- The two "Valentine's Day" movies are genre pictures rather than romantic comedies. Heart Eyes is a slasher with a killer who targets couples. It plays Fresh Pond, Boston Common, Causeway Street, the Seaport, South bay, Assembly Row, and Arsenal Yards (including CWX).
Less closely-tied to the holiday is Love Hurts, with Ke Huy Quan channeling Jackie Chan as a former killer trying to live a quiet life but pulled back into the fight against his gangster brother (Daniel Wu) by an old friend (Ariana DeBose). It's at Fresh Pond, Boston Common (including Dolby Cinema), Kendall Square, Causeway Street, the Seaport, South Bay (including Dolby Cinema), Assembly Row (including Dolby Cinema), and Arsenal Yards (including CWX).
Becoming Led Zeppelin, a documentary featuring a bunch of rare footage, gets an Imax-exclusive run at Jordan's Furniture, South Bay, and Assembly Row. Assembly Row also has Parasite in Imax (which is kind of amusing, because Bong Joon-ho's latest was supposedly moved from last week to get a chance to play the giant screens).
Black History Month films at Boston Common and South Bay this week are The Fire Inside and The Forge.
There are Early Access screenings of Paddington in Peru at Boston Common and Assembly Row on Saturday, and of The Monkey at Boston Common, South Bay, and Assembly Row, all on the Dolby Cinema screens, on Wednesday. Oscar nominated animated feature Memoir of a Snail plays Boston Common and Assembly Row on Tuesday. Theaters are running Harry Potter movies again, with Philosopher's Stone playing Thursday at Boston Common, Causeway Street (including RealD 3D), South Bay (including RealD 3D), Assembly Row (including RealD 3D), and Arsenal Yards. Interestingly, the new 3D conversion appears to be reverting to the original British name while the flat presentation is still Sorcerer's Stone. - The Coolidge Corner Theatre opens No Other Land, a documentary made by a group of Palestinian and Israeli filmmakers that depicts the destruction of villages in the West Bank over the past five years. Friday night's 7pm show is a Panorama with Boston Palestine Film Festival Programming Director Michael Maria.
Midnight martial arts movies this weekend are Brandon Lee in Rapid Fire on Friday and Black Belt Jones on Saturday, both in 35mm. Sunday's Goethe-Institut film is From Hilde, with Love, while the afternoon's Black History Month "Icons" show is In the Heat of the Night, with Odie Henderson leading a pre-show seminar. There's Open Screen on Tuesday, An Affair to Remember to celebrate Cary Grant on Wednesday, with a 35mm Big Screen Classic show of Notting Hill on Thursday and a Cult Classic show of Barb and Star Go to Vista Del Mar later that evening. - Bring Them Down opens at Landmark Kendall Square, Boston Common, the Seaport; it's a sort of modern Irish Western, with Barry Keoghan and Christopher Abbot as members of rival families whose conflict suddenly escalates, with Colm Meaney in the supporting cast.
Tuesday's Best Picture Retro Replay at Kendall Square is A Beautiful Mind. On Wednesday, they have the newest "Silents Synced" presentation, with Buster Keaton's Sherlock Jr. synced to REM's "New Adventures in Hi-Fi' and "Monster". Emilia Pérez returns on Wednesday and Thursday. - Does South Korea celebrate Lunar New Year? I've seen places include Dark Nuns as part of their LNY slates; it's a sequel to The Priests, with a pair of nuns taking on the job of exorcising a possibly-possessed boy. It's at Causeway Street, and appears to stand alone (which is good because the first is not streaming anywhere and only available on DVD). K-pop concert film IU Concert: The Winning playing Boston Common and Assembly Row (Imax Laser) on Sunday.
It's a busy week for Indian films: Hindi romantic comedy Loveyapa opens at Fresh Pond, Boston Common, with Khushi Kapoor & Junaid Khan as young lovers who exchange cell phones for the day. Hindi-language action comedy Badass Ravikumar, with Himesh Reshammiya's character spinning off from The Xpose, plays Boston Common. Hindi-language crime thriller Santosh, with Shahana Goswami taking over for her late husband as a small town cop, plays Boston Common (with at least some shows listed as Q&A events). Tamil thriller VidaaMuyarchi, which looks like a remake of Frantic but they're apparently in negotiation with a different studio; it's at Fresh Pond, Causeway Street. Telugu-language drama Thandel plays Fresh Pond, Boston Common, and follows a group of fishermen who drifted into Pakistani waters. Malayalam-language comedy Narayaneente Moonnaanmakkal plays Fresh Pond, with brothers trying to come together to give their dying mother a pleasant send-off. All We Imagine as Light continues at Fresh Pond, the Coolidge.
Also playing Apple Fresh Pond for early matinees is Kidnapping Inc., a Haitian comic thriller about an abduction that goes incredibly awry. It's as low-budget and rough as you'd expect from a Haitian indie, but it's vital as a result.
There's an AXCN presentation of Cowboy Bebop: The Movie at Boston Common, South Bay, Assembly Row on Sunday (subbed). Attack on Titan: The Last Attack, a theatrical release of the anime series's finale, plays Causeway Street, Assembly Row Monday to Wednesday (also Thursday at Causeway).
