Friday, May 21, 2021

Next Week in [Virtual] Tickets: Films sort of playing Boston 21 May 2021 - 27 May 2021

We're edging fairly close to back-to-normal-ish, and I've got to say I am ready for it. Should be at full-vax by this time next week, and I'm already starting to talk about seeing movies without a whole bunch of caveats at the front.
  • The Brattle Theatre is reopening the first weekend of July, and while I would not presume to know their plans exactly, that's Jaws season. The plans for June are rentals on the weekend and members-only 35mm screenings during the week, so if you're not a member, it's a great time to join and help them get a bit more onto solid ground after fifteen months. Can't hurt to buy snacks and merch for pickup over the weekend, too.

    In the meantime, they've still got the Brattlite virtual theater going, picking up Two Lottery Tickets this weekend, a new film from up-and-coming Romanian director Paul Negoescu, a screwball thing about a couple wastrels chasing down a stolen chance at six million euros. It plays alongside The Paper Tigers, RK/RKAY, Punk the Capital, The Story of a Three Day Pass, The County, Work Songs, and Bill Traylor: Chasing Ghosts.
  • Their friends at The DocYard wrap their online season with Taming the Garden, a peculiar story of an oligarch (and former prime minister) in the country of Georgia who is uprooting the countries oldest and largest trees to place them in his own park. Director Salomé Jashi will join a live Q&A on Monday afternoon.
  • The Coolidge Corner Theatre is open and adding matinees and late shows to the ones that sold out immediately. On Friday, Black Narcissus and Vertigo on 35mm are at capacity (the latter also sold out on Monday); but Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon has tickets at 10pm. On Saturday there are tickets for The Philadelphia Story at 11am but not 2pm, and for Citizen Kane at 10pm but not 7pm, with a similar pattern on Sunday, where has 11pm slots but not 7pm and Beau Travail is sold out at 2pm but not 10pm. Both Akira and 2001: A Space Odyssey are sold out on Thursday. The other three are still available for rental via the Private Movie Party link.

    They may not be winding The Virtual Coolidge down yet, but don't open anything new this week, keeping Us Kids, Duty Free, About Endlessness, In Silico, and the three Oscar Nominated Shorts programs (Animated, Live-Action, and Documentary, also available virtually from Landmark) available.
  • ArtsEmerson and their partners have "Shared Stories" entry Nailed It a documentary on the 40 year-history Vietnamese nail salons in America, running through Sunday evening.
  • The Regent Theatre still has Long Live Rock: Celebrate the Chaos available to stream; they've also got a combined live-stream and in-person show for the Advanced Ensembles from the Real School of Music on Friday and Saturday.
  • A couple IFFBoston entries are making quick turnarounds to theaters, with Landmark Theatres Kendall Square picking up the pretty nifty Australian mystery The Dry, which features Eric Bana as a detective returning to his hometown where a recent murder and a year without rain have left it a figurative and literal tinderbox. They're also one of the places playing Dream Horse, with Toni Collette and Damian Lewis two folks in a small Irish town looking to change their fortunes by investing in a racehorse. It's also at Boston Common, South Bay, Assembly Row

    They also open two films centered on the Holocaust from different sides: Documentary Final Account documents the testimony of the Germans who lived through World War II, describing what "ordinary" life during the time was like; it also plays Boston Common. There's also director Caroline Link's When Hitler Stole Pink Rabbit, an adaptation of Judith Kerr's roman a clef based upon her Jewish family's flight from the country in 1933.
  • Hey, remember when Warner moved Scoob! to VOD last year? It's finally making its way to theaters 53 weeks later, playing Boston Common, Fenway, and Arsenal Yards as a discount "fan favorite". Kind of marking time until the big holiday weekend openers, I guess.

    Boston Common also opens IFFBoston Fall Focus alum New Order, which starts out as a thrilling you-are-there movie about folks caught up in a revolution, although it becomes little more than cynical and mean-spirited by the end (which isn't inaccurate, but it's a sort of default-state cynicism).

    The F9 count-up has reached Fast & Furious (#4) on Friday night at Boston Common, Fenway (for reward program members), and Arsenal Yards. Bon Jovi: Encore Nights plays Boston Common and Fenway on Saturday; the week's anniversary screening is Stand By Me, playing Fenway, South Bay, Assembly Row, and Arsenal Yards on Sunday and Wednesday.

    Most theaters have early shows of Cruella and A Quiet Place II on Thursday; the latter has a live Q&A at Kendall Square and Chestnut Hill.
  • Arsenal Yards continues Hindu-language action flick Radhe - Your Most Wanted Bhai; Boston Common has Chinese films My Love and Cliff Walkers. Demon Slayer continues subtitled at Boston Common, Fenway, South Bay, Assembly Row, Arsenal Yards (including dubbed shows), and Chestnut Hill.
  • The West Newton Cinema is open Friday to Sunday with Together Together, Raya and the Last Dragon, Tom & Jerry, Nomadland and Godzilla vs Kong, and also open Thursday with Cruella on two screens with Together Together, Raya, and Nomadland. They're also available for private rentals.
  • The Somerville Theatre and sister cinema The Capitol aren't ready to open yet, though the latter will sell you ice cream shop and snacks.
  • 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 extended the slots available to reserve online through the end of June with early and late evening chances to rent Moviehouse II, the screening room, and the GoldScreen, and "Premium Programming" including Wolfwalkers, Promising Young Woman, The Trial of the Chicago 7, The Father, Mank, Judas and the Black Messiah, Nomadland, Minari, In the Mood for Love, and Sound of Metalrentals. The independent theaters also have other fund-raising offers worth checking out, and I'm not sure whether it's encouraging or not that the website for Apple Fresh Pond is down despite a previous May re-opening being teased there; it looks like they've forgotten to pay their web-hosting bill.
Same as last week's good intentions, really - catching up with Army of the Dead, Wrath of Man, and some of the big pile of discs that recently arrived from various orders. Maybe Demon Train, because it's kind of crazy that it's done better than a lot of things treated as mainstream over the past three weeks and seemingly gotten zero attention outside of manga/anime die-hards.

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