Next Week in Tickets: Films playing Boston 21 November 2012 - 29 November 2012

Holiday week, so two opening dates to keep track of - and some pretty interesting films.

• With the long holiday week that involves kids being off from school, the multiplexes are filling with ways to entertain the whole family. Two of those come in the form of big 3D releases: Life of Pi comes from director Ang Lee and has certainly been pushing the beauty of the scenes were the title character is shipwrecked along with a Bengal Tiger, which makes for a very cramped lifeboat. It plays the Arlington Capitol, Fresh Pond, Fenway, and Boston Common (in both 3D and 2D at all locations) starting Wednesday. Those sites also open Rise of the Guardians on that day, also in both 3D and 2D (the Belmont Studio also opens it, I believe in 2D only); that one is the latest animated film from the busy folks at DreamWorks, in which Jack Frost is recruited by other guardians of childhood innocence (Santa, the Easter Bunny, the Sandman, the tooth fairy) to fight a nightmare creature. I hear it's much better than its description, though it would almost have to be.
  
  Wednesday is also when one can finally check out the long-delayed Red Dawn remake at Boston Common, Fenway, and Fresh Pond; this action/adventure which posits an invasion of the continental United States got hit by MGM's financial troubles and decision to change its Chinese villains to North Koreans, so it likely predates star Chris Hemsworth rising to fame as Thor. Wednesday is also when Silver Linings Playbook adds Fenway to its list of local screens alongside Boston Common.
  
  On Friday, Boston Common and Kendall Square each open Hitchcock, a star-studden depiction of the making of Psycho which features Anthony Hopkins in the title role, Helen Mirren as his wife Alma, and Scarlett Johansson as Janet Leigh. I've got to say, Hopkins as Hitchcock isn't doing it for me in the previews, but maybe the full length of a movie will help me get over it. (Also scheduled to expand to the Coolidge on 7 December).
• Kendall Square, in addition to Hitchcock, gets two other movies: On Wednesday, the new movie is A Royal Affair with Alicia Vikander as the Queen of Denmark who fancies the handsome and ambitious court physician (Mads Mikkelsen) over the boorish King (Mikke Boe Foelsgaard). It's Denmark's official Oscar submission and Arcel's worth a look - he directed the entertaining Island of Lost Souls and wrote the screenplay for the Swedish Girl with the Dragon Tattoo (the best of the franchise).
  
  Two days later, the one-week revival booking of Tristana starts; this is Buñuel film from 1970 features Catherine Deneuve as a beautiful teenage orphan entrusted to a man (Fernando Rey) who seduces her only to find their relationship cause other problems.
• The Brattle is still in Universal Pictures: Celebrating 100 Years mode and heading into the home stretch. Wednesday is a double feature of The Breakfast Club & Fast Times at Ridgmont High, while a new 35mm print of To Kill a Mockingbird runs on Thanksgiving and the Friday after; Friday also has John Carpenter's The Thing for the 10pm late show. The weekend is about comedy, with a Saturday George Roy Hill/Paul Newman double feature of The Sting (new 35mm print!) and Slap Shot on Saturday and a comedy marathon on Sunday, which has two from W.C. Fields (The Bank Dick and Never Give a Sucker an Even Break) and two from Abbot & Costello (Buck Privates and Abbot & Costello Meet Frankenstein). Tuesday is Apollo 13, Wednesday the 28th is mostly-silent early talkie Lonesome (presented digitally), and Thursday the 29th is a double feature of Do the Right Thing and Blue Collar.
  
  There's also a CineCache screening scheduled for Monday, but the film has not yet been announced.
• ArtsEmerson is actually running a (mostly) Thanksgiving-themed series of "Holiday Homecomings" this weekend, with Pieces of April on Friday night, Home for the Holidays Friday evening & Saturday night, and Hannah and Her Sisters Saturday evening & Sunday afternoon. The not-strictly-Thanksgiving movie is The Incredibles, which plays Friday and Saturday afternoon. That one's on 35mm; the others are projected from DVD.
• The Harvard Film Archive is dark Friday, but finishes up the weekend with three more screenings of Possession (once Saturday, twice Sunday) before welcoming Andrew Bujalski back on Monday to celebrate the tenth anniversary of Funny Ha Ha being filmed (it wasn't released until 2004) with a new 35mm print. Yes, folks, mumblecore is ten years old. There are also VES screenings on Tuesday and Wednesday.
• the MFA finishes up its November calendar with more screenings of Tales of the Night on Friday, Saturday, Sunday, Wednesday, and Thursday (that's the 28th & 29th). Those days also have screenings of Orchestra of Exiles, the new documentary by Sound and Fury director Josh Aronson, a co-presentation with the recently-completed Boston Jewish Film Festival that recounts the tale of Bronislaw Huberman, a Polish violinist who rescued enough Jewish musicians from Nazi Germany to form one of the world's great orchestras. Aside from those bookings, there's also a screening of The Naked City on Tuesday afternoon (repeated on Saturday the 1st) that concludes their "New York City: A Muse for Modern Art" course.
• Holiday weekends mean it's time for sing-along screenings at the Regent Theatre, and for the days after Thanksgiving that means Sing-Along Mary Poppins, where the 35mm print has lyrics printed on-screen so that the audience can join in. there are three shows Friday and two each on Saturday and Sunday, with costumes encouraged and props provided. On Wednesday, they've got another run of Hendrix 70: Live at Woodstock for those more into rock & roll.
• The Somerville Theatre shuffles the pretty good A Late Quartet out after Thanksgiving, with The Perks of Being a Wallflower taking its place on the last screen on Friday. Their sister cinema, the Arlington Capitol, may be opening two new releases on Wednesday, but makes room for The Sessions on their smallest screen starting Friday.
• The Coolidge just keeps on with Anna Karenina, Argo, A Late Quartet, and Gregory Crewdson: Brief Encounters; not even late shows for special engagements this weekend.

My plans? Thanksgiving in Maine (though low-key, with many family members in Florida or at in-laws'), Life of Pi, Hitchcock, A Royal Affair, and maybe the two at the Museum along with some Universal goodness.