Next Week in Tickets: Films playing Boston 14 June 2024 - 20 June 2024

You know, if I were some non-Disney distributor, I might not open my animated feature the same day as a big Pixar release. Maybe Netflix and Neon figure they'll get some overflow when that movie is sold out, but it seems just as likely they'd lose showtimes.

• As mentioned, Inside Out 2 is the big opener this weekend, with new emotions joining Joy, Anger, Sadness, Disgust, and Fear as she goes through adolescence. It's at the Capitol (including RealD 3D), Fresh Pond (including 3D), the Museum of Science, the Embassy, the Lexington Venue, Jordan's Furniture (Imax), West Newton, CinemaSalem, Boston Common (including Imax Xenon/Dolby Cinema/RealD 3D/Spanish subs), Causeway Street (including RealD 3D), Kendall Square, the Seaport (including RealD 3D), South Bay (including Imax Xenon/Dolby Cinema/Real D 3D), Assembly Row (including Imax Laser/Dolby Cinema/RealD 3D), Arsenal Yards (including CWX), and Chestnut Hill.
  
  Boston Common has three smaller films to fill its 19 screens in the absence of other large releases: Firebrand stars Alicia Vikander as the sixth wife of Hervy VIII (Jude Law) determined to escape the fate of her predecessors; Treasure stars Lena Dunahm as an American visiting Poland with her Holocaust survivor father (Stephen Fry), who is less than eager to show his daughter the places that shaped and then rejected him; and documentary Bad Actor: A Hollywood Ponzi Scheme.
  
  The Lord of the Rings extended editions are back at Boston Common for another weekend, with Fellowship of the Ring on Saturday, The Two Towers on Sunday, and Return of the King on Monday (that one an evening show rather than playing in the afternoon). There's a Screen Unseen preview at Boston Common, Causeway Street, and Assembly Row on Monday. Audiences get the chance to play catchup before Maxxxine with special presentations of X Tuesday at the Somerville, Boston Common, Kendall Square, and Assembly Row. Ava Duvarney's Origin has a matinee show Wednesday and Thursday at Boston Common and South Bay. There's also screenings of the Midsommar Director's Cut at Boston Common (Imax Xenon), South Bay (Imax Xenon), Assembly Row (Imax Laser), and Jordan's (Imax) on Thursday. Boston Common and the Seaport also have the first of two screenings of Ghost: Rite Here Rite Now, which combines concert footage with the band's narrative web series, the first on Thursday.
• The second-biggest animated film to open this week is Robot Dreams, which was a delight when I saw it at IFFBoston's Fall Focus and whose release seemed to have gotten a wrench thrown at it when it received an Oscar nomination. It finally opens this week at The Coolidge Corner Theatre, Kendall Square, and Boston Common.
  
  It's a busy week at the Coolidge, as they also open IFFBoston alum Tuesday, in which Julia Louis-Dreyfuss plays a mother with an ailing daughter whose lives are further upended when Death, in the form of a talking, shapeshifting bird, pays them a visit; it's also at the Somerville, Kendall Square, the Lexington Venue, CinemaSalem, Boston Common, and Assembly Row. There's also I Used to Be Funny, at the Coolidge and the Seaport, starring Rachel Sennott as a struggling comedian/au pair unsure whether she should help search for a missing teenager she used to care for.
  
  The Coolidge's Midnights this weekend are 35mm prints of the adaptations of a couple Alan Moore comics (which I'm sure he disapproves of): V For Vendetta on Friday and Watchmen on Saturday. The other repertory presentations are a 35mm print of Field of Dreams as Monday's Big Screen Classic, Edward II for New Queer Cinema on Tuesday.
• Landmark Kendall Square also opens a third animated film, Ultraman: Rising, an American animated take on the venerable sentai series where, on top of defending Tokyo from monster attacks, this generation's Ultraman has to look after a baby kaiju.
  
  The Retro Replay show this Tuesday is Moonlight.
• The big Indian film this week is Chandu Champion, a Hindi-language biopic starring Katrik Aaryan as Murikant Petkar, the first Indian to win an Olympic medal, just part an an eventful life. It's at Fresh Pond, Causeway Street.
  
  Also opening at Apple Fresh Pond are Telugu drama Music Shop Murthy, Tamil action film Maharaja, and Bengali wrestling romance Kudi Haryane Val Di (opening Saturday).
  
  Chinese comedy G For Gap, starring Hu Ge as a man who returns to the (crowded) family home after striking out in the city, opens at Causeway Street.
  
  South Bay has the latest from Vietnamese director Ly Hai, Face Off 7: One Wish, with this entry having a 73-year-old widow and her relationships with her 5 adult children. Near as I can tell, these movies aren't sequels, so folks should be able to jump in just fine.
  
