Next Week in Tickets: Films playing Boston 8 November 2024 - 14 November 2024

Busy as heck week for moviegoers, but I always kind of like the sort of week where so much comes out that you can get a sense of the various plexes' audiences. I mean, sure, those audiences are all me even if I don't have that sort of time, but I mean more broadly.

• The big release for the week looks to be Heretic, wherein a couple LDS (or LDS-like) missionaries played by Sophie Thatcher & Chloe Eastwind up having their faith and mettle tested in a deadly-looking escape room that a creep played by Hugh Grant keeps under his house. It's at the Somerville, the Capitol, Fresh Pond, CinemaSalem, Boston Common (including Dolby Cinema), Causeway Street, Kendall Square, the Seaport, South Bay (including Dolby Cinema), and Assembly Row (including Dolby Cinema).
  
  A new adaptation of The Best Christmas Pageant Ever, which looks pretty even-handed coming from the guy who did The Chosen, opens at Fresh Pond, Boston Common, Assembly Row, Arsenal Yards, and Chestnut Hill. Christmas Eve in Miller's Point, about a large family gathering for what may be the last Christmas in the family home, plays Causeway Street, and the Seaport.
  
  Elevation is a "nearly indestructible creatures overrunning the Earth" thing with the gimmick that these things can't survive above 8000 feet, with Anthony Mackie leading a mission for sea-level supplies; it's at Fresh Pond, Boston Common, and South Bay. Weekend in Taipei is one of those Luc Besson-produced mid-budget action pieces that we don't necessarily see enough of, but is kind of interesting because it's written and directed by George Huang, who did Swimming with Sharks 30 years ago and then seemingly odd jobs since, and if you want the Chinese audience, you would seemingly set it in any other city. At any rate, Luke Evans is the guy reuniting with a former lover (Gwei Lun-Mei) to take down an old enemy (Sung Kang), and it's at Boston Common, Causeway Street, and South Bay.
  
  Small Things Like These, a drama featuring Cillian Murphy as a working-class man who discovers abuse in a nearby convent/orphanage, opens at Fresh Pond and Boston Common. French sci-fi film Meanwhile on Earth (which I loved at Fantasia this summer), plays once a day at Boston Common.
  
  Documentary Fighting Spirit: A Combat Chaplin's Journey plays Boston Common.
  
  A contemporary Paris ballet production of Swan Lake plays Imax screens at Jordan's Furniture, South Bay, and Assembly Row. Andrea Bocelli 30: The Celebration, which has the famed tenor reminiscing and singing with the likes of Shania Twain, Will Smith, and Ed Sheeran, plays Boston Common, Causeway Street, and Arsenal Yards. Roxbury Film Festival selection Luther: Never Too Much, which examines the impact of Luther Vandross, plays South Bay. K-pop concert/doc Galaxy Fanmade: ENHYPEN plays Boston Common Friday and Saturday. Concert film Shawn Mendes: For Friends & Family Only plays Assembly Row on Thursday.
  
  Anora, already at the Coolidge, the Somerville Theatre, Kendall Square, Boston Common; the Seaport, Assembly Row, and Chestnut Hill, expands to West Newton, CinemaSalem, Causeway Street, and South Bay.
  
  There are early access screenings of Red One at Boston Common (Dolby Cinema), South Bay (Imax Xenon & Dolby Cinema), Assembly Row (Imax Laser & Dolby Cinema), and Arsenal Yards (CWX), on Sunday. There's also a "Screen Unseen" preview at Boston Common, Causeway Street, and Assembly Row on Monday. Boondock Saints gets more 25th anniversary screenings at Boston Common, the Seaport, and Assembly Row on Sunday. The A24 x Imax show at South Bay and Assembly Row on Wednesday is The Lighthouse.
• Another streaming awards hopeful, Apple's Blitz opens at The Coolidge Corner Theatre, the Somerville, Kendall Square, West Newton, and CinemaSalem this week, following the dangerous journey of a mixed-race child (Elliott Heffernan) trying to return to his mother (Saoirse Ronan) in London after having been sent to the countryside during the London Blitz.
  
