April 2024 - Page 138 of 140 - CouRRier News Today

Prime is celebrating springtime by premiering Fallout, a big-budget show based on the video game series; a second season of anthology horror series THEM: The Scare; Música, an auteur romantic-comedy from internet celebrity Rudy Mancuso; and way more. Check below for the best new shows and movies on Prime in April, with a few timeless movie recommendations for fun.

Fallout

The Fallout video games are practically revered among gamers, so there will be a lot of critical eyes turned toward Prime’s TV series based on them. Luckily, Fallout’s executive producer Jonathan Nolan knows how to adapt a dystopian science fiction story—he created HBO’s Westworld. In classic Fallout style, the series is set 200 years after a nuclear apocalypse obliterated humanity, and begins with the hero, Lucy (Ella Purnell), stepping out of a Vault-Tec vault into a bombed-out Los Angeles. She’ll encounter gun-slinging ghouls, the power-suited Brotherhood of Steel soldiers, a Mr. Handy robot, and all kinds of “hey, I recognize that!” material from the games. Hit play to see if it lives up to its legacy.

Start streaming April 11

Dinner with the Parents

Don’t discount this original comedy series because it’s on FreeVee. Dinner with the Parents’ cast includes some of the funniest people who have ever been seen on a screen, including Dan Bakkedahl, Michaela Watkins, and Carol Kane—there’s even a YouTube star, Daniel Thrasher, for the kids. Adopted from wildly popular British sit-com Friday Night Dinner, each episode of Dinner with the Parents revolves around a family meal at the eccentric Langer family’s house, a meal that inevitably descends into chaos.

Starts streaming on FreeVee on April 18

Música

Camila Mendes from Riverdale and internet personality Rudy Mancuso star in this Amazon original romantic comedy. Mancuso co-wrote the screenplay and composed the music in Música too. Described as an “untraditional romantic comedy that moves to its own infectious beat,” Música tells the story of Rudy (natch) a charismatic Brazilian street performer with synesthesia—he experiences everyday noises as music. Rudy’s directionless life is turned inside-out when he meets Isabella (Mendes), a beautiful woman who works at a fish market and seems to understand him much better than his girlfriend.

Starts streaming April 4

THEM: The Scare

The second season Little Marvin’s horror anthology series is set in 1991 Los Angeles and stars Deborah Ayorinde as Dawn Reeve, an LAPD detective investigating a particularly grisly series of murders. With the city teetering on the edge of chaos, Reeve tracks down the killer, but begins to suspect that something worse than human evil may be behind the crimes, and it’s targeting her and her family. THEM: The Scare also stars Pam Grier as Athena Reeve, and that’s reason enough to check it out.

Starts streaming April 25

How to Date Billy Walsh

If you’re in the mood for a teenage love story, check out How to Date Billy Walsh. Set at a posh British boarding school, Billy Walsh tells the story of Archie’s lifelong crush on his best friend Amelia (Charithra Chandran). Just when Archie is ready to tell his pal how he feels, Amelia meets Billy Walsh, a handsome, charismatic American transfer student, and she falls hard. Complications, as they say, ensue, as Amelia tries to date Billy and Archie tries to secretly keep them apart. It may not be the most original story for a teen comedy, but it’s presented here with sincerity and wit.

Starts streaming April 5

Going Home with Tyler Cameron

This reality/renovation show chronicles former Bachelorette and current handsome boy Tyler Cameron’s quest to start a construction business in his hometown of Jupiter, Florida. We are meant to believe that Cameron has always dreamed of working in construction, and now that he no longer stars in a top-rated television show where a gaggle of attractive women compete for his affection, he is finally free to pursue his real passion: renovating other people’s houses. Each of the eight episodes of Going Home features a remodeled home, and the series also boasts appearances from reality TV stars like Matt James, Rachael Kirkconnell, Jason Tartick, and Hannah Brown.

