The best movies new to streaming in April

Greetings, Polygon readers! April is here, and you know what that means. That’s right: there’s a slew of exciting new movies coming out in theaters this month, like the sci-fi drama The beast Starring Léa Seydoux and Alex Garland Civil warDeveloper Patel Monkey man, and more. These all look great, but if you want to enjoy a fantastic movie from the comfort of your own home, you can watch a wealth of great films on streaming this April.

This month we have Jonathan Glazer’s gripping historical drama The zone of interestan underrated classic from the late, great William Friedkin, Bong Joon-ho’s terrifying monster movie The hostand more.

Here are the new streaming service movies you should watch this month.

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Editor’s choice

Wizard

Where to watch: Criterion Channel
Genre: Thriller
Director: William Friedkin
Form: Roy Scheider, Bruno Cremer, Francisco Rabal

At the end of last month, director Julien Leclercq released his latest film, The wages of fearthe third remake of Henri-Georges Clouzot’s groundbreaking 1953 thriller. If you’re looking for a nail-biting drama about a group of men who risk their lives and limbs for a second chance at life, what better movie to watch than The exorcist remake by director William Friedkin from 1977?

Named after Miles Davis’ 1967 album Wizard follows a group of four men: fugitives, resistance fighters, outcasts and debtors, each of whom has taken refuge in a remote village in Colombia without a way home. Desperate to escape their predicament, they all accept a terrifying job offer: transport a convoy of unstable dynamite through the jungle to extinguish an oil well explosion in exchange for enough money to leave the country. Over the course of their journey, each of the men is confronted with their own mortality and becomes a shadow of their former selves due to the unforgiving dangers of the jungle.

Friedkin’s film is a brutal, adrenaline-pumping experience, packed with moments that will leave viewers gasping in their seats. Want to see a man get impaled by a stand of trees while maneuvering a truck over an unstable bridge during a raging storm? Do you want to see the hope drain from a man’s eyes as he watches his last chance to return home erupt in a plume of hellfire? Boy, is this the movie for you! —Toussaint Egan

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New on Netflix

Amadeus

Genre: Biographical drama
Director: Miloš Forman
Form: F. Murray Abraham, Tom Hulce, Elizabeth Berridge

Look: there are biographical dramas, and then there are Awesome biographical dramas. Miloš Forman’s 1984 dramatization of the life and career of Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart falls squarely into the latter category.

Told from the perspective of Antonio Salieri (F. Murray Abraham), the film chronicles the composer’s first meeting with Mozart, his intense jealousy of his rival’s apparent musical genius, his subsequent crisis of faith, and his inevitable plan to destroy him. undermine. It is as much a historical epic about Mozart’s greatness as it is about Salieri’s descent into madness. Amadeus is a sumptuously lush and compelling ode to the power of classical music, as well as a compelling portrayal of one of the greatest haters to ever grace cinema. F. Murray Abraham’s Salieri ran in such a way that Robert Downey Jr.’s Lewis Strauss. could fly. -AT

New on Hulu

The host

Genre: Monstrous horror
Director: Bong Joon Ho
Form: Song Kang-ho, Byun Hee-bong, Park Hae-il

Bong Joon-ho’s career has been filled with blockbuster serial killer drama hits Memories of murder until his western breakthrough with Parasite. But my favorite film of his remains The hostan excellent example of exciting blockbuster films with a message.

After a member of the US military orders toxic chemicals to be dumped into the Han River, strange things start happening in the water. Years later, a young girl is kidnapped by a creature that emerges from the river, and it is up to her clumsy father (Song Kang-ho) to save her. Bong is firing on all cylinders The host – it is exciting, tense, funny and deeply emotional. It’s the best form of blockbuster filmmaking, and if you haven’t seen it yet, this is your chance to fix that. —Piet Volk

New on Max

The zone of interest

Genre: Historical drama
Director: Jonathan Glazer
Form: Christian Friedel, Sandra Hüller, Johann Karthaus

The further we get from 2023, the more convinced I become The zone of interest is the film of that year, and will live on from this era as a defining piece of cinema.

Jonathan Glazer turns his camera away from the usual, often exploitative shooting style of Holocaust films, eschewing gratuitous shots of suffering to instead show the easy, casual nature with which people can commit atrocities. It’s a triumph in storytelling and a huge formal achievement, creating a new kind of cinema through the innovative and gruesome use of sound design. It’s a unique cinematic experience that reminds you of the power of art, and while it may not sound like a particularly fun time, I couldn’t recommend it more highly. —PV

New on Prime Video

Richard Jewell

Genre: Biographical drama
Director: Clint Eastwood
Form: Paul Walter Hauser, Sam Rockwell, Kathy Bates

One of many great recent Clint Eastwood films that was unfairly dismissed due to perceptions of the director and his politics. Richard Jewell is a great adaptation of a true story that fully adheres to the idea that those in power cannot be trusted.

Paul Walter Hauser plays Richard Jewell, a quiet and awkward man who long dreamed of becoming a police officer, but did not follow through and ended up as a security guard. While working a concert during the 1996 Olympic Games in Atlanta, he sees a suspicious package and scares people away, saving lives after the package is revealed to be a bomb. After initially being hailed as a hero, Jewell becomes the target of an FBI investigation into the bomb and a subsequent media circus, with all sides portraying the one man who saved the day as a villain.

The most interesting part of Richard Jewell is the discrepancy between Jewell’s views on law enforcement agencies and the truth. He completely idealizes the FBI… until he is confronted with the reality of their intimidation. It’s a great performance from Hauser, best known for his work in the comedy genre, and a very charming man in real life who plays a convincing deviant here. I still think it’s a shame that he was excluded from the Oscars. —PV