Frequent co-stars Finn Wolfhard and Billy Bryk wrote, directed and co-star in summer-camp slasher throwback Hell of a Summer, which first premiered at TIFF in 2023 and also stars Fred Hechinger and Adam Pally. Acknowledging that horror films may be increasingly common these days, our are responding positively to this one. Jacob reckons it “doesn’t reinvent the wheel but it’s clearly not intended to. It knows the genre and has so much fun with it.” “A very effective homage to ’80s summer-camp slashers,” says Joe. Zachary advises that it “should be seen in a packed theater for all the laughs and gnarly kills.” Now in select US theaters.

Perhaps unfortunately timed to release just after The Studio debuts with an ongoing storyline about developing a Kool-Aid movie (as Slim points out), A Minecraft Movie is Hollywood’s latest attempt to spin widely known intellectual property into box-office gold. There are notable talents involved here—Napoleon Dynamite director Jared Hess is at the helm, and the cast is led by the always reliable Jack Black (who previously worked with Hess on Nacho Libre), Jason Momoa and Danielle Brooks. Plus it was shot in New Zealand, where Letterboxd originates! “Listen… I had a lot of fun with this,” protests Gavin, seemingly acknowledging the naysayers. Sully is somewhat more direct: “For a film that I was expecting to be one of the worst of the entire year, I got a surprising amount of laughs and entertainment out of it.” Now in theaters the world over.

Filmmaker Roshan Sethi reunites with Karan Soni, his real-life partner and the star of his pandemic rom-com 7 Days, for A Nice Indian Boy, which explores what happens when Indian American doctor Naveen (Soni) brings his fiancé Jay (Tony Award-winner Jonathan Groff)—a white man raised by adoptive Indian parents—home to meet his family. Cited by Annie Lyons as one of the highlights of last year’s SXSW, Nev calls it “exuberant, feel-good, and genuinely moving.” “So frigging gay and I love it,” exclaims Masala. “My Desi queer heart was bursting with joy the entire time,” Rayna says, “it felt like looking in a mirror for 95 minutes. That family is literally mine. That South Asian queer trauma is MINE!! God. I’m changed.” Now in US theaters.

Arriving on the heels of Anna Kendrick’s Woman of the Hour is another game-show-centric true story: The Luckiest Man in America stars Paul Walter Ha as Michael Larson, who in 1984 reckoned he had determined a pattern on a nominally “random” aspect of a program called Press Your Luck, and attempted to use that knowledge to win big prizes. The great Walton Goggins co-stars as host Peter Tomarken. “Quiz Show is the most obvious point of comparison, and this one meets that bar reasonably well,” critiques TheLoudestFan. Ha is getting much praise on Letterboxd, with Lexi saying he delivers “arguably the best performance of [his] career thus far.” Ed says it “is at its best in its recreation of what happened in the studio during the taping.” Now in US theaters.

Severance breakout Britt Lower executive produces and co-stars in (deep breath) Psycho Therapy: The Shallow Tale of a Writer Who Decided to Write About a Serial Killer, Turkish filmmaker Tolga Karaçelik’s first English-language film. Lower plays the wife of a man (John Magaro) who befriends a retired serial killer (Steve Buscemi) while writing a book about such people. AG says it’s “an absolute ton of fun”, which “catches you off-guard with its variety of tones”. “A darkly comic film noir starring Steve Buscemi that somehow establishes its own identity and doesn’t directly reference the Coen [brothers]? What sorcery is this??” asks MrMustache. Zannendayo says it’s “hilarious seeing John Magaro play a Flanderized version of his Past Lives character.” In select US theaters April 11.

Speaking of breakouts, The White Lotus season two’s Meghann Fahy leads Drop as a single mom on a blind date (with Brandon Sklenar of It Ends with Us) who starts receiving images via the titular Bluetooth facility from an unknown blackmailer who instructs her to commit murder. If there was anyone but Christopher Landon behind the camera, I might be concerned about such a set-up, but the creator of Freaky and Happy Death Day has repeatedly proven himself highly adept at conceptual thrillers. Jordan relates when he says that “this is for those of us who saw Red Eye on opening day”. Reece observes that it’s “genuinely so refreshing to watch a thriller that is unabashedly sincere and doesn’t feel the need to undercut the story with Deadpool-style humor.” Jake piques my interest when he declares “I, too, enjoy the films of Brian De Palma (said with iration, I had a good time)!”. In US, UK and some European theaters April 11.

Actor Michael Angarano—whom some still primarily recall as the younger version of the main character in Almost Famous, but who will always fondly evoke Sky High for me—directs, co-writes (with Christopher William Smith) and stars in Sacramento alongside a stellar line-up of actors of a certain-level-of-cool like Maya Erskine (she’s married to Angarano in real life), Michael Cera and Kristen Stewart. Angarano and Cera play old pals who go on a road trip to the titular California capital ahead of the latter’s impending fatherhood. Glanderco calls it “Sideways for people who buy chore coats via Instagram ads.” Kevin says it’s “nothing groundbreaking or new, but it’s a film that’ll make you laugh and feel warm”, while Anthony liked that it’s “tender and hysterical in its approach to male fears and sadness”. In US theaters April 11.

While mid-budget thrillers, comedies, adult dramas and action films without superheroes continue to be de-emphasized in Hollywood, one genre that still has the studios’ continued backing is the ‘guy you wouldn’t think could kill people, but who is now killing people with flair’ movie. It’s getting a rather handsome-looking deployment in The Amateur, which stars Oscar-winner Rami Malek as a CIA analyst who takes matters into his own hands after his wife is killed in a terrorist attack. And when I say “matters”, I mean revenge. If the skyscraper-swimming-pool set-piece heavily teased in the trailer wasn’t enough to get me on board, the stacked ing cast—Rachel Brosnahan, Holt McCallany, Laurence Fishburne, Michael Stuhlbarg, Jon Bernthal, Julianne Nicholson—certainly would have. In theaters the world over April 11.

Alex Garland follows up the (ironically?) divisive Civil War with Warfare, which narrows its focus to depict a specific incident from the Iraq War when a platoon of Navy SEALs became trapped in a house surrounded by insurgents. Garland co-directs and co-writes the film with former SEAL Ray Mendoza, who experienced the event being portrayed first-hand, and is played in the film by D’Pharaoh Woon-A-Tai (Reservation Dogs) alongside a rather impressive collection of on-the-rise actors that includes Will Poulter, Charles Melton, Joseph Quinn, Kit Connor and Cosmo Jarvis. Emphasizing its on-the-ground authenticity, many reviews are praising the intensity, but Garland continues to provoke a variety of reactions regarding his point, and whether or not there is one. As Msnatmarie says: “this doesn’t say much other than retell a moment in time but it’s VERY well done.” Jillian reckons “the purpose of this film isn’t to glorify American heroism like so many others… it’s to show the traumatic experiences of soldiers.” In US and Canada IMAX theaters April 9, expanding April 11. In Australia and NZ theaters April 17.

The second film highlighted in this newsletter to feature an off-screen character issuing threats to someone via a phone (after Drop), Zero follows two Americans (Hus Miller, Cameron McHarg) who wake up in Senegal with bombs strapped to their chests, and are then forced to execute a series of tasks designed to stoke anti-American sentiment. Congolese filmmaker Jean Luc Herbulot directs and co-writes (with Miller) the movie described by Jim as a “cool, inventive and very kinetic action-thriller. Think Phone Booth but with a globo-political bent.” Amanda says it’s a “very playful, biting thriller that keeps you locked in.” Dormarth was “thrilled to see an indie film with such incredible pacing and style.” In theaters and on VOD in the US April 11.