Ong Bak – The Muay Thai Warrior (2003)

I sometimes forget how great martial arts movies can be, often for years, but then I’ll watch something like Ong-Bak and go, “wait, why do I ever watch any other kind of movies?” Tony Jaa turns in a performance on the level of Bruce Lee or Jackie Chan with his portrayal of Ting, who sets out from his small village to retrieve a stolen statue of Buddha. That plot, though, is secondary to the fight sequences. Shot in pre-digital, no-wire-work times, Jaa and the rest of the cast’s stunts and choreography will have you saying “Goddamn” or shaking your head in pure disbelief.

Starts streaming April 1

Jesus Christ Superstar (1973)

One thing I’ll say for him, Jesus is cool. A screening of Jesus Christ Superstar is an Easter tradition in my house, and it should be in yours too. The story of Judas’ betrayal of Jesus told through hippie-era acid rock, Jesus Christ Superstar works as both campy rock opera and as straight story-telling—the source material is pretty solid. Packed with great music by Andrew Lloyd Weber and featuring performances from talented long-hairs like Ted Neeley as Jesus Christ and Carl Anderson as Judas, Jesus Christ Superstar is so great, it almost makes me forget I’m an atheist.

Starts streaming April 1

Rosemary’s Baby (1968)

If you’re the kind of person who can separate an artist from their work, watch (or re-watch) Rosemary’s Baby, a masterpiece horror movie from director Roman Polanski. It’s strange that a criminal and reprobate like Polanski could have made a movie as progressive and pro-feminist as Rosemary’s Baby, but art is sometimes weird like that. Rosemary’s Baby’s pregnant-with-the-devil story works on the surface as a creepy slow-burn suspense/horror tale, but underneath is a scathing critique of the patriarchy, with powerless Rosemary systemically victimized and violated by everyone and everything in her supposedly perfect life. It’s still hard-hitting 55 years later, and it features stand-out performances from Mia Farrow, John Cassavetes, and Ruth Gordon.

Starts streaming April 1

The Holdovers (2023)

I can’t say enough positive things about The Holdovers. A character-driven drama directed by the great Alexander Payne, The Holdovers stars Paul Giamatti as Paul Hunham, a hardass classics instructor at a New England boarding school. Tasked with babysitting a crew of poor-little-rich-boys with nowhere to go over Christmas vacation, Hunham strikes up an unlikely friendship with troubled-but-intelligent delinquent Angus Tully (played by Dominic Sessa) and the school’s cook, Mary Lamb (a role for which actor Da’Vine Joy Randolph won an Academy Award). It’s the kind of movie that you know will make you cry about five minutes in, but the tears are honest, man.

Starts streaming April 29

Last month’s picks

Ricky Stanicky

Wrestler-turned-movie-star John Cena is always funnier than you think he’ll be, and Ricky Stanicky gives Cena the chance to sink his teeth into a hammy role as the title character. In this Amazon-produced comedy from director Peter Farrelly, Zac Efron, Andrew Santino, and Jermaine Fowler play Dean, JT, and Wes, lifelong pal who and have been pretending to have a friend to use as an alibi or scapegoat since they were kids—if they want a night out with the guys, they just say they’re visiting Ricky Stanicky in the hospital. When their partners become suspicious and demand to meet Stanicky, the trio hire “Rock Hard” Rod (John Cena), a washed-up actor who specializes in x-rated celebrity impersonations, to portray Ricky. Things quickly spiral out of control as Ricky refuses to drop the role and insinuates himself into every aspect of their lives.

Starts streaming March 1.

Road House

In the original Road House, Patrick Swayze played against type as the bouncer in rough Southern saloon. In the remake, it’s a jacked-up Jake Gyllenhaal doing the honors. He plays Elwood Dalton, a nice-seeming dude who used to be a UFC fighter. Down on his luck, Dalton takes a gig as security at a rundown roadhouse in the Florida Keys, but his new gig quickly leads beyond bouncing drunks toward confrontations with dangerous criminals. In his first acting job, MMA champion Conor McGregor plays the heavy, and finding out if he can act is enough reason to watch Road House by itself.

Starts streaming March 21.

