Next Tuesday is St. Patrick’s Day, but you won’t need Celtic roots or a four-leaf clover to find something to celebrate at movie theaters this weekend. There’s a little something for everyone opening this Friday, from two very different remakes of '70s classics, to an offbeat film about crime scene cleaners and a buddy comedy featuring Playboy Playmates.

The weekend’s first blast-from-the-past comes in the form of Race to Witch Mountain, Disney’s reimagining of the 1975 family favorite Escape to Witch Mountain, based on the John Hough novel of the same name. We say “reimagining” because, while the film incorporates elements from the original, advancing and modernizing the existing storyline, it is not a strict remake, so even fans of Escape can expect to find something new. The updated version stars Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson (Get Smart, Be Cool) as Jack Bruno, a Las Vegas taxi driver who, along with a disgraced astrophysicist played by Carla Gugino (Watchmen, The Unborn), attempts to rescue two young siblings with extrasensory powers, played by AnnaSophia Robb (Bridge to Terabithia) and Alexander Ludwig  (The Seeker: The Dark Is Rising), from a mysterious villain, portrayed by Ciarán Hinds (The Tale of Despereaux, There Will Be Blood). The film is directed by relative newcomer Andy Fickman, who hopes to get a whole new generation of viewers hooked on the Witch Mountain saga. (See our review and an intervew with the stars.)

If Disney movies aren’t your cup of tea but you still want to enjoy an updated '70s classic, check out The Last House on the Left, a remake of Wes Craven’s graphically violent 1972 horror exploitation film of the same name. Craven has actually signed on as producer of this project, going so far as to liken it to a sort of grandchild, so this remake is likely to be more true to the original than Witch Mountain.  The film shows the dark side of revenge and revolves around Mari Collingwood, played by Sara Paxton (Superhero Movie), who is kidnapped with a friend by a crew of escaped prison inmates shortly after arriving at the Collingwood’s lake house. After the escapees physically and sexually torment the girls, the bad guys unknowingly take refuge for the night at Mari’s family home. When Mr. and Mrs. Collingwood, played by Tony Goldwyn (Tarzan, Kingdom of Hearts) and Monica Potter (Saw, Patch Adams), discover what their new guests have done, they decide to take a very violent revenge on them.

For some much lighter fare, line up for Miss March, a raunchy film set firmly in the sex and buddy comedy genres.  In the film, a young man named Eugene, played by Zack Cregger, awakens from a four-year coma to discover that his high school sweetheart has grown up to become a Playboy Playmate. With his friend Tucker, played by Trevor Moore, he decides to undertake a cross-country road trip to the Playboy Mansion to win her back. Cregger and Moore, both members of the New York-based comedy troupe Whitest Kids U' Know, also wrote and directed the film, which adds some truly light-hearted fun to the weekend line-up.

Finally, if you like your comedies a little on the darker and quirkier side, buy a ticket for Sunshine Cleaning, the new film from the team that brought the world 2006’s Academy Award-winner Little Miss Sunshine. Amy Adams (Doubt, Enchanted) stars as Rose, a former high school cheerleader who’s now a single mother in her 30s working as a maid. Her sister, Norah, played by Emily Blunt (The Devil Wears Prada), still lives with their father, portrayed by Alan Arkin (Little Miss Sunshine, Catch-22), a man who spent his life getting involved with failed get-rich-quick schemes. In an effort to make some quick cash, Rose talks Norah into getting into the grizzly crime scene cleaning business, leading the two to bond while scrubbing the sites of murders and suicides. While it may sound like an unlikely concept for a comedy, the film’s creators hope that the very indie concept will strike a chord with mainstream audiences in much the same way as Little Miss Sunshine’s did. For more insight on the film, read Crime Clean-up on Aisle 6. 

—John Bavoso