From posh Brits and violent vikings, to Fantastic Beasts and a Downton Abbey jaunt! You’d be a fool to miss the cinematic treats that April has to offer, and David Michael Brown has everything you need to know about everything you need to see.
Sonic the Hedgehog 2
After an internet sneak-peek caused fanboy consternation, many thought it was game over for the big-budget adaptation of Sega’s spiky speedster. But when Sonic the Hedgehog was finally unleashed in 2020, the film was a surprise smash. That “creepy” look now tweaked and accepted by the movie-going masses, the sequel can introduce some new faces.
Knuckles, a bad guy echidna voiced by Idris Elba, and flying two-tailed fox Tails (Colleen O’Shaughnessey) join the fight as Sonic (Ben Schwartz) and Tom a.k.a. Donut Lord (James Marsden) do battle with the evil brainiac Dr. Eggman (Jim Carrey complete with shaved head and luxurious moustache) who has escaped The Mushroom Planet to which he was banished at the end of the first film. With Sonic now reinventing himself as a friendly neighbourhood superhero Blue Justice—“trademark pending”—it looks like Sonic the Hedgehog 2 is taking the bigger-is-better approach with tongue firmly in cheek.
Fantastic Beasts: The Secrets of Dumbledore
The threequel in the Harry Potter prequels started by Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them once again follows the adventures of British Ministry of Magic employee and self-proclaimed magizoologist Newt Scamander (Eddie Redmayne). Set in the 1930s, expect magical mayhem galore as the wizarding world joins in the good fight during World War II.
All eyes will be on Mads Mikkelsen, replacing Johnny Depp as the evil Gellert Grindelwald who is waging war on the Muggles, and Jude Law as a wand-toting Albus Dumbledore. Ezra Miller, Dan Fogler, and Katherine Waterston all return, as do the fantastic beasts of the title and Harry Potter veteran director David Yates who has signed up for Fantastic Beasts 4 and 5.
Could this be the film when we finally get to see Hogwarts’ future headmaster kick-magical-ass? Here’s hoping, but what we do know is the most powerful wizard in the wizarding world can apparently keep a secret.
The Lost City
Channelling that other “author goes to the jungle and finds romance-actioner” Romancing the Stone, Sandra Bullock plays Loretta Sage, a dissatisfied middle-aged scribe who writes romance-adventure novels centred around a fictional hero named Dash. The character is portrayed on the book covers by model Alan Caprison played with lunkheaded glee by Channing Tatum.
When the pair go on a book tour to promote her latest tome “The Lost City of D”, Loretta is kidnapped by Fairfax (Daniel Radcliffe), an eccentric billionaire who believes that the lost city described in Loretta’s new book is actually real. Unfortunately, her budding rescuer Alan has no survival skills and nothing resembling combat training. Hilarity, and maybe dance fighting will ensue. Expect Brad Pitt to steal the show playing with his Hollywood idol persona as a ridiculously good-looking adventurer.
Operation Mincemeat
Operation Mincemeat is the true story of a military operation that changed the course of World War II: a boy’s own espionage adventure following the Allies as they attempted to deceive the Nazi plan for an all-out assault on Fortress Europe. Colin Firth and Succession star Matthew Macfadyen play Ewen Montagu and Charles Cholmondeley, two intelligence officers who tricked the enemy into thinking that Allied forces were planning to attack southern Europe by way of Greece, rather than their actual target of Sicily in Italy.
Their plan? To disguise a dead body, plant misleading papers on the corpse, and drop it off the coast of Spain where Nazi spies would take the bait. Directed by Shakespeare in Love helmer John Madden and also starring the brilliant Kelly Macdonald (Trainspotting) and Penelope Wilton (After Life), Operation Mincemeat takes a little known story and gives two of the unsung heroes of the war the lip service they deserve.
Benedetta
Paul Verhoeven has always delighted in courting controversy. From the splashy gore and ultra-violence of Robocop and the leg-crossing sauciness of Basic Instinct, to the catapulted chunks of bubonic plague-ridden dog in Flesh + Blood and the rape fantasies of Elle: the Dutch director has proved himself to be an agent provocateur par excellence. Benedetta, loosely based on the 1986 non-fiction book Immodest Acts: The Life of a Lesbian Nun in Renaissance Italy by Judith C. Brown, is no exception.
This lascivious slice of nunsploitation follows the kinky goings-on in a 17th-century convent in Tuscany where lesbian nun Benedetta, played with relish by Virginie Efira, has increasingly disturbing and sexual visions that threaten to usurp the authority of the Catholic church. It’s as camp and salacious as you would expect from the director of Showgirls, and sees Verhoeven returning to the provocative iconography that regularly coloured his early work. For the Euro director, it’s a hard habit to break.
The Unbearable Weight of Massive Talent
Wild at heart and weird on top, Nicolas Cage has spent much of his brilliant career defying expectations. One minute he’s an Oscar winner for his devastating turn as an alcoholic in Leaving Las Vegas, the next he’s being attacked by bees in the woeful The Wicker Man. Recently there has been some self-referential awareness of the “Cult of Cage”, re-focusing his wayward career path with the meditative Pig and the ultra-violent Mandy. Now, in the ultimate meta motion picture, he is playing his biggest role to date…Nicolas Cage.
This heightened version of himself is down on his luck and takes a gig attending a rich super fan’s birthday party. With The Mandalorian himself Pedro Pascal as the initially benevolent billionaire, Tiffany Haddish as a C.I.A. operative trying to bring the rich playboy down, and Neil Patrick Harris as Cage’s agent; this promises to be a whole lotta fun as Cage is forced to live up to his own legend and re-creates his most iconic characters to save the day. We’ll put money on him putting the bunny back in the box!
The Northman
Following the claustrophobic horrors of The Witch and The Lighthouse, visionary director Robert Eggers is back with an epic Viking actioner set in 10th-century Iceland and a stunning ensemble cast. Alexander Skarsgård plays prince Amleth, who sets out to avenge the death of his father who was murdered by his uncle. This ferocious family affair stars Nicole Kidman is Queen Gudrún, Amleth’s mother, Ethan Hawke as King Aurvandill, and recent Dracula Claes Bang as the murderous Fjölnir, Amleth’s uncle and Aurvandill’s brother.
The Queen’s Gambit and Last Night in Soho sensation Anya Taylor-Joy, who got her big break in Egger’s witchy debut, stars as Olga of the Birch Forest, Willem Dafoe as Heimir the Fool, and Icelandic songstress Björk, making only her second acting feature appearance since winning Best Actress at the Cannes Film Festival for Lars von Trier’s Dancer in the Dark in 2000, plays the eerie whispering Seeress. This looks intriguing to say the least.
Downton Abbey: A New Era
The Crawley family is back for another sumptuous visit to Downton Abbey. Stiff upper lips remain sealed about the intricacies of the plot, but we do know that the indomitable Violet Crawley, Dowager Countess of Grantham (the ever-wonderful Maggie Smith), reveals her mysterious past in being bequeathed a stunning villa in the South of France. Like many movie spin-offs, it looks like Cora and Robert Crawley the 7th Earl of Grantham, played with poise and class by Elizabeth McGovern and Hugh Bonneville, will be heading on a Euro jolly.
Meanwhile, a film crew including Hugh Dancy and Dominic West want to make a film at the Stately Home, “a moving picture! At Downton!” Written by series creator Julian Fellows and now set in the roaring 20s, expect jazz hands aplenty, glorious locales, resplendent costumes and a feel-good factor as the upper-class Crawleys deal with an era that changed the world forever.
