarthy is a vehicle for concern about the commercialization of television news. David Strathairn gives a great performance as Murrow. And Clooney, who co-stars as Murrow's producer Fred Friendly, makes his point that journalists have a greater obligation than merely broadcasting opposing opinions; they have an obligation to discover and present the truth. (Barton) AMC Palace 20

HARRY POTTER AND THE GOBLET OF FIRE (PG-13) — Not only does this fourth Potter movie — scripted once again by Steve Kloves (who also wrote the first two) and directed by Mike Newell ( Four Weddings and a Funeral ) — assume prior knowledge of the other films; it even assumes you've already read the book. If you somehow missed the last three, this isn't likely to be the one to break your pattern. But some things in the Harry Potter universe are much more fun to see than read about — the aerial sport of Quidditch is a prime example, and the sequence where Harry (Daniel Radcliffe) has to steal a golden egg from an angry dragon is right up there. Voldemort (Ralph Fiennes) finally shows up, but he's upstaged by Mad-Eye Moody (Brendan Gleeson). Newell doesn't have much of a distinctive vision; his is a CliffsNotes version of the book, which is to be expected. (Thompson) AMC Palace 10, AMC Palace 12, AMC Palace 16, AMC Palace 20, Holiday 12, Hollywood Cinemas 9, Prytania

IN THE MIX (PG) — R&B star Usher hits the big screen in this comedy about an everyman who inadvertently saves the life of a mob boss (Chazz Palminteri) and winds up wooing his daughter (Emmanuelle Chriqui). Directed by Ron Underwood ( The Adventures of Pluto Nash ). AMC Palace 16, AMC Palace 20

JUST FRIENDS (PG-13) — Ryan Reynolds is a slick music exec named Chris Brander, still traumatized at having gotten the ÒLet's just be friendsÓ speech from the girl of his dreams when he was younger and fatter. Anna Faris is an insane model-turned-singer named Samantha James, a nightmarish hybrid of Paris Hilton and Ashlee Simpson who insists on being taken seriously as an artist and harbors a deranged crush on Chris, who slept with her once and regrets it. Reynolds and Faris play off each other beautifully, but unfortunately that's not the point of the movie. Faris pretty much disappears about a third of the way through so that the story can focus on Chris and the girl he was once Òjust friendsÓ with, Jamie Palamino (Amy Smart). Desperate to right all the wrongs done to him when he was uncool, Chris relentlessly beats up on his younger brother and resorts to childishness in dealing with others, including Jamie, because he can. It's a funny movie, but a lot funnier when it's Reynolds-Faris rather than Reynolds-Smart. (Thompson) AMC Palace 10, AMC Palace 12, AMC Palace 16, AMC Palace 20, Holiday 12, Hollywood Cinemas 9

KING KONG (PG-13) — Peter Jackson swings from Lord of the Rings to Lord of the Apes, and it ain't Tarzan we're talking about but one big-ass gorilla, Kong, in another remake of the 1933 classic. Weighing in at three hours, this version stars Adrien Brody, Naomi Watts and Jack Black. AMC Palace 10, AMC Palace 12, AMC Palace 16, AMC Palace 20, Holiday 12, Hollywood Cinemas 9, Prytania

PRIDE & PREJUDICE (PG) — If ever there was a bit of material not in need of a good dusting off, it's this Jane Austen novel; no more mystery can be wrung from its machinations, after all. Yet what could have been dreary and old-fashioned, this potential montage of bodices and balls sure to glaze the eyes of the moviegoer, has the zing and sting of the au courant — and surely much of that has to do with Keira Knightley as Lizzie, who's more beautiful than Austen imagined, which all the more amplifies the heroine's spark, scorn and wit. Why would such a beauty settle for the ghastly Mr. Collins (Tom Hollander), the ecclesiastic who promises Lizzie and her grotesquely social-climbing mother (Brenda Blethyn) a lifetime of middling wealth, when she can snare Darcy (Matthew MacFadyen), whom she claims to loathe but so clearly loves? (Wilonsky) AMC Palace 20, Causeway Cinema, Hollywood Cinemas 9

RENT (PG-13) — Almost everything in this adaptation of the Broadway schmaltzfest feels fake: the snow, the tenements, the sentiment. Writer Jonathan Larson's characters are not people so much as types: the nebbishy Jew, the incandescent drag queen, the sexy Latina dancer, the buttoned-up lawyer, the hot-shit guitar god, and so on. While Larson seemed to want to work against expectations — it's the black lesbian, not her white partner, whose parents belong to a Greenwich country club — his signifiers are so typical as to be confoundingly dull. The movie's two redeeming elements: Angel (Wilson Heredia) and Tom (Jesse L. Martin), two men in love played by irresistible actors. (Levine) AMC Palace 20, Causeway Cinema

