Friday, June 12, 2020

Next Week in Virtual Tickets: Films sort of playing Boston 12 June 2020 - 18 June 2020

Jumped the gun on some things "opening" last week because time has no meaning..

  • June is still Pride month, despite what's going on, with The Brattle Theatre and several other theaters celebrating with Kino's new restorations of Mädchen in Uniform, Michael, and Victor and Victoria, two early talkies and a silent from Germany that were, as advertised, "Pioneers of Queer Cinema". They can be rented individually or as a package that one has ten days to watch. They also continue Shirley, Joan of Arc, Plimpton! Starring George Plimpton as Himself, Lucky Grandma, The Ghost of Peter Sellers, and Fourteen in their virtual room, the latter two marked as being in their final week

    The Brattle is also curating the Cambridge Movie Night, with a selection of films from BIPOC curators and a list of black-owned restaurants to order from on Friday. Friday night also features another kung fu movie with live commentary from RZA, Dan Halstead, and Mustafa Shaikh, The Mystery of Chessboxing.
  • The Coolidge Corner Theatre also hosts "Pioneers of Queer Ciema" and Chessboxing, as well as Sometimes Always Never, featuring Bill Nighy as a man trying to reconnect with his estranged son, and Showgirls documentary You Don't Nomi. Continuing bookings include Shirley, Tommaso, The Painter and the Thief, Diana Kennedy: Nothing Fancy, and BLM programming including Toni Morrison: The Pieces I Am, I Am Not Your Negro, and Whose Streets?, and Parkland Rising.

    Their "Science On Screen" program returns with a virtual screening room booking of Picture a Scientist, a documentary feature on the increasing number of woman scientists and the challenges they face, and also hosting a virtual Q&A on Wednesday evening. The Goethe-Institut also delivers a German feature, I Was I Am I Will Be, including an introduction from director Ilker Çatak. They will also host author Ben Mezrich's rescheduled discussion of The Social Network (adapted from his book The Accidental Billionaires) for Tuesday evening, with the week's seminar featuring Kaj Wilson of Boston Jewish Film introducing and leading a Thursday-night discussion of Albert Brooks's Mother.
  • The Capitol adds The Surrogate, a feature starring Jess Harris as an egg donor and surrogate for her gay friends whose relationships will be tested by the pregnancy, to their virtual cinema, alongside the Magnolia BLM and "favoirte" docs (I Am Not Your Negro, Whose Streets, and Toni Morrison: The Pieces I Am, Hail Satan? Blackfish, RBG and Life Itself) there along with The Cordillera of Dreams, The Painter and the Thief, Heimat Is a Space in Time, Spaceship Earth, Dying for Gold, The Whistlers, Once Were Brothers, and Slay the Dragon. Their friends at The Somerville Theatre continue the Magnolia docs, Shirley, Military Wives, The Ghost of Peter Sellers, Alice, Pahokee, The Whistlers, and Once Were Brothers.
  • Boston Jewish Film is hosting a virtual screening room for documentary Picture of His Life through Sunday the 14th, including a Q&A with director Yonatan Nir and his subject, underwater wildlife photographer Amos Nacoum, on Sunday afternoon.
  • GlobeDocs is offering a free screening of feature documentary Drag Kids in association with Boston Pride; RSVP, watch the film this weekend, and come back on Monday afternoon for a Q&A webinar with director Megan Wennberg and some of the film's subjects.
  • The Regent Theatre has Parkland Rising, Reggae Boyz, WBCN and the American Revolution, Dosed and Fantastic Fungi in their virtual screening room and a continuing GoFundMe campaign.
  • The West Newton Cinema also has a GoFundMe campaign, as well as a program to pre-purchase tickets that will be matched with "Local Hero" ticket donations to Newton Wellesley Hospital workers. Their virtual cinema page includes Blackfish, Life Itself, RBG, Military Wives, Once Were Brothers, Slay the Dragon, and The Whistlers.
  • The Lexington Venue also has a GoFundMe campaign.
  • The drive-in show of the summer in the parking lot of the Foxboro Showcase Cinemas is Toy Story 4, with tickets and snacks for the Friday night show on sale via their smartphone app. They also continue to serve as a portal for Military Wives, The Mindfulness Movement, Fantastic Fungi, Capone, and Scoob!.
  • From last week, because I lost track of the days: Two movies originally planned for theatrical play open online without cutting theaters in today. The King of Staten Island is a collaboration between director Judd Apatow and comedian Pete Davidson, and is available via the usual VOD channels. Artemis Fowl, an adaptation of the Eion Colfer young-adult novels directed by Kenneth Branagh, finally reaches the end of being pushed back because of scheduling issues including but not limited to the Twentieth Century Fox acquisition, debuting on Disney+. The new one from Spike Lee, Da 5 Bloods, a sort of combination between the black experience in Vietnam and The Treasure of the Sierra Madre as only Lee can roll it, drops on Netflix, and will hopefully be one of the films they license to Criterion in a few months.


I'm going to look into Sometimes Always Never and the Pioneers of Queer Cinema flicks, which will maybe help spur me to start diving into the other Pioneers boxes (I'm curious to see if this is a precursor of another joining them).

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