This week’s movie releases

It’s almost 20 years since Danny Boyle gave British film a shot in the arm with the exhilarating Trainspotting (1996), but it’s only recently that he’s achieved the status of a — somewhat reluctant — national hero, first with 2008’s multi-Oscar-winning Slumdog Millionaire, then with his acclaimed opening ceremony for last summer’s Olympics. Shot while planning the London extravaganza, his new movie Trancemakes no effort to ride that soaring wave of popularity. A dark thriller where the truth grows increasingly hard to grasp, it stars James McAvoy as an auctioneer who teams up with a gang of thieves out to steal a Goya. But after spiriting the painting away, he loses his memory in an accident, and no amount of torturing by gang leader Vincent Cassel can help him remember where he put it. So he agrees to allow hypnotherapist Rosario Dawson to probe around his subconscious to help recover the masterpiece.

Josh Boone’s Stuck in Love is a comedy drama centering on the relationships between novelist Greg Kinnear, the ex-wife over whom he can’t stop obsessing (Jennifer Connelly), and their two teenage children, college kid and upcoming writer Sam (Lily Collins) and hopeless romantic Rusty.

A clutch of Spanish titles out this week includes Somos gente honrada, a comedy drama about two broke Galician dads who find 10 kilos of cocaine and set about trying to sell it.

With rumors of an elBulli movie in the works, you might like to whet your appetite with Spanish-Irish coproduction Menú degustación. A one-time couple meets up at the last supper served at a prestigious three-star Costa Brava restaurant, one year after their break-up.