Next Week in Tickets: Films playing Boston 21 June 2024 - 27 June 2024

I'm not sure of the extent that it's been moving in this direction for the past few years, but it seems like all the IFFBoston movies are hitting theaters at once and a lot of them had distribution before playing. Like, Netflix/Amazon/Apple carve what plays at Sundance & SXSW up and what makes it to local fests is what IFC, Mongolia, and Neon picked up and probably aren't planning awards campaigns for.

• The big studio release is The Bikeriders, Jeff Nichols's film about a motorcycle club moving toward crime in the 1960s. Gotta say, I'm a bit worried by the placement of Tom Hardy's name on the poster versus his prominence in the trailer, and that Michael Shannon might just be making an obligatory Nichols-film appearance. Looks like smart counterprogramming for last week's big PIxar movie, though. It's at the Coolidge, the Capitol, Fresh Pond, the Kendall, Boston Common, Causeway Street, the Seaport,South Bay, Assembly Row, Arsenal Yards, and Chestnut Hill.
  
  The Exorcism, though it stars Russell Crowe, has nothing to do with The Pope's Exorcist other than probably going direct to video if the other film hadn't been a sleeper hit. Crowe plays an actor in a movie about demonic possession who gets a bit close to the material. It's at Fresh Pond, Boston Common, Causeway Street, South Bay, and Assembly Row.
  
  Documentary I Am: Celine Dion plays Boston Common and Arsenal Yards through Sunday. Origin continues to play (mostly) matinees at Boston Common and South Bay through Wednesday. Concert film Ghost: Rite Here Rite Now has encores at Boston Common (Saturday) and the Seaport (Saturday/Monday/Tuesday/Wednesday).
  
  South Park: Bigger, Longer, and Uncut has (shiver) sing-along anniversary shows at Boston Common, South Bay, Arsenal Yards on Sunday and Wednesday. Minions: The Rise of Gru plays matinees at Boston Common, Causeway Street on Monday and Wednesday. The run-up to Maxxxine continues with screenings of Pearl at Boston Common, Assembly Row on Tuesday. There's what appear to be a very early screenings of Twisters at Arsenal Yards on Monday and Tuesday (or they're just showing Twister, singular), a slightly early screening for Kinds of Kindness on Wednesday at Boston Common (Dolby Cinema), and a special "Opening Day Fan Event" for A Quiet Place: Day One, presumably including all three movies, on Thursday at Boston Common (Dolby Cinema), South Bay (Dolby Cinema), Arsenal Yards (CWX), and Assembly Row (Imax Laser).
• Thelma closed IFFBoston (I missed it by cutting it too close with the Green Line), and opens at The Coolidge Corner Theatre, Kendall Square, the Embassy, the Lexington Venue, West Newton, CinemaSalem, Boston Common, the Seaport this weekend. It stars June Squibb as a nonagenarian who is victim to a phone scam and resolves to get her money back. Fun supporting cast, including Parker Posey as her daughter, Clark Gregg as her son-in-law, and Richard Roundtree (Shaft!) in one of his final roles as her partner in crime.
  
  At the other end of the festival, opener Ghostlight opens at the Coolidge, Kendall Square, The Embassy, Boston Common, Causeway Street, the Seaport, with a family of Chicago stage performers playing a mother, father, and daughter reeling from tragedy, with the father finding an odd escape in a community theater production of Romeo & Juliet.
  
  Midnights at the Coolidge this weekend feature 35mm prints of Cool World on Friday and Mystery Men on Saturday. Sunday's Geothe-Institut German film, 8 Days in August, will feature a post-film Zoom discussion with filmmaker Samuel Paerriard; Monday's Big Screen Classic is the original 1956 Invasion of the Body Snatchers on 35mm film while Wednesday's is Cléo from 5 to 7; Tuesday's New Queer Cinema selection is Gregg Akari's Nowhere; and Thursday's Rewind! show is the McG/Diaz/Lieu/Barrymore Charlie's Angels
• Hong Kong action movie Crisis Negotiators opens at Causeway Street, starring Lau Ching-Wan and Francis Ng Chun-Yu in an adaptation of The Negotiator directed by Herman Yau (who hasn't had a movie released in these parts for almost six months but has two coming out in the Chinas this month).
  
  Apple Fresh Pond opens Hindi-language comedy Ishq Vishk Rebound and Nepali drama A Road to a Village on Friday. 2021 Tamil crime-in-middle-school actioner Master returns for matinee shows on Saturday and Sunday. They add Telugu screening times alongside Tamil ones for action film Maharaja and also hold over Chandu Champion (also at Causeway Street). If you can make it to Danvers, Telugu thriller Nindha plays at the Liberty Tree Mall.
  
