Next Week in Tickets: Films playing Boston 14 February 2025 - 20 February 2024

Happy Valentine's Day, although the movies coming out don't look terribly Valentine-y. Hollywood just doesn't do romantic dramas and comedies any more, does it?

• Captain America: Brave New World is the first for-real Marvel Universe flick since The Marvels in '23, and has Anthony Mackie fully taking center stage as he investigates a national security threat that may reach into the halls of power, with Harrison Ford taking over as (President) Thunderbolt Ross from William Hurt. It's everywhere in every format: the Capitol, Fresh Pond, the Embassy, Jordan's Furniture (Imax 2D), CinemaSalem, Boston Common (including Dolby Cinema 2D & RealD 3D), Causeway Street (including RealD 3D), Kendall Square, the Seaport (including Dolby Atmos), South Bay (including Imax Xenon 2D/3D & Dolby Cinema 2D & RealD 3D), Assembly Row (Imax Laser 2D/3D & Dolby Cinema 2D & RealD 3D), Arsenal Yards (including CWX), and Chestnut Hill.
  
  Also dealing with some recasting is Paddington in Peru, although surprisingly it's just Emily Mortimer taking over for Sally Hawkins as Mrs. Brown and Dougal Wilson in the director's chair instead of Paul King, rather than the kids, even though it's been a bit since the last one. This time, the polite bear returns to the land of his birth to find his missing Aunt Lucy, with Antonio Banderas as his possibly-suspicious guide. It's at The Capitol, Fresh Pond, the Lexington Venue, West Newton, Boston Common, Causeway Street, the Seaport, South Bay, Assembly Row, Arsenal Yards, and Chestnut Hill.
  
  Marvel knocks Becoming Led Zeppelin off the Imax screens, but that lets it expand, now playing the Lexington Venue, Boston Common, the Seaport, South Bay, Assembly Row, and Chestnut Hill. A 35th anniversary Re-release of Ghost plays Boston Common, South Bay, and a couple shows at the Seaport. Challengers plays Boston Common and South Bay for the week's Black History Month special; Rob Peace also plays Boston Common on Thursday afternoon and South Bay all week.
  
  Harry Potter films continue with Chamber of Secrets at Boston Common, Causeway Street, South Bay, Assembly Row, and Arsenal Yards Friday, Prisoner of Azkaban at the same spots Saturday, Goblet of Fire on Sunday, looping back to Philosopher's Stone on Thursday (RealD 3D at Boston Common, Causeway Street, South Bay, and Assembly Row); presumably the next four will come later. AMC has a "Screen Unseen" mystery preview at Boston Common, Causeway Street, South Bay, and Assembly Row on Monday.
• This week's staggered Lunar New Year release is Ne Zha 2, an animated fantasy adventure that picks up right where the series left off in 2019 but goes even bigger. It's at Boston Common (including RealD 3D), Causeway Street (including RealD 3D some days), South Bay, and Assembly Row. Detective Chinatown 1900 and Creation of the Gods II: Demon Force continue at Boston Common and Causeway Street.
  
  Apple Fresh Pond turns its Indian films over this weekend. The big one appears to be Chhaava, with Vicky Kaushal as a legendary figure in Indian history in a Hindi-language epic; it also plays Boston Common. Brahma Anandam is a Telugu-language film an actor asking his grandfather for help mounting a theatrical production; Laila, also in Telugu, has Vishwak Sen as a beautician who uses his skills to disguise himself as a woman, presumably to escape some sort of danger. Malayalam comedy Bromance, boxing drama Daveed, and romantic comedy Painkili all play Saturday & Sunday. All We Imagine as Light continues at Fresh Pond and the Coolidge, and also plays Saturday afternoon at The Museum of Fine Arts.
• Landmark Kendall Square and Boston Common open Partenhope, the latest from director Paolo Sorrentino which features Celeste Dalla Porta & Stefania Sandrelli as the title character over the course of her life, born at sea but named for the city she call home. Gary Oldman is in it as well, though it may just be a cameo despite his high billing.
  
  Tuesday's Best Picture Retro Replay at Kendall Square is The Departed; they also have the 2025 edition of the "New York Cat Film Festival" package.
• After a filmmaker visit a week or two back, The Coolidge Corner Theatre opens Armand for its regular run, with Renate Reinsve as a mother who is called into her son's school for a parent-teacher conference and discovers shocking, tangled allegations. It also plays Boston Common, but mostly late shows, Saturday to Wednesday. More cheerily, the Coolidge brings back Flow for a couple screenings a day (though go on Saturday or Sunday if you work a nine-to-five).
  
  Midnites at the Coolidge continue Kung Fu February with Jet Li and Aaliyah in Romeo Must Die on 35mm Friday and Enter the Dragon on Saturday. Black History "Icons" include Glory on Sunday afternoon and Judas and the Black Messiah with director Shaka King and other special guests on Wednesday. Point Break is the 35mm Big Screen Classic on Monday, wth Holiday to celebrate Cary Grant on Tuesday.
  
