Next Week in Tickets: Films playing Boston 25 August 2023 - 31 August 2023

End of the summer, so things are getting a bit odd. It also apparently means that it's National Cinema Day again, with $4 tickets for most (if not all) shows at many theaters on Sunday (I kind of think they don't announce it until a few days before to keep people from seeing things th ey'd already planned on then rather than seeing something impulsively).

• After what seems like a month of previews, Gran Turismo finally has its official opening, based on what the trailers talk up as a true story, with Archie Madekwe as a top gamer recruited by a maverick team owner (Orlando Bloom) and a trained by a reluctant coach (David Harbour) for actual racing. It's at The Capitol, Fresh Pond, Boston Common (including Dolby Cinema/Imax Xenon/Spanish subtitles), Kendall Square, South Bay (including Dolby Cinema/Imax Xenon), Assembly Row (including Dolby Cinema/Imax Laser), Arsenal Yards (including CWK), and Chestnut Hill.
  
  Retribution, a Liam Neeson actioner where the car he's using to bring his kids to school is rigged to explode unless he obeys the voice on the other end of the phone, opens at Fresh Pond, Boston Common, and South Bay. It's also the first American feature from Nimród Antal in a decade and reunites Neeson with Schindler's List co-star Embeth Davidtz (not notable, just weird how careers go)!
  
  Biopic The Hill stars Colin Ford as a young baseball player whose weak bones would seem to make it unlikely he'll ever plays in the majors, with a nifty supporting cast including Dennis Quaid, Joelle Carter, Scott Glenn, and Bonnie Bedelia. It's at Boston Common and South Bay.
  
  Jurassic Park returns for its 30th anniversary with RealD 3D screenings at Boston Common, South Bay, and Assembly Row; presumably the same conversion that played Imax theaters for its 20th ten years ago. Boston Common also brings back more recent Universal films Asteroid City and Super Mario Bros; screenings of the live-action The Little Mermaid at Boston Common, South Bay, and Arsenal Yards are now sing-along shows.
  
  American Graffiti has 50th Anniversary shows at Boston Common, South Bay, and Assembly Row on Sunday and Wednesday. Lady Bird plays Boston Common on Sunday (early!). A remastered Coraline plays Boston Common, Assembly Row, and Arsenal Yards on Monday. Horror-comedy Slotherhouse, with a rather unlikely killer creature, plays Boston Common and Assembly Row on Wednesday. Sonic the Hedgehog 2 is the Wednesday kids' matinee at Boston Common.
• Golda opens at Landmark Kendall Square, West Newton, Boston Common, and Assembly Row; it stars Helen Mirren as Israeli Prime Minister Golda Meir during the Yom Kippur War on 1973, a particularly dangerous moment in Israel's history. It also features Liev Schreiber as Henry Kissenger.
  
  Also playing afternoon shows at the Kendall is The Eternal Memory, a documentary about a prominent Chilean couple whose lives are upended by a diagnosis of Alzheimer's Disease. Their final Hitchcock film for his birthday month is The Lady Vanishes, playing Tuesday evening.
• The Coolidge Corner Theatre opens Mutt, mostly in the GoldScreen, which follows Lío Mehiel as a young trans man in New York facing upheaval in many facets of his life.
  