  The weekend's David Lynch midnights at the Coolidge are Dune on Friday and Blue Velvet on Saturday, the former on film and the latter a digital restoration. Sunday's Noirvember matinee is Niagara (one of the few times Marilyn Monroe played the femme fatale), with post-film discussion led by Northeastern professor Nathan Blake; they also have The Killers on Tuesday, making for a very sexy week of noir. Monday's Big Screen Classic is When Harry Met Sally in 35mm (with a pre-film seminar in the classroom area). There's Open Screen on Tuesday, a special Panorama screening of A Real Pain on Thursday ahead of its Friday opening, and Pink Flamingos on Thursday, the start of a month of John Waters movies that includes the man himself visiting on the 21st to collect this year's Coolidge Award and do a Q&A.
• Landmark Kendall Square gets another one from Netflix, The Piano Lesson, the first feature from director Malcolm Washington, adapting August Wilson's play and starring brother John David Washington and Danielle Deadwyler as siblings clashing over what to do with the heirloom piano they inherited from their father, with Samuel L. Jackson as an uncle trying to mediate.
  
  Tuesday's Retro Replay film is Clint Eastwood comedy Every Which Way But Loose
• Busy week for South Asian cinema at Apple Fresh Pond, with Telugu-langauge thriller Ka (also at Causeway Street), Telugu-language drama Lucky Bhaskar, Tamil films Amaran (also at Boston Common), Hiindi-language horror-comedy Bhool Bhulaiyaa 3 (also at Boston Common), and Hindi-language actioner Singham Again (also at Boston Common & the Seaport) all held over and several new ones: Telugu-language drama Jithender Reddy, a 20th-anniversary release of Shah Rukh Khan drama Veer-Zaara, Malayalam-language comedy I Am Kathalan, and Nepali drama Purna Bahadur Ko Sarangi. Away from the Pond, Telugu-language love story Dhoom Dhaam opens at Causeway Street. On Wednesday, Fresh Pond and Boston Common open Tamil action-fantasy Kanguva, with the struggles of a tribal warrior a thousand years ago and a modern cop linked.
  
  Two from the Chinas open at Causeway Street: The Unseen Sister is a nifty quasi-thriller in which an actress is visited by her sister, who is looking for her husband, who is blackmailing the actress because of something that happened when they were kids. Cesium Fallout is a Hong Kong disaster movie as a fire in a recycling center threatens to irradiate the entire city due to the cesium-137 that has been illegally dumped there. Andy Lau is the government expert, Bai Yu the firefighter on the ground.
  
  Anime spinoff Overlord: The Sacred Kingdom grabs some big screens this week, playing at Jordan's (Imax), Boston Common, South Bay, Assembly Row (including Imax Laser). Another anime spinoff, the first three episodes of Dragon Ball Daima, plays Sunday to Tuesday (dubbed) at Boston Common, South Bay, and Assembly Row.
  
  Vietnamese comedy The Trophy Bride, in which a poor family schemes to overcome the prejudice against inter-class marriages plays South Bay.
• The Brattle Theatre's Noirvember series intersects with the yearlong celebration of Columbia Pictures' 100th anniversary with a new 4k restoration of In a Lonely Place; Experiment in Terror & My Name Is Julia Ross on Saturday (the latter on 35mm and playing again Sunday morning); The Big Heat & Human Desire on Sunday; a 35mm double feature of The Sniper & Over-Exposed on Monday; and The Crimson Kimono (35mm) & Underworld USA. Marya E. Gates will be on-hand to introduce many showtimes, as well. Not Columbia and therefore only adjacent to the series is Friday's 35mm matinee, The Killing.
  
