Friday, October 22, 2021

Next Week in Tickets: Films playing Boston 22 October 2021 - 28 October 2021

Part of it is that they just got the new toy, but I notice that only the Somerville Theatre is bragging about their 4K projection, and that's kind of crazy to me. I know the Kendall has a 4K projector in screen 1, but they never point out when something is using it, for instance, and Fenway no longer highlights which shows are "RPX" on the Regal app (or which screens have 4K projection). Me, personally, I'm happier to sit in the Somerville with their basic seats and basic snacks but the best projection than the opposite, but so many theaters prefer to push the other way.

One projection thing to note that may be of interest to some: AMC has greatly increased the number of open-captioned shows they have, so if you're hard of hearing, have trouble with accents, or just like having the subtitles on when you watch movies, take note of those shows when booking tickets (and, of course, do the same if you find that distracting).
  • The big opening this week, after a year's delay and controversy over the same-day-streaming thing, Dune, the latest adaptation of Frank Herbert's novel, this one from Denis Villeneuve and covering half of the first book with an eye on adapting the whole series. It plays The Somerville Theatre, Fresh Pond, West Newton, Kendall Square, Boston Common (including Imax Xenon/Dolby Cinema/RealD 3D), Fenway (including one RealD 3D show a day), South Bay (including Imax Xenon/Dolby Cinema), Assembly Row (including Imax Xenon/Dolby Cinema), Arsenal Yards (including CWX), the Embassy, Chestnut Hill, and HBOmax.

    Ron's Gone Wrong has not been delayed quite as long, I don't think, but it seems like it's been kicking around a while. Set in the near future, it posits that most young people have a personal robot, although the one young Barney is given is a somewhat erratic refurb. It's at The Capitol, Fresh Pond, Boston Common, Fenway, South Bay, Assembly Row, and Arsenal Yards.

    There's also Becoming Cousteau, a documentary on the life of Jacques-Yves Cousteau, built in part around restorations of the copious footage he and his families and companies shot during his life. That plays The Capitol and Boston Common.

    Boston Common has surprise Thrills & Chills screenings on Friday and Wednesday, and The Rocky Horror Picture Show on Saturday (Arsenal Yards, CinemaSalem, and The Coolidge play it that night as well). The annual Studio Ghibli Fest starts quite late this year, kicking off with Howl's Moving Castle at Boston Common, Fenway, South Bay, and Assembly Row. Shows on Sunday and Thursday are dubbed; those on Monday are subtitled. There's also a Lupin the 3rd anniversary special at Boston Common at Monday, with a new dub of the very first episode and the first two of the new series. Insane Clown Posse documentary The United States of Insanity plays Tuesday at Boston Common, Fenway, South Bay, and Assembly Row. An "Uncut Experience" of last year's thriller The Call plays Fenway on Wednesday.
  • Wes Anderson's The French Dispatch is finally hitting theaters after a year's delay, getting the rare both-big-screens openings at The Coolidge Corner Theatre (including a Sunday Masked Matinee). It stars just about everyone from his in his ever-expanding repertory company and then some in a series of vignettes about a magazine modeled on The New Yorker. The preview is a lot of what sometimes makes Anderson insufferable, but also a lot of why people love him. It's also at Kendall Square, Boston Common.

    The Coolidge's special engagements lean toward celebrating spooky season, with a 35mm print of Blacula at midnight on Friday and both An American Werewolf in London and Rocky Horror at midnight Saturday. The Big Screen Classic on Monday is the digital restoration of The Exorcist, and the Rewind! Show on Thursday is Scream. They also have their first 35mm screening of Last Night in Soho later that night (the AMCs are having Dolby Cinema previews on Wednesday).
  • Aside from the big openings, Landmark Theatres offers two streaming-service productions before they hit video. Kendall Square gets Amazon's The Electrical Life of Louis Wan, with Benedict Cumberbatch as the eccentric artist of the title and Claire Foy as his wife. The trailer, if I recall, is a visual knockout even if Cumberbatch is chewing all the scenery. Over at the Embassy, they get Netflix's The Harder They Fall, a Western starring Idris Elba, Regina King, Jonathan Majors, LaKeith Stanfield, Zazie Beetz, and Delroy Lindo, the latter as Lone Ranger inspiration Bass Reeves. Note that the Embassy is still only open Thursday to Sunday.