  Kids' Matinees for winter vacation week are Muppet Treasure Island on Monday, Fantastic Mr. Fox on Tuesday, The Incredibles on Wednesday, and The Parent Trap '98 on Thursday.
• The Oscar Shorts are playing! This week, you can see Animated shorts at the Coolidge, the Capitol (Saturday/Monday/Tuesday/Wednesday/Thursday), Kendall Square, the Lexington Venue (Monday), West Newton; Live-Action shorts at the Coolidge, the Capitol (Friday/Monday/Tuesday/Wednesday/Thursday) Kendall Square, the Lexington Venue (Monday); and Documentary at the Capitol (Sunday/Monday/Tuesday/Wednesday/Thursday), the Lexington Venue (Monday).
• The Seaport Alamo has one screening a day of You, Me & Her, with a young couple on their first vacation in years considering a threesome with a woman they meet. They also have Movie Party shows of The Wedding Singer on Saturday & Wednesday, single shows of Ghost on Monday & Tuesday, and Eddie Murphy in The Nutty Professor on Thursday
• The Brattle Theatre has their Valentine's Day 35mm shows of Casablanca and The Princess Bride sold out; you snooze, you lose. They will be kicking off another annual tradition, the all-35mm Bugs Bunny Film Festival, on Saturday, with 80 minutes of classic cartoons running all week and into next weekend.
  
  They'll also have late shows of David Cronenberg's Crash at 9pm Saturday and Sunday. There are also two special "Exploring the Odyssey" shows with introductions from the staff of the American Repertory Theater (which is presenting The Odyssey as a stage play) - The Boy and the Heron Monday evening and The Return on Wednesday. Tuesday's "100 years of Queer German Cinema" film is 1933's Victor and Victoria, which did indeed inspire the American remake.
• The Harvard Film Archive starts the weekend with director Nelson Carlo de los Santos Ariason on hand for Cocote on Friday evening. There are two notable Delphine Seyrig films after that, with Chantal Akerman's Jeanne Dielman, 23 Quai du Commerce, 1080 Bruxelles playing on 35mm Saturday evening and Jacques Demy's Donkey Skin Sunday afternoon. A double feature of short Korean documentary features Labor News No. 1 & melting icecream, plays Sunday evening.
• The New England Aquarium adds "Call of the Dolphins" to their Imax rotation starting on Friday; it appears to be in 2D while the other shows there are in 3D. Not to be outdone, The Museum of Science adds "Space: The New Frontier" to the Omnimax rotation (after last week's preview) starting Saturday evening.
• The Somerville Theatre hosts Boston Sci-Fi Film Festival with new indies Friday, Saturday, and Sunday, while the 24-hour Marathon runs from noon Sunday to noon-ish Monday, including Lifeforce on 70mm film and several others on 35mm. With a screen to fill from Tuesday to Thursday, they show a selection of The Fleischer Studios' Greatest Hits, including their Betty Boop, Superman, and Popeye cartoons.
  
  The Capitol Theatre also has vacation matinees with The Iron Giant Saturday to Tuesday and Happy Feed Wednesday & Thursday.
• Movies at MIT has Punch Drunk Love for free on Friday and Saturday evenings, although, as always, if you're not part of the MIT community, they'd appreciate an email at lsc-guest (at) MIT dot edu ahead of time.
• Per Joe's Free Films, The Wang Center is hosting doing a free "Lights, Camera, Boston!" series this weekend. Reservations are required, but they have Good Will Hunting Friday, Legally Blonde and The Departed Saturday, Little Women '19 and Glory Sunday, and The Wizard of Oz on Monday.
• The Regent Theatre has the latest presentations of the Banff Mountain Film Festival, with the "Quartzite" package on Monday & Wednesday and the "Granite" package on Tuesday & Thursday.
• The Embassy has Captain American and The Brutalist Friday to Sunday, while Monday not only has the community classic of Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon, but all three Oscar Short packages.
• The Lexington Venue is open Friday to Monday plus Tuesday & Thursday with I'm Still Here, Becoming Led Zeppelin, and Paddington in Peru. They also have Liza: A Truly Terrific Absolutely True Story on Thursday, which may be the start of a run or a one-off.
  
  The West Newton Cinema opens the Animated Oscar Shorts, Paddington in Peru, and Liza: A Truly Terrific True Story, keeping I'm Still Here, Dog Man, Nickel Boys, Flow, and A Complete Unknown. Singles plays as part of the Gen X series on Friday and Jimmy Tingle has a live show Saturday night.
  
  Cinema Salem has all three Oscar shorts programs, Captain America, and I'm Still Here. The original My Bloody Valentine is Friday's Night Light show, The Philadelphia Story plays Saturday afternoon, and Howard Hughes's The Outlaw is the "Wayback Wednesday" (which includes a serial episode), with the mystery Weirdo Wednesday show on another screen.

Checked out Ne Zha 2 when I thought there would just be a couple of 3D shows, and it's great fun; I'll also go for the new Captain America and Paddington movies, the Fleischer cartoons possibly Partenhope or Armand.