A spring weekend is a nice time to walk around outside and see the buds on the trees. But screw that, it's also a good time to see movies! This week we have big African cats, big American elephants, and a big Atlantan.

African Cats

No, this isn't a clever nickname for The Lion King musical. The latest from Disneynature, the France-based Disney label dedicated to producing wildlife documentaries, African Cats tells the story of, well, big cats in Africa. It follows three specific animals — a lion cub, a cheetah mom, and a lion pride leader — as they struggle to survive on an often environmentally compromised continent. If that's not enough grandeur and beauty for you, it features a new Jordin Sparks song, so there's that!! (Wide release)

The Bang Bang Club

Total ugmos Ryan Phillipe and Taylor Kitsch star in this drama about daredevil photojournalists capturing the tumult of the first elections in post-Apartheid South Africa. Strange timing, in a way, what with the recent photojournalist deaths in Africa. But yeah, the real reasons to see this are 1) to laugh at the terrible accents and 2) because it's Taylor Kitsch and Ryan Phillipe in a movie with the phrase "bang bang" in the title. Will they follow through on that titillating promise? Only one way to find out! (NY & LA)

Cougar Hunting

This super low-budget sex comedy is about a group of horny guy friends (a kid from High School Musical 3, the big fat loudmouth from Hard Times of R.J. Berger, et al) going on a ski trip to score with hot MILFs. Apparently it is 2001 all over again. This whole endeavor looks sad, and is made even sadder by the fact that '90s TV castaways Vanessa Angel and Lara Flynn Boyle appear in the film. That's making it kind of hard to respect our elders. (Limited)

Deep Gold 3D

This Philippines-set thriller stars Vietnamese model/actress Bebe Pham as a skin diver mixed up in a nefarious plot involving a missing plane full of gold. No need to brush up on your Tagalog, though. The movie's in English. (Limited)

Dum Maaro Dum

This drugs-'n'-crime thriller is set in Goa, a small, wealthy Indian state whose beaches are popular with tourists. A young man's scholarship to an American university is pulled, then he gets caught up in a web of intrigue in his hometown. This is the new Bollywood! (Limited)

Incendies

An Oscar nominee for Best Foreign Language Film, Incendies is a mystery-thriller about a pair of French Canadian twins investigating the mystery of their deceased mother's secret life in an unnamed Middle Eastern country that's essentially a stand-in for Lebanon. The modern mystery narrative intertwines with flashbacks to the twins' mother struggling through the country's civil war and questions of community, both micro and macro, are explored. This well-reviewed movie sounds pretty intriguing. (NY & LA)

The Greatest Movie Ever Sold

Occasional annoyance Morgan Spurlock goes down a meta rabbit hole of product placement mania by filming a documentary about getting corporate sponsorships for said documentary. Supposedly the film also makes some points about consumerism and culture and whatnot, probably provided by the movie's two intellectual heavyweight cameos, Ralph Nader and Noam Chomsky. Chomsky's great and all, but has that man ever said no to being in a documentary? (Limited)

Stake Land

Conor Paolo, aka little Erik van der Woodsen on Gossip Girl, stars alongside a weather-beaten Kelly McGillis in this post-apocalyptic vampire thriller. It's The Road meets The Passage meets Zombieland, I guess. Meets the gay parts of Gossip Girl too. It actually doesn't look that bad? I mean that creepy vampire girl under the bed? Definitely creepy! (Limited)

Tyler Perry's Madea's Big Happy Family

Everyone's favorite child-abusing, gun-toting criminal grandma is back in this picture about Loretta Devine wanting to get her fractured family, including Bow Wow, together one for pleasant meal. Mostly though it's about scratching your head wondering why Madea drove through that storefront and almost killed those innocent people just because there was no ham left? Madea is a bit unstable. (Wide)

Water for Elephants

This shimmery-looking adaptation of Sara Gruen's beloved lit-lite novel tells the story of an orphaned young man (Bobby Patentleather of Twilight fame) who gets a job at a Depression-era circus and falls in love with the performer girlfriend (Reese Witherspoon) of the sinister ringmaster (Christoph Waltz). Swoons are had, disasters unfold, and lots of animals mill about without pooping once! That's the true magic of the movies right there. (Wide)

When Harry Tries to Marry

So let's say that kid from Goa does actually get a scholarship to a US college and then he goes and decides that he wants to have an arranged marriage. That'd be this movie. A handsome young Indian-American guy wants the ease of an arranged marriage, and his parents find a nice girl for him in India, but along the way he meets an American woman and has to decide who he wants to be with. Well, at least he gets to choose! (Limited)