Invincible, Season 2, Part 2

This animated superhero show has built up a large following for its R-rated action and compelling story, so the second half of season 2 appearing on Amazon is cause for celebration in nerd-circles. Invincible’s main character is 17-year-old Mark Grayson, a second-generation superhero living under the shadow of his famous dad, Omni-man, the most powerful man on the planet. According to Prime’s official show description, in the second part of season 2, “Mark goes back to college, reads his dad’s books, and nothing bad happens to him or his family. This is a very official synopsis.” So I’ll go with that.

Starts streaming on March 14.

Frida

This documentary explores the life and work of iconic artist Frida Kahlo using her own words taken from journals, letters, interviews and other primary source material, all illustrated with animations inspired by Kahlo’s art. First-time director Carla Gutiérrez had access to material never presented to the public before, and uses it to create a film that aims to go deeper than an art history lesson or just-the-facts biography.

Starts streaming March 14.

Boat Story

In this BBC-produced action series, a pair of down-on-their-luck strangers happen upon a shipwrecked boat that’s packed to the rafters with pure cocaine. They decide to sell it, but their get-rich-through-drug-sales scheme goes haywire when they get mixed up with the police, masked assassins, and “The Tailor,” a hardened gang-boss who wants his shipment of cocaine back. Boat Story was created by the people who made the excellent Netflix show The Tourist, and if even comes close to measuring up to that show, you won’t want to miss it.

Starts streaming on March 12.

Tig Notaro: Hello Again

Emmy and Grammy award-winning comedian Tig Notaro’s best jokes come from mining everyday life for comedy gold, and delivering it with a laid-back, friendly style. In Hello Again, she takes on domestic life, misunderstandings with clerks at the airport, and more.

Starts streaming on March 26.

Five Night At Freddy’s (2023)

The Five Nights at Freddy’s video games are considered best-of-the-best by many horror game fans, so the movie adaptation was eagerly awaited, particularly since the game’s creator is a producer and co-writer of the film. But does the tale of a kids’ pizza place haunted by animatronic monstrosities work as a movie? Depends on who you ask. Critics hated it, giving it a measly 32% on rotten tomatoes, but fans loved it, earring it an 87% audience score. All you can do is give it a shot and see where you land.

Starts streaming on March 5.

Minions: The Rise Of Gru (2022)

Everyone loves minions, but what even are they? Rise of Gru answers that and many other questions by presenting Gru’s origin story and his meet-cute with the minions, taking us back to the 1970s, when Gru was just a boy dreaming of world domination from his suburban bedroom. Minions: The Rise Of Gru features voice acting from Steve Carell, Russell Brand, Michelle Yeoh, and Julie Andrews as Gru’s mom, and the animation by best-in-the-world-except-Pixar animation company Illumination,

Starts streaming on March 26.

Netflix is opening the floodgates and unleashing a torrent of interesting and notable original movies and TV shows for April, including Ripley, a series based on the novel The Talented Mr. Ripley; The Scargiver, the second film in Zack Snyder’s epic space opera Rebel Moon; and Scoop, a look behind the BBC interview that took down a prince. There’s also a reboot of Good Times, Dead Boy Detectives, and more, more, more.

Ripley

Based on Patricia Highsmith’s novel The Talented Mr. Ripley, this series stars Dakota Fanning, Johnny Flynn, and Andrew Scott in the title role as Tom Ripley, a grifter and conman with too much charm and not enough morality. Director Steven Zaillian’s moody black-and-white visuals set the tone of Ripley’s chilling but glamorous life. After being hired by a wealthy industrialist to retrieve his wayward son from Italy, the ever-scheming Mr. Ripley sees an opportunity, and inserts himself into Dickie’s life, leading to a dark spiral of psychological abuse, mayhem, and murder. If you like plot twists and stylish wickedness, you’ll be very into Ripley.

Starts streaming April 4

Rebel Moon — Part Two: The Scargiver

The climax of Zack Snyder’s epic science fiction story promises a breakneck pace, larger-than-a-galaxy action sequences, and heroic characters battling impossible odds with everything on the line. Rebel Moon — Part Two: The Scargiver continues the story of Kora and her surviving allies as they face off against Admiral Atticus Noble and the Imperium legion. With the collective force of the Realm gathered to destroy them, this rag-tag band of rebels mounts a last stand to free the villagers of Veldt. In other words, it’s rip-roaring space adventure.

