continued from page 38 return in this animated sequel to the Disney classic. Mowgli has adjusted to life in the village with all the other humans, but he still misses his animal friends, especially Baloo. When Mowgli sneaks away to the jungle to visit his old pals, it’s a race to see who can find him first: the friends he’s looking to visit or man-eating tiger Shere Khan. Cast: John Goodman, Haley Joel Osment, Tony Jay. Kangaroo Jack (PG) — Two childhood friends, Charlie (Jerry O'Connell) and Louis (Anthony Anderson), from Brooklyn are forced to deliver a mysterious envelope to Australia af ter one of them accidentally causes the police to raid a mob warehouse. En route to the land down under, Louis peeks in the package and discovers that it contains $50,000. Af ter the guys arrive in the Outback, they accidentally run over a kangaroo. Louis decides to take pictures of the animal and even puts shades and his lucky jacket on the 'roo, which is only stunned and hops away with the jacket containing the money. Now the guys are forced to chase the animal through the Outback, or they'll have to repay the mob with their lives. The real star of "Kangaroo Jack" is the beautiful Outback. That alone may be wor th the price of admission. Or not. Cast: Jerry O'Connell, Anthony Anderson, Estella Warren, Christopher Walken, Dyan Cannon, Mar ton Csokas. Running time: 1 hr., 30 mins. (McCormick) ★
Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers (PG13) — Long, violent, death-fixated, dark in tone,
heavy in heroic mood, this is a film for addicts of the series. Lit tle Frodo is marginalized as Viggo Mor tensen leads the defense of a castle from hordes of vicious scumballs, and the two grand beards (Ian McKellan, Christopher Lee) contend for Middle Ear th. There's a little schizo in a wispy loincloth, expressively per formed and voiced, but the almost Stone Age my thology rolls over us like layers of geology. 3 hrs. (Elliot t) ★★ Malibu’s Most Wanted (PG-13) — Brad “B-rad” Gluckman ain’t no Eminem. He’s Malibu’s worst rapper, a rich white boy who thinks he has the nuances of the hip-hop lifestyle down pat. Nothing could be fur ther from the truth, and when B-rad’s embarrassing antics creep into his father’s campaign for governor of California, the family decides that some tough love might be in order. Cast: Jamie Kennedy, Blair Underwood, Ryan O’Neal, Taye Diggs. A Man Apart (R) — Vin Diesel is emotionally strung-out af ter an arrogant car tel bust in Mexico leads to the murder of his wife. He sulks, he stews, he is a man of constant sorrows. He is beaten, shot, almost drowns, nearly has his eyes poked out. But mostly he avenges. Backed up by DEA buddies who are all men apar t, being former gang "homies," he enters into foul nests of narco-scum and turns a money transfer into a rampage of bloody bodies and burning cars. Behind all the meanness is El Diablo, new king of the Mex-to-Cal drug trade, or maybe it's his imprisoned predecessor, Meno (Geno Silva). Diesel is top dog now on the scummy streets and sewers of the 21st-century world nightmare. In cruel times, seamy diversion fits in seamlessly. Cast: Vin Diesel, Larenz Tate, Steve Eastin, Timothy Olyphant. Running time: 1 hr., 39 mins. (Elliot t) ★★1/2 National Security (PG-13) — Mar tin Lawrence and Steve Zahn play L.A.P.D. rejects on both ends of the spectrum who get paired up as security guards. While on par tol, they uncover a smuggling operation, in between bits of slapstick that are obligatory for films of this genre. Cast: Mar tin Lawrence, Steve Zahn, Eric Rober ts. Phone Booth (R) — Stu Shepard (Colin Farrell) fancies that he is a new-glam guy, but he is just another wannabe Sidney Falco, a publicist who dresses in yupstyle display threads (markdown Italian suits and deep-
Photo Courtesy of MGM/UA Pictures
“Bulletproof Monk”
