All the movies you should see in April
Your guide to the biggest and buzziest movies hitting theaters this month
April 1
Everybody Wants Some!!
What it is: In 1980s Texas, a group of fratty college baseball players take their first tentative steps toward adulthood.
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Why you should care: Richard Linklater is one of the best and most eclectic directors working today, which is why it wasn't a total shock that he opted to follow his should've-been-a-Best-Picture-winner Boyhood with this rambling period comedy. A spiritual successor to Linklater's cult classic Dazed and Confused, which dramatized a group of high schoolers in the 1970s (and helped launch the careers of Ben Affleck, Parker Posey, and Matthew McConaughey in the process), Everybody Wants Some!! offers a similarly intimate and affectionate look at a group of people just beginning to discover themselves.
What else is coming out: Miles Ahead, an inventive quasi-biopic of legendary jazz musician Miles Davis (Don Cheadle); Meet the Blacks, a parody of The Purge chronicling a black family's efforts to survive 12 hours of consequence-free crime in lily-white Beverly Hills; God's Not Dead 2, a sequel to last year's Christian-themed hit, in which a high school teacher (Melissa Joan Hart) defends her decision to talk to a student about Jesus; Kill Your Friends, an American Psycho-esque satire on the recording industry of the mid-'90s, with Nicholas Hoult as a young ladder-climber who will do anything to get ahead; The Dark Horse, a based-on-a-true-story drama about a chess champion with mental illness (Cliff Curtis) who leads a team of children to a national championship; Pandemic, a sci-fi thriller about a group of people attempting to survive against hordes of zombie-esque infected people in the post-apocalypse.
April 8
Hardcore Henry
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What it is: An amnesiac super-soldier, revived from the dead, runs and guns his way through Moscow in an effort to save his kidnapped wife.
Why you should care: Hardcore Henry's premise might not be cutting-edge, but for anyone who's looking for something a little different from an action movie, the film promises a unique gimmick: The entire story is told from a first-person perspective, with audiences occupying the point-of-view of the titular character. It's a technique that Hollywood has occasionally dabbled in before, in features like 1947's adaptation of Raymond Chandler's Lady in the Lake, but it's never been used in a film like Hardcore Henry, which puts the audience in the center of a series of eye-opening action sequences. If you're seeking adrenaline — and don't suffer from motion sickness — it might be exactly what you're looking for.
What else is coming out: The Boss, a comedy about a disgraced billionaire (Melissa McCarthy) who attempts to reinvent herself after a prison stint for insider trading; Before I Wake, a horror movie about a couple (Kate Bosworth and Thomas Jane) whose newly adopted son has both dreams and nightmares that come true; Demolition, a drama about a grieving widower (Jake Gyllenhaal) attempting to build a new life with the help of a customer service employee (Naomi Watts) to whom he sent oddly personal letters; The Invitation, a psychological thriller about a dinner party that takes a strange turn when the hosts start pushing their new religion; Louder Than Bombs, a drama about a family (Gabriel Byrne, Jesse Eisenberg) dealing with their grief over the death of the family's matriarch; Mr. Right, an action/rom-com about a hit man (Sam Rockwell) who finds a new love (Anna Kendrick) amidst all the blood and bullets; Term Life, an action flick about a hit man on the run (Vince Vaughn, in the world's least convincing wig); High Strung, a musical drama about a New York dancer (Keenan Kampa) who embarks on a romance with a handsome busker (Nicholas Galitzine).
April 15
Green Room
What it is: A punk rock band goes on the run when they accidentally witness a group of skinhead neo-Nazis committing a murder.
Why you should care: In 2013, writer/director Jeremy Saulnier turned to Kickstarter to fund Blue Ruin — a bracingly original, brilliantly stripped-down action thriller that ended up being almost universally acclaimed. With that success under his belt, Saulnier didn't just get to skip the crowd-funding stage of his follow-up, Green Room; he attracted a top-notch cast, including Anton Yelchin, Alia Shawkat, and Imogen Poots. Best of all might be Patrick Stewart, playing against his warm, grandfatherly type as the fearsome leader of a group of vicious neo-Nazis, complete with an American accent.
