This week’s movie releases

Tech thriller Open Windows marks director Nacho Vigalondo’s first foray into English after his much-admired Spanish-language Time Crimes and Extraterrestrial. The film is also another Spanish collaboration for Lord of the Rings star Elijah Wood, who, after appearances in Eugenio Mira’s recent Grand Piano and Alex de la Iglesia’s The Oxford Murders, looks keen on following in the footsteps of Liam Neeson and carving out an interesting side career for himself in European-produced genre flicks. Wood plays movie fan Nick Chambers who wins a contest to meet his favourite star Jill Goddard (played by former porn princess Sasha Grey, previously seen in Steven Soderbergh’s The Girlfriend Experience), only to be disappointed when she cancels. Instead he’s contacted by Chord (Neil Maskell), a man claiming to be her campaign manager, who offers him the next best thing: the chance to view her every move via his computer. Needless to say, it soon leads both fan and star into grave danger.

After bringing a fluffy toy to foul-mouthed life in Ted, Family Guy creator Seth MacFarlane writes, directs, produces and stars in comedy western A Million Ways to Die in the West. He plays chicken-hearted sheep farmer Albert Stark who, after getting dumped by his girlfriend, is helped to acquire some true grit by beautiful gunslinger Charlize Theron. The cast also features Amanda Seyfried, Neil Patrick Harris, Giovanni Ribisi, Sarah Silverman, Ryan Reynolds and Liam Neeson.

Amélie director Jean-Pierre Jeunet returns with adventure The Young and Prodigious T.S. Spivet, based on Reif Larsen’s 2009 book about a child prodigy traveling solo across America to collect a prestigious science prize. Kyle Catlett stars alongside Helena Bonham Carter and Judy Davis.

Colin Firth puts in another of those quietly desperate performances he does so well – see A Single Man, The King’s Speech – as real-life former World War II POW Eric Lomax in The Railway Man. Years after his internment and still traumatized, he sets out with his wife (Nicole Kidman) to track down the Japanese officer who tortured him.

Trees’ company

A hilarious and touching coming-of-age adventure in the vein of Stand by Me and The Goonies, Jordan Vogt-Roberts’s debut feature The Kings of Summer is the story of three teens – best friends Joe (Nick Robinson) and Patrick (Gabriel Basso), plus oddball hanger-on Biaggio (Moises Arias) – who run away from home and build their own house in nearby woods away from adult interference.

The Adventurer: The Curse of the Midas Box is a Victorian-set family adventure starring Michael Sheen, Lena Headey, Sam Neill and Ioan Gruffudd about a youngster whose search for her kidnapped family leads her to a far-flung island hiding a host of secrets.

One of this year’s Oscar nominees for Best Foreign Language Film, dramatic thriller Omar concerns a young Palestinian who is tricked into becoming an Israeli informant. Palestine’s Hany Abu-Assad (Paradise Now) directs.

Based on a bestseller by John Green, tearjerker The Fault in our Stars features Shailene Woodley (The Descendants) and Ansel Elgort as teenagers who fall in love after meeting at a cancer support group. Willem Dafoe and Laura Dern also feature.