Among Chinese movies, Detective Chinatown 1900, already at Causeway Street and the Seaport, expands to Boston Common, Assembly Row. Creation of the Gods II: Demon Force continues at Boston Common, Causeway Street. - The Brattle Theatre has a 35mm print of John Carpenter's The Vampire Lovers as the Friday Film Matinee. After that, it's time for more "Dread of Winter", with a double feature of Outrage & Repulsion (35mm) Friday & Saturday, Insomnia (35mm) & The Vanishing Saturday evening, a 35mm print of Twin Peaks: Fire Walk With Me as their annual "Superb Owl" counter-programming, Enemy & The Double on Monday, The Killing of a Sacred Deer on Tuesday, and Under the Skin & High Life on Wednesday.
Tuesday's "100 years of Queer German Cinema" film is Mädchen in Uniform, and Thursday lets one get an early start on Valentine's Day, with Casablanca and The Princess Bride, both on 35mm. - The Seaport Alamo finishes Lord of the Rings extended editions with The Return of the King playing Friday to Sunday. Other rep includes About Time on Saturday & Tuesday; Scott Pilgrim movie parties Sunday & Tuesday; "World of Animation" presentations of Anomalisa on Monday & Wednesday and Memoir of a Snail with pre-recorded Q&A on Tuesday; Bridesmaids on Monday, Wednesday, and Thursday; a preview of The Monkey with livestreamed Q&A on Monday; and The Golden Child on Wednesday.
- The Harvard Film Archive bookends the week with "Fables of the Reconstruction", which puts a spotlight on director Nelson Carlo de los santos Arias, with Santa Teresa and Other Stories preceded by "Lullabies" Friday evening, You Look like a Carriage That Not Even the Oxen Can Stop later that night, and a free screening of Pepe with the director in person on Thursday. For the next two evenings, they welcome Rosine Mbakam in person for Mambar Pierette on Saturday and Delphine's Prayers onSunday. Sunday afternoon offers Georges Méliès program of grand fantasies - "Voyages through Earth, Sea, and Space" with accompaniment by Martin Marks. Finally, Delphine Seyrig stars in The Garden That Tilts on 35mm film Monday evening.
- The Museum of Science has a special preview of "Space: The New Frontier" on the Omnimax screen on Tuesday night, featuring Dr. Ariel Ekblaw, one of the scientists featured in the film, with both a presentation an a Q&A afterward.
- Movies at MIT has a special screening of Prisoner No. 626710 Is Present early Friday evening and then Inglorious Basterds on Friday and Saturday night. As always, if you're not an MIT student or faculty member, try to give them a heads-up
- The Capitol Theatre seems to be bringing some recent acclaimed films back, with Sing Sing, The Room Next Door, and Nickel Boys returning to the screen.
The Somerville Theatre has live shows in the big room Friday/Saturday/Monday, but also opens I'm Still Here. They also have a Clint Eastwood double bill of A Fistful of Dollars (4K) & Unforgiven (35mm) on Sunday. They also host the Boston Sci-Fi Film Festival starting Wednesday, with a shorts package, Clone Cops, and Small Town Universe that day and The Road to Nowhere, a panel discussion on alien-hunting, and Parallel Consequences on Thursday. The festival continues through the following weekend, climaxing on the 24-hour Marathon. - The Regent Theatre has a weekend run of Liza: A Truly Terrific Absolutely True Story from Friday to Sunday, with filmmaker Bruce David Klein on-hand Friday evening.
- Thriller 6 in the Morning is the Closing Night film of the Festival of Films From Iran at The Museum of Fine Arts on Friday night.
- ArtsEmerson begins their "Shared Stories" season with Look Into My Eyes on Friday evening, and The Truer History of the Chan Family (preceded by short "Ten Time Better") on Sunday afternoon, both co-presented by The Boston Asian American Film Festival.
- The Embassy picks up The Brutalist, with the Saturday evening show including discussion with two professors, Dr. Muna Güvenç and Dr. Eugene Sheppard, from nearby Brandeis University. They also have a free kids' show of Ratatouille as part of their one-year anniversary screening on Sunday and Cinema Paradiso as the free "Community Classic" Monday morning/afternoon.
- The Lexington Venue is open Friday to Monday plus Wednesday & Thursday with The Brutalist, and A Complete Unknown (Friday/Saturday/Thursday), and I'm Still Here. They also have the "Silents Synced" Sherlock Jr. Friday/Saturday/Sunday/Thursday.
The West Newton Cinema opens I'm Still Here, keeping Dog Man, Nickel Boys, The Seed of the Sacred Fig, The Brutalist; Flow, A Complete Unknown, and Babygirl. There's a "Behind the Screen" show of All We Imagine as Light on Sunday (although the movie seems to have closed there otherwise), plus a special presentation of Girl Talk on Wednesday.
Cinema Salem has I'm Still Here, Flow, Memoir of a Snail, The Girl with the Needle, The Seed of the Sacred Fig, and The Brutalist from Friday to Monday. The Philadelphia Story plays Wednesday, as does the Weirdo Wednesday mystery show (and given that the Luna seems to have nothing on the schedule, I wonder if that's the same series with a new home).
If you can make it out to Danvers, Renner, a sci-fi thriller with Frankie Muniz as someone who programs his AI with the personality of his overbearing bother, plays the Liberty Tree Mall.