color shir ts) while he pitches, schmoozes and snidely snipes at people, of ten on a cell phone. Suddenly, he has to endure a real sniper, a mysterious psycho who calls him in the phone booth, tells him to stay there "or I will kill you," and then torments Stu with truths about his glib, weaseling life. Director Joel Schumacher pumps the nonsense avidly, using touches — smeary jumps, zooms, speed-ups, split-screen multiples — that were get ting old when MTV was only a noisy rug rat. Cast: Colin Farrell, Forest Whitaker, Katie Holmes, Radha Mitchell, Kiefer Sutherland. Running time: 1 hr., 21 mins. (Elliot t) ★★ The Real Cancun (R) — The creators of MTV’s “The Real World” and “Road Rules” team up for the bigscreen debut of reality programming. Gathering their cast from colleges all over the United States, the producers of “The Real Cancun” promise to take them on the ultimate spring break vacation in Cancun, Mexico, in exchange for observing just what kind of trouble the kids get themselves into. The Recruit (PG-13) — Al Pacino, as CIA recruiter Walter Burke, takes young MIT grad James Clay ton (Colin Farrell) "through the looking glass," for spy training and tough tests at The Farm, the CIA school outside Washington. His insider hook on Clay ton is that he might have the secret the younger man needs to know, about the dead father whom he suspects died on a CIA mission in 1990. The story tangles boyish Clay ton with the recruit Layla (Bridget Moynahan), another gofor-it brain with a similar taste for danger. The story twists and snaps through the set tings with tricky confidence, and the modern device of using computers fits this plot snugly. "The Recruit" manages the commercially savvy trick of being both insolent and patriotic about the CIA. It will probably recruit some fans of this movie. Cast: Al Pacino, Colin Farrell, Gabriel Macht, Bridget Moynahan. Running time: 1 hr., 45 mins. (Elliot t) ★★★ Shanghai Knights (PG-13) — This is a sequel to 2000's silly hit "Shanghai Noon." The sequel feels longer and has some sag. Jackie Chan is a former imperial guardsman from 19th-century Peking, but gone to the Old (then young) West as Chon Wang, a.k.a. John Wayne. He's now a sherif f, and Owen Wilson as scampy ladies' man Roy O'Bannon has decamped to Victorian London, where he is a stubblecheeked waiter, but still has a harem of loyal females. The Chinese imperial seal with a huge diamond is falling into the sneaky hands of an imperial wannabe in exile, who is allied with a wannabe future king of England. The film ends with the usual Chan bonus, a spree of blooper shots. Cast: Jackie Chan, Owen Wilson, Fann Wong, Aaron Johnson, Gemma Jones. Running time: 1 hr., 42 mins. (Elliot t) ★★1/2 What a Girl Wants (PG) — Amanda Bynes hugs and smooches the camera as Daphne Reynolds. Daughter of New York sof t-rock singer Libby (Kelly Preston), she is also the daughter of the very rich and now political Lord Henry Dashwood (Colin Fir th), a British cutie and "future prime minister!" Henry is a bit guilty about split ting with Libby long before. His Moroccan Bedouin wedding with Libby evidently doesn't impede his coming marriage to the militantly upscaling Glynnis (Anna Chancellor). Her snob daughter (Christina Cole) is eager to hate Daphne with blistering superiority. Never intimidated, Daphne dashes to the Dashwood estate in London, where her spunky American adorableness can wreck wedding plans and a lof ty chandelier, yet also make a par ty "rock." Cast: Amanda Bynes, Colin Fir th, Kelly Preston, Jonathan Pryce, Eileen Atkins. Running time: 1 hr., 40 mins. (Elliot t) ★★ —Capsules compiled from movie reviews written by David Elliott, film critic for The San Diego Union-Tribune and other staff writers.
Don’t pay designer prices ...
Design it yourself.
Glass Beads • Swarovski Crystals • Vintage Glass Semi-Precious Stones • Classes
39
AUGUSTA NEEDS LEADERSHIP. WHO’S STEPPING UP TO RUN FOR THE AUGUSTA COMMISSION?
“Augusta’s only full service bead store.”
YaYa Beads Beading Supplies Behind Applebee's on Washington Rd. 651-1147 • www.yayabeads.com
SEE THE INSIDER ON PAGE 12
Nap Time
WE MAKE THE ROOMS THAT MAKE A HOME Torch award Winner
3511 Wrightsboro Road (3/10 mile west of Augusta Mall) 738-5533 • www.lazboy.com/southeast
M E T R O S P I R I T A P R 2 4 2 0 0 3