2014 Preview: April

Welcome back to Rhode Island Movie Corner’s year-long preview of the films set to come out during 2014. This is Part 3 of 11 (formerly 12) and today we’ll be looking at the lineup of films hitting theaters this April, including the first of four superhero films (all by Marvel, by the way) that are set for release this year.

APRIL 4- Marvel starts off the month with the sole release of the weekend.

*The Marvel Cinematic Universe returns with ‘Captain America: The Winter Soldier’, the follow-up to both 2011’s ‘Captain America: The First Avenger’ as well as ‘The Avengers’. This new film is directed by brothers Joe and Anthony Russo, who are mainly known for their work on the show ‘Community’. Chris Evans reprises his role as the titular Captain America who in this film teams up with Black Widow (Scarlett Johansson, also reprising her role from previous MCU films) to deal with a new enemy- the Winter Soldier (Sebastian Stan). Samuel L. Jackson, Cobie Smulders, and Hayley Atwell (among others) reprise their roles from previous MCU films alongside Evans and Johansson and are joined in this one by Anthony Mackie as ‘The Falcon’ and Robert Redford as Alexander Pierce, a senior leader of S.H.I.E.L.D.

APRIL 11- We got a trio of films this weekend; a sports film, a horror film, and an animated sequel.

*One of two major sports films hitting theaters these next two months, ‘Draft Day’ is directed by Ivan Reitman (‘Ghostbusters’, ‘Twins’). Kevin Costner stars as the general manager of the Cleveland Browns, who looks to land the number one draft pick in the upcoming NFL Draft in the hopes of turning the franchise’s luck around. The film also stars Jennifer Garner and Denis Leary.

*Blumhouse Productions, the studio behind ‘Paranormal Activity’ and ‘Insidious’ returns with their latest horror flick, ‘Oculus’. Karen Gillan (‘Doctor Who’) stars as a young woman who tries to prove that her brother Tim (Brenton Thwaites) wasn’t responsible for shooting their father, who in turn had killed their mother. Instead, they look to prove that these murders were caused by an evil entity that possesses an antique mirror that they own.

*2011’s ‘Rio’, from Blue Sky Studios, was a solid hit both critically and commercially when it first came out. This weekend, Blue Sky returns to this franchise with ‘Rio 2’. The majority of the cast from the original film (including Jesse Eisenberg, Anne Hathaway, Jamie Foxx, and George Lopez among others) return for this film, which sees the main characters Blu and Jewel (Eisenberg and Hathaway, respectively) leave Rio for the Amazon where they come across Jewel’s father Eduardo (Andy Garcia). Newcomers to the cast include Garcia, Bruno Mars, and Kristin Chenoweth.  

APRIL 18- The most crowded movie week of April sees four new releases, including a Disney documentary and the directorial debut of a long-time cinematographer.

*Since 2008, Disney has been producing a series of documentary films under their newly established ‘Disneynature’ banner. Their newest film, ‘Bears’, hits theaters this weekend. It will focus on two mother bears and their journeys with their young cubs. The film is narrated by John C. Reilly.

*Last year’s ‘A Haunted House’ performed solidly enough at the box office (on a low budget) despite very negative reviews from critics (including one from me; if you recall, this was my pick for the fifth worst film of 2013… but moving on.). It gets a sequel, ‘A Haunted House 2’, which again follows Marlon Wayans’ character Malcolm as he moves in with his new girlfriend and her family but again has to deal with paranormal occurrences, including the return of his possessed ex-girlfriend Kisha (Essence Atkins).

*The following film opens two days early on April 16^th; ‘Heaven is for Real’ is an adaptation of the 2010 novel of the same name by Todd Burpo and Lynn Vincent. It centers on the four-year-old son of Burpo (played in the film by Greg Kinnear), a pastor from Nebraska, who goes through a near-death experience but comes out of it saying that he had gone to Heaven.

*‘Transcendence’ marks the directorial debut of Wally Pfister, most known for being director Christopher Nolan’s go-to cinematographer, having done all of his films since 2000’s ‘Memento’ (excluding the upcoming ‘Interstellar’; Nolan is also an executive producer on this film). Johnny Depp stars as an A.I. researcher looking to create a machine that achieves technological singularity, a moment when artificial intelligence has become smarter than humans. When he is targeted by a group of extremists and is fatally injured, his wife Evelyn (Rebecca Hall) proceeds to upload his conscience into a computer, allowing him to continue working on his vision. The film also stars Morgan Freeman, Paul Bettany, Cillian Murphy, and Kate Mara.

APRIL 25- The month closes out with two films; a romantic comedy and an action film starring the late Paul Walker.

*One of the last films to star Paul Walker before his untimely death this past November, ‘Brick Mansions’, produced by Luc Besson, centers on a cop who infiltrates a drug lord’s gang in an attempt to take him down. This film is a remake of the 2004 French film ‘District 13’ (also produced by Besson). The film also stars parkour founder David Belle (who also starred in ‘District 13’) and RZA.

*‘The Notebook’ director Nick Cassavetes’ newest film is ‘The Other Woman’, a romantic comedy starring Cameron Diaz as a woman who learns that her boyfriend (Nikolaj Coster-Waldau) is cheating on her, but actually begins to befriend his new ‘lover’ (Leslie Mann). Then, the two of them find that they’re both being cheated on and team up with the third woman (Kate Upton) in order to get back at the man in their lives.

And those are the films that are coming out this April. Check back next week for Part 4 where we’ll be looking at the lineup of films hitting theaters in May AKA the first major summer blockbuster month of the year.