Next Week in Tickets: Films playing Boston 21 February 2025 - 27 February 2024

You know, I was absolutely certain The Monkey was a remake, but apparently the movie I'm thinking of (George Romero's Monkey Shines) is something else entirely!

• The Monkey is kind of an odd duck, because it's being promoted on the back of director Osgood Perkins's success with Longlegs but it looks like something very different, black comedy splat-stick versus that movie's overpowering dread. It has Theo James as twin brothers trying to prevent a demonic wind-up monkey from killing everyone they know, and plays The Somerville, The Coolidge, West Newton, CinemaSalem, Boston Common, Causeway Street, Kendall Square, the Seaport (including Dolby Atmos), and Assembly Row.
  
  Cleaner could be a fun little dumb action movie, with Martin Campbell directing Daisy Ridley as a former army window-washer who is on the side of a building when terrorists led by Clive Owen take it hostage. Basic Die Hard stuff, but that's a good group. Showing at Boston Common and the Seaport.
  
  Apparently The Unbreakable Boy has sat on the shelf for three years; it stars Zachary Levi and Meghann Fahy as parents of a child with both autism and brittle bone disease. It's at Boston Common and Assembly Row. Speaking of taking forever to get distribution, The Comeback Trail plays one matinee daily, though it was released internationally in 2020. It stars Robert De Niro as a film producer who hopes to get an insurance settlement by having his film's star (Tommy Lee Jones) die in an accident, only to have him do his best work. It's also got Morgan Freeman! Crazy.
  
  This week's Black History Month booking at Boston Common and South Bay is Bad Boys: Ride or Die, and it's not for me to critique this, but it's not really Black History, is it? Boston Common has a two-day Best Picture marathon, with I'm Still Here, Conclave, Nickel Boys, Anora, and The Substance this Saturday and the rest (presumably minus Emelia Perez) next week.
  
  Second weekend of Harry Potter stuff at Boston Common, Causeway Street, South Bay, Assembly Row Arsenal Yards, with Chamber of Secrets Friday, Prisoner of Azkaban Saturday, and Goblet of Fire on Sunday. There's a "Screen Unseen" preview at Boston Common, Causeway Street, South Bay, Assembly Row on Monday. I Heart Willie, the first Mickey Mouse-based horror movie to hit theaters after the character entered the public domain, plays Wednesday at Fresh Pond and Boston Common. K-Pop concert film IVE: The 1st World Tour plays Boston Common on Wednesday. A24's Imax show is Moonlight at South Bay and Assembly Row on Thursday.
• Week four of the Lunar New Year rollout brings Legend of the Condor Heroes: The Gallants, which comes from Hong Kong legend Tsui Hark and stars Xiao Zhan and Zhuang Dafei as martial-arts maters who stand between Genghis Khan (Bayaertu) and the Song Dynasty, with Tony Leung Ka-Fai and Ada Choi also in the cast. It's at Boston Common; sadly, no 3D despite Tsui loving to throw things at the audience. Ne Zha 2 expands and gets more consistent 3D shows, playing at Boston Common (including RealD 3D), Causeway Street (including RealD 3D), the Seaport, South Bay, and Assembly Row (including RealD 3D); Detective Chinatown 1900 continues at Causeway Street.
  
  Apple Fresh Pond picks up a few from the subcontinent: Dragon stars Pradeep Ranganathan as a college senior who drops out after a breakup and gets involved in shady businesses afterward; it plays in Tamil and Telugu, and Causeway Street in Tamil. Tamil comedy Nilavuku Enmel Ennadi Kobam also revolves around a breakup, with a man accepting the marriage his parents arranged only to have his girlfriend return. Hindi-language romantic comedy Mere Husband Ki Biwi also features a love triangle, though not quite so young; it's also at Causeway Street. There's also a re-release of 1994's Hum Aapke Hain Koun..!, which stars Salman Khan and Madhuri Dixit as a couple that met at their older siblings' wedding, only to have things upended when she takes custody of her sister's kid. Telugu-language comedy Mazaka opens at Boston Common (and maybe Fresh Pond) on Tuesday. Hindi-language historical epic Chhaava continues at Fresh Pond and Boston Common. All We Imagine as Light continues at the Coolidge.
  
  Vietnamese drama The Real Sister opens at South Bay, starring Viet Huong as a sister-in-law who finds things tense when meeting her husband's three sisters at their father's funeral.
  
  Anime Attack on Titan: The Last Attack continues at Causeway Street. Mobile Suit Gundam GQuuuuuuX: Beginning plays Assembly Row in Imax Laser Wednesday, before moving to Boston Common, Causeway Street, and the Seaport on Thursday.
• Landmark Kendall Square has Ed Burns's newest indie, Millers in Marriage; he plays the husband in one of three married couples at crossroads. It's only playing matinees, making me wonder if this is four-walled or Landmark figures only senior citizens watch movies like this.
  
  Tuesday's Best Picture Retro Replay is Argo; one Wednesday they have this year's edition of the New York Dog Film Festival.
• The Brattle Theatre switches up the program for the second weekend of this year's Bugs Bunny Film Festival, so even if you've already been, why not go again? All on 35mm.
  
  The weekend also features a double feature of new 4K Tarsem Sing restorations, with The Fall & The Cell playing Friday to Sunday. Sunday also has shorts program "Kathy Rugh: Mountains Meet the Sea" hosted by RPM Festival with Rugh in person, and a free screening and discussion of Amazing Grace: YorubaWorlds that evening. They also have a David Lynch tribute with Blue Velvet Monday to Wednesday and Mulholland Drive Wednesday & Thursday. And on top of that, It Is Not the Homosexual Who Is Perverse, But the Society in Which He Lives as part of 100 years of German Queer Cinema on Tuesday.
• The Coolidge Corner Theatre picks up The Monkey and the Oscar short docs, but keeps everything else, so they've got 12 titles on six screens even before rep.
  
