Friday, November 30, 2018

Next Week in Tickets: Films playing Boston 30 November 2018 - 6 December 2018

The weekend after Thanksgiving, most of the multiplexes are just trying to shuffle things around, maybe give a screen or two to something because something else underperformed. But, there's still other interesting things going on if you can look.

  • For example, Apple Fresh Pond has two or three screens going for 2.0, S Shankar's sequel to 2010's Endhiran which has Amy Jackson and Akshay Kumar joining Rajinikanth in India's biggest movie ever, with 2D and 3D shows in three languages (Tamil, Telugu, and Hindi). If you want more Indian genre thrills, there is a screening of Bengali thriller Flat No. 609 on Sunday as part of Caleidoscope (more on that below).

    Another Asian star that should probably have a bit more name recognition, Ma Dong-seok (aka Don Lee), stars in Unstoppable, which looks like a pretty standard "guy demolishes the mobsters who kidnapped his wife" movie, but you absolutely want to see the guy who stole Train to Busan in that sort of thing. That's at Boston Common, which hangs onto A Cool FIsh, which is apparently a pretty big hit in China.
  • Over at The Brattle Theatre, Prospect gets a short run from Friday to Monday (it plays all week in the small room at Cinema Salem). It's the sort of sci-fi western mashup that has to overcome a small budget by running long on atmosphere and fine performances, and word has it that they do just fine on that account. On Tuesday, the Raiders of the Lost Ark in 35mm alarm goes off, with members of the Harvard Anthropology Department giving it an introduction (they do this about once a year, I'm guessing mostly because they want to watch one of the greatest adventure movies ever made). They close the week out with a special tribute to the late screenwriter William Goldman, presenting a 35mm double feature of Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid & The Princess Bride on Wednesday and Thursday.
  • After a couple days of early screenings, The Favourite opens for real at The Coolidge Corner Theatre, Kendall Square, and Boston Common,. It looks like maybe director Yorgos Lanthimos has harnessed his wit and fondness for absurdity into something genuinely crowd-pleasing this time around, with Olivia Colman as Queen Anne and Rachel Weisz and Emma Stone as the lifelong friend and new servant competing for her attention.

    The Coolidge continues to celebrate their namesake Award winner Michael Douglas this weekend with Fatal Attraction at midnight on Friday and Basic Instinct taking the swing shift on Saturday, both on 35mm, as well as a presentation of One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest, which he produced, on Monday evening. There's the monthly screening of The Room as well, also midnight Friday, while Saturday's other midnight is the first of four weeks of Gremlins on the big screen. A 35mm print of The Land Before Time plays as a "Science On Screen Jr." show on Saturday morning, with an introduction by paleontologist Katie Slivensky. GlobeDocs has a free screening of The Stand: How One Gesture Shook the World on Tuesday night, with directors Tom Ratcliffe & Becky Paige on hand (RSVP here).
  • The Favourite is not the only alumnus of IFFBoston's Fall Focus to open this week, as Kendall Square opens Hirokazu Kore-eda's Shoplifters, an impressive story of a makeshift family of petty criminals with a surprise or two inside. They also have a one-week booking of Becoming Astrid, which follows the early life of Astrid Lindgren, who would become known as the creator of Pippi Longstocking.
  • The big studios mostly lay low this weekend, with The Possession of Hannah Grace, a horror movie set in a morgue where something creepy may be going on with the body of a girl who died mid-exorcism, the only "major" new release, at Boston Common, Fenway, South Bay, Assembly Row, and Revere. Boston Common and South Bay give matinees on the Imax screen to Ralph Breaks the Internet, also bringing back Goosebumps 2: Haunted Halloween for matinees (seasonal!).

    Regal starts a series of Saturday Christmas movie matinees with The Polar Express at Fenway this weekend; Showcase counters with Elliot: The Littlest Reindeer in Revere. Fenway, Boston Common, and Revere have dubbed screenings of the new Pokemon movie ("The Power of Us") on Saturday afternoon, subtitled ones for Mamoru Hosada's charming new one Mirai on Wednesday evening, and return engagements for Burn the Stage: The Movie on Wednesday and Thursday (the K-pop doc has been huge). Fenway has 25th anniversary screenings of Sleepless in Seattle on Sunday and Wednesday, and Superman celebrating its 40th on Monday. Boston Common adds a new featurette to their 25th anniversary of Philadelphia on Saturday (man, did Tom Hanks have a year in 1993 or what?).
  • The Harvard Film Archive finishes their Tony Conrad series with a short film program on Friday evening; with a special sound performance at MIT's List Visual Arts Center on Saturday. The Early West German cinema program has an encore Friday night with a 35mm print of Chased by the Devil. Jiří Trnka, Puppet Master continues with A Midsummer Night's Dream (35mm Saturday 7pm), The Good Soldier Svejk, Parts I-III (Saturday 9pm), a $5 program of shorts at 4:30pm Sunday, and The Emperor's Nightingale (35mm Sunday 7pm); most include a short film as well. Finally, Christian Petzold visits to introduce and discuss two of his recent films - Transit on Monday and Phoenix on Tuesday.
  • The Museum of Fine Arts wraps the November schedule with their last shows of John McEnroe: In the Realm of Perfection and Milford Graves Full Mantis on Friday. The December schedule features New Cinema from Brazil in Vazante (Saturday), Pendular (Sunday), Rust (Sunday), and Good Manners and an Agnes Varda/Jacques Demy series that kicks off Thursday with Lola. They also welcome Gary Hustwit for a screening on his latest design-focused documentary, Rams, on Saturday; as you might guess, it focuses closely on famed designed Dieter Rams.
  • The Lexington Venue has a couple of special presentations this weekend: Locally-produced film The Mouse in the Bread plays Saturday morning, and Hindi film Turup (Checkmate) plays Thursday night as part of the Caleidoscope Indian Film Festival, which also has screenings at Fresh Pond, the Wellesley Community Center, the LTC Gallery in Lowell, and Rhode Island College.
  • Emerson's Bright Lights finishes the fall semester by welcoming 306 Hollywood directors Elan & Jonathan Bogarin to discuss their "magical realist documentary" on Tuesday and faculty discussion of Eighth Grade on Thursday. As always, it's not just for students; anyone can grab a free seat in the Paramount's screening room.
  • Friendly reminder: The "Slutcracker" burlesque takes over the big room at The Somerville Theatre starting Friday, so be ready for that crowd!


The weekend shall start with Prospect, 2.0(*), and Unstoppable; I do not see myself ever passing up 35mm Raiders; I liked Barbara and Phoenix enough that I really should see Transit; and, yeah, I'll probably go to The Favourite despite having a somewhat contentious relationship with the director's previous films. Looks like it's getting to be the last call for A Private War, so that's on the list too.

(*) How good is dubbing on Indian movies, generally? Should I be thinking Tamil-or-bust, or are Telugu/Hindi acceptable options if they fit my schedule better?

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