Friday, July 25, 2014

Next Week in Tickets: Films playing Boston 25 July - 31 July 2014

Hey, Boston theaters - if you could keep some of this running until I get back, I'd appreciate it.

  • Particularly two of the movies opening at Kendall Square. I Origins was one of the ones that my press pass didn't get me into at Fantasia, and while the description of it worries me a bit - it involves a molecular biologist whose discoveries on the human eye have "far reaching implications about our scientific and spiritual beliefs", and the complexity of the human eye is something creationists try to use to bolster their point of view (although Neil Tyson did a nice job of demolishing that on Cosmos). Still, the director showed promise with Another Earth and this is in that vein and co-stars that movie's Brit Marling. It's also at the Embassy and Boston Common. The one-week booking of Yves Saint Laurent, Jalil Lespert's biography of the famed fashion designer, looks nice enough too.
  • The other one I want to stick around, A Most Wanted Man opens at The Coolidge Corner Theatre; it's an adaptation of a John LeCarre novel that features Philip Seymour Hoffman's last leading role as well as the likes of Rachel McAdams, Robin Wright, and Willem Dafoe. It's getting a semi-wide release, playing the Coolidge, Kendall Square, West Newton Cinema, and Boston Common.

    The midnight special this Friday & Saturday actually starts at 12:30am, but is worth staying up for, as it's a 35mm print of Johm Milius's original Conan the Barbarian with Arnold Schwarzeneggar. Saturday night also offers Neil Breen's Fateful Findings, which seems to be carving out a spot as the new Room, in that it's astonishingly and sincerely awful in a way you have to see to believe. I'm not sure where on that spectrum Monday's 35mm Big Screen Classic, Point Break, falls, but folks seem to like it. Tuesday night they've got a preview of Child of God, James Franco's latest film as star and director, as part of the New York Film Critics series with live Q&A broadcast from NYC afterward.
  • There's action at the multiplexes, with Luc Besson's Lucy offering another bit of silly science - a take on the "we only use 10% of our brain" thing - but it apparently leads to Scarlett Johansson kicking butt and has not only Morgan Freeman but Choi Min-sik in the supporting cast, so it's probably worth a look. It's at Somerville, Apple, Boston Common, Assembly Row, Fenway (including RPX), and the SuperLux. The other big action opener has Dwayne Johnson playing Hercules, based on a comic from a couple years back where a fallen hero is working as a mercenary. It's in 2D and 3D at the Capitol, Apple, Jordan's Furniture, Fenway, Assembly Row, Boston Common, and the SuperLux, with Imax 3D screenings at Jordans, Boston Common, and Assembly Row.

    The comedies don't open on quite so many screens - And So It Goes, with Rob Reiner directing Michael Douglas and Diane Keaton, is at the Capitol, Apple, and Boston Common. The Fluffy Movie, a stand-up concert movie with Gabriel Iglesias, is at Boston Common. They've also got their weekly specials - Rocky Horror Saturday night, Monty Python and the Holy Grail for $6 on Sunday and Wednesday, and Pompeii for $3 at 9:30pm Monday through Wednesday (not sure fi it's in 3D or not).
  • Since they're getting Lucy, the Somerville Theatre has another Luc Besson movie at midnight Friday and Saturday, with Leon: The Professional screening in 35mm. Their Sautrday "Affordable Family Features" is a great value, with $3 getting viewers "Lots of Knotts" (a double feature of The Ghost and Mr. Chicken & The Incredible Mr. Limpett) on what are apparently fantastic 35mm prints. Over in Arlington, the Capitol switches from Bill Murray to a general "Summer Rewind" with Clueless.
  • It's a major holiday in India (Eid), which means big Bollywood openings. Apple Cinemas and Fenway both open up Kick, which has a man and a woman meeting and telling their stories only to find that they have someone in common - an adrenaline junkie thief who she was engaged to and he was pursuing as a detective. iMovieCafe also picks up Alldu Seenu for the Telugu-speaking crowd; it seems to be a steamy romance of some sort.
  • The Brattle has IFFBoston alum Hellion this weekend; it's the story of a kid who is running out of control with his father (Aaron Paul) greiving their mother. It plays Friday, Saturday, and Sunday, with a 9pm show Monday. Saturday also cas a couple of specials - Sound & Chaos: The Story of BC Studio plays in the afternoon with studio founder Martin Bisi there in person, while bonkers Japanese horror cult classic Hausu plays in 35mm at 11:30pm.

    On the vertical schedule, the Robert wise Centennial features The Day the Earth Stood Still on Monday afternoon and all day Tuesday, with a special free "Elements of Cinema" screening of The Haunting at 6pm Monday. The Tuesday "Girls Rule!" movies are separate features, with 35mm prints of Hayao Miyazaki's NausicaƤ of the Valley of the Wind in the afternoon and evening (subtitled) and Ladies and Gentlement, the Fabulous Stains at 9:30pm. The Thursday Recent Rave is Kelly Reichardt's Night Moves
  • More Fritz Lang at the Harvard Film Archive this weekend, and it's good stuff: 35mm prints ofM (Friday 7pm), American Guerrilla in the Philippines (Friday 9:15pm), Spies (Saturday 7pm), Dr. Mabuse, the Gambler (Sunday 6pm), and The Return of Frank James (Monday 7pm). Spies and Dr. Mabuse are both epic-length silents (3 and 4.5 hours, respectively) with musical accompaniment.
  • The 19th Annual French Film Festival at The Museum of Fine Arts isn't over yet; this weeks highlights include documentary School of Babel and multiple screenings of Apaches, Age of panic, and If You Don't, I Will
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  • From Joe's Calendar, noteworthy free outdoor films this week are Swiss Family Robinson at the Boston Harbor Hotel on Friday, Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs 2 at several places over the course of the week, and My Neighbor Totoro at Christopher Columbus Park Sunday night.


I'm still in Montreal, which means I'll get to see a Korean 3D movie about a baseball-playing gorilla tonight. But this stuff looks good too.

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