Next Week in Tickets: Films playing Boston 5 January 2024 - 11 January 2024

First week of January is traditionally crud-and-oddities time, with the occasional potential award contender poking through the (hypothetical) snow as well.

• The weeks' biggest premiere is Night Swim, a Blumhouse horror flick about an evil swimming pool whose trailer genuinely has me wondering if the heroine is supposed to be blind despite their being little indication that's the case. It's at Fresh Pond, CinemaSalem, Boston Common (including Dolby Cinema), Causeway Street, the Seaport, South Bay (including Dolby Cinema), Assembly Row (including Dolby Cinema), and Arsenal Yards.
  
  Memory, starring Jessica Chastain as a woman who encounters a former high-school classmate (Peter Sarsgaard) with cognitive issues, plays at Boston Common. Director Michel Franco made the pretty darn good Sundown a couple years back.
  
  Jason Statham actioner The Beekeeper has previews Saturday at Boston Common (Imax Xenon), South Bay (Imax Xenon), and Assembly Row (Imax Laser); the Mean Girls musical has pink-themed Wednesday previews at Boston Common (Dolby Cinema), and Assembly Row (Dolby Cinema). There's a mystery AMC Screen Unseen preview at Boston Common, Causeway Street, Assembly Row Monday.
• The distributor of All of Us Strangers seems confident enough in its prospects to release it this early given how quickly screens can cycle these days; it stars Adam Scott as a man whose new relationship has him considering his past, eventually returning to his hometown to discover what may be his parents' ghosts. It's at The Coolidge Corner Theatre, Kendall Square, and Boston Common.
  
  Midnights at the Coolidge this weekend include a 35mm print of The Cable Guy on Friday, with Argento's Deep Red playing early-ish (10pm) on Saturday with an introduction by Cinematic Void programmer Jim Branscome, with the original David Carridine/Sylvester Stallone Death Race 2000 at 11:59. Monday's big-screen classic is Dr. Strangelove, with pre-film seminar by Jason K. Henson; there's Open Screen on Tuesday; sci-fi "Projections" presentations of A.I.: Artificial Intelligence on Tuesday and Her (35mm) on Wednesday; plus a "Big Screen Debuts" show of Watermelon Woman on Thursday.
• Landmark Kendall Square has Wim Wenders's new documentary, Anselm in 3D this week; Wenders spent two years filming artist Anselm Kiefer at work in ultra-high definition 3D, which should make it incredibly immersive on top of being able to see the tactile works more as objects than images (he did something similar for the excellent Pina).
  
  The Godfather: Part II plays Tuesday evening, and it looks like perhaps these repertory screenings are now only $5 for loyalty club members.
• Kim Han-Min's latest film about 16th Century Korean admiral Yi Sun-shin, Noryang: Deadly Sea, with the third actor in the part, plays Causeway Street; the previous two were pretty darn good. It splits a screen with another recent Korean film, 12.12: The Day, really sticking around nicely.
  
  Chinese film Shining For One Thing, about a woman who wakes up back in high school after being jilted at the altar plays Causeway Street; it appears to have the same cast as a TV series of the same name, although I'm not sure if it's remake, sequel, or episodes edited into a feature. Hong Kong crime flick The Goldfinger picks up more showtimes at Boston Common after being surprisingly crowded last weekend.
  
  Telugu-language comedy Double Engine opens at Apple Fresh Pond, which also holds over Salaar Part 1: Cease Fire (Telugu and Hindi), Dunki (Hindi), Animal (Hindi), and Neru (Malayalam).
  
  Anime Great Pretender, a feature-length spinoff of the con-artist series, plays Boston Common Tuesday and Wednesday (subtitled both days). Also from Japan, Godzilla Minus One continues at Boston Common and Assembly Row. The Boy and the Heron is still at the Coolidge, West Newton, Fresh Pond, Boston Common, Causeway Street, and South Bay.
  
  Out at the Liberty Tree Mall in Danvers, they have Filipino time-travel romance Rewind.
• The Brattle Theatre has their annual "Refreshed, Renewed, Restored" series focusing on the past year's notable re-issues, starting with Household Saints from Friday to Sunday, with director Nancy Savoca on-hand for a Q&A Friday evening and an intro early Saturday, plus a special show on Saturday of The Many Miracles of Household Saints, a documentary directed by her daughter that also includes two of Savoca's student films, "Renata" and "Bad Timing", the second of which featured Marianne Leone & Chris Cooper, both of who will be on-hand for a Q&A.
  
  Also playing as part of the series are the director's cut of Videodrome (Friday/Saturday), Suzhou River (Sunday), Farewell My Concubine (Sunday), The Man Who Knew Too Much '56 (Monday), Times Square & Mirror Mirror (Tuesday), Typhoon Club & P.P. Rider (Wednesday), and a new 35mm print of The Plot Against Harry (Thursday).
• Relatively full Alamo Seaport rep calendar this weekend as they start their "Time Capsule" series with Run Lola Run on Friday/Saturday/Monday, The Iron Giant on Friday/Saturday/Sunday/Tuesday/Wednesday, Mystery Men on Monday/Tuesday, and Being John Malkovich on Tuesday. The extended edition of Lord of the Rings: Fellowship of the Ring plays Saturday/Sunday/Wednesday (all three play over January). There's also a preview screening of The Zone of Interest with live-streamed Q&A of director Jonathan Glazer on Monday; with Glazer's Under the Skin Friday/Sunday/Wednesday. One of the Thursday previews of Mean Girls '24 is a sing-along.
• American Fiction expands to The Somerville Theatre.
• The Museum of Fine Arts has a series of Edwardian Dramas ("In Sargent's Time") to mark the end of their "Fashioned by Sargent" series, with A Room With a View Friday evening, Howards End Saturday afternoon, and Daughters of the Dust on Sunday afternoon.
• The Regent Theatre is back to "Midweek Music, Movies, and More" shows this week with Call Me Dancer on Wednesday, a documentary on a street dancer in Mumbai whose parents prefer he pursue a more traditional career.
• The Lexington Venue is open Friday to Sunday with The Boys in the Boat and Maestro, with Trolls: Band Together on Saturday & Sunday.
  
  The West Newton Cinema adds The Boy and the Heron (subtitled all week, dubbed matinees on the weekend) and keeps Migration, Poor Things, Wonka, Maestro, and The Holdovers.
  
  The Luna Theater has Dream Scenario Friday and Saturday, Fargo on Sunday, and a Weirdo Wednesday show.
  
  Cinema Salem is open through Monday with Night Swim< Wonka, Ferrari, and The Color Purple. There's a Friday night screening of Dario Argento's Opera with Jim Branscome doing an intro (just in the area watching late movies all weekend). Their site is also showing a new membership program.

I've got a work trip to Texas during the week, and I'm guessing there will be no time for movies while there (or easy access to them on foot), so I'm looking to fit Noryang: Deadly Sea, Anselm, and Memory into the weekend with not a whole lot of time for more.