If you’ve noticed a vinyl junkie in your life saving their pennies lately, it’s likely because this weekend marks Record Store Day, the yearly bonanza in which independent music shops fill their shelves with exclusive reissues and other goodies. To celebrate this modern holiday, the Brattle Theatre has lined up a pair of excellent recent rockumentaries tailormade for disc diggers and music obsessives. On Friday, catch “Born Innocent: The Redd Kross Story” (2024), about the cult Cali punk band which was formed in 1978, when brothers Jeff and Steve MacDonald were in middle school, and is still touring today as snotty as ever. Saturday brings Alex Ross Perry’s “Pavements” (2025), a suitably snarky portrait of the seminal ’90s indie band which mixes straightforward documentary footage with scenes from a staged jukebox musical and a hilariously overwrought faux-Hollywood biopic (starring Joe Keery — of “Stranger Things” fame — as front man Stephen Malkmus). In a likely serendipitous twist, one of this year’s more intriguing releases is an album called “Gold Soundz: A Jazz Tribute to Pavement,” making this an even better way to unwind after a long day of disc-digging.
For those whose interests lie further afield than local vinyl bins, Saturday also marks the beginning of Massachusetts Space Week, the yearly statewide celebration of all things astronautical. As always, MSW brings a wide variety of events and discussions to museums across the commonwealth, but most relevant to these pages are the screenings of the 6th annual Space Film Festival. Most screenings take place at the Brattle, including the Pixar animated classic “Up” (2009) on Saturday and Sunday, the affectionate “Star Trek”-inspired comedy “Galaxy Quest” (1999) on Monday, and Philip Kaufman’s epic adaptation of Tom Wolfe’s “The Right Stuff” (1983) on Tuesday. Also part of the observance is a rare IMAX screening of Ron Howard’s “Apollo 13” (1995) at the Museum of Science’s Mugar Omni Theater, preceded by a panel discussion featuring real-life astronauts Cady Coleman and Al Sacco, Jr. The events are perfectly timed, with a brand new generation of astronauts-to-be undoubtedly inspired by the historic Artemis II moon mission and its scientific and humanitarian achievements.
Ditch the multiplex this week for some exciting new independent films showing at the Somerville Theatre. On Friday, in association with the Taiwan Film Festival of Boston and the Taiwanese Association of America Boston Chapter, the Somerville presents the local premiere of Chen Yu-Hsun’s “A Foggy Tale” (2025), a charming period piece about the unlikely bond between a down-on-his-luck ex-soldier and a young woman saving up money for a proper burial for her brother, who was executed by the right-wing Kuomintang government. Opening Sunday and running through Tuesday is “Watching Mr. Pearson” (2026), a bittersweet drama from Boston-based filmmaker Dillon Bentlage about an aging Hollywood actor dealing with dementia and his young caretakers.
The programmers of the Revolutions Per Minute Festival return to the Brattle Sunday with another showcase for a cutting-edge filmmaker. In “For All Audiences:” Films by Josh Weissbach, RPM compiles nearly a dozen shorts by the Hampshire College alum. Weissbach’s work combines liminal footage of domestic spaces with experimental collage techniques to create work which is at once unsettling and undeniably personal. All films will be projected on 16mm and followed by a Q&A with RPM Emerging Curator Michael Joseph.
The Harvard Film Archive‘s Complete Stanley Kubrick series comes to an end (almost) on Monday with the director’s final film. Released four months after Kubrick’s death in March 1999, “Eyes Wide Shut” stars Tom Cruise and Nicole Kidman as a couple who get drawn into a bizarre would of sexual rituals and arcane rites among the New York City elite. Audiences at the time weren’t quite sure what to make of “Eyes Wide Shut,” and critical opinion was wildly divided. However, like nearly all of Kubrick’s films, its reputation has grown in the decades since its release, and today it is considered something of a modern classic (that the world it depicts so uncannily echoes the recent revelations of the Epstein files has only added to its eerie mystique). (Note: tickets to “Eyes Wide Shut” were sold out at press time, but unclaimed tickets may be made available at the door.)
Monday is Patriot’s Day, which kicks off April vacation for kids across the state. Rather than staying cooped up once coverage of the Marathon concludes on TV, why not take in a movie? Per tradition, the Brattle has you covered Monday and Tuesday with its annual Muppet Madness triple feature. This year’s lineup brings together perhaps the three most celebrated movies created by Jim Henson and company. First up, naturally, is “The Muppet Movie,” 1979’s big screen debut of Kermit, Fozzie, Miss Piggy, and friends, one of the most joyous and madcap comedies of the ’70s. The tone gets more serious with “The Dark Crystal” (1982) and “Labyrinth” (1986), Henson’s forays into high fantasy, which remain just as eye-popping as the day they were made. Henson was a genius of the once-a-century order, and his felt-and-foam creations will no doubt inspire wonder for generations to come.
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