Next Week in Tickets: Films playing Boston 18 April 2025 - 24 April 2024

Aw yeah IFFBoston time!

• Indpendent Film Festival Boston opens on Wednesday with Come See Me in the Good Light at the Somerville Theatre with director Ryan White on-hand for a Q&A. Then on Thursday, they expand to all three screens at the Somerville and the Brattle, including a pair of shorts packages, several films from abroad, and other guests. The festival continues through the following Wednesday.
• I just hope that the festival didn't prevent local theaters from getting 70mm film prints of Sinners, which director Ryan Coogler shot on Imax film and which looks like a blast, with Michael Jordan playing brothers on the run from the law during the Great Depression, only to arrive at a jazz club in the middle of nowhere where demons are crossing into the world. It's at the Coolidge, the Capitol, Jordan's Furniture (Imax), West Newton, CinemaSalem, Boston Common (including Imax Laser & Dolby Cinema), Causeway Street, Kendall Square, the Seaport (including Dolby Atmos), South Bay (including Imax Xenon & Dolby Cinema), Assembly Row (including Imax Laser & Dolby Cinema), Arsenal Yards (including CWX), and Chestnut Hill.
  
  The Wedding Banquet doesn't seem like a movie that screams for a remake, but then, why not; folks are still having weddings of mutual convenience being made into uncomfortable parties, just for different reasons. Bowen Yang, Lily Gladstone, Kelly Marie Tran, Han Gi-Gan, and Joan Chen star and it plays West Newton, Boston Common, Causeway Street, Kendall Square, the Seaport, South Bay, and Assembly Row.
  
  Animated comedy Sneaks looks like "Toy Story, but with shoes", and while the trailer looked extremely dumb, that preview at least ended on a pun that made me groan in painful, grudging respect. It's at Boston Common, Causeway Street, South Bay, and Assembly Row.
  
  One of my favorites from BUFF, The Ugly Stepsister, opens at Boston Common and South Bay. It's a Scandinavian take on Cinderella that switches the point of view as the title character undergoes an oft-gruesome makeover ahead of the ball.
  
  The Teacher, featuring Saleh Bakri as a Palestinian teacher and Imogen Poots as the aid worker he's growing close to, opens at Boston Common, after a year and a half on the festival circuit and international releases. A twentieth Anniversary re-release of Joe Wright's take on Pride & Prejudice with Keira Knightley and Matthew Macfadyen plays Boston Common, Causeway Street, Kendall Square (Sunday/Wednesday only), the Seaport, South Bay, and Assembly Row.
  
  Cheech and Chong's Last Movie has 4/20 Early Access screenings on Sunday at Boston Common and the Seaport because of course it does. There are "Sneak Peek Showcase" mystery previews at Fresh Pond (Monday/Wednesday), Boston Common (Tuesday), South Bay (Tuesday/Thursday), Assembly Row (Tuesday/Thursday), and Arsenal Yards (Tuesday), and also an AMC Screen Unseen preview at Boston Common, Causeway Street, South Bay, and Assembly Row on Monday. Concert film Pink Floyd at Pompeii MCMLXXII plays Boston Common (including Imax Laser), Kendall Square, the Seaport, South Bay (Imax Xenon), and Assembly Row (Imax Laser) Thursday.
• One to One: John & Yoko opens at The Coolidge Corner Theatre. It restores and remixes footage of John Lennon and Yoko Ono from the early 1970s, including the only full-length concert Lennon did after the Beatles broke up. It's also at West Newton and Boston Common.
  
  The Coolidge has the Western Round of its dueling midnights this weekend with Denzel Washington in the 2016 version of The Magnificent Seven on Friday and Russell Crowe in The Quick and the Dead on 35mm film Saturday; Eraserhead also plays late on Saturday. Sunday's marathon 35mm presentation of the Lord of the Rings trilogy is marked sold out, but they'll do it again on the 4th of May. Monday's Big Screen Classic is Moulin Rouge!, the Gene Hackman show on Tuesday is a 35mm print of Unforgiven, Wednesday's Frederick Wiseman film is Central Park, and Thursday has a "Rewind!" show of Paddington 2 at 7pm and a Cult Classic show of Spring Breakers on 35mm at 9:30pm. Wednesday also offers a special screening of a 1964 version of Hamlet from the Soviet Union (notable for its score by Dmitri Shostakovich) with Harvard professor Harlow Robinson there to add perspective.
• Landmark Kendall Square opens The President's Wife (aka Bernadette), with Catherine Deneuve playing Bernadette Chirac, who did not much appreciate being sidelined after helping husband Jacques win the election. The Kendall's Tuesday David Lynch show is Lost Highway.
• The Somerville Theatre squeezes a quick Friday-to-Tuesday run for Gazer, an independent thriller about a woman who has difficulty perceiving time, before IFF Boston takes the place over on Wednesday. In the meantime, they wrap "Wonderful & Strange: A Tribute David Lynch" with a double feature of Blue Velvet & Wild at Heart on Friday, documentary I Know Catherine, The Log Lady on Saturday (including Midnight Special), and a big Saturday night party upstairs in the Crystal Ballroom.
  
