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Arts Calendar: Happenings for the Week of March 30

Arts Calendar: Happenings for the Week of March 30

• 'A Minecraft Movie' (April 4): The hit videogame gets a big-screen treatment from director Jared Hess ('Napoleon Dynamite'), as a ragtag team (Jason Momoa, Sebastian Hansen, Emma Myers, Danielle Brooks) suddenly finds itself in a blocky digital world where it's shepherded on its quest to return home by a master craftsman (Jack Black).
• 'The Luckiest Man in America' (April 4): Michael Larson was a fan of get-rich-quick schemes, who after discovering that the popular game show 'Press Your Luck' could be played with more skill than chance, set out to win an eyewatering sum. Based on a real 1984 scandal involving the show, Samir Oliveros's film stars Paul Walter Hauser, Walton Goggins, David Strathairn and Maisie Williams.

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