Whether you’re looking for drama, adventure, twists, fear, laughs, or a good cry, the movies coming out on home video this April are here to keep you entertained. With some late 2018 blockbusters arriving, along with the last of the major awards contenders and some of the first 2019 movies to make their way to the library, there’s tons here to enjoy!
BUMBLEBEE
On the run in the year 1987, Bumblebee finds refuge in a junkyard in a small California beach town. Charlie (Hailee Steinfeld), on the cusp of turning 18 and trying to find her place in the world, discovers Bumblebee, battle-scarred and broken. When Charlie revives him, she quickly learns this is no ordinary, yellow VW bug.
Description and score provided by Metacritic.
“What Bumblebee does best is remember that this is a franchise for the young, and embrace that fact without any shame while also still delivering on the action. There’s no self-importance, no grafting of ultra-patriotism and too-dense mythology onto what should be a simple narrative.” – Liz Shannon Miller, IndieWire
“Bumblebee is, again and easily, the best Transformers movie. Heck, it’s probably the only genuinely good Transformers movie, with nary a caveat to be found. But it’s also a lively and earnest 1980s nostalgia trip, made with affection for the era and its characters and its soundtracks and its storytelling styles and, yes, even its toys.” – William Bibbiani, TheWrap
Available Formats (4/2):
VICE
Vice explores the epic story about how a bureaucratic Washington insider quietly became the most powerful man in the world as Vice-President to George W. Bush, reshaping the country and the globe in ways that we still feel today.
Description and score provided by Metacritic.
Academy Award Winner: Best Makeup & Hairstyling
Academy Award Nominee: Best Picture, Best Actor – Christian Bale, Best Supporting Actress – Amy Adams, Best Supporting Actor – Sam Rockwell, Best Director – Adam McKay, Best Original Screenplay, Best Editing
Golden Globe Winner: Best Actor (Musical or Comedy) – Christian Bale
Golden Globe Nominee: Best Picture (Musical or Comedy), Best Supporting Actress – Amy Adams, Best Supporting Actor – Sam Rockwell, Best Director – Adam McKay, Best Screenplay
BAFTA Winner: Best Editing
BAFTA Nominee: Best Actor – Christian Bale, Best Supporting Actress – Amy Adams, Best Supporting Actor – Sam Rockwell, Best Original Screenplay, Best Makeup & Hairstyling
SAG Nominee: Best Actor – Christian Bale, Best Supporting Actress – Amy Adams
DGA Nominee: Best Director – Adam McKay
WGA Nominee: Best Original Screenplay
“Brainy, audacious, opinionated and fun, Vice is a tonic for troubled times. As smart as it is partisan, and it is plenty partisan, this savage satire is scared of only one thing, and that is being dull.” – Kenneth Turan, Los Angeles Times
“Exquisitely crafted…It’s a strange little amalgamation that totally works: a vicious Shakespearean satire about power-hungry mind-sets, stealth corruption, American ambition and the current state of divided affairs in our country, but also a quasi-fictional go-for-broke biopic about a political leader we really don’t know at all.” – Brian Truitt, USA Today
Available Formats (4/2):
THE MULE
Earl Stone (Clint Eastwood) is broke, alone, and facing foreclosure of his business when he is offered a job that simply requires him to drive. Easy enough, but, unbeknownst to Earl, he’s just signed on as a drug courier for a Mexican cartel. He does well—so well, in fact, that his cargo increases exponentially, and Earl is assigned a handler. But he isn’t the only one keeping tabs on Earl; the mysterious new drug mule has also hit the radar of hard-charging DEA agent Colin Bates. And even as his money problems become a thing of the past, Earl’s past mistakes start to weigh heavily on him, and it’s uncertain if he’ll have time to right those wrongs before law enforcement, or the cartel’s enforcers, catch up to him.
Description and score provided by Metacritic.
“This soulful and deeply satisfying film — a fitting swansong, if ever there was one — makes a compelling argument that change is always possible, and that the path we’re on is never as narrow as the highway makes it look.” – David Ehrlich, IndieWire
“As Earl, Clint Eastwood is so believable and such a charming curmudgeon that when the cops from the Federal Drug Administration led by Bradley Cooper turn the tables, you don’t want them to.” – Rex Reed, Observer
Available Formats (4/2):
RUST CREEK
An ordinary woman must summon extraordinary courage to survive a nightmare odyssey in this harrowing survival thriller. Sawyer (Hermione Corfield) is an ambitious, overachieving college senior with a seemingly bright future. While on her way to a job interview, a wrong turn leaves her stranded deep in the frozen Kentucky woods. Suddenly, the young woman with everything to live for finds herself facing her own mortality as she’s punished by the elements and pursued by a band of ruthless outlaws. With nowhere left to run, she is forced into an uneasy alliance with Lowell (Jay Paulson), an enigmatic loner with shadowy intentions. Though she’s not sure she can trust him, Sawyer must take a chance if she hopes to escape Rust Creek alive.