  The midnight February Fu features are Rumble in the Bronx on Friday (apparently the 87-minute American cut) and Rush Hour on Saturday, both on 35mm film. Sunday afternoon's Black History Month Icons show is Sister Act; Monday's Science on Screen; Monday's Science on Screen show has BU geneticist Shoumita Dasgupta introducing X-Men: First Class; Tuesday's Cary Grant show is Notorious; Wednesday's "Queering the Screen" show is Tangerine and has post-film discussion with The Theater Offensive; and Thursday's Big Screen Classic is Buck and the Preacher.
• This week's Oscar shorts schedule has Animated shorts at the Coolidge, The ICA (Sunday),Kendall Square, Boston Common, the Seaport, the Lexington Venue (Friday/Saturday/Tuesday), and West Newton; Live-Action shorts at the Coolidge, the ICA (Friday/Sunday/Thursday), Kendall Square, Boston Common, the Seaport, and the Lexington Venue (Friday/Saturday/Sunday/Tuesday/Thursday); and Documentary at the Coolidge and the Lexington Venue (Saturday/Sunday/Wednesday).
• The Seaport Alamo has Phantom of the Opera (Movie Party shows Saturday & Tuesday), The Social Network (Saturday), Cry-Baby (Saturday & Sunday), Vertigo (Sunday & Monday), and Dolemite Is My Name on Wednesday
• The Harvard Film Archive has an extremely varied roster this weekend, starting with the opener of their Ben Rivers series, a 35mm print of two Years at Sea (and its 16mm antecedent, "This Is My Land") on Friday evening. There are two from the Delphine Seyrig series, with Golden Eighties playing Friday night and Be Pretty and Shut Up Sunday evening. Undergrads program a 35mm double feature of Punch-Drunk Love & Ali: Fear Eats the Soul on Saturday afternoon (free with Harvard ID), and former HFA usher Carson Lund visits with his new film Eephus in the evening. The weekend ends with a visit from Jessica Sarah Rinland, who programs and introduces Hatari! on 35mm film on Sunday afternoon and presents her own latest work Collective Monologue on Monday.
• In addition to opening The Monkey, The Somerville Theatre picks up Parthenope in its second week. There are some live events in the big room, but around them, they have the "Silents Synced" I>Sherlock Jr. on Sunday afternoon and Monday evening, and Life on the V: The Story of V66, a documentary which looks back at a local UHF music video channel that took to the Boston airwaves 40 years ago this month, with various "V66-ers" on hand for a Q&A afterward.
  
  The Capitol Theatre has Happy Feed for noon matinees until Sunday, and then it's back to school. They also have a special presentation of Scott Pilgrim vs the World on Friday night, with chiptunes, a pop-up arcade, live music, and 360 projections in the theater throughout. There's also a 4th Wall show on Saturday with Max Ryan giving It's Always Better Late Than Never, S.E.B., Reid Duran, and Roaches All the Way Up visual accompaniment. And since Monday is the last of the month, they're doing Disasterpiece Theater with pre-show tape swap.
• The Regent Theatre has one last Banff Mountain Film Festival show on Friday, with the "Sandstone" package. And they just squeak a sing-along into school vacation week, with The Greatest Showman on Saturday & Sunday.
• ArtsEmerson and The Boston Asian American Film Festival present Nobuko Miyamoto: A Song in Movement on Friday as part of the Day of Remembrance for Japanese-American internments. The 84-year-old subject will be present to introduce the sold-out 1:30pm screening, with another show at 5:30pm (and the website advises to check to see if tickets for the early show may be released).
• The Museum of Fine Arts has Chinese drama This Woman as part of their "Global Cinema Now" series on Sunday and Oscar-Nominated Art Doc Porcelain War Thursday evening.
• Movies at MIT has Moonlight on Friday & Saturday evening, and a special screening of The Universe in a Grain of Sand with director Mark Levinson on-hand for a Q&A Wednesday night. If you're not part of the MIT community, they'd appreciate an email at lsc-guest (at) MIT dot edu ahead of time.
• The Museum of Science will be showing Mickey 17 on the giant screen in March, with tickets on sale now..
• Among other things, Joe's Free Films shows a screening of Secret Mall Apartment with director Q&A at Tufts on Thursday (RSVP requested). It's the sort of fun little documentary where you can not only barely believe it's true, but that there's footage.
• In addition to Captain America, The Embassy has Every Little Thing, a really charming little documentary about a woman who cares for injured hummingbirds that played IFFBoston last spring. Monday's Community Classic is Parasite.
• The Lexington Venue is open all week (except Monday) with Paddington in Peru and the Oscar-nominated shorts.
  
  The West Newton Cinema welcomes local director Adam Newman and actress Victoria Mirrer on Friday night for horror movie Round the Decay with post-show Q&A. They also have the Live-Action Oscar Shorts this week, open The Monkey, and bring back Anora. Paddington in Peru,I'm Still Here, Nickel Boys (including a Sunday "Behind the Screen" show), Flow, and A Complete Unknown are held over.
  
  Cinema Salem has all three Oscar shorts programs, Captain America, and The Monkey. Do the Right Thing plays Saturday afternoon, Wednesday's Whodunit Watch Party has a film that takes place on a plane, with Arsenic and Old Lace for Wayback Wednesday with Weirdo Wednesday on the other screen.
  
  If you can make it out to Danvers, Mexican-American comedy Las Tres Sisters plays at the Liberty Tree Mall.

I am here for the Condor Heroes, Cleaner, The Comeback Trail, Sherlock Jr., some Oscar shorts, The Cell, and probably a thing or two that I should have seen already.