The month of April is coming to a close, so it’s the perfect time to discuss and rank all of the movies that were released theatrically and dropped on various streaming platforms. We had some great film this time of year but that’s not to say that April had some big disappointments or complete miscalculations. As for the theatrical business, the success of The Super Mario Bros. Movie is another sign of proof that theatrical distribution is here to stay and it ain’t going nowhere. Some of the releases this month were technically 2022 films when you consider that a small number of them had premieres at certain festivals last year, but were then given a wider theatrical release. Nevertheless, it’s time we look back at all the films that came out in April and rank based on my personal preferences.
#14 MAFIA MAMMA
This has a real shot for being not only the worst movie of the year, but maybe one of the year’s biggest question marks that the year has had to offer thus far. From my understanding, everyone seems to love Toni Collette. She’s always been a respected and talented actress but it her Oscar worthy performance in Ari Aster’s Hereditary that brought her back in the best way possible. She was even terrific in the first Knives Out, which was a huge ensemble of great talent, but she was still able to stand on her own as were everyone else. Beyond all that, Toni Collette is a wonderful and gifted talent and it broke my heart watching her give a slocky, cringy and ridiculous performance in Mafia Mamma, a movie that is far too silly for its own good and a movie that attempts on making an entire spoof/satire on Italian culture in the worst way possible. Everything about this movie turns to death. You’re better off skipping this or seeing anything else.
#13 GHOSTED
The same way I feel about Mafia Mamma is essentially the same way I feel about Ghosted but almost way worse. Chris Evans and Ana de Armas are some of the best working actors in the business today. Heck, they had superb chemistry in Knives Out so it’s pretty much a guarantee that if they ever did another movie together that their dynamic would shine again. It’s also boggling to know that Dexter Fletcher was the director of this movie. He doesn’t have a ton of credits to his name, but his best film (in my estimation) in Eddie the Eagle is evidence that the man has talent. I might prefer this movie a tad bit to Mafia Mamma, but Ghosted is one of the year’s biggest atrocities ever. Chris Evans and Ana de Armas had ZERO chemistry in this and we all should have had second thoughts about this film when Apple dropped that one clip online and the internet was already ripping the film apart. However, a clip is just a clip and everything needs to be judged in context and in its context it still doesn’t work. Other than the awful chemistry, the action is generic, the comedy is bland and the rest of the movie feels too ludicrous to take seriously. Despite the cool cameos, this movie down right sucks.
#12 PAINT
Part of me completely understood the type of approach the filmmakers had when making Paint. At the same time, it was very perplexing and frustrating to watch simultaneously. The biggest criticism with Paint is that it ultimately struggles to give any kind of true identity. Is it trying to be a satire? Is it supposed to be a comedy? Or is it shop to be a drama? What this really narrows down to is the script and how many issues it was riddled with. There isn’t a soul to this movie and even though Owen Wilson’s performance as Carl Nargle was interesting enough, the rest of the movie is empty calories.
#11 BEAU IS AFRAID
Maybe the biggest disappointment of 2023, which is a bummer considering this was made by A24’s darling Ari Aster. He came out of nowhere with Hereditary and I still am very much a proponent for his follow up film in Midsommar. Originally titled Disappointment Blvd., the movie had been in the works for awhile and a lot of people assumed that the movie would get a release sometime in 2022 when you consider started production in the summer of 2022. Aster was going two to two in the directors chair and there was a lot of hype for his third and final directing effort. The theme of the bottom half of this list is once again the idea of feeling frustrated and my experience watching Beau is Afraid was profoundly frustrating. While the performances are strong and Ari Aster’s direction is well composed, this movie looses all of its steam after the first hour. To give credit where credit is due, Ari Aster is a master at creating sequences of uncomfortable moments and superb tension. There’s a brief number of aspects like that sprinkled throughout this movie, but after the first hour of the film has wrapped up, Aster’s imagination spirals all over the place to the point where one looses interest and any kind of investment. I know there are people out there where Beau is Afraid worked for them and I completely respect those sentiments. It’s when you’ve got a masterclass filmmaker playing too much his own toys and displays some unique filmmaking choices but the story and themes loose so much significance, something for me doesn’t add up.
#10 THE POPE’S EXORCIST
For a horror movie that had the look of a throwaway and generic produced studio movie, The Pope’s Exorcist is surprisingly more enjoyable than it had any business being. At its core, its very standard and pretty much serves to mainstream expectations for horror movies, but it’s far more of entertaining ride that features some cool horror moments and a fun and committed performance from the great Russell Crowe. The movie features shades of a Sam Raimi film and offers some cool mythology that centered around true events and real characters. Despite how unoriginal the movie feels, its tons of fun.
#9 PETER PAN & WENDY
As long as Disney is in charge of remaking their animated classics and adapting them into live-action formats, no one should expect anything different. I still contend that the majority of the live-action Disney movies have been winners, with a few hiccups. But when you bring on filmmakers like David Lowery to your Disney film, you’re in for something that’s radically different than the other live-action Disney movies. With A Ghost Story, The Green Knight and even the remake of Pete’s Dragon, Lowery offers an independent style with stakes and a scale that still feel pretty large to say the least. Peter Pan & Wendy is by no means the best of the live-action Disney adaptations, but its a swashbuckling and whimsical film, that plays with its own mythos in a variety of ways that change the original films and stay true to the source material. Far and away, the best part of the movie is the performance that Jude Law gives as Captain Hook. Serving as one Disney’s best animated villains, Jude Law brings a playfulness and charismatic quality to the character that differs from the list of actors that have played the character in the past. Maybe the best thing that this adaptation of Peter Pan that’s different than the other ones is that it enhances Captain Hook and Peter Pan’s relationship in a genuine way that we haven’t seen on screen before. There’s more depth and complexity. Again, not the best live-action Disney movie but a good one overall.
