UPDATE: How Much Do You Love Me? is also play­ing at the Light­house in Petone.

Ocean's 13 posterThis week’s block­buster is the third install­ment in the Pitt/ Clooney/ Damon/ Soder­bergh smug-fest, Ocean’s 13. This time the 11 from the first pic­ture are joined by Ellen Barkin and Mr Hoo-Haa him­self, Al Paci­no. Dimin­ish­ing returns? You be the judge at Read­ings, Sky City Queens­gate, Pent­house or Empire Island Bay.

More down-to-earth is the messed-up Aussie no-bud­get romance Pup­py (Para­mount), described as a “weird and won­der­ful jour­ney”. Anoth­er messed-up romance starts Thurs­day at the Para­mount: How Much Do You Love Me? stars Mon­i­ca Bel­lu­ci as a pros­ti­tute who gets paid 100,00 euros a month to live with a lot­tery win­ner — until the mon­ey runs out. Also star­ring Gérard Depar­dieu.

Bridge to Ter­abithia, Pier­re­point, Scenes of a Sex­u­al Nature and Off the Grid — after the jump.

More fam­i­ly-friend­ly is Bridge to Ter­abithia, based on the kids’ book. Shot here in New Zild and with kid actors coached by Miran­da Har­court it could be just the tick­et if Sat­ur­day turns rainy (Read­ings, Pent­house, Queens­gate and Empire).

Rial­to opens two small-scale British pic­tures: Pier­re­point stars the unim­peach­able Tim­o­thy Spall in the true sto­ry of Britain’s last offi­cial hang­man. Scenes of a Sex­u­al Nature is an ensem­ble piece about a dis­parate group of Lon­don­ers enjoy­ing the sun­shine on Hamp­stead Heath. Not sur­pris­ing­ly, thoughts turn to mat­ters of the flesh. Ewen Mac­Gre­gor leads and a dis­tin­guished group of Eng­lish luvvies fol­low.

More like a trav­el­ogue but wor­thy of men­tion all the same is the lat­est War­ren Miller snow film Off the Grid which plays two nights only at the Para­mount from Thurs­day. Reviews for all of the above (except the Miller) will appear next Wednes­day at Funer­als & Snakes and, in old-fash­ioned dead-tree for­mat, in the Cap­i­tal Times on the same day.