April's Most Anticipated Films
by Brian Eggert
The below list of theatrical releases includes this site’s Most Anticipated Films for April 2011. The choices—based on the quality of actors, director, story, and trailers—are pure guesswork and have no bearing on the inevitable review. For a complete list of upcoming releases and their respective movie trailers, visit the Calendar.
April 1:
Source Code
Writer-director Doug Jones made his first film in 2009 with Moon, an exercise in sci-fi minimalism that bettered most feature film debuts in style alone. He remains in the science-fiction genre for his follow-up, Source Code, from Ben Ripley’s screenplay. While making someone else’s material allows him to develop his talents as a director, the trailer already shows some questionable time travel logic, which is always the trouble with any movie about time travel (especially when Gyllenhaal is involved, as Prince of Persia proved). But that’s a conversation better left until we see the movie. Nevertheless, stars Jake Gyllenhaal, Vera Farmiga, Jeffrey Wright, and Michelle Monaghan make a promising cast, and the production appears to be a major step up for Jones. And since Jones has announced that he will continue making works of science-fiction, no doubt there’s an inevitable epic waiting to be made. Click here for the trailer.
Super
Debuting from IFC on April 1, Super is this year’s Kick-Ass, being an action-comedy about homemade superheroes. Writer-director James Gunn, whose last film was the underrated blast Slither, ventures into nerd territory once more with Rainn Wilson and Ellen Page, who star as Average Joes that don do-it-yourself costumes to, um, kick ass. Wilson’s character plays a loser who decides to stop crime after his wife leaves him for Kevin Bacon. IFC picked the film up from Sundance and since they’re distributing, that should indicate this isn’t mainstream fare brimming with special FX and elaborate fight sequences—rather more comedy based. Distribution probably won’t reach beyond arthouse theaters, but those of you with VOD services can enjoy the film for a nominal fee without leaving home. Click here for the trailer.
April 8:
Hanna
The formal skill of director Joe Wright makes Hanna pregnant with possibility. Maybe that’s an inappropriate choice of words, however, since the movie is about a 16-year-old female assassin trained by her father to exact revenge on the CIA. But in Wright’s Atonement and his update of Pride and Prejudice, he displays incredible control and clarity while using elaborate tracking shots and flowing camerawork. Here’s hoping he brings such technical flourishes here. The cast of this The Professional-turned-upside-down includes Saoirse Ronan as the young killer, Eric Bana as her father, and Cate Blanchett as the shady CIA operative trying to bring them down. Moreover, the Chemical Brothers wrote all-new music for the film, which means the soundtrack alone deserves your attention. The world needs more drama-infused action films helmed by visually respectable directors. Click here for the trailer.
Your Highness
As collaborators and friends, actor Danny McBride and indie filmmaker David Gordon Green conceived of Your Highness in film school, but only now, after their last effort The Pineapple Express, has the otherwise nuanced style of Gordon Green proved itself capable of a large-scale comedy. Inspired by 1980s fantasy films, everything from Excalibur to Monty Python and the Holy Grail to The Princess Bride, the adventure follows a snooty prince (McBride) who teams with a brave knight (James Franco) to save a princess. Also starring are recent Oscar-winner Natalie Portman as a female warrior and Justin Theroux as a villainous wizard. The production looks filled with action and mythical creatures and stoner humor, but constructed by detailed hands. Should be fun. Click here for the trailer.
April 15:
Scream 4
Filled with a fresh-faced bunch of youngsters to continue the 1990s-2000s franchise that fizzled out oh-so disappointingly, Scream 4 claims to be both a sequel and reboot of the Wes Craven slasher series. Neve Campbell, Courtney Cox, and David Arquette return in their standard roles, but perhaps one or more will die this time around and allow the younger cast to take over. That would certainly be a departure from the previous trilogy; the Weinsteins will have to come up with something newfangled if they want to snag younger audiences with a much-belated sequel. With the last ten years of zombies, torture porn, and found footage slop mucking-up the genre, it’s curious to see where this Kevin Williamson-scripted appendage will go, especially since the last sequel gloriously failed to transcend its sources like the still-edgy original. Click here for the trailer.
April 22:
African Cats
Following Earth and Oceans, This makes year three in Disneynature’s annual run of nature documentaries. African Cats is a family-based tale centered on footage of a lion pride and cheetah mother tending to her cubs. You can’t really go wrong here, as the trailer’s footage looks simply gorgeous, and with every ticket purchased in the opening week Disney makes a donation to save the African savanna. Also opening this month is the decidedly less interesting Born to Be Wild, a cutesy nature doc narrated by Morgan Freeman, about young orangutans and elephants adopted by willing families. The human element in that film, both on and offscreen, may be its downfall, whereas Disneynature realizes that there’s drama enough in life sans humanity. Click here for the trailer.
Water for Elephants
No, Water for Elephants isn’t yet another nature documentary coming in April, rather a Hollywood adaptation of the best-selling book by Sara Gruen. In a curious move, Fox hired Constantine and I Am Legend helmer Francis Lawrence to direct, although to my knowledge the story requires no badly animated CGI monsters. Instead, Twilight heartthrob Robert Pattinson stars as a Depression-era college dropout who joins the circus, falls in love (with Reese Witherspoon), and tests the cruel powers of the show’s ringmaster (Christoph Waltz). The result could prove that Pattinson is more than just a pretty set of fangs, which is needed if he ever expects to live down his star-making turn as a vampire. With any luck, this will defy mixed expectations and be surprisingly good on all fronts. Click here for the trailer.
One Film You Shouldn't See
April 8 :
Hop
Here’s a half-animated movie from the director of Alvin and the Chipmunks about a rockin’ rabbit who rebels against being the next Easter Bunny. Hop features the voice talent of Russell Brand (who stars in the remake of Arthur, also due in April), whose bunny character lives on Easter Island (what?!), poops jelly beans (yes, really), and has a grasp of pop-culture lingo (of course). The computer-animated character interacts with live-action players James Marsden and Elizabeth Perkins, and all kinds of silly antics ensue. From Illumination Entertainment (Despicable Me), this commercial-of-a-movie will undoubtedly make oodles of dough on its opening weekend, and then even more on Easter weekend a few weeks later. And no matter how edgy the movie tries to be with its “wacky” humor, it’s still a glorified advertisement for Cadbury and Peeps. Click here for the trailer.