Whoever said summer was blockbuster season clearly never lived through a pandemic because the spring movie line-up is here, and whether you’re streaming these films from your couch or braving a trip to the theater — as long as it’s safe to do so — it doesn’t really matter. That’s because the movie gods have taken pity on us mere mortals and decided to unleash a heavy-hitting roster of dramas and monster flicks and Disney-fied villain origin stories to keep up entertained.
Here’s what’s worth watching, and where you can catch it. (Err bad choice of words there but you get our drift.)
Godzilla vs. Kong (streaming on HBO Max March 31st)
Do you like Godzilla? Do you like King Kong? Well, they are both in this movie and they fight. And they fight quite a few times, with the first fight happening around the 45-minute mark. I’m not sure what else you need to know honestly. If you want to see Godzilla and Kong fight, you will get your money’s worth (or your HBO Max subscription’s worth). If you wish these two titans would settle their differences peacefully, or if you’re looking for a character drama that really explores how humans would realistically react to such events, you will most likely be disappointed. — Mike Ryan
Concrete Cowboy (streaming on Netflix April 2nd)
Based in part on the book Ghetto Cowboy by Greg Neri, Cole (Caleb Washington) is headed down a bleak path after one too many run-ins with trouble and the police. His mother, at her wits’ end, decides Cole should spend the summer in Philadelphia with his father, Harp (Idris Elba). Harp is part of a local group, the Fletcher Street Urban Riding Club, which owns and tends horses in Philadelphia. Director Rusty Staub uses actual members of the Fletcher Street Riding Club in the film, and the film also serves as a pretty good history lesson explaining why there are Black cowboys on horses in the middle of large cities. — Mike Ryan
Thunder Force (streaming on Netflix April 9th)
Don’t expect this movie to win any awards because that’s not the point. Instead, prepare for the silliest of moments from Melissa McCarthy and Octavia Spencer as two inept superheroes who fight crime, long after their childhood best-friend days, and together, they learn what it’s like when two ordinary people are suddenly tasked with stopping supervillains. In other words, sit back and embrace the chaos because there’s plenty of it coming your way. The supporting cast includes Bobby Cannavale, Pom Klementieff, and Melissa Leo. Plus, Jason Bateman is onboard, which instantly makes any movie or TV show better. — Kimberly Ricci
Mortal Kombat (streaming on HBO Max April 23rd)
I’ll be up front here, the main reason I’m itching to stream this movie from the comfort of my own couch (thank you HBO Max) is because its first official trailer baited me with a perfectly-timed “Finish Him!” call-back to its video game predecessor. Dammit, 90s nostalgia! You’ve won again. Aside from the cheesy, over-the-top fight commentary, the film also promises a ton of action, following a group of skilled warriors who enter a tournament in the hopes of saving Earth. I could care less who wins. I’m just here for the sound effects. — Jessica Toomer
Tom Clancy’s Without Remorse (streaming on Amazon Prime Video April 30th)
Tom Clancy is a name you’d probably find on your grandpa’s bookshelf but you gotta respect Michael B. Jordan for taking a property as old and tired as this series — it’s literally the Boomer of spy novels — and giving it a modern makeover. The plot is mostly what you’d expect. Elite soldier’s wife is killed so he goes on a killing spree to find the men responsible and ends up uncovering a bigger conspiracy. But Jordan’s watchable in pretty much anything and the action looks top-notch. — Jessica Toomer
Things Heard And Seen (streaming on Netflix April 30th)
I don’t know if Amanda Seyfried will win an Oscar for acting in a movie that asked the audience to believe she was the same age as Gary Oldman, but if she doesn’t, the next best thing is having another hit on a streaming platform. This horror adaptation sees her playing a wife who moves to a house in upstate New York and quickly discovers its dilapidated, haunting interior is as rotted as her own marriage. Not in the mood for horror, you say? Well too bad. Amanda needs this. — Jessica Toomer
Stowaway (streaming on Netflix May 6th)
For All Mankind arguably sets the bar too high for every other space travel-focused streaming offering out there, but listen up because the cast is the real treat. Anna Kendrick, Daniel Dae Kim, Shamier Anderson, and Toni Collette are a dream-team when it comes to delivering the drama. As you may have guessed from the title, there’s an (inadvertent) stowaway aboard a three-person mission to Mars, and that’s going to affect the oxygen supply in a crucial way. It’s not the most original space crisis you’ll ever see, but with a cast like this, the freak-out performances (and the solving of the dilemma within mere hours) are guaranteed to be worth the click. — Kimberly Ricci
Wrath of Man (premiering in theaters May 7th)
