If you saw these films at home, here’s your chance to see them the right way
With colder weather blowing in, it may be tempting to huddle under a blanket and watch a movie from your couch, but action-packed adventures and breathtaking scenery deserve a larger screen. That’s why the Brattle Theatre and Somerville Theatre are teeing up 10 of those films released over the past year and screening them Jan. 1319.
The series, “The Brattle Presents (Some of ) The Biggest & Best of ’22 at the Somerville Theatre,” kicks off Friday night with two showings of “Top Gun: Maverick” on Somerville’s 4k laser projection screen.
Ned Hinkle, creative director at The Brattle, said the two theaters had been talking about cohosting an event since early last year.
“All of the independent cinemas, we consider ourselves friends. We’re trying to appeal to moviegoers interested in something different,” he said.
The films selected for this series — among them “Moonage Daydream” and “Fire of Love” — benefit from being seen on the “largest screen possible,” Hinkle said, and Somerville’s main theater provides a more immersive viewing experience. Audiences get to enjoy higher resolution, deeper contrast, and sharper images. The screen is at least twice the size of The Brattle’s screen, Hinkle said.
“When I say the biggest and best movies of 2022, I’m thinking of films that have spectacle to them like ‘Nope,’ but also something like ‘Utama,’ which is a small, international title,” said Hinkle. “It just has these incredible vistas in it, and so my desire was to see it on a screen where you could really lose yourself in it.”
Hinkle said he loves any opportunity to put less widely known movies on a larger screen.
The Brattle will be closed Jan. 1719 for an upgrade of its own: the installation of 7.1 surround sound, an eight-channel surround audio system. Hinkle said this short closure seemed like a natural time for the two theaters to team up.
“It works out great for both of our theaters,” said Ian M. Judge, managing director of Somerville Theatre, “because we get to showcase some truly big screen stuff on our biggest screen, and their audience doesn’t have to miss out on the fun while
[The Brattle is] closed.”