Starting Friday

“Failure to Launch” (comedy)

Starring: Matthew McConaughey (“Sahara”), Sarah Jessica Parker (TV’s “Sex and the City”), Kathy Bates (“Misery”), Zooey Deschanel (“The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy”)

A thirty-something (McConaughey) – who is still living with his parents – is pushed into a meeting with a woman (Parker) by his parents in a scheme to convince him to move out of the house. A standard, high-concept romantic comedy with a high-profile cast, the movie finds McConaughey in familiar territory after such films as “How to Lose a Guy in 10 Days” while allowing Parker another chance to attain film success after the finale of her hugely popular HBO series.

“The Hills Have Eyes” (horror)

Starring: Aaron Stanford (“X2: X-Men Unite”), Emilie de Ravin (TV’s “Lost”)

A remake of the 1977 film from prolific horror filmmaker Wes Craven (“Nightmare on Elm Street”), this new version from French filmmaker Alexandre Aja (“High Tension”) follows the same story of a family who, while in the deserts of the American Southwest, run across a clan of mutants, warped by radiation poisoning, who torture and kill anyone they can find.

“The Libertine” (drama)

Starring: Johnny Depp (“Charlie and the Chocolate Factory”), Samantha Morton (“Minority Report”), John Malkovich (“The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy”)

Depp, still coasting on the amazing success of 2003′s “Pirates of the Caribbean,” stars in this sumptuous recreation of the 17th century as John Wilmot, the Earl of Rochester, a poet and the titular libertine who engages in a life of decadence and dies at 33, only to reach fame for his verse after his death. The film has been released in selected markets since late last year and now is only moving into more markets as distribution widens.

- Stephen Milligan

- Contributing: www.movies.com and www.imdb.com