While it was Guy Ritchie who made Jason Statham indie famous in Snatch and Lock Stock and Two Smoking Barrels, he didn’t become the Jason Statham we all know and love until The Transporter established him as the Cockney Clint Eastwood. Now Jason Statham is back with Guy Ritchie for a proper Statham vehicle in Wrath Of Man. Which is actually a remake of an even-better-named French film called “Cash Truck.” The Stath plays an armored truck driver with a particular set of skills in a film that promises to give us all the fit birds, flash sazz wagons, and proper thrashins we expect from a Jason Statham movie, plus all the sassy Chav dialogue we expect from a Guy Ritchie movie, now don’t we, Tommy? Hits theaters May 7th. — Vince Mancini
The Woman in the Window (streaming on Netflix May 14th)
This Joe Wright-directed thriller was originally scheduled to hit theaters in October of 2019 but by some divine hand of providence, it’s dropping now. Perhaps the streaming gods knew that watching Amy Adams play an agoraphobic woman who struggles to do the right thing — i.e. leave her apartment and get help — when a neighbor goes missing would just hit different after a year spent on lockdown. The pandemic has changed us all enough that Adams might just come out the hero of this whole thing instead of a weirdo who sits inside all day in her pajamas and avoid human contact at all costs. We can totally relate. — Jessica Toomer
Spiral: From the Book of Saw (premiering in theaters May 14th)
When Saw came out in 2004, Chris Rock had just starred in the presidential comedy Head of State and Samuel L. Jackson’s Mace Windu was a year away from getting Force lightning’d to death in Star Wars: Episode III – Revenge of the Sith. Seventeen years later, Rock and Jackson are in the ninth Saw movie, the wonderfully-titled Spiral: From the Book of Saw, as a detective and his retired cop father who are searching for the elusive Jigsaw Killer. I hope he’s not found until Saw 18, coming out in 2038. Jackson, at 99 years old, will somehow still have more energy than his much-younger co-stars. — Josh Kurp
Those Who Wish Me Dead (streaming on HBO Max May 14th)
Taylor Sheridan has a gift for crafting edge-of-your-seat Westerns for these modern times — we’re thinking of Hell or High Water specifically — so it’s pretty much a given this adaptation about a teenager trying to escape a pair of twin assassins in the middle of a Montana forest fire was always going to be good. But then you add names like Angelina Jolie and Jon Bernthal and Nicholas Hoult and … well, do we need to do any more convincing? — Jessica Toomer
Army of the Dead (streaming on Netflix May 21st)
Sure, I love a good zombie flick (and Zack Snyder’s previously delivered with his Dawn of the Dead remake), and only a monster would turn away from a heist story, but a lot of the appeal here also has to do with runtime. That is to say, Snyder has never been known for brevity, and with this zombie heist story, he’s giving us a 90-minute movie. After his far-too-long Justice League cut, I welcome the literal change in pace. Not only that, but the story’s zombie plague migrated from Area 51 to Las Vegas, which is where a group of mercenaries are attempting to heist, which is all deliciously bonkers. Dave Bautista stars, and the disgraced Chris D’Elia got the boot in favor of Tig Notaro, so it’s damn near impossible to pass on this film, especially with a franchise in the works. — Kimberly Ricci
A Quiet Place Part II (premiering in theaters May 28th)
It’s pretty remarkable that A Quiet Place did what it did. Here’s a movie about aliens who can only hunt by detecting sound, a movie that has very little dialogue, that cost next to nothing (as far as studio movies cost anyway), and grossed $340 million worldwide. It’s the kind of thing that just rarely happens anymore for movies not part of some sort of pre-existing franchise. On one hand it’s still surprising that there’s another one now, because the first one felt like such a complete story. Yet this sequel delivers without betraying what made the first movie so special. And, yes, I saw this movie over a year ago – literally the last film I saw in a theater – and it is still sticking with me. Though, it does make sense why watching a movie in March of 2020 about impending doom would stick with a person. — Mike Ryan
Cruella (streaming on Disney+ May 28th)
I have no idea if Cruella will be “good,” but I can’t wait to find out. The usual origin story template is to give a villain a tragic backstory, allowing viewers to sympathize with them. But I’m not sure that’s possible with Cruella de Vil, an animal-killing, chain-smoking monster in 101 Dalmations. You can’t “misunderstood anti-hero” your way out of murdering puppies. It’s an unusually risky bet for Disney, but one that could pay off if Cruella lets Cruella just be, well, evil. Either way, at least Emma Stone looks like she’s having fun. — Josh Kurp
In the Heights (streaming on HBO Max June 17th)
Hamilton was the biggest musical of the 2010s, a Pulitzer Prize-winning sensation that turned Lin-Manuel Miranda into a household name. He also got to play a Resistance trooper in Star Wars, the greatest honor of all. But it was not his first Broadway sensation — or even his first Best Musical winner at the Tonys. Miranda wrote the music and lyrics for In the Heights, a steamy musical set in New York City’s Washington Heights that has been adapted into a movie by Crazy Rich Asians director Jon M. Chu. The tagline in the trailer reads, “This summer, we’ll be back to dancing in the street together.” After a year spent indoors, we deserve this. — Josh Kurp