Next Week in Tickets: Films playing Boston 25 March 2021 - 31 March 2022

Honestly annoyed that the Academy scheduled the Oscars for BUFF weekend. Who do they think they are, anyway?

• Which is to say, The Boston Underground Film Festival will be running at The Brattle Theatre through the weekend, with the New England shorts, Nitram, Hypochondriac, and the "Trigger Warning" shorts on Friday; a kid-friendly-matinee of The Secret of NIMH (rather than the usual Saturday morning cartoon block), the music videos, the comedy shorts, Watcher, and the Gaspar Noé double-shot of Vortex & Lux Aeterna Saturday; wrapping up with the Weird Local Film Fest selections, the comedy shorts, Neptune Frost, Medusa, and Hatching on Sunday.
  
  Once that wraps, there's a quick "From Hollywood with Love" program with Crazy Rich Asians on Monday, Boomerang on Tuesday, and a 35mm print of When Harry Met Sally on Wednesday. Not technically part of that program is Thursday's 35mm screening of Casablanca, which is a special benefit screening for Ukraine and other people displaced by war.
• If you're Team Oscar, The Coolidge Corner Theatre is there to help you cram and catch up, with Dune, Drive My Car, King Richard, The Worst Person in the World, and a 35mm print of The Power of the Dog rotating through the various screens all week, as well as the animated and live-action shorts.
  
  The 35mm midnights are fortunate/unfortunate programming coincidences - Altered States on Friday was already programmed before star William Hurt's death, while Saturday's Enter the Void is happening while BUFF has director Gaspar Noé's most recent two films on the other end of the 66. They also have a program of short films for young audiences from the 2021 New York International Children's Film Festival on Saturday morning, and all-day marathon of Peter Jackson's The Lord of the Rings trilogy on Sunday, Love and Basketball as the Big-Screen Classic Monday
• The big opening this week is The Lost City, with Sandra Bullock as a romance writer who may have researched the subject of her new book a little too well, as a billionaire played by Daniel Radcliffe kidnaps her to search for it, leading cover model Channing Tatum to attempt a rescue. Fun cast, although I kind of worry that they seem to have felt the need to put what looks like it was meant as a fun surprise in the trailer. It plays the Arlington Capitol, Fresh Pond, West Newton, CinemaSalem, Boston Common (including Dolby Cinema), Fenway, South Bay (Including Dolby Cinema), Assembly Row (including Dolby Cinema), Arsenal Yards (including CWX), the Embassy, and Chestnut Hill.
  
  Also opening is Infinite Storm, with Naomi Watts in a based-on-a-true-story thing about a hiker who finds an injured man on Mount Washington just as a massive storm is about to hit. That plays the Somerville Theatre, Fresh Pond, Boston Common, Kendall Square. South Bay, and the Embassy.
  
  I don't know whether Sing 2 has actually left theaters, but it "re-opens" with sing-along shows at Fresh Pond, Boston Common, Assembly Row, and Arsenal Yards (and maybe Fenway, South Bay, and Chestnut Hill). There are also multiple previews of Everything Everywhere All At Once with the filmmakers appearing at the MIT and IFFBoston presentations on Sunday and Monday, though I don't know if they'll still be in town for the Imax Xenon shows at Boston Common and Assembly Row on Wednesday. Fenway, South Bay, and Assembly Row have Man of God for an encore on Monday, and documentary Never Forget Tibet (also at Arsenal Yards) on Thursday. Arsenal Yards has A League of Their Own on Monday.
• After being delayed due to a Covid surge in India, RRR - Rise Roar Revolt has finally arrived, a 1920s-set action piece from the director of the Bãhubali movies (and Eega, the infamous "man seeking revenge after being reincarnated as a housefly" flick). It plays Apple Fresh Pond (Telugu/Hindi/Tamil), Boston Common (Telegu, including Dolby Cinema/Hindi), Fenway (Telegu/Hindi), Kendall Square (Telugu), South Bay (Telugu/Hindi), Assembly Row (Telegu/Hindi), and Arsenal Yards (Telugu). It sucks up most of the screens for Indian cinema, though The Kashmir Files continues at Fresh Pond while Gangubai Kathiawadi continues at Boston Common.
  