Starts streaming April 19

Scoop

This ripped-from-the-headlines films tells the story of how BBC’s Newsnight secured the TV interview with Prince Andrew that led to his downfall. Based on the account of Newsnight’s booker Sam McAlister, Scoop takes us behind the scenes of the scoop of the century, detailing how McAlister (played by Billie Piper) secured an “un-gettable” interview with Prince Andrew (Rufus Sewell), and how journalist Emily Maitlis (Gillian Anderson) grilled the prince on air about his connection to Jeffery Epstein, leading to his withdrawal from official royal duties.

Starts streaming April 5

Dead Boy Detectives

The ghosts at the center of Dead Boy Detectives don’t spend time haunting people; they solve crimes instead. Based on the comic from Neil Gaiman and Matt Wagner, and set in Gaiman’s Sandman universe, Dead Boy Detectives follows Edwin and Charles (George Rexstrew and Charles Rowland), best dead friends spending their afterlives solving supernatural crimes. With the help of their clairvoyant pal Crystal (Kassius Nelson), the Dead Boys will face off against witches, monsters, and other supernatural enemies to solve the earthly realms most baffling mysteries.

Starts streaming April 25

Good Times

With the help of executive producer Seth MacFarlane, Netflix has revived Norman Lear’s seminal 1970s sitcom Good Times and re-imagined it as an R-rated animated series. Featuring the voices of J.B. Smoove, Yvette Nicole Brown, Jay Pharoah, and more, Good Times tells the story of the latest generation of the Evans family who are scratching and surviving, hanging and jiving, in a Chicago housing project. The details have been modernized, but the theme of togetherness in the face of hard times remains the same.

Starts streaming April 12

Unlocked: A Jail Experiment

This documentary tells the fascinating story of a radical experiment conducted in an Arkansas jail. Faced with deteriorating conditions, mistreatment of prisoners, and a high recidivism rate, Sheriff Eric Higgins ordered all the cell doors opened and gave the prisoners the authority to make decisions about how the jail should be run. The goal was to see whether autonomy would result in a greater sense of community, a more humane lock-up, and fewer accused criminals returning to the clink. Check out Unlocked: A Jail Experiment to see how well it worked.

Starts streaming April 10

Baby Reindeer

This dark comedy series illustrates the adage “no good deed goes unpunished.” Written, directed, and starring comedian Richard Gadd, Baby Reindeer is a fictionalized version of real events in his life. Gadd plays bartender Donny Dunn, who shows kindness to a troubled customer named Martha. Dunn’s innocent altruism leads to Martha becoming obsessed and throwing both of their lives into chaos. Baby Reindeer consciously avoids the typical tropes of stories about stalkers, choosing to focus on the reality of what it’s like to be the center of an unhinged person’s world.

Starts streaming April 11

Files of the Unexplained

If you’re in the right mood, a docuseries about eerie encounters, unexplained disappearances, haunted houses, and UFOs hits the spot. Files of the Unexplained features eight episodes, with each exploring a different perplexing mystery including alien abduction, a spate of human feet washing up on beaches, and people seemingly vanishing into thin air. There’s probably a rational explanation for these events, but what if there isn’t?

Starts streaming April 3

Fern Brady: Autistic Bikini Queen

If you like stand-up comedy but you’re sick of the same old shizz, check out Fern Brady: Autistic Bikini Queen. The Scottish standup, podcaster, and writer’s unique life story, personality, and neurodivergence guarantees unique and screamingly funny takes on sex, drinking, autism, feminism, and everything else.

Starts streaming April 22

What Jennifer Did

When a Vietnamese immigrant couple is brutally slain in their home, police are baffled. The sole survivor of the crime, the couple’s daughter Jennifer, lays the blame on masked intruders on a rampage, but there’s something suspicious about her account. What Jennifer Did digs deeply into this shocking crime through interrogation footage of Jennifer and interviews with the people involved, revealing a story with unexpected twists, baffling motives, and a most unlikely perpetrator.