What else is coming out: The Jungle Book, Disney's latest live-action adaptation of a beloved classic from its animated vault; Barbershop: The Next Cut, a belated sequel in the popular comedy franchise, with Ice Cube returning as the owner of the titular establishment; Criminal, a CIA action thriller with a premise as generic as its title; Rio, I Love You, the latest in a surprisingly durable string of anthology rom-coms set in a single city; The Adderall Diaries, a drama that offers an unwieldy blend of true-crime and don't-do-drugs drama, with James Franco as a troubled writer; Colonia, a period drama about a young woman (Emma Watson) who travels to Chile and joins a cult to discover the whereabouts of her missing boyfriend; Sing Street, a 1980s-set dramedy about a kid (Ferdia Walsh-Peelo) who starts a band to impress a girl; Paradox, a gimmicky genre flick that balances time-travel and slasher movie tropes.
April 22
Elvis & Nixon
What it is: A fictionalized dramedy based on the exceedingly unlikely encounter between Elvis Presley and then-President Richard Nixon.
Why you should care: When it comes to pop-cultural kitsch, you can hardly do better than the iconic picture of Elvis Presley and Richard Nixon shaking hands in the White House in December 1970. Elvis & Nixon's eccentric gloss on the real-life encounter was wise enough to cast two similarly eccentric actors: Kevin Spacey, doing a solid Nixon impression, and Michael Shannon, playing Elvis as a bug-eyed space cadet. It might turn out to be a genuinely insightful look at both historical figures, or it might just play like a feature-length Drunk History installment — but either way, it should be a fascinating and entertaining watch.
What else is coming out: The Huntsman: Winter's War, a Kristen Stewart-less sequel to the 2012 blockbuster Snow White and the Huntsman; Nina, a biopic of Nina Simone, which has drawn considerable controversy by casting the relatively light-skinned Zoe Saldana as the dark-skinned singer; Tale of Tales, a star-studded collection of stories that promise to return fairy tales to their grim origins; A Hologram for the King, an adaptation of the Dave Eggers novel of the same name, with Tom Hanks as a washed-up American businessman who reinvents himself in Saudi Arabia; Holidays, an anthology horror movie in which every entry is set on a different holiday; Compadres, an action-comedy about a tough-as-nails cop (Omar Chaparro) forced to team up with a nerdy teenaged hacker (Joey Morgan); The Meddler, a dramedy about a recently widowed woman (Susan Sarandon) who rebuilds her life after following her daughter (Rose Byrne) to Los Angeles; Precious Cargo, a bland action thriller about a pair of career criminals (Mark-Paul Gosselaar and Bruce Willis) going head-to-head over a big score.
April 29
Keanu
What it is: When their adorable kitten is stolen by a street gang, a pair of hapless friends (Keegan-Michael Key and Jordan Peele) team up to steal him back.
Why you should care: For everyone still stinging from Keegan-Michael Key and Jordan Peele's decision to end their popular Comedy Central series, Keanu should turn out to be the exact fix you've been waiting for. A feature-length version of a concept that would be right at home on Key & Peele, Keanu is like John Wick filtered through the duo's distinctive comedic sensibilities, offering clever, wacky, and pointed riffs on everything from gender to race to conventional movie tropes.
What else is coming out: Ratchet & Clank, a children's animated film based on the popular video game series about a fuzzy alien and his robot buddy; Mother's Day, a star-studded, Love Actually-esque comedy about mothers and the children who love them; Papa Hemingway in Cuba, a drama based on the true story of the friendship between Ernest Hemingway (Adrian Sparks) and a young journalist (Giovanni Ribisi); The Man Who Knew Infinity, a biopic of legendary mathematician Srinivasa Ramanujan (Dev Patel); The Family Fang, a drama about a pair of siblings (Nicole Kidman and Jason Bateman) attempting to track down their missing parents.
Scott Meslow is the entertainment editor for TheWeek.com. He has written about film and television at publications including The Atlantic, POLITICO Magazine, and Vulture.