Friday, May 28, 2021

Next Week in Tickets: Films playing Boston 28 May 2021 - 3 June 2021

Memorial Day weekend is looking like the first big movie weekend in 15 months, with capacities expanding, the Capitol reopening with two new blockbusters and, unless I miss something, just one new virtual offering.

It's kind of a weird in-between situation, though - demand for the new releases looks much higher than increased capacity, so they wipe everything out, which means if you've got a long rainy weekend, your choices are kind of limited.
  • The big releases this week have been waiting to come out for a while. Cruella was originally planned for last Christmas, and features Emma Stone as the title character, before she was the villain in 101 Dalmatians, although the film is set in the mid-1970s, a decade or so after the original animated version came out, which is weird. Then again, it's a movie that apparently casts a woman who wanted to kill dozens of puppies to make a coat as an antihero. It's got Emma Thompson as the apparent alpha villain, though, and she looks delightfully nasty. It plays The Capitol, The West Newton Cinema, Landmark Theatres Kendall Square, Boston Common (including Dolby Cinema), Fenway, South Bay, Assembly Row, Arsenal Yards, Chestnut Hill, and Disney+ (if you shell out extra).

    The other big opening is A Quiet Place Part II, which picks up right where the first left off - what remains of the family having a way to fight the sound-sensitive aliens but waking into what may be a "people who have lost everything are more dangerous than creature-feature monsters" situation. It's been pushed back a full year by now, and opens at The Capitol, the Kendall, Boston Common (including Imax), Fenway, South Bay (including Imax & Dolby Cinema), Assembly Row (including Imax & Dolby Cinema), Arsenal Yards (including CWX), and Chestnut Hill.

    The F9 count-up is up to Fast Five on Friday night at Boston Common (also Monday), Fenway (for reward program members), and Arsenal Yards. The Conjuring and The Conjuring 2 have $5 shows at Assembly Row from Monday to (at least) Wednesday, in anticipation of its third episode.
  • Vietnamese film Bo Gia (Dad, I'm Sorry) opens in South Bay; directed by star Thanh Tran, it's a comedy about a former biker living among a large family in Ho Chi Minh City/Saigon. It is apparently the biggest home-grown hit to come out of Vietnam and gets multiple screens over the weekend. Demon Slayer continues subtitled at Boston Common, Fenway, South Bay, Assembly Row, and Arsenal Yards.
  • The Coolidge Corner Theatre is ditching reserved seating as capacities open up on Saturday, which means no sitting in some rear corner, seeing your favorite seat empty with nobody around it for a five-seat radius again (although maybe that was just me)! Anyway, that means that while Blade Runner and 2001 (on 35m) are sold out on Friday, there are seats to be had for 2001 and Aliens on Saturday; Akira and 2001 on Sunday; 2001 and Blade Runner on Monday; as well as The Grand Budapest Hotel and Women on the Verge of a Nervous Breakdown with "The Human Voice" on Thursday. Those are all in the main room, with the other three are still available for rental via the Private Movie Party link.

    The Virtual Coolidge is around for at least another week with Us Kids, Duty Free, About Endlessness, and In Silico available.
  • Belmont World Film begins their virtual World Refugee Month program on Tuesday with Antigone, which transplants the Greek classic to a family of Algerian immigrants in Montreal. As with the spring program, films we be available for a week, with a live online discussion on the finale night (Monday the 7th).
  • The Brattle Theatre re-opens in July and has their eye on that, with nothing new opening in the Brattlite virtual theater and take-out concessions off the menu, though Two Lottery Tickets, The Paper Tigers, RK/RKAY, Punk the Capital, The Story of a Three Day Pass, The County, and Work Songs continue to be available.
  • The Somerville Theatre is not yet open, and it looks like I'm going to have to do a walk-by to see what the deal is at Fresh Pond.
  • Theater rentals are available at the Coolidge, the Brattle, Kendall Square, West Newton, the Capitol, The Lexington Venue, and many of the multiplexes. The Coolidge has slots available to reserve Moviehouse II, the screening room, and the GoldScreen online through the end of June, with "Premium Programming" including Wolfwalkers, Promising Young Woman, The Trial of the Chicago 7, The Father, Mank, Judas and the Black Messiah, Nomadland, Minari, Sound of Metal, and In the Mood for Love available, although all but the last are slated to no longer be available after Monday.
Looking forward to A Quiet Place II, morbidly curious about Cruella, and intimidated by all the various sorts of backlog staring me in the face.

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