Next Week in Tickets: Films playing Boston 25 July 2025 - 31 July 2024

Doing this quickly since I"m probably not seeing any of them this week.

• The Fantastic Four: First Steps is actually the fourth cinematic swing at Marvel's first family, this one in the MCU (or, perhaps, a parallel/retro-futuristic version thereof), with Pedro Pascal as Reed Richards and the team confronting a legit Kirby-style Galactus. It's at the Captiol, Fresh Pond, the Embassy, Jordan's Furniture (Imax 2D/3D), West Newton, CinemaSalem, Boston Common (including Imax Laser 2D/3D & Dolby Cinema & RealD 3D & Spanish subtitles), Causeway Street (including RealD 3D), Kendall Square, The Seaport Alamo (including Dolby Atmos), South Bay (including Imax Xenon 2D/3D & Dolby Cinema & RealD 3D), Assembly Row (including Imax Laser 2D/3D & Dolby Cinema & RealD 3D), Arsenal Yards (including CWX), and Chestnut Hill.
  
  Also opening is Oh, Hi!, starring Molly Gordon and Logan Lerman as a couple whose romantic vacation goes sideways in a way that has the lady desperate to prove they should still be together. It's at the Capitol, the Lexington Venue, the Coolidge, Boston Common, Kendall Square, the Seaport, and South Bay.
  
  In horror releases, The Home stars Pete Davidson as a new employee at a retirement home who discovers something is not right. It's at CinemaSalem, Boston Common, and Causeway Street. House on Eden has writer/director/star Kris Collins leading a paranormal investigation into a house in the woods and probably finding nothing good; it's at Boston Common all week and the Seaport Monday & Tuesday. Ick has Fathom shows at Boston Common Sunday/Monday/Tuesday, with Brandon Routh as a teacher who returns to his home town, reconnects with an ex, finds out he has a daughter, and battles slime creatures.
  
  Together, starring Alison Brie & Dave Franco as a couple drifting apart until contact starts to merge their bodies physically in a new home, opens Wednesday at West Newton, Boston Common, Causeway Street, Kendall Square, the Seaport, South Bay, and Assembly Row.
  
  Kids matinees include Paddington 2 at Kendall Square Saturday/Sunday/Wednesday, Sing 2 at Fresh Pond Monday to Thursday, and Shrek at South Bay Monday/Wednesday.
  
  There are encore shows of Roger Waters: This Is Not a Drill (Live from Prague) at Kendall Square and Boston Common on Sunday. Monday has mystery previews at Boston Common, South Bay, and Assembly Row.
• The Coolidge Corner Theatre opens Shoshana, the new film from Michael.Winterbottom set in 1930s Tel Aviv, in which a British police officer and a Jewish woman fall in love despite Britain's control over Palestine foundering.
  
  Indie Western They Call Her Death plays on 35mm Friday and Saturday at midnight; shot on 16mm film, it was made entirely with 1960s cameras and aims to capture the vibe and methods of that period. Also playing midnight are Fatal Flying Guillotine (Friday) and Blade: Trinity (Saturday), both on 35mm film. There's a Science on Screen presentation of The Matrix on Monday (marked sold out, but sometimes they put a second on), Kaidan Kimodameshi wrapping on Tuesday with Takashi Shimizu's American adaptation of The Grudge, a Spike & Denzel show of Malcom X on 35mm film Wednesday, and a Mamma Mia! double feature on Thursday night.
• Landmark Kendall Square's opens Unicorns, a romance between a white working-class father and a Desi drag queen in Britain.
  
  Tuesday comedy classic is The Big Lebowski.
• The Lychee Road is the latest film from co-writer/director/star Da Peng, in which the comedian plays a man getting into misadventures delivering the pungent fruit throughout Tang Dynasty China, with various big-name guest stars at his various stops It's at Causeway Street.
  
  Telugu-language historical epic Hari Hara Veera Mallu Part 1: Sword Vs Spirit opened Wednesday and continues at Fresh Pond, Boston Common, and Causeway Street. Apple Fresh Pond also opens two Tamil-language films: Comedy Thalaivan Thalaivii and Maareesan, about a thief who winds up paired with a man who has Alzheimer's Disease. Hindi-language romance Saiyaara continues (also at Boston Common), and Telugu-language action drama Kingdom opens Wednesday.
  
