With South by Southwest now another year older and the 2015 film year still in its infancy, the month of April is the start of the journey toward blockbuster season, which will kick off with “Avengers: Age of Ultron” in May. While April doesn’t offer as many potential box office juggernauts, there are still intriguing options coming to the big screen.
April 3: “Furious 7”
At a surprise midnight screening at South by Southwest, the latest entry in the “Fast and Furious” canon received solid reviews, building the anticipation even more. Bringing back the series’ top stars – Vin Diesel, Tyrese Gibson, Dwayne ‘The Rock’ Johnson, Michelle Rodriguez and, in his final role, the late Paul Walker – and adding big names like Jason Statham, Ronda Rousey and Kurt Russell, the film follows the crew led by Dom Toretto (Diesel) and Brian O’Conner (Walker) as they take on the brother (Jason Statham) of Owen Shaw, the villain in “Fast 6.” Directed by James Wan, who made the sleeper smash “The Conjuring” in 2013, “Furious 7” looks like a great ride that should be April’s biggest blockbuster.
April 10: “Ex Machina”
In another South by Southwest premiere, author and screenwriter Alex Garland – known for writing the novel “The Beach” and Danny Boyle’s film “Sunshine” – makes his directorial debut with this positively-received sci-fi thriller. The film follows a young computer programmer (Domhnall Gleeson) who is invited by a millionaire (Oscar Isaac) to a secluded mansion in the mountains, where he is asked to evaluate the qualities of a beautiful humanoid artificial intelligence (Alicia Vikander). The film looks and sounds intriguing, and with a cast of rising stars about to hit it big – Gleeson and Isaac are both starring in the new “Star Wars” films while Vikander has meaty roles in “The Danish Girl” and “The Light Between Oceans” later this year – it looks like “Ex Machina” could be an indie sleeper hit.
April 17: “Child 44”
Daniel Espinosa (“Safe House”) returns to the public eye with this adaptation of the Tom Rob Smith novel and assembles a cast of actors normally seen in supporting roles to bring it to life. Tom Hardy stars in the movie as a former member of the Russian military police who begins an investigation into a possible serial killer after a series of child murders. Set in the Stalin-era Soviet Union, the film’s plot sounds intriguing enough, but it’s the supporting cast – including Noomi Rapace (“The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo”), Gary Oldman (“The Dark Knight”), Joel Kinnaman (“The Killing”) and Charles Dance (“Game of Thrones”), among others – that adds to the intrigue along with the rare mainstream leading role for Hardy.
April 24: “The Water Diviner”
Continuing the trend of actors making the transition from the screen to the director’s chair, Russell Crowe pulls double duty on this historical drama set in 1900s Turkey. Crowe stars in the film as Connor, an Australian farmer searching for his sons after they go missing during the Battle of Gallipoli in World War I. He’s assembled a solid cast alongside himself, including Olga Kurylenko (“Quantum of Solace”) and Jai Courtney (“A Good Day to Die Hard”). The film looks beautiful and has the potential to be a historical drama that draws in a wide audience.