Description and score provided by Metacritic.
“The austere minimalism of Rust Creek works to the movie’s advantage.” – Jude Dry, IndieWire
“Rust Creek lets you exhale just a bit. It’s tight without being punishing, and its humor takes you happily by surprise. In this sort of film, you’re on guard for pop-up scares and sudden spasms of gore, not for moments of blessed connection. The humanism feels positively radical.” – David Edelstein, New York Magazine
Available Formats (4/2):
A DOG’S WAY HOME
A lot can happen between lost and found. A Dog’s Way Home chronicles the heartwarming adventure of Bella, a dog who embarks on an epic 400-mile journey back home after she is separated from her beloved human, Lucas (Jonah Hauer-King).
Description and score provided by Metacritic.
“This may all sound too shameless and syrupy, but to its credit, A Dog’s Way Home scratches the surface of something I, as a pit bull obsessive, have never seen a ‘dog movie’ do.” – Tomris Laffly, RogerEbert.com
“Although it might be a stretch to categorize this as a movie, A Dog’s Way Home is harmless enough and a nice little adventure that’s fit for the whole family. But you might want to have the tissues ready.” – Lindsey Bahr, Associated Press
Available Formats (4/9):
HOLMES & WATSON
A humorous take on Arthur Conan Doyle’s classic mysteries featuring Sherlock Holmes and Doctor Watson.
Description and score provided by Metacritic.
“There are moments, however fleeting, that suggest there’s a decent Mel Brooks-ian farce hiding amidst the wreckage. Deeply, profoundly hidden moments, but peeking through every now and then, an annoyingly sporadic Christmas miracle.” – Barry Hertz, The Globe and Mail (Toronto)
“Holmes and Watson will probably make you smile, and occasionally, it earns that goodwill. But it’s nowhere near where it should be with the company present. Forgive the pun, but it’s elementary to find what’s off with this movie. It’s being solved by detectives missing a key clue.” – Cory Woodroof, The Playlist
Available Formats (4/9):
ON THE BASIS OF SEX
Young lawyer Ruth Bader Ginsburg (Felicity Jones) teams with her husband Marty to bring a groundbreaking case before the U.S. Court of Appeals and overturn a century of gender discrimination.
Description and score provided by Metacritic.
“A serious movie that slowly earns its emotion and enlists our involvement. Even before the finish, it’s goosebumps all around.” – Mick LaSalle, San Francisco Chronicle
“It’s Jones who really shines. She effortlessly embodies Ruth Bader Ginsburg with such aplomb that when she locks her steely eyes with the camera, you can feel it in your bones that this woman is about to change the world.” – Yolanda Machado, TheWrap
Available Formats (4/9):
WELCOME TO MARWEN
When a devastating attack shatters Mark Hogancamp (Steve Carell) and wipes away all memories, no one expected recovery. Putting together pieces from his old and new life, Mark meticulously creates a wondrous town where he can heal and be heroic. As he builds an astonishing art installation—a testament to the most powerful women he knows—through his fantasy world, he draws strength to triumph in the real one. Welcome to Marwen tells the miraculous true story of one broken man’s fight as he discovers how artistic imagination can restore the human spirit.
Description and score provided by Metacritic.
“Much like anyone in the throes of recovery, this journey is not a nice, tight, three-act Hollywood story with a perfect dramatic ending. Finding ‘normal’ is a distant speck on the horizon for Hogancamp and this film depicts only a small segment.” – Alan Ng, Film Threat
“Zemeckis has crafted a work that may be dismissed and forgotten by the general public, but will inevitably remain a curiosity for cinephiles and auteurists everywhere. Not a bad feat for a guy embarking upon the fourth decade of his career.” – Vikram Murthi, The Film Stage
Available Formats (4/9):
MIRAI
Kun, a little boy, enjoys a happy childhood until the arrival of his baby sister, Mirai. As the new baby becomes the center of his parents’ attention, he becomes increasingly jealous. Little by little, he withdraws into himself. In the backyard where he likes to take refuge, grows a magical family tree. Kun finds himself suddenly catapulted into a fantastic world where the past and the present mingle. One after another, he meets his relatives at different ages: his mother, as a little girl; his great-grandfather, as an energetic young man; and his little sister, as a teenager. Through these adventures, Kun is able to discover his own story.
