Plus: Dev Patel’s directorial debut, ‘The People’s Joker,’ and a new Guy Ritchie flick
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What can you say about a month of entertainment that opens with a TV series about a charming sociopath and closes with a movie about tennis players in love? It’s tempting to say there’s something for everyone to watch but, more accurately, April offers a lot of choices for those with specific tastes. From the theater to streaming services like Prime Video and Max, the best movies and TV shows to watch are all here, along with some returning favorites like Star Trek: Discovery on Paramount+, which kicks off its fifth and final season this month. But first, let’s plunge into a black-and-white world that’s home to a familiar name.
Ripley (Netflix, April 4)
Patricia Highsmith’s sociopathic antihero Tom Ripley has been played by by everyone from Matt Damon (The Talented Mr. Ripley) to Alain Delon (Purple Noon) to John Malkovich (Ripley’s Game) to Dennis Hopper (The American Friend). And with good reason: He’s a fascinating character whose ability to make others see him as they want to often has fatal consequences. This new take created by Steven Zallian (The Night Of) stars Andrew Scott (All of Us Strangers) as Ripley and adapts the first novel in the long-running series, The Talented Mr. Ripley. Its striking black-and-white photography suggests this will offer a different take than the excellent Anthony Minghella film. Stream it on Netflix
The First Omen (Theaters, April 5)
Editor’s picks
In the 1976 film The Omen a conspiracy within the Vatican itself leads to the birth of the Antichrist. But did you ever wonder how that conspiracy worked? Either way, this prequel has the answers for you. Get tickets on Fandango
Monkey Man (Theaters, April 5)
Playing a character known only as Kid, Dev Patel makes his directorial debut with the Mumbai-set action film Monkey Man. Patel has cited films like Enter the Dragon and The Raid as influences though, it should be noted, neither featured characters kicking ass while wearing a monkey mask. Get tickets on Fandango
Girls State (Apple TV+, April 5)
Jesse Moss and Amanda McBaine’s terrific 2020 film followed a session of Boys State, an annual experiment in democracy in which a group of teenage boys attempt to form a government. This companion piece does the same for its parallel experiment, Girls State, following a group of girls form Missouri as they also try to build a democratic government from scratch. Stream it on Apple TV+
The People’s Joker (Theaters, April 5)
When this pointed send-up of the Batman universe made its premiere at Toronto in 2022 it looked like it might never see the light of day. Starring and directed by Vera Drew (who co-wrote the film with Bri LeRose), it supplies the origin story of an alternate universe version of The Joker, a transgender woman in a world overseen by a right-wing Batman. This, naturally, raised copyright issues, but also issues of fair use. The latter having apparently won, the much-liked film is now making a belated arrival in theaters. The movie’s distributor Altered Innocence called the film the “funniest, queerest, and wildest transgender coming-of-age parody film set in the Batman universe that also will make your momma cry. Get psyched!!!” Get tickets on Fandango
Dinosaur (Hulu, April 5)
Set in Glasgow and created by Matilda Curtis and Ashley Storrie, this new series stars Ashley Storrie as Nina, an autistic paleontologist who lives with her sister Evie (Kat Romney). Together, they balance each other out, but that balance becomes threatened when Evie suddenly and unexpectedly decides to marry. Stream it on Hulu
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Sugar (Apple TV+, April 5)
Colin Farrell stars in this new mystery series in which he plays a Hollywood private eye looking for a producer’s missing granddaughter. Amy Ryan, Kirby, and James Cromwell round out the cast. Stream it on Apple TV+
Hapless (Peacock, April 10)
Created by Gary Sinyor, this British comedy series stars Tim Downie as Paul Green, an investigative journalist for a small UK Jewish newspaper with a habit of saying the wrong thing at the wrong time. The show, already in its second season in the UK as it debuts here, has earned comparisons to both Curb Your Enthusiasm and Fawlty Towers. Stream it on Peacock
Fallout (Prime Video, April 11)
Adapting the popular video game franchise, this post-apocalyptic thriller is set in the ruins of a nuclear war-ravaged America. Ella Purnell stars as Lucy, a woman who has to survive an unfamiliar world after spending her childhood in isolation. Walton Goggins co-stars as a character called “The Ghoul,” which alone makes the series sound promising. Stream it on Prime Video
Civil War (Theaters, April 12)
Depicting a cataclysm in a much nearer future version of America, the latest from Alex Garland (Ex Machina, Annihilation) concerns life in a quickly fracturing United States, as seen through the eyes of journalists trying to cover it. Kirsten Dunst leads a cast that includes Stephen McKinley Henderson, Nick Offerman, and Jesse Plemons. Get tickets on Fandango
Franklin (Apple TV+, April 12)
Michael Douglas stars as Benjamin Franklin in this new miniseries that follows the inventor/journalist/statesman/all-around renaissance man to France as he attempts to win support for the Revolutionary War. Stream it on Apple TV+
The Sympathizer (HBO, April 14)
Viet Thanh Nguyen’s Pulitzer-winning 2015 novel tells the story of a North Vietnamese spy who continues his duties after beginning a new life in the United States. A delicate potent of satire and real-world politics, it’s the source for this new series starring Hoa Xuande and co-created by Don McKellar (Last Night) and Park Chan-wook (The Handmaiden, The Little Drummer Girl). Stream it on Max
The Ministry of Ungentlemanly Warfare (Theaters, April 19)
The latest film from the always-busy Guy Ritchie finds the Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels director telling a fact-inspired story about British spies in a newly formed espionage division using black ops to foil the Nazis during World War II. Henry Cavill plays the lead of the bunch, joined by Eiza González and Henry Golding. Get tickets on Fandango
Dead Boy Detectives (Netflix, April 25)
A kind of companion series to Sandman, Dead Boy Detectives features characters introduced in the Neil Gaiman-scripted comic series, a pair of young gumshoes played by George Rexstrew and Jayden Revere. The twist? Well, look at the title. Stream it on Netflix
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Challengers (Theaters, April 26)
Luca Guadagnino has never been easy to predict so it makes a certain amount of sense that his follow-up to the cannibals-in-love tale Bones and All would be a love triangle set in the world of professional tennis. Zendaya, Josh Connor, and Mike Faist play the triangle’s three points. Get tickets on Fandango
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