SAW II (R) — Despite being churned out only a year after the original, this sequel improves on all of the first film's problem areas while leaving intact the solid concept. Police officers Mathews (Donnie Wahlberg) and Kerry (Dina Meyer) rather quickly manage to capture social-Darwinist sociopath Jigsaw (Tobin Bell) in his lair. Closer to death than before, the killer doesn't even try to run, but as anyone who knows their Se7en or Oldboy might suspect, getting caught is all part of the plan. (Thompson) AMC Palace 16, AMC Palace 20

SHOPGIRL(R) — Steve Martin's Annie Hall stars Claire Danes as a clothing clerk who falls in love with a billionaire who treats her well but refuses to commit to her. Jason Schwartzman is the less than competitive romantic rival. Laugh-out-loud funny at several points, this picture nonetheless aims ultimately for melancholy rather than comedy. Narratively flawed and sometimes opaque, this film nonetheless touches something in our shared experience. It rings with sad truth. (Barton) Causeway Cinema

SYRIANA (R) — Stephen Gaghan's international thriller proceeds from the premise that America's foreign policy in the Middle East is dedicated to protecting the corporate interests of Big Oil. But Syriana 's politics are established background, not a thematic agenda. Gaghan's complicated plot dazzles us with his ability to juggle so many characters spread across such a huge geographical canvas. But impressive as this film is in many ways, it isn't essential because it never stirs us. In the end, Syriana is a film to admire but not one to love. (Barton) (Reviewed in this issue.) AMC Palace 10, AMC Palace 12, AMC Palace 16, AMC Palace 20, Holiday 12, Hollywood Cinemas 9

WALK THE LINE (PG-13) — Director and co-writer James Mangold all but gives us the day-to-day blow-by-blows of Johnny Cash's early years, from rising Sun to falling star almost done in by amphetamines. For all the affection Mangold feels for Cash (Joaquin Phoenix) and June Carter (Reese Witherspoon), the movie feels oddly dispassionate — more like a lecturer reading from a required text than someone recounting a story that needed to be told. Phoenix simply doesn't have the weight, the presence, the gravitas of Cash; he's no more Johnny Cash than a 2-year-old in a Halloween costume is Batman. He never disappears in the role the way Jamie Foxx did in Ray , never makes us forget we're watching an acolyte repeat the master's words without embodying their meaning. And it doesn't help that Phoenix and Witherspoon sing the songs themselves, rendering theirs the performances of competent karaoke-club entertainers. Phoenix, especially, is no Val Kilmer. Or, for that matter, Jamie Foxx. Or Johnny Cash. (Wilonsky) AMC Palace 16, AMC Palace 20, Holiday 12

YOURS, MINE & OURS (PG) — This witless, terminally irritating remake of a pretty fair 1968 Lucille Ball-Henry Fonda comedy stars a miscast Dennis Quaid as an uptight Coast Guard admiral and Rene Russo as a supposedly free-spirited clothing designer who enter an ill-considered insta-marriage despite having — count 'em — 18 children between them from their previous unions. The newlyweds cram everybody into a ramshackle, 20-room lighthouse on the Connecticut shore, where the platoons of antagonistic step-siblings whine and scream and throw buckets of paint at each other, en route to an inevitable We Are Fami-Lee moment. Don't be surprised if, by the end, you find yourself shouting out for tougher reform schools and the mandatory sterilization of all U.S.-born grown-ups. Director Raja Gosnell force-feeds us gobs of frantic goodwill, and every last bad-acting kid in this cast deserves a one-way ticket back to the school play. (Gallo) AMC Palace 10, AMC Palace 12, AMC Palace, AMC Palace 20, Holiday 12, Hollywood Cinemas 9

AMC Palace 10 (Hammond) 429-9090; AMC Palace 12 734-2020; AMC Palace 16 734-2020; AMC Palace 20 734-2020; Causeway Cinema (985) 626-9853; Holiday 12 (985) 893-5444; Hollywood Cinemas 9 464-0990; Kenner MegaDome 468-7231; Prytania 891-2787

Contributors: Rick Barton, Bill Gallo (New Times Media), Melissa Levine (New Times Media), Luke Y. Thompson (New Times Media), Robert Wilonsky (New Times Media)

Compiled by David Lee Simmons and Katie Walenter