  Volleyball anime Haikyu!! The Dumpster Battle continues at Boston Common, South Bay, and Assembly Row.
• The Museum of Science not only has Inside Out 2 for the next month or so, but they add "Cities of the Future" to the Omnimax mix!.
• It's Noir City Boston at The Brattle Theatre this weekend, with the event once again having an international focus, mostly double features pairing American and foreign classics! It starts with Street of Chance (35mm) & Argentina's Never Open That Door on Friday, Across the Bridge & Japan's Zero Focus on Saturday afternoon with two directed by Hugo Fregonese, Black Tuesday (35mm) & Argentina's Hardly a Criminal in the evening, Union Station & Egypt's Cairo Station Sunday afternoon with Italy's Smog & City of Fear (35mm) in the evening. It wraps on Monday with France's Elevator to the Gallows.
  
  The week's Jordan Peele film is Nope. On Tuesday and Wednesday it's paired with Buck and the Preacher (if you come early) or Neon Genesis Evangelion: The End of Evangelion (if you arrive later). On Thursday it plays as a double feature with Carpenter's The Thing (the original plan was Signs, but that fell through).
• The Somerville Theatre continues its 70mm/Widescreen Festival with It's Always Fair Weather (35mm) and Picnic (DCP) on Friday, Lord Jim (70mm) on Saturday, Funny Girl (35mm) Sunday, . The Band Wagon (35mm) and Gilda on Monday aren't technically part of the festival, but there's a lot of overlap between that and the Tale of Two Studios. There's also a midnight presentation of Penelope Spheeris's Suburbia on Saturday and a "Queer Futures" shorts program on Tuesday and Wednesday.
  
  The Capitol teams with The 4th Wall for a live show with the Umbrellas and Mallcops with visuals by Digital Awareness on Saturday.
• The Alamo rep calendar has a fair amount of 1989 Time Capsules: Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade (Friday to Monday), Do the Right Thing (Friday/Sunday/Tuesday/Wednesday), Field of Dreams (Saturday/Sunday/Monday/Wednesday), and Pet Semetary (Monday). There are also screenings of Hollywood 90028 (Friday), The Birdcage (Saturday/Sunday/Wednesday), documentary Federer: Twelve Final Days (Tuesday), and a preview of The Bikeriders with live-streamed Q&A on Wednesday
• The Museum of Fine Arts wraps the Korean film series with Parasite on Friday, has a 2D screening of Anselm on Saturday, and has opening night of RoxFIlm on Thursday evening with Luther: Never Too Much, including a live musical performance, presumably covering the late Luther Vandross's songs.
• Monday's widescreen special at The Embassy is Doctor Zhivago.
• Joe's Free Films shows an outdoor screening of The Greatest Showman on Thursday..
• The Wednesday movie at The Regent Theatre is featurette Forever Is Now, which follows 10 caretakers at Zion National Park; it will be preceded by a short film and followed by Q&A with the filmmakers.
• The Boston Asian-American Film Festival will be hosting an open house and screening Twilight's Kiss at the Pao Arts Center Thursday evening.
• The Lexington Venue turns over completely with Inside Out 2 and Tuesday. They also have two local documentaries by David Abel & Ted Blanco: Inundation District on Tuesday and In the Whale: The Greatest Fist Story Ever Told on Wednesday. The theater is closed Monday but otherwise open all week
  
  The West Newton Cinema is the only place opening documentary Beethoven's Nine: Ode to Humanity, which converses with nine musicians and artists about their relationship to Beethoven's 9th; director Larry Weinstein will be present for a Q&A Friday night. They also open Inside Out 2 and Tuesday, holding over The Long Game (no show Friday), Ezra, Challengers (no show Monday), If, and Wicked Little Letters.
  
  The Luna Theater has I Saw the TV Glow Friday, Saturday, and Thursday; Hundreds of Beavers Saturday; Jaws on Sunday; and a Weirdo Wednesday show.
  
  Cinema Salem opens Break The Game, a documentary about gamer Narcissa Wright trying to rebuild her fandom after coming out as a trans woman, from Friday to Monday. That's in addition to Inside Out 2, Tuesday, The Watchers, and I Saw the TV Glow for regular shows. Friday's Night Light screeding is But I'm a Cheerleader, with the original '88 Hairspray playing Saturday and a program of locally-made shorts on Thursday.
  
  If you can make it out to the Liberty Tree Mall in Danvers, the AMC there opens both sci-fi thriller Latency and Jennifer Esposito's mob family drama Fresh Kills in addition to everything else.

Busy weekend - ticket to the Red Sox & Yankees tonight, graduation party for my niece Saturday, so just one day of Noir City, choosing between Elevator and the Somerville double feature on Monday, and catching up with Inside Out 2 and G for Gap after that.