Next Week in Tickets: Films playing Boston 20 December 2019 - 24 December 2019

As much as I love the idea of Star Wars Every Christmas, I've got a bad feeling a--

Ugh, hacky.

• Rian Johnson's brilliant The Last Jedi is a tough act to follow and early word is that Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker is not nearly as bold as that one, though J.J. Abrams handled his previous go-round competently. As you might imagine, this movie is all over the place, with multiple screens at the Capitol (2D only), Fresh Pond (including 3D), Jordan's Furniture (Imax 2D/3D), the Belmont Studio (2D only), Boston Common (including 3D/Imax 2D/Imax 3D), Causeway Street (2D only including Wide Screen), Fenway (including 3D/RPX 2D/RPX 3D), the Seaport (including 3D/Icon-X), South Bay (including 3D/Imax 2D/Imax 3D/Dolby Cinema), Assembly Row (including 3D/Imax 2D/Imax 3D/Dolby Cinema), the Embassy (2D only), Revere (including 3D/XPlus/MX4D), and the SuperLux (including 3D).
  
  The other major studio release is Cats, which folks have been trying to adapt forever, and, well, from the previews, be careful what you wish for. It's generally not getting the biggest screens, but it's playing the Somerville, Fresh Pond, West Newton, Boston Common, Causeway Street, Fenway, the Seaport, South Bay, Assembly Row, Revere, and the SuperLux.
  
  The last of Regal's Christmas shows at Fenway is National Lampoon's Christmas Vacation, playing Saturday afternoon.
• It being so close to the end of the year, some of the big awards contenders are coming out, with Bombshell aiming to cross over with a cast of Nicole Kidman, Charlize Theron, Margot Robbie, and John Lilthgow re-enacting the recent sexual harassment scandals at Fox News. That's at The Coolidge Corner Theatre, Kendall Square, The West Newton Cinema, Boston Common, Causeway Street, Fenway, the Seaport, Assembly Row, the Embassy, and Revere. A somewhat more limited release goes to A Hidden Life, a three-hour production from Terrence Malick, telling the story of an Austrian man whose religious convictions will not allow him to fight for the Nazis in World War II. That plays the Coolidge, the Kendall, and Boston Common.
  
  The Coolidge also celebrates Christmas in different ways depending on the hour, with the original 1974 Black Christmas at midnight on Friday and Die Hard playing the late show on Saturday. If y ou're more the getting up early type, The Muppet Christmas Carol plays Saturday and Sunday mornings.
• Over at Apple Fresh Pond, Salman Khan returns to one of his most popular roles for Hindi-language action flick Dabangg 3. They also have late shows of Tamil-language thriller Thambi Friday, Sunday, and Tuesday nights with superhero flick Hero in that slot Saturday and Monday.
  
  Though the season's big Chinese release is scheduled for Christmas Day, Boston Common has a couple others, with Only Cloud Knows the latest from director Feng Xiaogang, featuring Huang Xuan as a Chinese expatriate in New Zealand discovering that his late wife had secrets, with the trailer almost exaggeratedly art-house and still. They also have Sheep Without a Shepherd, a thriller featuring Xiao Yang, Tan Zhuo, and Joan Chen, although it's only got a half-screen and that has a number of times marked "sold out", though I suspect that's more "we could use a couple more slots for Star Wars" than great demand.
• The Brattle Theatre offers audiences the chance to take nice, long breaks from Christmas shopping this weekend with The Godfather (Friday through Monday) and The Godfather: Part II (Saturday through Monday), both on 35mm, and playing as double features if you've got about seven hours to spare. They won't be running movies on Christmas Eve, but are usually open for a bit in the afternoon if you want to buy gift cards or merchandise.
• The Museum of Fine Arts has two from the Coen Brothers on Friday with The Man Who Wasn't There and No Country for Old Men. On Friday and Saturday, they offer bang for your movie-going buck, with the regular price getting one into Bela Tarr's Satantango, a 7.5-hour beast (plus two fifteen-minute intermissions) from Bela Tarr, considered to be a masterpiece.
• The Lexington Venue will be splitting its two screens between five movies, with A Beautiful Day in the Neighborhood, Midway, Dark Waters, and 63 Up each getting one or two shows a day and Promare playing matinees on the weekend.
• The Regent Theatre has animated Russian Christmas film Три Кота: С Новым Годом! on Tuesday night, and it looks as though there are no subtitles.
• The Luna Theater has Waves Friday evening, and then it's all Christmas material, with It's a Wonderful Life Saturday and Sunday, Elf Monday, and Home Alone on Tuesday. Of the free surprises, only the Magical Mystery movie plays this week, at 11:05am Sunday.
  
  Cinema Salem has Kirill Mikhanovsky's comedy Give Me Liberty in their screening room back.

Got my tickets for Star Wars on Saturday, and I'll probably catch Bombshell and Only Cloud Knows while frantically trying to finish Christmas shopping and heading up to Maine to see my folks, maybe writing up another one of these for all the stuff coming out Christmas Day. I should probably try and do The Godfather again, but I'm starting to feel a bit under the weather, and that was not a great way to do that pairing last time.