  A new 4K presentation of anime Summer Wars plays Boston Common subtitled on Sunday/Tuesday and dubbed on Monday.
• Aw, man, I'm more sad than usual that I can't be at the Friday Film Matinee at The Brattle Theatre; since Terry Jones's The Wind in the Willows, which rounded up his Python pals a well as others, was one of the first films I saw there! It's in 35mm, as are the related 50th Anniversary screenings of Monty Python and the Holy Grail Friday to Sunday. A new restoration of In My Skin plays the late shift those nights and Monday.
  
  Also playing Monday is Robert Altman's McCabe & Mrs. Miller, with Tuesday's Altmania! show a double feature of California Split & The Long Goodbye. Wednesdays "Summer of Satire" double feature is Boudu Saved from Drowning & My Man Godfrey '36, and there are two from Agnès Varda on Thursday: A free Elements of Cinema screening of Le Bonheur and Cléo from 5 to 7 (where you've got to buy a ticket).
• The Harvard Film Archive keeps showing 35mm Mikio Naruse this weekend: Daughters, Wives, and Mothers (Friday evening); The Approach of Autumn (Friday night); Morning's Tree-Lined Street (Saturday evening); A Woman's Sorrows (Saturday night); Mother (Sunday afternoon); Hideko, the Bus Conductor (Monday evening), and The Whole Family Works (Monday night).
• The Somerville Theatre has Kung Fu Hustle in 35mm for Saturday's Midnight special. This week has two Great Remakes double features: A Sunday matinee with the 1961 & 1998 versions of The Parent Trap (the '61 on 35mm film) and The Departed (35mm) and Infernal Affairs in the regular monday slot. Wednesday's Summer Camp selection is Faster, Pussycat! Kill! Kill! The Capitol Theatre has their first "Peculiar Picture Show" late Friday, with drag queen Coleslaw & Rigney hosting a screening of Santa Sangre. There's also a 4th Wall show featuring Fielded, Barchana, and TOBY (plus visuals by Junk Drawer) on Saturday, and Disasterpiece Theatre on Monday.
• The New England Aquarium celebrates Shark Week with The Meg on their Imax screen Friday and Deep Blue Sea on Saturday!
• The Museum of Fine Arts begins the annual French Film Festival with Trois Amies (sold out Friday), Filmlovers! (Saturday morning), The Ties that Bind Us (Saturday afternoon), When Fall Is Coming (Sunday morning), and Misericordia (Sunday afternoon).
• The Museum of Science has a special screening of Patrice: The Movie on Saturday night as part of their Disability Pride celebration; free with registration.
• The Boston Jewish Film's Summer Cinematheque screening this week is Joanna Rakoff: When a Memoir Becomes a Movie, playing Thursday at the Vilna Shul with Rakoff on hand for dinner, the film, and post-screening conversation.
• Outdoor screenings listed at Joe's Free Films: The Man Who Knew too Much at the MIT Open Space and Inside Out 2 at the Charles River Esplanade on Friday; The Wild Robot at Greene-Rose Heritage Park in Cambridge and Inside Out 2 at Castle Island on Wednesday; and Wayne's World at Somerville's Statue Park in Davis Square on Thursday.
• The Embassy in Waltham appears to be open all week with Fantastic Four.
  
  The Lexington Venue is open all week but Monday with Eddington, Oh, Hi!, Bad Shabbos, and To a Land Unknown, with The Last Class joining them on Wednesday. One of the Danny Boyle/Benedict Cumberbatch/Jonny Lee Miller Frankenstein performances (Miller as Victor, Cumberbatch as the Creature) plays Thursday.
  
  The West Newton Cinema opens Sorry, Baby and Fantastic Four (plus Together on Tuesday), with The Last Class, Superman, Bad Shabbos, Elio, Materialists, and The Life of Chuck held over. Rebel with a Clause plays Thursday night with director Brandt Johnson and subject Ellen Jovin on hand.
  
  Cinema Salem has I Know What you Did Last Summer, Fantastic Four, Oh, Hi!, The Home, and Superman through Monday. Friday's Night Light show is The Heroic Trio; Saturday has a Whodunit Watch Party and an encore of Cinema Paradiso; and Wednesday has North by Northwest as the acknowledged classic with a Weirdo Wednesday show down the hall.
  
  If you can make it out to the Liberty Tree Mall in Danvers, they've got guess-what's-in-the-public-domain-now horror movie Bambi: The Reckoning.

I'm happily ensconced in Montreal for Fantasia, crossing my fingers for no Fantastic Four spoilers and hoping The Lychee Road sticks around until I get back because there are no holes in the festival schedule.