- The big release is [The Fast and the] Furious 7, the latest in a series that started out poorly and by all right should have started going straight to video at around the third entry, but which instead has become a tremendously fun star-studded franchise. This one brings in Kurt Russell, Jason Statham, Tony Jaa, and Rhonda Rousey, brings back Lucas Black (who starred in that third installment), and figures out how to write out the late Paul Walker while also giving attention to Vin Diesel, Michelle Rodriguez, Jordana Brewstar, Dwayne Johnson, Tyrese Gibson, and Chris Bridges. It is, naturally, all over the place, including the Somerville, Apple Fresh Pond, Jordan's Furniture (Imax), the Embassy, Fenway (including RPX), Boston Common (including Imax), Assembly Square (including Imax), Revere (including XPlus), and the SuperLux.
After an early release Wednesday in some theaters, Woman in Gold will be settling in at Kendall Square, the Embassy, Boston Common, Revere, and the SuperLux. It stars Helen Mirren as a Holocaust survivor who sues the government of Austria to have a famous painting stolen from her family returned, with Ryan Reynolds as the young lawyer assisting her. - While We're Young is the other one thing showing up in both mainstream and boutique theaters, including the Coolidge, Kendall Square, and Boston Common. It stars Ben Stiller and Naomi Watts as a middle-aged couple who start hanging out with a younger pair (Adam Driver & Amanda Seyfried), which makes for an odd group. Noah Baumbach directs.
After showing the "Final Cut" of Blade Runner a few days earlier, the Coolidge swaps that print out for one of the original theatrical cut (narration and all), which plays in 35mm at midnight on Friday and Saturday. Other special presentations include a Kid's Show of Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory on Saturday morning and a 35mm "Cinema Jukebox" show of Singin' in the Rain on Monday. There's also an "NT Live" broadcast of Mark Strong in A View from the Bridge on Thursday. - in addition to Woman in Gold and While We're Young, Kendall Square also has a one-week booking of Magician: The Astonishing Life and Work of Orson Welles, a documentary that is about just what you might expect.
- Apple Cinemas Fresh Pond/iMovieCafe open three Indian movies this week, with Hindi-language (and English-subtitled) Detective Byomkesh Bakshy! looking like a modernization of a popular series of pulp adventures with Sushant Singh Rajput in the title role. They will also be playing Nannbenda and Komban if you speak Tamil.
If Chinese is more your style, Fenway and Boston Common will both have Let's Get Married, an ensemble romantic comedy about four couples whose stories probably intersect at the bridal shop that one of the characters owns. - The West Newton Cinema opens Effie Gray, with Dakota Fanning in the title role as a woman barely out of her teens who married a famed art critic only to never have the marriage consummated. Very nice supporting cast, including writer Emma Thompson, Derek Jacobi, Greg Wise, Tom Sturridge, David Suchet, Claudie Cardinale, and Robbie Coltrane.
I don't believe I mentioned that the Belmont World Film series is playing in West Newton this year (the Belmont Studio is closed down, perhaps for good). Though most of the screenings are on Sundays, this week's Henri Henri plays Monday night. It's a comedy from Quebec. - The Boston LGBT Film Festival will be all over the area, including The Brattle, The Museum of Fine Arts, ArtsEmerson's Bright room at the Paramount. The Bright Lights screenings of Pride and The Imitation Game on Tuesday & Thursday are free, and Back on Board: Greg Louganis at Fenway Community Health on Monday is only $5.
In addition to the festival, the MFA will have 14th Annual Boston Turkish Film Festival through the weekend, wrapping up on Sunday. There's also a special screening Thursday afternoon of Stealing Klimt, a 2007 documentary about the events that inspired Woman in Gold.
The Brattle will take a day off from the festival on Monday night for the week's DocYard presentation, Forest of the Dancing Spirits, which gives the audience a close-up look at the Aka people of the Congo. Producer Mila Aung-Thwin will be on hand and director Linda Västrik will join her afterward via skype for a Q&A. - The Somerville Theatre ties their monthly "Silents, Please!" series in with Easter, presenting the 1923 version of The Ten Commandments at 2pm on Sunday. As always, it will be presented in 35mm with Jeff Rapsis at the organ.
- The Harvard Film Archive
welcomes Portuguese filmmakers João Pedro Rodrigues and João Rui Guerra da Mata, with the pair introducing The Last Time I saw Macao (plus two shorts) on Friday night and a selection of short films on Saturday; another program will play Monday. Many, though not all, are inspired by Rodrigues's childhood in Macao, a former Portuguese colony near Hong Kong.
On Sunday, they will be keeping the projectionist very busy with a 35mm print of Lav Diaz's Batang West Side, a five-and-a-quarter-hour picture set among the Filipino community of Jersey City. The "Furious 70s" (oh, wow, I can't believe that's just been hiding on the HFA's calendar all year) selection this Wednesday is Rolling Thunder, a nasty but impressive B-movie starring William Devane and Tommy Lee Jones as veterans back from Vietnam who are eventually pushed over the edge. Also in 35mm - Hmm... The Regent Theatre shows the "Alive Mind" screening of Invitation to Dance this Tuesday (the 7th), although Gathr lists it for the 21st. Whichever week it runs, it's a documentary on Simi Linton, a wheelchair-bound activist who was able to find expression in dance. There are a couple of other local presentations looking for pre-sales at Gathr as well, and I'm thinking of adding one of my own.
My plans include Let's Get Married on Friday, a trip to West Newton for a double-feature of Effie Gray and Gett on Saturday, The Gunman and The Ten Commandments on Sunday, checking out the Lexington Venue for '71 whenever it works after work, plus Furious 7, Woman in Gold, Detective Byomkesh Bakshy!, and While We're Young when they fit in easiest.
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