Description and score provided by Metacritic.
Academy Award Nominee: Best Animated Film
Golden Globe Nominee: Best Animated Film
“Breathing rare emotional truth into on-screen depictions of small children and the parents who raise them, Hosoda’s unassumingly sumptuous Mirai is a hand-drawn miracle, rivaling Pixar and Ghibli’s efforts to devise family entertainment with a complex and humanistic edge.” – Carlos Aguilar, TheWrap
“Mirai casts a spell that works on children and adults alike, but in different ways. Its creator’s artistry and empathy are the connecting links. It may be the animator’s smallest film, but it stands tall. You’ll be enchanted.” – Peter Travers, Rolling Stone
Available Formats (4/9):
GLASS
Following the conclusion of Split, Glass finds David Dunn (Bruce Willis) pursuing Kevin Wendell Crumb’s (James McAvoy) superhuman figure of The Beast in a series of escalating encounters, while the shadowy presence of Elijah Price (Samuel L. Jackson) emerges as an orchestrator who holds secrets critical to both men.
Description and score provided by Metacritic.
“This movie treats comics not as a narrative format to be recycled and adapted, but as religious myths to be followed and fulfilled. It is a single, impassioned vision that is totally uncompromising and utterly its own, comprised of layers and ideas that, while messily delivered, deserve to be turned over and explored.” – Brian Roan, The Film Stage
“It’s a film that sometimes plays more as a rambling TED Talk than as a straightforward thriller. But, in this case, I admired Shyamalan’s overreach, even as the auteur laid meta-textual twist atop twist in the movie’s giddily loopy ending.” – David Sims, The Atlantic
Available Formats (4/16):
DRAGON BALL SUPER: BROLY
A planet destroyed, a powerful race reduced to nothing. After the devastation of Planet Vegeta, three Saiyans were scattered among the stars, destined for different fates. While two found a home on Earth, the third was raised with a burning desire for vengeance and developed an unbelievable power. And the time for revenge has come. Destinies collide in a battle that will shake the universe to its very core! Goku is back to training hard so he can face the most powerful foes the universes have to offer, and Vegeta is keeping up right beside him. But when they suddenly find themselves against an unknown Saiyan, they discover a terrible, destructive force.
Description and score provided by Metacritic.
“Dragon Ball Super: Broly delivers in terms of awesome action, but more than that, it uses the fathers of Goku, Vegeta, and Broly to link back to the late-1980s and early-1990s heyday of the series to add a relatable and thoughtful subtext. It’s a humorous movie that bounds into the world of imagination and is gripping to the end.” – Fuminobu Hata, IGN
“Overall, Dragon Ball Super: Broly punches triumphantly within its own weight class, aspiring not to any lofty heights of thematic heft or cinematic gravitats, but delivering a visually packed and unabashedly enjoyable experience that’s sure to be a crowd-pleaser among enduring fans, the modestly engaged and newcomers alike.” – Toussaint Egan, Paste
Available Formats (4/16):
THE KID WHO WOULD BE KING
Alex (Ashbourne Serkis) thinks he’s just another nobody, until he stumbles upon the mythical Sword in the Stone, Excalibur. Now, he must unite his friends and enemies into a band of knights and, together with the legendary wizard Merlin (Patrick Stewart), take on the wicked enchantress Morgana (Rebecca Ferguson). With the future at stake, Alex must become the great leader he never dreamed he could be.
Description and score provided by Metacritic.
“The Kid Who Would Be King blows the dust off an old tale, and makes it invigorating and inspiring for viewers who will be forming their own round tables of world-changers for generations to come.” – Kevin Jagernauth, The Playlist
“More proof that Cornish is a wizard at re-energising tired tropes. The characters are a delight, the action sequences thrum with invention, and when it’s funny, it’s very funny indeed.” – Nick de Semlyen, Empire
Available Formats (4/16):
REPLICAS
After a car accident kills his loving family, a daring neuroscientist will stop at nothing to bring them back, even if it means pitting himself against a government-controlled laboratory, a police task force, and the physical laws of science themselves.
Description and score provided by Metacritic.
“Replicas manages to be perversely entertaining for its fast-paced first half, if only because of the sheer absurdity of its storyline. But it eventually devolves into tedious thriller tropes.” – Frank Scheck, The Hollywood Reporter
“An evolutionary marvel, Reeves has figured out how to adapt to the hostile environment of mediocrity, and here he takes to the gobbledygook and gaps in logic like a genetically altered fish to water. When the guy’s good, he’s great, and when he’s bad, he’s still serviceable.” – Charles Bramesco, The Guardian
Available Formats (4/16):
ESCAPE AT DANNEMORA
The Ben Stiller-directed eight-part limited series dramatizes the 2015 Dannemora prison break in upstate New York, where convicted murderer Richard Matt (Benicio del Toro) plans an escape with fellow inmate David Sweat (Paul Daon) with the help of Tilly Mitchell (Patricia Arquette), the married prison shop supervisor who had become involved with both of them.
