- The new James Bond film, Skyfall, is the only movie opening at the multiplexes, but early word is that it earns that massive booking by being one of the very best in the long-running series, right up there with From Russia with Love and On Her Majesty's Secret Service, reintroducing some of the familiar, whimsical elements back to the series while still retaining the more modern feel of the post-Casino Royale Bond. Anyway, it's all over the place on a bunch of screens, including the Somerville Theatre (on the main screen over the weekend), the IMAX screens at Jordan's Furniture in Reading and Natick, Fresh Pond, Boston Common (including the Imax-branded screen), and Fenway (including the RPX screen).
- Kendall Square is, for this week at least, the only place to see Lincoln, Steven Spielberg's portrait of the sixteenth President's last few months. By all indications, it is less a biography than a look at how Lincoln engineered the end of the Civil War and slavery, with Daniel Day-Lewis looking excellent in the title role.
For the most part, they are able to keep most of their other films by splitting houses and cutting things down to one screen from two, so there's also room for a planned one-week booking of This Must Be the Place, with Sean Penn as a rock star who looks an awful lot like Ozzy Osborne returning to America for his father's funeral and taking up his late father's mission to find the Nazi war criminal who tormented him during WWII. Frances McDormand plays his wife. They've also got a one-night booking of The Doors: Live at the Bowl '68 on Monday, including a few songs that were not in the original release of this concert film. - It's still Universal's 100th Anniversary, at the Brattle, and that's a very good thing! the prints so far have been fantastic, and the line-up for the second week looks pretty good: An early-evening double feature of Chip Off the Old Block & James Whale's Show Boat on Friday, followed by a stand-along 10pm Late Show of The Last Starfighter; a noir double-feature of Black Angel & Phantom Lady on Saturday, with Tremors as the late show at 9:30pm; a western double feature of Winchester '73 and High Plains Drifter on Sunday; the silent Phantom of the Opera on Tuesday; a Rock Hudson double feature of Pillow Talk & Written on the Wind on Wednesday; and a sci-fi pairing of The Creature from the Black Lagoon (in old-fashioned anaglyph 3D) & The Incredible Shrinking Man on Thursday. Chip off the Old Block, Show Boat, and Pillow Talk are new prints, and all are slated to be 35mm.
There are also a few other special events. The world premiere of Jonathan Carr's new short film, "Once Again", is Saturday at noon; it's a free screening with donations being collected for the Rich Cronin Hope Foundation for Leukemia. There will be other shorts and live music as well. The Annual Gala takes place on Sunday evening at the Charles Hotel across the street with dinner and a silent auction among other events (dress fancy). Monday night is a combined CineCaché/DocYard/Harvard/Emerson event, An Evening with Tony Buba, with the unique documentarian presenting his first feature (1988's Lightning Over Braddock) along with two earlier shorts, all of which are part of his continuing observation of his hometown of Braddock, PA. - The Coolidge pulls in a few films that opened at the Kendall last week: A Late Quartet, Holy Motors, and The House I Live In. Quartet splits time between the film and video rooms, while the other two are in the screening room and GoldScreen all week; check the site to see which is showing where when. I'll have a full review of Holy Motors up later; it's often impressive, but might be too self-aware for its own good.
Absent from its traditional place at the Brattle for Halloween the past two years, Evil Dead II is the featured midnight movie this weekend, playing on the big screen on both Friday and Saturday night. Should be a party! Friday night also features a midnight screening of The Room because it's been about a month. They also go for a horror vibe with Monday's "Science on Screen" show, where the University of Chicago's Michael LaBarbera will introduce It Came from Beneath the Sea and then discusses why it's Ray Harryhausen-animated monster probably wouldn't fly in real life. - The Coolidge is also one of several venues screening programming as part of The Boston Jewish Film Festival from Saturday to Thursday, including screenings at the Somerville Theatre, Arlington Capitol, Cinema Salem, Framingham, Patriot Place, and others. There's actually relatively few shows at The MFA compared to previous years - an already sold-out show of Paris-Manhattan on Saturday and two screenings (Oma & Bella and Emma) on Sunday.
They are playing host to another festival, with screenings from the Belmont World Film's Family Film Festival on Friday evening and through much of Saturday. There's also a final screening of High Ground Friday evening, while Wednesday marks the first screening of Tales of the Night, a French animated filmthe includes fairy tales from six different cultures that will hang around at various times through the end of the month. And there's one more series starting on Wednesday, as Flowers of the Steppe: A Festival of Kazakh Cinema kicks off with Letters to an Angel with a Q&A afterward. - Soldiers undergoing stress in the field and coming home is the theme at ArtsEmerson's film program this weekend. documentary Lioness plays Friday evening, with Hal Ashby's Coming Home running later that night. Best Years of Our Lives plays Saturday evening and Sunday afternoon, and The Hurt Locker plays later Sunday night. The Hurt Locker is 35mm; all the others are digital formats.
- The Harvard Film Archive returns to its Michelangelo Antonioni series this weekend, with The Eclipse playing Friday evening and Sunday afternoon, with encore screenings of The Cry Friday night, Red Desert and Blow-Up Saturday night, and Chung Ko - China Sunday night. On Monday, they welcome Ute Aurand with a program of 16mm "Film Portraits" on Monday night.
- The Regent Theatre in Arlington has three music-oriented shows this weekend, including the same Doors concert that the Kendall is showing on Monday. They also have an encore presentation of Led Zeppelin - Celebration Day on Wednesday and a Jimi Hendrix 70th Birthday double feature on Thursday (Jimi Hendrix Voodoo Child & Jimi Plays Berkley). If that's not enough Hendrix for you, the Regent is co-hosting a panel discussion on Tuesday the the Arlington High School Media Center and will have two live shows on Friday the 16th ("All Star Jam") and Saturday the 17th (the Ultrasonic Rock Orchestra) playing Jimi's music.
- It's mostly unsubtitled stuff on the Indian screen at Fresh Pond this weekend, although subtitled Hindi takes over with Jab Tak Hai Jaan starting Tuesday the 13th and having the screen to itself through Thanksgiving. It's the final film of one of Bollywood's most respected directors, Yash Chopra, and features Shah Rukh Khan as a former soldier in London who must choose between his wife and his lover (Katrina Kaif & Anushka Sharma) It's apparently the season's big Diwali release and expected to be a big hit.
- The Somerville Theatre appears to have one screen dark over the weekend, but has a couple of special bookings later in the week. On Monday, they have the CD Release party and documentary premiere for Brendan Burns' Timestamp, an experimental album improvised and recorded in the theater itself. On Wednesday and Thursday, they've got a ski movie, Warren Miller's Flow State. They also re-open Sleepwalk with Me for a second run, and to make room Looper and Cloud Atlas head up the Red Line to The Arlington Capitol. The Capitol is planning a Twilight Saga Marathon on Thursday; apparently the last of those things is opening next weekend (as does Fenway and Boston Common)
My plans? Still living at the Brattle, with brief trips elsewhere for Skyfall (maybe to Reading on Sunday?) and Linclon. I'll probably also take in It Came from Beneath the Sea at the Coolidge on Monday.
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