    The Kendall also has the 2021 Cat Film Festival on Wednesday night, which is also when they open Netflix's Passing, Rebecca Hall's film about two Black women (Tessa Thompson & Ruth Negga) in 1920s New York who could pass as white.
  • Over at The Brattle Theatre continues the IFFBoston Fall Focus preview series through the weekend, with some shows sold out and just a few seats left for the rest, including Belfast on Friday; Happening, The Worst Person in the World, and Joy Ride (with Q&A) on Saturday; and Petite Maman and C'mon C'mon on Sunday.

    On Monday, they start a "Folk Horror Beyond The Wicker Man" series, anchored by Kier-La Janisse's massive documentary Woodlands Dark and Days Bewitched: A History of Folk Horror on Monday (and another show on Halloween), as well as The Blood on Satan's Claw on Tuesday, Night of the Eagle (on 35mm) and The Lair of the White Worm on Wednesday, plus Jug Face and The Wind on Thursday. The Brattlite continues Taiwan's Detention online, which isn't folk horror, but is still creepy as heck.
  • Cloudy Mountain isn't the biggest Chinese action movie of the season (I'm guessing Well Go or someone is looking for a good slot for The Battle at Lake Changjin), but it looks like fun, with a father and son racing against time to find a way to prevent a number of cascading natural disasters from destroying their home town. It's at Boston Common.

    Apple Fresh Pond plays host to Caleidoscope Indian Film Festival Boston, or the in-person portion, which includes has Telugu-language horror movie Kalkokkho (aka "House of Time") on Friday, Bengali drama Searching for Happiness (with Q&A) and Kannada-language drama Dollu on Saturday, and Malayalam drama AHR on Sunday (there's also a second location in Littleton and several films available on demand). The theater also continues the runs of Telugu-language romantic comedy Most Eligible Bachelor and Tamil-language Doctor.
  • The Boston Asian-American Film Festival continues through Sunday, with a "Filipino Friday" triple-feature of Wherever We May Be, The Girl Who Left Home, and Lumpia with a Vengeance; A Letter to A'ma, Sky Blossom: Diaries of the Next Greatest Generation, and Americanish, all with Q&A on Saturday; and closing night film Who Is Lun*na Menoh on Sunday. I can vouch for Americanish, which I saw at the New York Asian Film Festival.
  • The Museum of Science is going to be running Dune in the Mugar Omni Theater Dome on Friday and Saturday evenings for at least the next month - the first time they've done this with a feature film, in part because they've gone digital - although it looks like the first two weekends' worth are sold out. I believe "Ancient Caves" is a new-ish addition, with "Superpower Dogs" and "Back from the Brink" also continuing
  • Bright Lights at Home offers up one more chance to see Małni – Towards The Ocean, Towards The Shore, available for 24 hours starting at 7pm Wednesday. Filmmaker Sky Hopkina and professor Kathryn Ramey will call in for a Thursday-night Q&A, with shows free but slots limited.
  • The West Newton Cinema has Dune, The Velvet Underground, No Time to Die, and Shang-Chi.

    The Lexington Venue is open through Sunday, either with one screen or No Time to Die on both.
  • Cinema Salem is, as you'd imagine, all in on spooky stuff with Lamb and Halloween Kills from Friday to Monday. One-offs include The Craft and a "Night Light" show of Alice, Sweet Alice on Friday; Universal Monsters Frankenstein Meets the Wolf Man on Saturday (plus a sold-out Rocky Horror), Abbot and Costello meet Frankenstein on Sunday; Frankenstein and Dracula Saturday and Sunday; and An American Werewolf in London on Thursday. The Salem Horror Fest comes back to life with online programming from Friday to Halloween.

    The Luna Theater has Lamb Friday and Saturday: The Velvet Underground twice on Saturday (with the 1:35pm show a masked matinee), on either side of She Freak, The Lost Boys on Sunday, and a free-to-members "Weirdo Wednesday". There's live comedy on Thursday.
  • This week's "Devour the Land" show streaming from The Harvard Film Archive is "A Land for War" available from Friday to Monday; the featurette looks at California's Fort Ord over a decade of filming and archival footage from forty years earlier.
  • Joe's Free Films shows Coco playing outdoors on Palmer Street in Harvard Square (the organizers are not technically supposed to say what's playing for contractural reasons, but it's easy to figure out).
  • For those still not ready to join random people in a room for two hours, theater rentals are available at Kendall Square, The Embassy, West Newton, the Capitol, The Venue, and many of the multiplexes.
I'm gonna try and see Dune in 3D and at the Somerville, plus The Last Duel and maybe head out for some of the pre-streamers.

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