  The also have a RPM Festival presentation of "Landforms: Seven Films by Laura Kraning" on Sunday afternoon, and Boston Jewish Film Festival shows Saturday and Thursday.
• One screening only of 100 Yards at The Seaport Alamo on Friday night, which is a shame because it's a martial-arts banger. Aside from that, the weekly Wong Kar-Wai selection is Chungking Express, playing Friday/Saturday; Blazing Saddles Friday/Saturday; Drop Dead Gorgeous Saturday, the year's first sightings of Elf (Movie Party Sunday); Grave of the Fireflies Monday/Wednesday; an early-access screening of A Real Pain on Monday, National Lampoon's Christmas Vacation on Tuesday; and indie drama When Men Were Men on Thursday.
• The Capitol hosts the Arlington International Film Festival from Friday to Sunday.
  
  Mostly new releases at The Somerville Theatre this week, but they show independent documentary Food and Country on Wednesday.
• The Museum of Fine Arts has French sports bio Marinette as part of "Global Cinema Now" on Friday evening.
• The Boston Jewish Film Festival continues with shows at the Brattle on Saturday & THursday, the MFA on Sunday, the Center for the Arts in Natick on Monday, West Newton & Orchard Cove on Tuesday, the Coolidge on Wednesday.
• The Harvard Film Archive starts a new series, "The Yugoslav Junction: Film and Internationalism in the SFRY, 1957-1988, the weekend, with The Way Steel Was Tempered & "Merry Working Class" (35mm Saturday), a 16mm Vlatko Gilić program (Saturday), and Siberian Lady Macbeth & "Stone Sleeper"with an introduction by Tatiana Kuzmic (35mm Sunday). Alongside the series, they will also be streaming four episodes of Screening Room (a local movie-based talk show that the ABC affiliate ran in the 1970s) online.
  
  In addition to the films from the former Yugoslavia, they dip into the Jenni Olson Queer Film Collection for Neo Homo Promo, playing on 35mm film Sunday afternoon, and they also welcome filmmaker Natalia Almada for a screening of her film The Night Watchman on Monday evening.
• The Regent Theatre has film Beautiful Was the Fight, about women in the Boston music scene, on Wednesday evening with director Dave Habeeb and Amanda Palmer on had for a post-film Q&A.
• Movies at MIT has Big Hero 6 on Friday and Saturday; the email suggests you give them a heads-up if you're not part of the MIT community.
• The Lexington Venue has Blitz and Conclave Friday to Sunday as well as Tuesday & Thursday. They also show Playland, a fantasy about a night in one of Boston's best-known gay bars, on Thursday evening
  
  The West Newton Cinema picks up Anora (with a special "Behind the Scenes Panel" on Sunday), Blitz, Here, How to Make Millions Before Grandma Dies, Venom 3, Conclave, The Wild Robot, and The Substance (no show Sunday). They also play The Breakfast Club on Friday and It's Always Fair Weather on Thursday evening.
  
  The Luna Theater has A Different Man Friday/Saturday, Music for Mushrooms Saturday, and They Live on Sunday. There's a Weirdo Wednesday show, and a free screenings of The Candidate, presented by UMass Lowell's Philosophy & Film series.
  
  Cinema Salem turns their schedule over completely now that they're past the Halloween hangover, playing Heretic, We Live in Time, Anora, and Blitz through Monday.
  
  If you can make it to the Liberty Tree Mall in Danvers, they have La Cocina, a drama featuring Raul Briones and Rooney Mara as ambition workers in a Times Square restaurant
• Joe's Free Films calendar shows two BU Albertine Cinematheque French Film Festival shows this week, The Innocent on Monday and The Goldman Case on Wednesday, both with post-film discussion and RSVPs requested.

Ugh, man, I want to go to all the noir and also catch Heretic, 100 Yards, Blitz, The Piano Lesson, Weekend in Taipei, and maybe Elevation and Conclave, and I am rapidly running out of time before the big holiday movies come out and I have a possibly movie-light vacation!