Next Week in Tickets: Films playing Boston 29 December 2023 - 4 January 2024

If you saw your fill of what came out last week, it's slim pickings this weekend. But, like me, you probably haven't.

• Hong Kong action thriller The Goldfinger reunites Infernal Affairs stars Tony Leung Chiu-wai with Andy Lau Tak-wah with the film's writer Felix Chong (who also directs) in a pre-Handover game of cat and mouse; it's apparently pretty big-budget as these things go but appears to have sat on the shelf for a couple years. It's at Boston Common. From the mainland, Chinese crime drama Endless Journey continues at Causeway Street, and The Invisible Guest continues to play one show a day at the Liberty Tree Mall in Danvers. There's also a preview of Shining for One Thing on Sunday at Boston Common and Causeway Street before it opens wide-ish next weekend.
  
  Telugu-language action movie Devil, starring Nandamuri Kalyan Ram as a British secret agent, opens at Apple Fresh Pond. Also hanging around are Salaar Part 1: Cease Fire (Telugu and Hindi) at Fresh Pond & Boston Common, Dunki (Hindi) at Fresh Pond & Boston Common, Animal (Hindi) at Boston Common, and Neru (Malayalam) at Fresh Pond. Telugu-language romance Bubblegum is out at the Liberty Tree Mall.
  
  From Japan, Godzilla Minus One continues at Boston Common and Assembly Row. The Boy and the Heron is still at the Coolidge, Fresh Pond, Boston Common, Causeway Street, and Assembly Row (subtitled only).
  
  Korean hit 12.12: The Day hangs around for a third week at Causeway Street.
• It's very quiet at the multiplexes/mainstream places. Jordan's Furniture (and other Imax theaters) are bringing Wonka back to the giant screens, not necessarily completely displacing Aquaman 2, but taking at least some matinee showtimes away.
  
  Chestnut Hill has the 9pm show of The Color Purple on Sunday labeled a "New Year's Eve Event"; not sure what the special screening entails.
  
  Self Reliance, starring writer/director Jake Johnson as a contestant on a life-or-death reality show and co-starring Anna Kendrick, has a one-night preview at Boston Common, South Bay, and Assembly Row on Wednesday before showing up on Hulu later in January There's also an AMC Screen Unseen mystery preview at Boston Common, Causeway Street, and Assembly Row on Wednesday.
• The Coolidge Corner Theatre keeps more or less the same bookings, including Fallen Leaves in the Goldscreen. They close out the year's midnights with a 35mm print of David Cronenberg's Shivers on Friday and Get Out on Saturday. There are also early-morning Kids' Shows for the weekend, with Despicable Me on Saturday and the original animated One Hundred and One Dalmatians on Sunday. They kick off the new year with Citizen Kane on Monday, and start the January "Projections" series of classic science fiction with The Terminator on Tuesday and the Director's Cut of THX 1138 on Wednesday, both on 35mm film. Thursday's Big Screen Classic is the digital restoration of Chungking Express
• The Brattle Theatre continues "Warner Brothers in the '80s: Enter the Blockbuster" with a 35mm double feature of Purple Rain & Under the Cherry Moon on Friday, Superman II & Batman '89 on Saturday, Pee-Wee's Big Adventure & David Byrne's True Stories on Sunday (both 35mm), Risky Business & The Lost Boys on Tuesday, Stand and Deliver on 35mm and (separately) Mad Max II: The Road Warrior on Wednesday, finishing with a 35mm Martin Scorsese double feature of GoodFellas & After Hours on Thursday.
  
  New Year's Eve finishes with the new restoration of Stop Making Sense on Sunday night, with the traditional Marx Brothers Marathon (The Cocoanuts, Monkey Business, Horse Feathers, and Duck Soup) on Monday.
• The Alamo Drafthouse Seaport has one screening per day of Burn it Down, a documentary on how Woodstock '99 went horribly wrong, at least through Wednesday. The rep calendar has a When Harry Met Sally brunch on Sunday, The Apartment and Go on Monday, and a pair of A Town Called Panic specials on Tuesday. The latter is the only one not currently listed as sold out, but maybe folks will cancel or they'll open the front rows or something.
• The ICA has a second week of free (with museum admission) Kids Flicks programs from the New York International Children's FIlm Festival on Saturday and Sunday - an international program for ages 5 and up at 11am and a Latinx-focused "¡Hola Cine!" show at 1pm for ages 8 and up.
• Last call for Oppenheimer on the dome at The Museum of Science this Friday and Saturday evening.
• The Lexington Venue is open Friday to Sunday with Poor Things and Maestro, plus Trolls: Band Together on Friday & Saturday.
  
  The West Newton Cinema keeps Migration, Poor Things, Wonka, Maestro, Saltburn (Sunday/Tuesday), and The Holdovers.
  
  The Luna Theater has Dream Scenario Friday, Saturday, and Thursday, and doesn't currently list anything else (including Weirdo Wednesday) on the site.
  
  Cinema Salem is open through Monday with Wonka The Iron Claw, Ferrari, and The Color Purple.

Tickets already reserved for The Goldfinger and A Town Called Panic!, and I'll probably hit the Brattle for True Stories, GoodFellas, and After Hours, and hopefully catch up with Poor Things, Society of the Snow, and The Color Purple. There's probably no way The Invisible Guest is worth the trek out to Danvers, though.