Next Week in Tickets: Films playing Boston 2 December 2022 - 8 December 2022

It's an exceptionally dead period between Thanksgiving and Avatar and Netflix isn't extending Glass Onion's run, so let's see who is ready to pick up the money they're leaving on the table.

• The big opening this weekend is Violent Night, with David Harbour as Santa Claus, who finds himself in the middle of a Die Hard-ish robbery when a kid on his Nice List is taken hostage. It sounds like something more suited for a trailer parody than a full film - indeed, that's what the trailer feels like - but that describes a lot of the films by director Tommy Wirkola which have worked better than they have a right to, and the action is choreographed by the guys who did Plan B. It's at Fresh Pond, Boston Common (including Dolby Cinema), Fenway, South Bay (including Dolby Cinema), Assembly Row (including Dolby Cinema), Arsenal Yards (including CWX).
  
  Universal covers its Christmas-movie bases by also re-releasing Love Actually at Arsenal Yards (through Sunday). There are Christmas matinees at Boston Common and South Bay of Love Actually (Friday), Elf (Saturday); the Illumination Grinch (Sunday); National Lampoon's Christmas Vacation (Monday); The Best Man Holiday (Tuesday); the Jim Carrey Grinch (Wednesday); and The Polar Express (Thursday). Top Gun: Maverick also gets a "hey, there are screens open" re-release at Boston Common and South Bay.
  
  There are 40th Anniversary screenings of The Dark Crystal on Sunday and Wednesday at Fenway, South Bay, and Assembly Row. Broadway Rising, a documentary about the New York theater scene reopening after the pandemic, plays South Bay and Assembly Row on Monday. Another documentary, Johnny Cash - The Redemption of an American Icon is at Fenway, South Bay, and Assembly Row Monday to Wednesday. Moonage Daydream returns to Boston Common (Imax Xenon) Wednesday. Greek film Smyrna plays Fenway, South Bay, and Assembly Row on Thursday.
• Landmark Theatres Kendall Square picks up two streaming productions: Amazon's Nanny stars Anna Diop in the title role, a Senegaliese immigrant who watches another family's child while saving up money to bring her own son over, although both families are under some strain. Netflix has White Noise, Noah Baumbach's adaptation of Don DeLillo's book about a family trying to keep it together with a potentially apocalyptic event on the horizon.
  
  They also have Memories of My Father, a film about a Colombian activist told from the point of view of his son, who would become a noted writer, although only for matinees. Neil Young: Harvest Time plays Sunday afternoon (also at Boston Common and Fenway). Tuesday's Retro Replay is Gremlins, starting a run of holiday-themed movies.
• The Coolidge Corner Theatre is billing their run of A Couple in their smaller rooms as an exclusive booking, and it's unusual, a small film from Frederick Wiseman - an hour-long narrative rather than a sprawling documentary, following Sophia Tolstoy as she walks a garden, discussing her fraught marriage.
  
  Midnight movies include The Rocky Horror Picture Show and the 2019 Black Christmas on Friday and Krampus on Saturday (doing holiday movies this month). Babe is the Saturday morning matinee, while Goethe-Institut selection The Silent Forest plays Sunday morning. There's a special presentation of Children of Las Brisas (Los Niños de las Brisas) on Monday evening with director Marianela Maldonado, producer Luisa de la Ville, and others on-hand for a Q&A afterward.
• Six new South Asian movies start Friday at Apple Fresh Pond: Telugu crime flick HIT: The 2nd Case features Adivi Sesh as a detective on the trail of a serial killer; Hindi action comedy An Action Hero (also at Boston Common) follows a movie star who has gone into hiding; Gold is a Malayalam comedy; Yaara Vey is a Pakistani romance; DSP and Gatta Kusthi are Tamil-language comedies; and Bhediya is a Hindi werewolf comedy. Bangladeshi sports film Damal has an encore on Saturday.
  
  Drishyam 2, Love Today, and Uunchai continue at Fresh Pond; Drishyam 2 is also at Boston Common.
  