#8 CHEVALIER
Serving as the first 2022 movie on this list, Chevalier is one of those rare biopics that I’m glad I got to witness and learn more about something I never learned much about in my time at school. For a movie that’s full of of passion and confidence, even if the conventionality in the narrative is noticeable, the heart and soul comes down to the performance from Kelvin Harrison Jr. This is easily the best performance he’s given in his career and it beautifully elevates the crux of this movie to a whole other level of excellence, and for a movie that that centers around one of the most important figures in the history of music, the music is also very well done and it’s inspired me to go back and dig more into the history of Chevalier de Saint-Georges.
#7 RENFIELD
If you were to tell me that the great Nicolas Cage was to play Count Dracula then I’d make it a top priority of mind to see that movie the second it opens in theaters. Renfield not only gives us a blood-soaking, action packed thrill ride that’s full of guts, gore, but it also gives us a wonderful and over the top performance from Nicolas Cage. It also is a testament to how good Nicholas Hoult has become as a performer. In the past he’s worked at his best when he’s a supporting player but he does a magnificent job of commanding the screen as a lead role. The only fault the movie has is the character of Awkwafina is pretty much a throwaway and the violence and comedy might be a bit overtop in certain moments but for the most part I was all for it.
#6 SISU
The marketing of Sisu sold me right from the beginning and now having seen the movie, this was exactly what I wanted from this movie. Brutal kills, a badass action hero who barely says one line of dialogue, kick ass music and just pure adrenaline for the entire runtime. The only challenging aspect of the movie is to actually suspend your disbelief in what our main character gets involved in. Despite the movie being centered around a historical event in WWII, it’s sort of playing with its own rules by placing itself during a global war but outside of it at the same time. So if you fully embrace the kind of action/revenge movie this is then I think you can have a ball with this because I certainly did.
#5 THE SUPER MARIO BROS. MOVIE
We can say what ever we want about how The Super Marion Bros. Movie is light on story and how awfully fast paced of movie it is especially when you consider how short the runtime is, but the entire job of this movie was to hit those nostalgic moments with the sound effects, Brian Tyler’s excellent and expressive music and thousands of Easter eggs that will make the die hard fans oozing for more. The Super Marion Bros. Movie is no where near being a perfect movie by any means but its a joyous, action-packed and stunning animated feature that’s ultimately targeted for the fans of brand. The voice acting worked across the board, especially Jack Black, Seth Rogen and surprisingly Chris Pratt and it’s really just a fun movie.
#4 ARE YOU THERE GOD? IT’S ME, MARGARET
The thing you have to keep in mind is that I am the complete opposite demographic for movie like this. My expectations for this movie were average because it seemed to be a movie that played things safe and close to the chest and not being some innovative entertainment piece. Are You There God? It’s Me, Margaret is not some inventive arthouse piece and it does play things safe, but damn the execution of the baby is exceptional. Everything is accomplished so wonderfully that it made my heart smile. The movie is exceptionally powerful in its messages on growing up and just finding the religion that works for you. We need to keep our eyes on Abby Ryder Fortson because she gives a sensational performance in this.
#3 GUY RITCHIE’S THE COVENANT
I’m convinced that this is Guy Ritchie’s world and we’re just living in it. Say what you will, but I’m so thankful that Guy Ritchie is making the movies that he wants to make Not to say that should be the case for every working director, but Guy Ritchie making all these movies seems to be a blessing. Guy Ritchie’s The Covenant is more proof that he’s ruling the world right now, especially when he finally got Operation Fortune to hit theaters only a month ago. This movie is the best he’s been at in awhile. The action in this hits hard, the music & visual palette embark everything about Ritchie’s style but the writing (for the majority) felt very different than what I would expect from a Guy Ritchie movie. Jake Gyllenhaal is magnificent as usual but Dar Salim is maybe the best part of the movie and the chemistry between these two was off the charts.
#2 EVIL DEAD RISE
I’m so blessed that Warner Bros. gave this movie a theatrical release instead of dumping it on HBO Max because the quality and the experiential palette of this movie was meant to be seen on the big screen with an audience but an audience that are fans of The Evil Dead franchise. It’s been ten years since the Evil Dead reboot/sequel that Fede Álvarez directed and now we take the franchise in an entire different location and tapping in the director’s chair is Irish filmmaker Lee Cronin. Evil Dead Rise might go harder than almost any other Evil Dead film that has come before it. By focusing and stroking all the ingredients that makes this franchise so unique, Evil Dead Rise is a lean, ferocious, gore machine that serves as a perfect entry into such a legendary series of movies.With endearing and heartfelt characters, the wonderful homages and all the blood & guts, Evil Dead Rise is a punk rock concert that never runs out of of steam.
#1 AIR
I know some will say it’s too early for Oscar consideration but if this year’s Best Picture winner in Everything Everywhere All at Once has told us anything is that its never too early and Ben Affleck’s Air is not only the best movie of April but it’s the best movie of the year thus far. Granted, we are only in April and we still need see what the next eight months have to offer at the theater. That being said, Air is another slam dunk from director Ben Affleck who proves that he’s still one of the best directors working today. It’s an inspirational movie about the sports industry and the impact the Michael Jordan had on an entire generation of sports fans the performances are top notch, the writing is great and the humor and drama couple each other seamlessly. This is what movies are all about.
Zane's take at the Cinema's 