Next Week in [Virtual] Tickets: Films sort of playing Boston 5 February 2021 - 11 February 2021

So on the one hand, the AMC Theaters in Boston are re-opening this weekend, and on the other, I just received the big box of KN-95 masks that I ordered because folks are saying to step up the masking game because there are more contagious variants out there.

• If you're staying in, The Coolidge Corner Theatre and Goethe-Institut bring Kosovo's Oscars entry Exile back for another weekend through Sunday; they also have France's, with Two of Us featuring Barbara Sukowa and Martine Chevallier as two retired women who have lived together for decades without the world knowing they were lovers. They also open two new documentaries, with A Glitch in the Matrix playing the recent Sundance Film Festival, and introducing viewers to the theory that our world is a computer simulation, while M.C. Escher: Journey to Infinity looks at the history of an artist whose work famously bends reality in its own way. They join Preparations to be Together for an Unknown Period of Time, My Rembrandt, Some Kind of Heaven, Through the Night, Santa Sangre, and City Hall in the streaming files.
  
  The Thursday night Coolidge Education discussion has cultural critic Aisha Harris talking about When Harry Met Sally...; as usual, register, get the introduction, watch the movie (which the Coolidge isn't streaming but is easily found), and come back for the Zoom.
• The Brattle Theatre picks up Switzerland's Oscar submission, with My Little Sister following Nina Hoss as a playwright whose brother (Lars Eidinger) has leukemia, being drawn together. That's the new one; they also get two re-issues: Heartworn Highways is a 1976 documentary looking at the then-new idea of "outlaw country" music spearheaded by Willie Nelson, while Mirror coming from Andrei Tarkovsky and presenting the memories of a dying poet. They play alongside True Mothers, You May Die at Twenty, Atlantis, Psycho Goreman, Identifying Features, Film About a Father Who, Spoor, and Acasa, My Home.
  
  Over on the "Brattle Selects" side, they're the only place only playing Have You Seen My Movie?, a collage of shots from dozens of movies pieced together into a meta-narrative. That section also has "The Maya Deren Collection" and Mandabi.
  
  They're also opening the concession stand, sort of, with popcorn, soda, snacks, and other goodies available for pick-up Friday and Saturday afternoons. Pre-order them online, maybe get a t-shirt or something as well, and pick them up at the designated time. They're also going to be streaming Casablanca next weekend, because a year-long global pandemic is no reason to completely abandon tradition.
• ArtsEmerson streams a "Shared Stories Film Series" presentation this weekend, with Down a Dark Stairwell coming from Ursula Liang, who directed 9-Man a few years back. It looks at an officer-involved shooting in New York City, unusual for it actually ending in a conviction, and how the officer involved being Chinese-American plays into the usual narrative. Liang and others will have a live panel at 9:15pm on Friday (after the premiere at 7:30pm), which will be recorded and available alongside the movie through Sunday.
• Bright Lights at Home offers up Landfall from noon Wednesday through 7pm Thursday (limited to 175 free tickets), after which producer Ines Hofmann will join a Zoom webinar at 8pm to talk about Cecilia Aldarondo's film looking at post-Maria Puerto Rico.
• The Boston Sci-Fi Film Festival kicks off its online version on Wednesday, and being virtual lets them compact what would usually be 10 days plus a 24-hour marathon into six, with Mr. Hand Solo, Between Waves, Kubrick by Kubrick, Toxico, Shakespeare Shitstorm, and Blood Moon coming on-line Wednesday; The Old Man Movie, Making Sense, Truth or Consequences, I Can't Sleep, Beauty Water, and Bruja show up Thursday, with each day also offering two recorded panels and two shorts programs. All programs will be available through Monday the 15th.
  
  GlobeDocs is running a Black History Month Film Festival through February, with currently available films including Memoirs of a Black Girl, Black Boys, and Code Switching, with online discussions scheduled for Monday, Thursday, and Tuesday the 16th, respectively, which is probably when individual films will cease being offered. RSVP for the discussions to be sent links for both those Zoom calls and the film itself.
• AMC's app has Boston Common and South Bay reopening for both private rentals and ticket sales, picking up where they left off and with things that have opened since, including The Little Things (including Dolby Cinema in both spots), The Marksman, News of the World, Pinocchio (Boston Common only), Promising Young Woman, Wonder Woman 1984 (including Imax at South Bay), Fatale, Monster Hunter, The Croods: A New Age, Come Play (Boston Common only), and The War With Grandpa (Boston Common only).
  
  Boston Common also gets a couple new-ish releases, with Nomadland getting the Imax screen and featuring Frances McDormand in Chloe Zhao's look life on the fringes; it's one of the most highly-anticipated films of the season. Supernova is another, featuring Stanley Tucci and Colin Firth as a couple visiting old friends as one starts to fade from dementia. The Rescue also opens after being scheduled for last Lunar New Year and then the week before Christmas; it's the latest rah-rah bit of action from Dante Lam, this one featuring the Chinese Coast Guard.
  
  Reissues include Harriet (Boston Common), Abominable (Boston Common), Crazy Rich Asians (Boston Common), and School of Rock (Boston Common). There's also Fathom shows of Earwig and the Witch - a new Studio Ghibli feature directed by Goro Miyazaki, which looks kind of freaky with the house style presented as CGI animation - at Boston Common from Friday to Sunday and South Bay on Saturday and Sunday. South Bay also has Back to the Future on Friday; Woman in Motion, a documentary on Nicelle Nichols's work with NASA after her time on Star Trek, on Saturday; and Pretty in Pink on Thursday.
• The Museum of Science and The New England Aquarium also re-open, with the former opening on Monday with "Superpower Dogs" and "Back From the Brink: Saved from Extinction" in the Omni theater while the Imax theater at the Aquarium is open Saturday and Sunday with "Great White Shark", "Sea Lions: Life by a Whisker", "Turtle Odyssey", and "Backyard Wilderness".

The West Newton Cinema continues to show The Little Things and Some Kind of Heaven, the latter of which they also offer in a virtual cinema, while Chestnut Hill has Wonder Woman 1984, The Marksman, News of the World, Wonder Woman 1984, and The Croods: A New Age. Both are open through Sunday

• The Regent Theatre has another streaming presentation of Jimmy Tingle's featurette "2020 Vision" on Saturday evening (one-hour featurette followed by comedy and talk), with virtual tickets marked as "pay what you can".
• The Somerville Theatre is still closed but The Slutcracker: The Movie still appears to be available. Ice cream and other goodies available at The Capitol, their sister theater in Arlington, has ice cream and snacks Wednesday through Sunday.
• Theater rentals are available at the Coolidge, West Newton, the Capitol, The Lexington Venue, and the AMC/Showcase multiplexes. The Coolidge is showing slots available to reserve online through the end of March for Moviehouse II, the screening room, and the GoldScreen, with "Premium Programming" including In the Mood for Love, Sound of Metal, and Wolfwalkers available along with the option to bring your own disc. The independent theaters also have other fund-raising offers worth checking out.

This could potentially be a very busy week if I want to catch up on what I've been putting off, see Down a Dark Stairwell, hit Boston Common for a couple/few, and then settle in for the sci-fi festival streams, and I'm kind of looking forward to it.