Starts streaming April 10

The Antisocial Network: Memes to Mayhem

This Netflix documentary pulls open the metaphorical cabinet of 4Chan so we can watch the online roaches scurry. As told by The Antisocial Network: Memes to Mayhem, 4chan started as an online hangout for creative homebound miscreants but devolved into a hive of scum and villainy that pierced the veil between the online and real worlds, turning our entire culture into a message board flame war in the process.

Starts streaming April 5

Our Living World

Cate Blanchett narrates this family-friendly nature documentary that travels the world to explore the interconnectedness of nature. Our Living World’s stunning wildlife photography, breathtaking locations, and timely and trenchant observations about the beauty and fragility of the natural world probably won’t slow mankind’s destruction of the planet by a single second, but you never know, and we might as well look at it while it’s here.

Starts streaming April 17

Last month’s picks

3 Body Problem

Created by Game of Thrones creators David Benioff and D.B. Weiss and based on the novels of Chinese writer Cixin Liu, the Netflix series 3 Body Problem is science fiction on a massive scale. Over its eight episodes, this series details an extraterrestrial invasion of Earth unfolding in slow motion. It begins with a spate of prominent scientists disappearing and continues through the upheaval the imminent occupation brings to earth when humanity divides into people who want to stop the occupation and those who welcome humanity’s new overlords.

Starts streaming on March 21

Shirley

This Netflix original biopic casts Oscar-winner Regina King as Shirley Chisholm, the first Black congresswoman, and details her groundbreaking run for president in 1972. Written and directed by John Ridley (12 Years a Slave, American Crime, Needle in a Timestack) and based on extensive interviews with Chisholm’s family and friends, Shirley gives viewers a you-are-there look at Chisholm’s courageous run.

Starts streaming on March 22

Spaceman

Adam Sandler is best known for his wacky comedies, but he’s a great actor when he feels like it. Netflix original Spaceman shows off Sandler’s deeper side, casting him as Jakub, an astronaut adrift in both outer space and his personal life. Six months into a solitary research mission on the fringes of the solar system, Jakub realizes his earthbound marriage is crumbling, and finds solace and advice from an unlikely source: Hanuš, an ancient, spider-like alien hiding in his ship. The film comes from director Johan Renck, who won an Emmy for HBO’s Chernobyl, and co-stars Carey Mulligan.

Starts streaming on March 1

The Gentlemen

There are tons of TV shows and movies that glamorize the golden age of the British aristocracy, but inheriting a title and an estate is a new kind of nightmare in The Gentlemen. When Eddie moves into his family’s ancestral mansion, he finds it a crumbling money pit with a drug dealing gang squatting on the crumbling estate. With no serfs to burn to keep warm, Eddie turns to crime to get by. Netflix advertises this series as “Old money meets drug money,” and that’s good enough for a click from me, but the show was created and directed by Guy “Two Smoking Barrels” Ritchie, so I might even click it twice.

Starts streaming on March 7.

Damsel

Stranger Things star Millie Bobby Brown plays Elodie in Damsel, a fantasy movie that turns fairytale tropes upside down. After her betrothal to a prince, Elodie learns that her fate isn’t to live happily ever after, but to be sacrificed to a dragon. To survive (and bring down the evil royal family who cast her into the dragon cave) Elodie will have to face the fire-breathing beast herself. No knight in shining armor is coming to save the day.

Starts streaming on March 8.

Irish Wish

To contrast the science fiction and fantasy, Netflix is dropping an old-fashioned romantic comedy, Irish Wish, just in time for Saint Patrick’s Day. Lindsay Lohan plays Maddie Kelly, a shy, lonely book editor and perpetual bridesmaid pining for her best friend’s fiancé. At her friend’s destination wedding in Ireland, Maddie makes a wish that magically comes true, and wakes up in an alternative reality where she’s the one set to walk down the aisle. As you might guess, Maddie soon learns the true meaning of the old adage “be careful what you wish for.”

Starts streaming March 15.

The Netflix Slam

Netflix is launching its live coverage of tennis with a blockbuster exhibition match that might go down in sports history. Carlos Alcaraz and Rafael Nadal, two Spanish athletes with a history and a classic rivalry, will face off in Las Vegas. Nadal is a veteran champion; his rival Alcaraz is a fiery young upstart looking to take the crown. Classic drama played out on the court.