  The Quintessential Quintuplets Movie, the finale of the popular series, plays Boston Common, South Bay, and Assembly Row Friday to Wednesday (except Monday), some shows dubbed and some subtitled. Hideaki Anno's Evangelion: 3.0+1.0 Thrice Upon a Time has shows Tuesday and Thursday at Boston Common, Fenway, South Bay, Assembly Row, and Arsenal Yards (no show Thursday).
  
  Hong Kong romantic comedy Love Suddenly plays Boston Common; the poster makes it look like the same sort of "overlapping romances" as Love Actually, so maybe folks won't be too upset if they buy a ticket to the wrong one. Director Mak Ho-Pong and writer/producer Edmond Wong Chi-Mun did the Breakout Brothers movies and also worked on the Donnie Yen Ip Man series.
  
  Park Chan-Wook's Decision to Leave continues at West Newton and Lexington, and opens at The Capitol and Luna Lowell. Korean music/concert doc NCT Dream the Movie: In a Dream plays Boston Common and Fenway on Saturday.
• The Brattle Theatre kicks off the holiday season on Friday with "Kevin Geeks Out About Christmas" and then a secret screening on 16mm (although they leave enough clues to figure out what it is).
  
  After that, they have a week of "Damn Fine Cinema: The Films of David Lynch", with The Straight Story (35mm Saturday/Monday), a package of short films in a double feature with Eraserhead on 35mm (Saturday), Inland Empire (Saturday), Lost Highway paired with Mulholland Drive (both on 35mm Sunday), Blue Velvet & 35mm Wild at Heart (Monday), The Elephant Man (Wednesday), Dune (35mm Wednesday), and Twin Peaks: Fire Walk With Me (35mm Thursday).
• The Harvard Film Archive wraps their fall season with EAMI on Friday, with director Paz Encina on-hnad for a Q&A. They also have last week's Kaidu Club Experimental Shorts directed by Han Ohki in the 1970s available to stream through the 12th.
• The Regent Theatre has outdoor adventure film program "Mountains on Stage: Winter Edition" on Wednesday.
• Bright Lights has Long Live My Happy Head on Thursday, with directors Will Hewitt & Austin McCowan on-hand to talk about their film a Scottish cartoonist who starts making autobiographical comics after learning he has an inoperable brain tumor. Free to the public, tickets available starting noon the day of the show.
• The ICA has a 95-minute program of Sundance Film Festival Shorts from this year's event on Thursday evening, with more shows during the coming weekend.
• The Somerville Theatre is, as often happens in December, down a screen with The Slutcracker taking the main stage on weekends (Friday/Saturday/Sunday/Thursday this week). They've also got a special show, "Kevin & Ken Save Christmas!", with audience voting for which holiday special, clip, TV episode, or short plays next, on Saturday.
• The Museum of Science will be showing Wakanda Forever on the Murgar Omni dome Fridays and Saturdays into December.
• The Lexington Venue is open Friday to Sunday with Decision to Leave, The Banshees of Inisherin and The Menu.
  
  The West Newton Cinema has Strange World, Aftersun, Amsterdam (Saturday/Sunday), The Menu, The Banshees of Inisherin, Wakanda Forever, Lyle Lyle Crocodile (Saturday/Sunday), Armageddon Time (Saturday), Decision to Leave (Sunday), and Tár. Closed Monday.
  
  The Luna Theater has Decision to Leave Friday, Saturday, and Thursday; Concert for George Saturday afternoon; Die Hard Saturday night and all day Sunday; plus Weirdo Wednesday.
  
  Cinema Salem has The Menu, Violent Night, and Strange World Friday to Monday. There's also a show of Elf hosted by Miz Diamond Wigfall Friday night with a more kid-friendly matinee on Saturday, with VideoCoven running the original Black Christmas and Silent Night, Deadly Night on Thursday.
• 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, CinemaSalem, and many of the multiplexes.

I am down for Violent Night, White Noise, and Love Suddenly, maybe catching up with Devotion and Bones and All. I probably should fill in some David Lynch-shaped holes as well, and we'll see if I catch up on the rest of Evangelion to the point where I go see the finale (I mean, I did see the other three, even if I didn't love them).