  Anime Jujutsu Kaisen: 0 continues at Boston Common (including Imax Xenon), Fenway, Kendall Square, South Bay, Assembly Row, Arsenal Yards, and Chestnut Hill. Check showtimes for whether it's playing dubbed or subtitled Chinese comedy-drama Nice View sticks around Boston Common.
• The Somerville Theatre offers a Maggie Gyllenhaal double feature with her direction The Lost Daughter and starring in Secretary (the latter in 35mm) on Friday. A more lighthearted twin bill plays Saturday, with Monty Python & the Holy Grail and Time Bandits. A Hard Day's Night plays Monday, the "Face/Off: Travolta vs Cage" double feature on Tuesday is Blow Out & Moonstruck on Tuesday, with Robert Downey Sr.'s Putney Swope on Wednesday and Peter Bogdanovich's Sait Jack on Thursday.
  
  Their sister theater The Capitol has The Godfather, as well as soccer documentary King Otto, which covers the unlikely underdog story of the 2004 Greek National Football team.
• ArtsEmerson and The Boston Asian-American Film Festival have a "Projecting Connections" Spring Showcase this weekend, with The Six, a documentary about the six Chinese survivors of the Titanic, on Friday; a book talk with the authors of Rise on Saturday afternoon; and thriller Snakehead that evening.
  
  Emerson has a public screening of this year's student films - the "Emerson Film Festival" - at 6pm on Wednesday in the Bright Screening Room at the Paramount Theatre, with filmmakers on hand and a reception afterward. The Bright Lights program returns there the next day with C'mon C'mon, with faculty discussion afterward. Both are free and open to the public with tickets able to be reserved on the afternoon of the show.
• The Harvard Film Archive continues their showcase of Flora Gomes, this year's recipient of the McMillan-Stewart Fellowship, with Mortu Nega (Friday), The Blue Eyes of Yonta (Saturday), and Tree of Blood (Sunday), all screening on 35mm film with Ms. Gomes there in person. They will also present "An Evening with Akosua Adoma Owusu" on Monday, with the Ghanaian-America filmmaker there to present and discuss over an hour of short films
• The Boston Israeli Film Festival presented by Boston Jewish Film continues through Wednesday. Most of the program is available for streaming throughout, but there are two livestreams on Sunday - a Q&A with the diretor and subject of That Orchestra with the Broken Instruments at 1pm and the director of Cinema Sabaya at 3pm - while the closing night show of Let It Be Morning will only be presented in person at the Coolidge. Belmont World Film is also doing a hybrid presentation of their spring series, with A Change of Heart online from Friday to Sunday at also playing in person at Arsenal Yards on Sunday, while The Heroics will only be offered online, starting Tuesday and running through next Monday. Both are French dramas.
• The Oscar Nominated Shorts continue on-screen with the Live-Action and Animated Selections playing the Embassy and Coolidge; animation plays at the Kendall. West Newton has Documentary Friday through Sunday and Live-Action on Saturday and Sunday, The Lexington Venue has Documentary (Friday/Saturday), Live Action (all weekend), and Animation (Saturday/Sunday); The Luna has Live Action and Animation on Saturday; The ICA has Live-Action on Friday.
• The West Newton Cinema has 12 separate things on their six screens this week: Two Oscar shorts programs (Friday-Saturday), The Lost City, The Batman, Cyrano, Uncharted, Drive My Car (Friday/Saturday), Parallel Mothers, Sing 2 (Saturday/Sunday), West Side Story, Licorice Pizza (Saturday-Wednesday), and Encanto (Saturday/Sunday).
  
  The Lexington Venue has The Outfit and the Oscar Shorts this weekend.
  
  The Luna Theater has The Cursed Friday and Saturday evenings, the Animated and Live-Action Oscar shorts on Saturday, Dr. Strangelove on Sunday, plus Weirdo Wednesday show.
  
  Cinema Salem has The Batman, The Lost City, and X this weekend.
• It's not local, but The National Museum of Asian Art is offering not just documentary Satoshi Kon: The Illusionist, but all four of his films (Perfect Blue, Paprika, Tokyo Godfathers, and Millennium Actress) for free for a week starting at noon on Saturday. This is all great stuff!
• 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 and Somerville, The Venue, and many of the multiplexes. Jordan's Furniture and the film program at the MFA are still in limbo.

I'm at the Brattle for BUFF more or less non-stop through the weekend, and may check out The Lost City, RRR, and/or some of the things I skipped last weekend afterward.