Thursday, June 07, 2018

Next Week in Tickets: Films playing Boston 8 June 2018 - 14 June 2018

Next week is nuts - a big-ish thing, some festival favorites, smaller genre material, and a ton of stuff on actual film. It is going to be difficult to not spend every day in the theater.

  • The Noir CIty festival in San Francisco has spawned a number of satellite events over the past few years, the the first Noir City: Boston takes place at The Brattle Theatre this weekend. It's all 35mm and all true double features, with no separate admission, with one well-known flick up first and a rarity occupying the "B" portion, and introductions by Eddie Muller of TCM and the Noir Foundation. The pairings are The Glass Key & Street of Chance on Friday night, Murder, My Sweet & Strangers in the NIght Saturday afternoon, The Killers & So Dark the Night that evening, Force of Evil & The Guilty Sunday afternoon, and a final pairing of Try and Get Me! (aka "The Sound of Fury") & Shakedown on Sunday night.

    The days after that were initially a hole in the schedule, but it's been filled in with a secret members' screening on Monday (a 1980s neo-noir in 35mm), and then How to Talk to Girls at Parties on Tuesday and Wednesday (couldn't have told me about that before hauling myself out to Brookline at midnight, guys?). There's also a "Twin Peaks Social" event on Thursday to lead into their upcoming David Lynch Weekend.
  • Let's start the new releases with IFFBoston closing night film Won't You Be My Neighbor?, a sweet, smart film about beloved children's television personality Fred Rogers, and how he really was the guy you remember from Mister Rogers' Neighborhood. It's at The Coolidge Corner Theatre, Kendall Square, and Boston Common, expected to expand in the weeks ahead. There will be crying.

    There will, apparently, be other reactions to Hereditary, the buzziest genre movie of the spring festival season. People seem to be genuinely freaked out by this film starring Toni Collette and Gabriel Byrne as a family maybe not mourning a recent loss but wondering if they'll be able to escape her malign influence, supernatural or otherwise. It's at the Coolidge, the Somerville, the Kendall, the Embassy, Boston Common, Fenway, the Seaport, South Bay, Assembly Row, and Revere.

    The Coolidge also continues their martial-arts midnights, with The Raid on Friday and Jean-Claude Van Damme in Bloodsport on Saturday, both in 35mm. Geothe-Institut presents When Paul Came Over the Sea on Sunday morning; the documentary covers the story of a migrant who has a grueling path from Cameroon to Germany, with the director unable to remain detached from his story. Monday has the local premiere of Universal's new restoration of The Man Who Laughs, including a live performance of the score they commissioned from the Berklee Silent Film Orchestra. There's also Open Screen on Tuesday.
  • Another IFFBoston selection, American Animals, opens up at Kendall Square, Boston Common, and Fenway. It's a heist movie about four young men trying to steal a rare book, apparently self-referential but not jokey.

    The Kendall also has a one-week booking of Summer 1993, filmmaker Carla Simón's look back at adjusting to life in the country rather than the city when she was orphaned and taken in by relatives as a young child. And, finally, there's a one-night presentation of To A More Perfect Union: United States v. Windsor, a documentary on the pivotal case that was a turning point in the battle for marriage equality (also at Fenway).
  • More theaters have a more conventional, star-studded heist movie, with Ocean's 8 featuring Sandra Bullock & Cate Blanchett assembling a team to rob the Met Gala and maybe get some payback. It's also got Anne Hathaway, Sarah Paulson, Rhianna, Awkwafina, and Helena Bonham-Carter. That's at the Capitol, Fresh Pond, Boston Common (including Imax), Fenway (including RPX), the Seaport (including Icon-X), South Bay (including Dolby Cinema), Assembly Row (including Imax), Revere, and the SuperLux.

    There's also the genuinely peculiar-looking Hotel Artemis, with Jodie Foster running a hospital for criminals as riots overtake L.A. in the near future. Fun cast including Sofia Boutella, Dave Bautista, and Jeff Goldblum, written and directed by Drew Pearce (who's been behind the scenes on some fun Marvel stuff). It can be found at Fresh Pond, Boston Common, the Seaport, South Bay, Assembly Row. Boston Common also opens blaxploitation remake Superfly on Wednesday.

    There's a double-feature of Jumanji & Jumanji: Welcome to the Jungle on Sunday & Monday at Fenway and Revere, with the pair also featuring an anniversary presentation of Brian De Palma's Scarface on Sunday and Wednesday. The movie edit of Doctor Who: Genesis of the Daleks plays Fenway, Assembly Row, and Revere on Monday to promote the upcoming Blu-ray of Tom Baker's first year on the show (though I'm not sure whether that was shot on film or if this is upconverted from video).
  • Hindi-language film Veere Di Wedding continues at Apple Fresh Pond and Fenway, while Kaala continues to play in Tamil, Telugu, and Hindi (Tamil is the original language). They also give half a screen to Zoo, an Irish family film about a group of kids trying to save a baby elephant as Belfast was being bombed during World War II (although, bizarrely, the information on the theater's website is for a zombie apocalypse comedy by LFO's Antonio Tublen - someone's going to be disappointed).

    How Long Will I Love U has a third week at Boston Common, which is a pretty nice run for it. They also get Believer, Lee Hae-yeong's remake of Drug War starring Cho Jin-woong and Run Jun-yeol
  • The Somerville Theatre continues their run of 2001: A Space Odyssey, and will even extend it for a third week. It bumps their monthly "Silents, Please!" screening of the original 1927 Chicago to a second screen, meaning Jeff Rapsis will be accompanying a DCP rather than the usual film. The Midnight Specials are both 35mm, though, with Comicazi handing out door prizes to people coming to see Excalibur on Friday and a special pre-show for The Apple in the Museum of Bad Art on Saturday.
  • The Museum of Fine Arts continues their runs of Bill Gunn's Harlem documentary Personal Problems(Friday/Wednesday/Thursday) and Filmworker (Saturday/Sunday/Thursday).

    In between, there's an "MFA Pride" screening of Call Me By Your Name on Friday, as well as a presentation of Lorraine Hansberry: Sighted Eyes, Feeling Heart on Saturday, in association with the Roxbury International & Boston Women's Film Festivals, and followed by a Q&A with director Tracy Heather Strain. Anime Boston presents Mary and the Witch's Flower on Sunday afternoon. As a tie-in with Personal Problems, the director's classic Ganja & Hess plays Wednesday.
  • The Harvard Film Archive continues Luchino Visconti, Architect of Neorealism with a second show of The Leopard (Friday 7pm) and screenings of The Innocent at 7pm on Saturday and Sunday.


Well, I'll be living at the Brattle for the weekend, trying to fit Believer and Hotel Artemis in there, with Ocean's 8 and Hereditary sometime during the week.

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