Next Week in Tickets: Films playing Boston 9 May 2025 - 15 May 2024

Ah, the week between major releases when a whole bunch of unusual stuff is just looking for one week on the big screen and maybe lucking into sleeper-hit status.

• The week's big opening, I guess, is Shadow Force, featuring Kerry Washington and Omar Sy as spies who retired to raise a family being targeted by their former employer. It plays Boston Common, Causeway Street, the Seaport, South Bay, Assembly Row, and Arsenal Yards.
  
  Josh Hartnett seems to have found a nice niche in weird genre fair, starring in Fight or Flight as a buzzed mercenary on a plane full of assassins (including Marko Zaror) looking to take out him and the person he's supposed to escort to safety. It's at Fresh Pond, Boston Common, the Seaport, South Bay, and Assembly Row.
  
  Clown in a Cornfield is somehow the first theatrical film from Eli Craig, maker of Tucker and Dale Versus Evil, since that cult classic (he's done some TV and Netflix), and appears to be what it says on the tin, a slasher movie featuring the mascot of a town's long-shuttered main business. It's at Fresh Pond, CinemaSalem, Boston Common, Causeway Street, Kendall Square, the Seaport, South Bay, and Assembly Row.
  
  Does billing itself as being based on the story that inspired Shakespeare's play mean that musical Juliet & Romeo can have a happy ending? Whatever the case, it's got a nifty lineup of folks in supporting roles, and plays Fresh Pond and Boston Common.
  
  Swedish sci-fi adventure Watch the Skies, described as Amblin-ish and using new CGI techniques to match the characters' lips and faces to the English dub, plays Boston Common.
  
  Greek musician biography Stelios plays Arsenal Yards.
  
  There are sneak previews of Friendship (some with prerecorded Q&As) at the Coolidge, the Kendall, and Boston Common on Monday; a Hurry Up Tomorrow "fan event" at Fresh Pond, Boston Common (including Dolby Cinema), Causeway Street, the Kendall, South Bay (including Dolby Cinema), and Assembly Row (including Dolby Cinema) on Wednesday. Hung Up on a Dream: The Zombies Documentary (covering the band rather than the genre) plays at the Seaport on Tuesday and at The Regent Theatre and Kendall Square on Wednesday; K-Pop concert Ateez World Tour: Toward The Light - Will to Power plays Boston Common Wednesday. Both versions of The Karate Kid play this weekend ahead of the crossover, with both the 1984 edition and the 2010 edition playing at Boston Common and the Seaport on Saturday. The directors' cut of Kingdom of Heaven also plays Wednesday, at Boston Common, South Bay, and Assembly Row. Wednesday's "Halfway to Halloween" Blumhouse show at Boston Common is Ma.
• The Coolidge Corner Theatre opens When Fall Is Coming, the latest from French director François Ozon, with Hélène Vincent as a grandmother who has retired to the countryside, expecting to spend the week with her granddaughter but instead connecting with a friend's paroled son.
  
  The Cooldige also gets a 70mm print of Sinners for the next two weeks, including a special screening on the 18th.
  
  Tangerine Dream continues to be the theme of the midnights, with Risky Business on Friday and Legend on Saturday, with Eraserhead also playing late Saturday night. There's a special "Coolidge Award" presentation of the Apocalypse Now "Final Cut" on Saturday afternoon; Ani-Mania shows of The Tale of the Princess Kaguya on Sunday afternoon and Vampire Hunter D on Thursday evening ; a Science On Screen presentation of 2 or 3 Things I Know About Her on Monday; Jeff Rapsis accompanying the 1920 The Mark of Zorro plus Open Screen (without Rapsis) on Tuesday; a New England Legacy program of five short documentaries from women in the 1970s on Wednesday with speakers; and a 35mm print of The Big Chill on Thursday
• Landmark Kendall Square opens three independent films like it was pre-pandemic times this week. Lilly stars Patricia Clarkson as an Alabama factory supervisor who discovers she has been paid half of what men in similar jobs make and takes it to the Supreme Court. Black Tea stars Nina Melo as a woman who decides to start a new life in one of the few neighborhoods in China that has a substantial Black population, falling in love with the Chinese man who owns the tea shop where she works. Finally, they open Tom Dustin: Portrait of a Comedian, made by his friend Joe List and examine their friendship as List's career rises and Dustin plateaus. Tuesday's Meryl Streep movie at the Kendall is Death Becomes Her.
• New Indian movies at Apple Fresh Pond include Telugu-language comedy #Single (also at Causeway Street & Boston Common) and Telugu-language horror-comedy Subham (through Sunday). Tamil-language feel-good movie Tourist Family, Telugu-langage action flick HIT: The 3rd Case (also at Causeway Street) are held over. Malayalam drama Thudarum returns for matinees Friday through Sunday, and Marathi-language elder romcom Gukland plays Sunday afternoon. Retro and Raid 2 continue at Boston Common.
  
  English-language Tibetan film Four Rivers Six Ranges plays two shows at Fresh Pond Saturday afternoon.
  
  Chinese high-finance thriller A Gilded Game, starring Andy Lau, Ono Ou, and Crystal Huang with prolific director Herman Yau behind the camera, plays Causeway Street. Trapped, also from Mainland China, stars White-K as one of three cops trying to hold off 44 bandits, and plays Boston Common. The Dumpling Queen also continues at Boston Common.
  