  This is the last week of Hip-Hop at 50, with two 35mm midnights - Colors on Friday and New Jack City on Saturday - plus a 35mm print of ATL on Tuesday, ending with The Forty-Year-Old Version with director Radha Blank on hand for a post-film Q&A. Thursday's Big Screen Classic is Ong-Bak: The Thai Warrior, the action movie that introduced the world to Tony Jaa specifically and muay thai in general.
• The Brattle Theatre has the the 35-years-later reissue of Tokyo Pop, about a musician who goes to Tokyo only to find the friend she'd intended to meet had left, although she hooks up with a local band, through Sunday. It's the first film by Fran Rubel Kuzui, who would direct the first version of Buffy The Vampire Slayer, produce a couple interesting movies, and then seemingly disappear from the business. They also have Wreckmeister Harmonies, a 2001 film from Ágnes Hranitzky and Béla Tarr in which a mysterious circus presages societal collapse, from Friday to Monday. The Warner 100 double feature on Monday & Tuesday is White Heat & The Treasure of the Sierra Madre, both on film, wrapping the series. Also finishing are the Wednesday films edited by Dede Allen, with a double feature of The Breakfast Club & The Addams Family, the latter on 35mm film, and Thursday's Thrill Ride Horrors, with M3GAN & Upgrade.
• Seven new films from India open at Apple Fresh Pond this weekend: In Hindi, there is Dream Girl 2, which looks like a variation on Tootsie, with the "2" apparently indicating more of a thematic match than a chronological sequel; Akelli stars Nushrratt Bharuccha as an Indian woman trapped in a war zone; and Ghoomer, starring Saiyami Kher as a would-be cricketer trying to stay in the game after losing a hand. In Telugu, Gaandeevadhari Arjuna is an action-adventure starring Varun Tej, while vertie-styled comedy Boys Hostel returns. Toby is a Kannada-language thriller, and King of Kotha is a Malayalam-language crime drama.
  
  They also hold over Hindi drama Gadar 2, Hindi comedy OMG 2 (also at Boston Common), Tamil action-comedy Jailer, and Hindi romantic comedy Rocky Aur Rani Kii Prem Kahaani (also at Boston Common).
  
  Bangladeshi/American production MR-9: Do or Die stars Abm Sumon as Bangladesh's top spy (who has appeared in 550+ novels!) and also features American action specialists Michael Jai White and Frank Grillo; it plays at Boston Common.
  
  K-Pop concert film/documentary Kangdaniel: My Parade plays Boston Common on Wednesday.
• The Somerville Theatre and IFFBoston finish the Sight and Sound Summer Vacation, counting down to #1 with 2001: A Space Odyssey (70mm Friday), In the Mood for Love (35mm with original color grading Saturday), Tokyo Story (35mm Sunday), Citizen Kane (35mm Monday), Vertigo (35mm IB Technicolor Tuesday), and Jeanne Dielman, 23, quai du Commerce, 1080 Bruxelles (35mm Sunday afternoon/Wednesday evening). The Midnight Special on Saturday is The Peanut Butter Solution, a real oddity about a kid who loses his hair and is given a special potion by some ghosts the grow it back (with some side-effects).
• The Regent Theatre once again has music documentary Have You Got It Yet? The Story of Syd Barrett and Pink Floyd on Wednesday and Thursday.
• The Museum of Science has two more weeks of "Summer Space Films" on the dome, with Gravity this Friday & Saturday and The Martian next weekend.
• The West Newton Cinema opens Golda, including a sold-out special event screening with Boston Jewish Film on Sunday, and continues Elemental (Friday/Saturday/Sunday matinees), Past Lives, Theater Camp, Barbie, Oppenheimer (mostly 35mm), Asteroid City (Friday matinee), and Super Mario Brothers (Friday/Sunday matinees).
  
  The Lexington Venue continues Oppenheimer and Barbie, and is open Friday to Sunday.
  
  The Luna Theater has music documentary, the Oldboy reissue on Saturday and Sunday, and a Weirdo Wednesday show.
  
  Cinema Salem has Oldboy, Theater Camp, Talk to Me, Barbie, and Oppenheimer through Monday. Friday's late show is Ichi the Killer, one of the big international breakthroughs for director Takashi Miike and star Tadanobu Asano, at 10pm Friday, Last Action Hero Saturday and Sunday afternoons, and E.T. The Extra-Terrestrial on Thursday.
• Outdoor screenings listed at Joe's Free Films include Thor: Love and Thunder at the Hatch Shell on Friday, The Bad Guys at the Prudential Saturday and Winthrop Square in Charlestown Wednesday, and League of Super-Pets at the Iacono Playground on Monday.

Looking at Tokyo Pop, Retribution, MR-9, In the Mood for Love, and maybe some other classics/catch-up despite some being at weird times (what's the logic in having your straggling shows of The Last Voyage of the Demeter at 11am?).