  Their friends at The Capitol Theatre team with High Energy Vintage for a special Kung Fu on 16mm program on Thursnesday, pulling goodies from the personal collection of HEV proprietor Wiley.
• Apple Fresh Pond turns over their South Asian films, opening Hindi-language drama Kesari Chapter 2: The Untold Story of Jallianwala Bagh (also at Boston Common), starring Akshay Kumar as a lawyer who investigated the titular massacre, which appears to be only thematically related to 2019's Kesari; Malayalam-language boxing comedy Alappuzha Gymkhana; Bangladeshi action film Borbaad; Kannada-language thriller Agnyathavasi; Nepali sports drama Anjila, featuring soccer captain Anjila Tumbapo Subba playing herself; Nepali action film Karma (Saturday/Monday/Tuesday/Wednesday); Telugu-language actioiner Arjun S/O Vyjayanthi (through Sunday at Fresh Pond and all week at Causeway Street); and Marathi-language romantic comedy Ashi Hi Jamva Jamvi (Sunday only).
  
  Tamil-language action movie Good Bad Ugly is held over at Boston Common.
  
  Chinese drama Big World, starring Jackson Yee as a youngman with cerebral palsy, plays Causeway Street. Apparently Mumu isn't opening there despite the standee that's been up a few weeks.
  
  Anime Colorful Stage! The Movie: A Miku Who Can't Sing, appears to continue through Sunday at Boston Common, Causeway Street, and South Bay.
• The Brattle Theatre is closed through Monday due to a plumbing emergency in the building, a huge blow because this is usually a big weekend, with the Monday Muppet Marathon and Massachusetts Space Week, and they would really appreciate it if everyone could help them out. With any luck, they'll be back showing movies on Tuesday, with director Barbara Wallbraun on-hand for Uferfrauen – Lesbian Life and Love in the GDR, and then a Massachusetts Space Week show of the 2009 Star Trek reboot with a panel discussion afterwards, then IFFBoston settling in on Thursday
• The Museum of Fine Arts has a Global Cinema Now show of Oscar Nominee I'm Still Here on Friday evening.
• The Harvard Film Archive dips into their collection for a Satyajit Ray series this weekend, with The Big City on Friday, Charulata and The Adversary on Saturday, and Company Limited on Sunday, all on 35mm film. On Monday, they dig back into the Kobe Planet archive for a second program of Prewar and Wartime Animation, all on 35mm and 16mm film.
• The Seaport Alamo extends their run of Columbia University protest doc The Encampments through at least Wednesday, mostly matinees. They also show have a combined Easter & 4/20 show of Monty Python's Life of Brian on Sunday, plus Tommy Boy on Monday and Juliet of the Spirits on Tuesday,
• The Museum of Science adds "Animal Kingdom 4-D" to the rotation of movies in the 4-D theater starting saturday (it's a 15-minute version of the 40-minute film at the Aquarium. And while most of the Brattle's Space Week film programming is cancelled, the MOS is showing The Martian on the big Omnimax dome on Tuesday, with a presentation on life in space beforehand. They'll also have Treasure Planet on the dome as part of the series next Sunday, with a screening of Pakistani animated film The Glassworker on the schedule for the 31st of May
• Joe's Free Films shows a Wednesday screening of A Real Pain at the Malden Public Library and Inland Empire at Tufts, and also that this weekend'sMovies at MIT presentation, Princess Mononoke, is free on Friday and Saturday evening. 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.
• The ICA is once again showing two documentary shorts on a loop Saturday to support the Believers: Artists and the Shakers exhibit, "The Quiet in the Land" and "Sacred Sheets". Free with museum admission.
• Belmont World Film shifts venues to the West Newton Cinema starting on Monday, when they will show Reading Lolita in Tehran, wih an introduction by writer & historian Dr. Arash Azizi.
• The Embassy holds over Misericordia and opens Sacramento for shows through Sunday. They'll also have a Saturday evening show of the animated King of Kings, with Stand By Me for Monday's free community matinees, plus a special screening of I'm Still Here with post-film discussion on Wednesday.
• The Regent Theatre has a special "Comedians in Their Shorts" show on Wednesday, with several local comics doing stand-up sets and also showing short films they've acted in, with filmmakers Jordan Tofalo and the group on hand for a Q&A afterward.
• The Lexington Venue is open all week with The Wedding Banquet, The Friend (no shows Saturday), and Secret Mall Apartment. 1955 Revolutionary War adventure The Scarlet Coat plays for free Sunday morning (hey, if I ran a theater in Lexington, I'd be doing something like this every week until sometime next year), and they start a short run of locally produced horror movie Round the Decay on Thursday.
  
  The West Newton Cinema opens Sinners, The Wedding Banquet, and One to One: John & Yoko, holding over Secret Mall Apartment, A Minecraft Movie, and No Other Land.
  
  Cinema Salem has Sinners, Drop, The Amateur, and A Minecraft Movie through Monday. There's a special "Lux Lives!" presentation of Blonde on a Bum Trip on Saturday, including live entertainment, trailers, and other risqué fun, with proceeds going to Best Friends Animal Society. Wednesday not just a Weirdo Wednesday show and a Wednesday Classics presentation of Barbara Stanwyck in Baby Face, but also a Craft Night screening of Practical Magic.

So, I've got two Red Sox tickets in the next five days, an IFFBoston schedule that seems built to get me to shake my fist at the conflicts starting right away, and a Covid-spawned backlog of stuff to see in theaters. I think I'll prioritize testing out the new Boston Common Imax screen with Sinners, getting to The Friend before it disappears, Gazer, Warfare, and maybe see if Minecraft is the trainwreck everyone describes in 3D.