The Netflix Slam airs live at at 12:30pm PST on March 3.

Bonnie and Clyde (1967)

You won’t find many better movies to watch this month (or any month) than Bonnie and Clyde. Arthur Penn’s 1967 crime drama stars Faye Dunaway and Warren Beatty as the title characters, and it practically invented the pulp-noire genre. The story of Clyde Barrow and Bonnie Parker’s crime spree/love affair set the blueprint for stylishly violent flicks to come like Natural Born Killers, Thelma & Louise, and everything Tarantino ever shot. If you want to hear the other side of the B&C story, Netflix’s The Highwaymen portrays the dudes who caught Bonnie and Clyde (but it’s only so-so as a film.)

Starts streaming on March 1.

The Program: Cons, Cults and Kidnapping

This unsettling documentary details the scary world of the “troubled teen” industry, where children are kidnapped and forced to live in horrendous conditions in often abusive institutions, all with the blessing of their parents. Through interviews with traumatized survivors, The Program: Cons, Cults and Kidnapping digs up copious dirt on The Academy at Ivy Ridge in Ogdensburg, NJ, a “disciplinary boarding school” that was rocked with accusations of abuse and torture before being shuttered in 2009.

Starts streaming on March 6.

Hannah Gadsby’s Gender Agenda

Award-winning comedian Hannah Gadsby hosts some of earth’s funniest genderqueer comics at London’s Alexandra Palace Theatre in Hannah Gadsby’s Gender Agenda. The program includes sets from ALOK, Chloe Petts, DeAnne Smith, Ashley Ward, Jes Tom, Mx. Dahlia Belle, and Krishna Istha. Reading all the negative comments on the YouTube trailer made this into a must-see for me; if these jerks are being triggered, Netflix must be doing something right.

Starts streaming March 5.

Full Swing, Season 2

I’m morally and professionally opposed to golf and all things golf-related, but I’m willing to change my mind. A lot of people enjoy the sport, and this docuseries following a diverse group of professional golfers competing at the sport’s biggest events might be enough to change my opinion. To add to the drama: This is a Ryder Cup year, and the PGA is in a state of flux after its agreement to partner with the Public Investment Fund of Saudi Arabia, backers of LIV Golf.

Starts streaming March 6.

Supersex

Supersex is a Netflix original bio-series detailing the life of porn star Rocco Siffredi, who rose from humble roots in a small Italian village to the heights of a unique kind of fame as an iconic, international sex celebrity. The series was created and written by Francesca Manieri, whose previous show, We are Who We Are, was as inclusive, woke, and feminist as anything, so this should be a very interesting take on Siffredi’s life and profession.

Starts streaming on March 6.

Chicken Nugget

In this straight-from-Korea Netflix comedy, a father accidentally transforms his daughter into a chicken nugget. I didn’t make that up; that’s really what happens in Chicken Nugget. I haven’t seen it yet, but I feel confident proclaiming Chicken Nugget the greatest movie ever made.

Starts streaming March 15.

Bodies Bodies Bodies (2022)

Director Halina Reijn’s Gen-Z horror movie Bodies Bodies Bodies is like Euphoria with murder. A group of stylish, callow rich people travel to a remote mansion to party, but things go violently wrong. It’s a well-worn premise but it’s presented in an up-to-the-second style, with stars like Pete Davidson, Maria Bakalova, and Rachel Sennott playing the kinds of love-to-hate characters you don’t mind seeing get murdered.

Starts streaming on March 20.

Is it Cake?, season 3

Sometimes you want to watch a TV show about whether or not various things are cake, and Is it Cake?is by far the best series ever made based on that concept. Incredibly skilled bakers from around the country compete for cash prizes by creating realistic-but-edible versions of everyday objects in hopes of fooling a panel of guest judges. Saturday Night Live’s Mikey Day returns as host, and guest judges include Jay Pharoah, Lauren Lapkus, London Hughes, Oscar Nuñez, and many others.

Starts streaming March 29.