- This year, the places with Imax-branded screens - Jordan's Furniture, Boston Common, and Assembly Row - got started early, with the Marvel Studios 10th Anniversary series kicking off Thursday afternoon. For five days from then until Monday, they'll be showing Marvel's output in order four a day, from Iron Man to Ant-Man and the Wasp. Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday (afternoon) feature some of the bigger hits. It's a good week to abuse one's A-List membership, but also one where the three/week allowed can be expended quickly.
AMC will also be starting a month-long Harry Potter series this weekend, with two every weekend for the next four weeks. Boston Common is only place on the T where you can catch it, with Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone and Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets on Sunday afternoon.
Regal Fenway doesn't have an actual Imax-branded screen, but their RPX screen will be marathoning Lord of the Rings from Friday to Thursday, at a very affordable $5 per film. They also marathon the Conjuring movies in story order (so Annabelle: Creation/Annabelle/The Conjuring/The Conjuring 2) on Saturday ahead of Thursday's opening of The Nun. - Operation Finale, with Oscar Isaac as the Nazi hunter who tracked down Adolf Eichmann (Ben Kingsley), opened at some places Wednesday and as of this weekend is playing all over, including at the Capitol, Kendall Square, West Newton, Boston Common, Fenway, the Seaport, South Bay, Assembly Row, Revere, and the SuperLux.
There's also the pretty-good Fantasia selection Searching, which stars John Cho as a father whose daughter has gone missing and Debra Messing as the detective assigned to the case, notable in part for being presented via the screens the father uses over the course of the story. It's at Boston Common, Fenway, the Seaport, South Bay, Assembly Row, Revere (including XPlus), and the SuperLux.
There's also some stuff that looks like it's kind of getting dumped. Kin has a kid finding some sort of alien or top-secret government gun and creating opportunity and trouble for his ex-con brother. Surprisingly good supporting cast, at least. That plays Fresh Pond, Boston Common, Fenway, South Bay (including Imax), Revere. The Little Stranger plays the Embassy, Boston Common, Fenway, and Revere; it stars Domhnall Gleeson as a doctor called back to the manor where he grew up (as the child as a servant) to investigate strange goings-on with the children.
Fenway, Assembly Row, and Revere on Sunday have the second of two days of 25th Anniversary screenings of Rudy on Sunday. Revere plays animated Fantasia selection Maquia: When the Promised Flower Blooms on Wednesday; the next night, Boston Common, Fenway, and Assembly Row show Satoshi Kon's Perfect Blue, which is a masterpiece. - It's not quite Oscar season yet, but you're starting to get the stuff that might not be all-around contenders, but look the part at least in a spot or two. That's the word on The Wife, at least, which stars Glenn Close as the self-effacing spouse of a beloved novelist (Jonathan Pryce); folks love Close but seem indifferent to the rest. It's at The Coolidge Corner Theatre, West Newton, and Kendall Square. There's also Juliet, Naked, which features Rose Byrne as a woman who becomes friends-at-least with the American musician (Ethan Hawke) her boyfriend idolizes. It's at the Coolidge, West Newton (it's actually been there for a week), Kendall Square, Boston Common and the Seaport.
The Coolidge midnights focus on revenge flicks this weekend, with Friday featuring the restored Ms. 45 while Get My Gun plays Saturday. On Monday, they mark the official end of Jaws season with the summer's last 35mm screening (including a seminar for those who choose). Tuesday has a special screening of 93Queen, a documentary about a group of Hasidic women who formed the first all-female volunteer ambulance corps in New York City. Wednesday features a 35mm print of Smiles of a Summer Night, part of the local cinemas' "Bergman 100" celebration. - Kendall Square is at least the first place in the area to get The Bookshop, which looks like it should open wider, being as it is a charming period English movie with Emily Mortimer as the new arrival in town who opens a bookstore, Patricia Clarkson as the stodgy neighbor opposed, and Bill Nighy as the wounded man who is quietly pleased at this change in his hometown. It could be more interesting than that - Isabel Coixet has an unconventional history at points - but boy, does it look like standard boutique-house fare.
They also pick up A Midsummer Night's Dream, which features Rachael Leigh Cook among others in a modern-day version of Shakespeare's play, which sometimes works, but that trailer… Yikes. - I'm not sure whether there's any logic behind the Mexican movie getting released on Labor Day weekend or whether it just worked once so Lion's Gate decided to do it every year, but this year the movie in question is Ya Veremos, with Mauricio Ochmann & Fernanda Castillo as separated parents whose son tries to pull them back together with a wish list of things to do as a family before he has risky eye surgery. It's at Boston Common and Revere.
Boston Common also has two from Hong Kong this weekend: Big Brother (Fantasia's closing night movie) features Boston's Own Donnie Yen (™ this blog) as a former soldier turned Liberal Studies teacher at his old school. It's goofy in its sincerity, but has a couple of impressive fights, with Yen making both halves work. There's also L Storm, the third in a series featuring Louis Koo as the leader of an anti-corruption squad that operates separately from the regular police.
Apple Fresh Pond still has screenings of Gold, Geetha Govindam, Kolamavu Kokila, and Lakshmi. They also have Tamil thriller Imaikkaa Nodigal Telugu film Narthanasala. Bollywood comedy Yamla Pagla Deewana Phir Se opens at Fenway. - The Brattle Theatre starts their summer calendar with a new restoration of Persona, which also kicks off the fall "Ingmar Bergman 100" program with one of his most influential films. It runs through Tuesday, but cedes the last show of the day to The Night is Short, Walk on Girl, a surreal, delightful fantasy from Masaaki Yuasa, one of my favorites from last year's Fantasia.
On Wednesday, they start their Tribute to Robby Müller, a cinematographer whose career spanned art-house to indie to Hollywood. That night's show is Dead Man, while Thursday offers a 35mm double feature of Barfly and 24 Hour Party People. - The Harvard Film Archive was dark through most of August, but there's still room for a "Cinema of Resistance" presentation on Friday, in this case Ermanno Oimi's The Tree of Wooden Clogs. Labor Day weekend is also when they have their annual marathon, and this year The Big Fight is a mostly-35mm, mostly-chronological trip through the history of boxing films: Chaplin's "The Champion" and King Vidor's The Champ from the silent era (accompanied by Bertrand Laurence), Robert Wise's The Set-Up, Walter Hill's Hard Times (digital, with Bronson & Coburn), Champion with Kirk Douglas, Requiem for a Heavyweight, and Raging Bull to finish it off
- The Museum of Fine Arts finishes their run of Ava and the "Heroic!" series with a screening of Princess Mononoke (subtitled) on Friday. Saturday marks the start of a new month and a new calendar, with documentary I, Claude Monet (Saturday/Wednesday/Thursday), a fiftieth-anniversary run of The Chronicles of Anna Magdalena Bach (Saturday/Wednesday/Thursday), Radu Judes Scarred Hearts (Sunday), and a Jump Cut presentation of Five Seasons: The Gardens of Piet Oudolf (Sunday).
- The Regent Theatre plays both programs of the New York Cat Film Festival on Thursday: "Nobody Owns a Cat" at 7:30pm and "Little Works of Art" at 9pm.
- Outdoor screenings dry up this weekend, with Joe's Free Films showing little aside from Out of Africa at the Harbor Hotel on Friday, and some stragglers on Tuesday, including the absolute final Jaws at Remnant Brewing in Somerville.
Mostly catching up, but also going for L Storm, Operation Finale, and probably Juliet, Naked. And, hey, Jaws. You can't go the summer without Jaws.