This week’s movie releases

A huge cluster of star names above the title is no guarantee of a good film — in fact, quite the opposite if the likes of the recent Movie 43 and New Year’s Eve are anything to go by. Likewise, the presence of Robert De Niro, Diane Keaton, Ben Barnes, Katherine Heigl, Amanda Seyfried, Topher Grace, Susan Sarandon and Robin Williams has not stopped US critics from tearing into romantic comedy The Big Wedding. De Niro and Keaton star as a divorced couple obliged to feign continued marital bliss at the wedding of their adopted son after his ultra-Catholic biological mother decides to make the trip from Colombia. Screenwriter-turned-director Justin Zackham’s movie is a remake of Jean-Stéphane Bron and Karine Sudan’s 2006 French film Mon frère se marie.

Also trying to scrape together a few laughs is Scary Movie 5. The horror comedy series never got off to the best of starts, beginning as a misconceived parody of the Scream series, which itself was already a parody of the genre — did it not get the joke? The fact the franchise has extended this far, quite frankly, boggles the mind. Providing employment for Charlie Sheen, Lindsay Lohan and Mike Tyson, the latest installment apes recent horror hits such as Paranormal Activity, Black Swan and Mama.

Similarly unnecessary, but at least starting off from a sounder base, is Finding Nemo 3D, offering you the chance to once again enjoy Disney and Pixar’s classic undersea animated adventure on the big screen — only this time with a pair of uncomfortable glasses perched on your nose.

Boxing clever

Few are the movie fans who would be able to name a single film from Paraguay, not a nation noted for its contribution to global cinema. But that should change with the release of 7 Boxes. A huge critical and commercial hit back home, as well as a Goya Awards nominee, Juan Carlos Maneglia and Tana Schémbori’s film stars Celso Franco as Víctor, a market porter charged with transporting seven boxes of unknown contents in exchange for half a torn $100 bill — with the other half coming on completion of the job. With one of the boxes stolen, the lent cellphone he needs to guide him lost, and the police on the alert, the youngster soon finds himself embroiled in a perilous crime that he knows nothing about.

From France, finally we have writer-director Céline Sciamma’s Tomboy, a tender drama about a 10-year-old girl (Zoé Héran) who starts dressing as a boy and calling herself Mickäel after moving to a new neighborhood with her family.