  Two Vietnamese movies open at South Bay: Money Kisses is a romantic comedy two sisters wooing billionaires, and The Ancestral Home has an internet influencer reunited with the ghost of her dead brother as their relatives fight over their late grandfather's house.
  
  A new 4K edition of anime Wolf Children plays Boston Common Sunday (subtitled), Monday (dubbed), and Tuesday (subtitled). Demon Slayer The Movie: Mugen Train, which was one of the surprise hits of the pandemic, returns to theaters Wednesday (and next Friday) at Boston Common, Kendall Square, the Seaport, South Bay, Assembly Row
• The Brattle Theatre kicks off the weekend with Spaceballs on 35mm for the Friday Film Matinee. From Friday to Monday, they play the new restoration of Jean-Luc Godard's A Woman Is a Woman, although with a few exceptions: On Saturday afternoon, they welcome director Mira Nair to present her film The Namesake; and then on Sunday, one can celebrate Mother's Day in two different, unconventional ways: An early show of The Secret of NIMH or the now-traditional screening of Psycho later.
  
  Then for the rest of the week, they pick their Val Kilmer tribute up: Kill Me Again and Kiss Kiss Bang Bang on Tuesday, both on 35mm film; Thunderheart and The Island of Dr. Moreau on Wednesday, the latter on 35mm; plus Heat and Macgruebr on Thursday, the former on film.
• The Seaport Alamo has an encore presentation of the Bjork: Cornucopia concert film on Friday, with Sight and Sound Magazine's top film, Jeanne Dielman, 23, Quai du Commerce, 1080 Bruxelles playing Saturday at 11am. Mamma Mia! plays twice on Sunday.
• The Harvard Film Archive finishes their series spotlighting Osaka's Planet archive on Friday evening with archivist Yasui Yoshio in person and a 16mm print of Document of Collision: The Whiplashed Ones. After that, they have a Mother's Day MiniMarathon all weekend, with Almodovar's All About My Mother on Friday, Chantal Akerman's News From Home, Martin Scorsese's Alice Doesn't Live Here Anymore, and Bong Joon-ho's Mother on Saturday, John Cassevetes's A Woman Under the Influence and Michael Curitz's Mildred Pierce on Sunday, and Pier Paolo Pasolini's Mamma Roma on Monday. The films are free for HFA members, and all are 35mm prints except News From Home.
• The Capitol Theatre picks up The Ballad of Wallis Island, and also has a "4th Wall" show featuring Upnow!, Warmachine, and Moss Boy with visuals by Digital Awareness on Saturday.
  
  The Somerville Theatre shows the local 48 Hour FIlm Project participants on Monday & Tuesday, then continues F— The Nazis with a 35mm print of Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade on Wednesday. There's also a 35mm member screening on Sunday, but I'm not blabbing what the email said if you're not on the list.
• The Museum of Fine Arts screens Van Gogh: Poets and Lovers on Saturday afternoon and Everything Everywhere All at Once on Sunday.
• The Museum of Science has upcoming Omni screenings of Everything Everywhere All at Once on Saturday the 17th and The Glassworker on the 31st of May
• Movies at MIT has Being John Malkovich on Friday and Saturday evenings. 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.
• Joe's Free Films has the first outdoor screening of the summer season with the Reel Rock Film Tour package at MIT Open Space Friday night.<.LI>

• This week's entry in the Belmont World Film series is Shepherds, a French-Candian (or French/Canadian) film about a Montreal advertising man and a French civil servant who meet after quitting their job to tend sheep in the Alps. Mathyas Lefebure, who adapted his own memoir for the screenplay, will be at the West Newton Theatre when it plays Monday.
• The Embassy continues Thunderbolts* and The Legend of Ochi through Sunday. The 1978 Invasion of the Body Snatchers kicks off a month of sci-fi flicks for Monday's free community matinees.
• The Lexington Venue is open Friday/Saturday/Sunday/Wednesday/Thursday, adding Princess Mononoke and The Legend of Ochi to The Ballad Of Wallis Island. They also have the 2025 New York Cat Film Festival program Saturday morning and the 2025 New York Dog FIlm Festival program on Thursday evening.
  
  The West Newton Cinema opens Marcella, a documentary on noted cooking personality Marcella Hazen, keeps Thunderbolts*, Conclave, The Penguin Lessons, Sinners, Secret Mall Apartment, and A Minecraft Movie. They also have a "Behind the Screen" show of I'm Still Here on Saturday, a Ty's Movie Club presentation of No on Wednesday, and two documentaries by Allie Humenuk on Thursday: Shadow of the House, with Humenuk and photographer Abelardo Morell on had, and The Guys Next Door with Humenuk, co-director Amy Gellar, and subject Rachel Seagall present.
  
  Cinema Salem has Thunderbolts*, Sinners, Clown in a Cornfield, and The Legend of Ochi through Monday. Friday's Night LIght show is RoboCop, Suspicion has an encore on Saturday, and this Wednesday's classic is The Adventures of Robin Hood, with a Weirdo Wednesday show on the other screen.
  
  Out at the Liberty Tree Mall in Danvers, Words of War opens alongside the other new releases; starring Maxine Peake as Russian journalist Anna Politkovskaya, and Becoming Led Zeppelin has a return engagement.

Got the A-List upgrade and kind of want to use it and the Alamo pass to see all the stuff shooting its shot, and kind of regret that the Vietnamese movies in South Bay will be hard to make work. But, also, a lot of Val Kilmer stuff I haven't seen [in a while], Last Crusade, and, yeah, Sinners in 70mm.