Friday, January 04, 2019

Next Week in Tickets: Films playing Boston 4 January 2019 - 10 January 2019

Another post-Christmas week where theaters are basically letting what's been there since Christmas play out, although there are a few interesting new releases.

  • There is one new wide release, Escape Room, which is what it says on the tin - a group of high-achieving people get tickets to a high-tech escape room, which turns out to be potentially lethal. Looks pretty capable for an early-January release, playing at Fresh Pond, Boston Common, Fenway, the Seaport, South Bay, Assembly Row, and Revere.

    Fenway has two anime presentations - a preview of Mob Psycho 100's second season on Saturday afternoon and Modest Heroes, an anthology of short subjects, on Thursday evening (that one also plays Revere).

    Most interestingly, Boston Common will be playing the entire Oscar Documentary Feature Shortlist over the next week; though only five will be up for the award, all are worthy of attention. The films are Communion (Friday/Monday); The Silence of Others (Friday/Monday); Charm City (Friday/Monday); Free Solo (Friday/Monday); Crime + Punishment (Friday/Thursday); On Her Shoulders (Saturday/Tuesday); The Distant Barking of Dogs (Saturday/Tuesday); Minding the Gap (Saturday/Tuesday); RBG (Saturday/Tuesday); Three Identical Strangers (Saturday/Thursday); Hale County This Morning, This Evening (Sunday/Wednesday); Of Fathers and Sons (Sunday/Wednesday); Shirkers (Sunday/Wednesday); Won't You Be My Neighbor (Sunday/Wednesday); and Dark Money (Sunday/Thursday).
  • Boston Common also gets Mojin: The Worm Valley, the third entry in the popular series of pulp treasure-hunting adventures, with the third completely different cast, this one not appearing to be the star-laden cast of The Lost Legend..

    Simmba adds Fenway to its dates at Apple Fresh Pond; Fresh Pond also plays Malayalam comedy Njan Prakashan on Friday to Monday, Marathi drama Bhai - Vyakti Ki Valli Sunday, Telugu biography NTR: Kathanayakudu Tuesday to Thursday (at least), and regular bookings for three action/adventures: The big Rajinikanth-starring Petta starts Wednesday (in both Tamil and Telugu), as does Tamil-language flick Viswasam, with Telugu entry Vinaya Vidheya Rama starting Thursday.
  • The Brattle Theatre has more Refreshed, Renewed, Restored features this weekend, with double features of Jean Vigo's Zéro de Conduite & ’Atalante on Friday and Saturday before giving way to late shows of Alex Cox's Highway Patrolman both days. Sunday's main feature is Ozu's The Flavor of Green Tea Over Rice, with Cox's Straight to Hell at 9:30pm. Monday is two singles which sound like a double feature but aren't - a new 16mm print of Inquiring Nuns at 7pm and Brian De Palma's Sisters at 8:30pm. There are private events Tuesday and Thursday, but the annual "(Some of) The Best" series starts Wednesday with a twin bill of The Rider & Leave No Trace.
  • The Coolidge Corner Theatre picks up On the Basis of Sex as both it and If Beale Street Could Talk expand to more screens this weekend, and also have a brace of special features. The midnights in January are an "East Meets West" theme, with this first weekend featuring 35mm prints of Yojimbo (Friday) and A Fistful of Dollars (Saturday). There's a "Science on Screen Jr." show of Song of the Sea on Saturday morning with the New England Aquarium's Kathy Streeter teaching kids about seals and sea lions (and maybe selkies) beforehand. The Big Screen Classic on Monday is a new digital restoration of Tarkovsky's Andrei Rublev, and there's Open Screen on Tuesday.
  • The Museum of Fine Arts has their monthly "On the Fringe" screening Friday evening with a 35mm print of Dune. They also continue the January runs of Life and Nothing More (Friday/Saturday/Sunday/Wednesday/Thursday) and Border (Saturday/Thursday), plus a screening of Ai Weiwei's Human Flow on Wednesday. Ida Lupino at 100 continues with The Hitch-Hiker (Saturday/Sunday) and Not Wanted (Sunday).
  • Cinema Salem has Mamoru Hosoda's latest, Mirai, in their 18-seat screening room with both dubbed and subtitled shows.


It look like Escape Room, On the Basis of Sex, Mojin 3, Sisters, Modest Heroes, and the documentaries will likely keep me from angering myself with Holmes & Watson this week.

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