  The big one, though, opens on Wednesday, with Kalki 2898-AD playing in Telugu (its original language), Hindi, and Tamil showtimes. The most expensive Indian film ever made, it stars Prabhas as a modern (or future) incarnation of Vishnu battling evil forces. It co-stars Deepika Padukone, Amitabh Bachchan, Kamal Haasan, Disha Patani, and features a ton of cameos. It also plays Boston Common (Telugu including Imax Xenon/Hindi), the Seaport (Telugu), South Bay (Telugu), but note that neither AMC nor Alamo is including it in their monthly memberships.
  
  Ghost In the Shell 2: Innocence plays at Boston Common, Assembly Row on Sunday (subtitled), Monday (dubbed), and Wednesday (subtitled). Blue Lock: Episode Nagi, a prequel to the anime series, has early access shows on Wednesday at Assembly Row (subtitled Imax Laser) before regular early shows at Boston Common, Causeway Street, South Bay. Volleyball anime Haikyu!! The Dumpster Battle continues at Boston Common.
  
  Vietnamese film Face Off 7: One Wish (not really part of a series) continues at South Bay.
• The Brattle Theatre begins a "Recent Raves" series this weekend, with Fallen Leaves (Friday), Inside the Yellow Cocoon Shell (Saturday/Sunday), Love Lies Bleeding & Drive-Away Dolls (Saturday), Perfect Days (Sunday), Immaculate & Late Night with the Devil (Monday), Sometimes I Think About Dying & How to Have Sex (Tuesday), Tótem (Wednesday), and La Chimera & The Beast (Thursday).
  
  They also have a 25th Anniversary "Strictly Brohibited" presentation of Ravenous on 35mm film Friday night, with post-film discussion. Guys welcome, but we're last in line when choosing audience questions.
• The Somerville Theatre has the last leg of their 70mm/Widescreen Festival, including their 70mm print of 2001 on Friday; an IB Technicolor 35mm print of the 1959 Ben-Hur Saturday afternoon, a somewhat faded 35mm print of Grand Prix Saturday evening, a 35mm print of Raintree County Sunday afternoon, a 70mm print of In the Line of Fire Sunday evening. There's also a midnight special of Scanners Saturday night and a special Monday night show of The Religion Movie, with director Al Kryszak and others expanding on its themes of LGBTQ+ perspectives on religion and faith.
  
  The Capitol has their weekly collaboration with The 4th Wall for a live show featuring Husbands, Dafnez, Roxy 2, and So Perfect with visuals by Digital Awareness on Friday, plus another on Thursday with Sincerely, Secret Gardens, Circus Trees, and Professor Caffeine and the Insecurities presented by Broken String Booking. The monthly "Disasterpiece Theater"/tape-trading night is Monday, and Thursday also has them hosting "I Want to See 16", a collection of vintage 16mm sci-fi short films
• The Alamo rep calendar has The Wizard (Friday/Saturday), themed screenings of The Bikeriders and Thelma on Saturday,Vampire's Kiss (Sunday/Tuesday/Wednesday), Tie Me Up! Tie Me Down! (Monday), and UHF (Monday/Tuesday/Wednesday).
• The Museum of Fine Arts is the main hub for RoxFIlm, with shows Friday to Sunday and on Thursday. There are also screenings at MassArt (Saturday), Hibernian Hall (Sunday to Wednesday), Northeastern University (Monday/Tuesday), and a streaming platform that goes online Thursday.
• Tuesday's Pride Retro Replay at Landmark Kendall Square is But I'm a Cheerleader.
• The Regent Theatre is has Man Ray: Return to Reason on Tuesday night and concert film/documentary Revival69 on Wednesday.
• The Museum of Science still has open seats for Inside Out 2 on Fridays and Saturdays through 13 July.
• The Lexington Venue has Inside Out 2 and Thelma, and is open all week except for Monday.
  
  The West Newton Cinema picks up Thelma and continues Beethoven's Nine: Ode to Humanity, Inside Out 2, Ezra, Challengers, If, and Wicked Little Letters.
  
  The Luna Theater has In a Violent Nature on Friday and Saturday; Hundreds of Beavers and I Saw the TV Glow on Saturday; But I'm a Cheerleader on Sunday; and a Weirdo Wednesday show.
  
  Cinema Salem adds Thelma to Break The Game, Inside Out 2, Tuesday, and I Saw the TV Glow for regular shows through Monday. There's a Saturday night presentation of Rocky Horror with Teseracte Players (Full Body Cast is at Boston Common, as usual), and a Pride-themed screening of The Birdcage on Thursday.

Ouch to the cost of seeing Kalki 2898-AD in Imax, but I'm doing it, and also catching Crisis Negotiators, Love Lies Bleeding, In the Line of Fire, Inside Out 2, Thelma and probably The Bikeriders.