Description and score provided by Metacritic.
Golden Globe Winner: Best Actress in a Limited Series or TV Movie – Patricia Arquette
Golden Globe Nominee: Best Limited Series or TV Movie
SAG Winner: Best Actress in a Limited Series or TV Movie – Patricia Arquette
DGA Winner: Best Director of a Limited Series or TV Movie – Ben Stiller
“A transformative work that so vividly brings the drama to life it might as well be brand-new to its audience. … [Ben Stiller’s] gorgeous and haunting work, combined with a career-best performance from Arquette, helps Dannemora transcend into one of the best TV experiences of the year.” – Kelly Lawler, USA Today
“Created by Brett Johnson and Michael Tolkin and directed with unflinching perspective by Ben Stiller (yes, the very one), Escape at Dannemora is a master work of true-crime dramatization, remarkable in that it feels true in a way that even transcends the record of what happened.” – Hank Stuever, Washington Post
Available Formats (4/16):
ESCAPE ROOM
Six strangers find themselves in circumstances beyond their control and must use their wits to find the clues or die.
Description and score provided by Metacritic.
“It’s a movie about escape rooms that literally kill you, and if you’re willing to buy into that premise, it’s about as good as a movie with that premise could probably be. So, hey, 2019 is looking up.” – William Bibbiani, TheWrap
“A cutthroat little thriller that’s surely more fun than most of the riddle-solving lock-ins currently springing up around the country.” – John DeFore, The Hollywood Reporter
Available Formats (4/23):
DESTROYER
Destroyer follows the moral and existential odyssey of LAPD detective Erin Bell who, as a young cop, was placed undercover with a gang in the California desert with tragic results. When the leader of that gang re-emerges many years later, she must work her way back through the remaining members and into her own history with them to finally reckon with the demons that destroyed her past.
Description and score provided by Metacritic.
Golden Globe Nominee: Best Actress – Nicole Kidman
“When Kusuma, Kidman and Destroyer finally kick it into high gear it’s so, so worth the wait.” – Gregory Ellwood, The Playlist
“At the centre of it all is Kidman, bringing an impressive physicality to her performance that says more about Erin than words ever could. We learn so much from simply watching her walk, her gait combining an air of stroppiness with an overriding sense of being weighed down or crushed, like a packhorse hobbled by years of abuse. It’s a terrific turn that (like the rest of the movie) reminds us that awards often offer little indication of what’s really worth watching in cinemas.” – Mark Kermode, The Observer (UK)
Available Formats (4/23):
MISS BALA
Gloria (Gina Rodriguez) finds a power she never knew she had when she is drawn into a dangerous world of cross-border crime. Surviving will require all of her cunning, inventiveness, and strength.
Description and score provided by Metacritic.
“A real surprise. It seems to promise an exploitative genre movie, about gangsters and drug deals, and it delivers on that, but it’s something more. Director Catherine Hardwicke and screenwriter Gareth Dunnet-Alcocet have taken a Mexican thriller, with a female victim at its center, and have turned it into an intelligent feminist film.” – Mick LaSalle, San Francisco Chronicle
“Hardwicke is a talented director who brings an addictive verve and visual dynamism to this bombastic take, and Rodriguez has a charm so appealing it could be weaponized.” – Katie Walsh, Chicago Tribune
Available Formats (4/30):
SERENITY
Baker Dill (Matthew McConaughey) is a fishing boat captain leading tours off a tranquil, tropical enclave called Plymouth Island. His quiet life is shattered, however, when his ex-wife Karen (Anne Hathaway) tracks him down with a desperate plea for help. She begs Dill to save her – and their young son – from her new, violent husband (Jason Clarke) by taking him out to sea on a fishing excursion, only to throw him to the sharks and leave him for dead. Karen’s appearance thrusts Dill back into a life he’d tried to forget, and as he struggles between right and wrong, his world is plunged into a new reality that may not be all that it seems.
Description and score provided by Metacritic.
“From its intense beginnings to its what-really-c’mon-no-reallllllly-c’mon mid-film twist to its defiantly and successfully sentimental finale, the new Matthew McConaughey vehicle is playing by its own demented rules. When it deigns to care about rules.” – Barry Hertz, The Globe and Mail (Toronto)
“It’s easy to make a bland exercise in deliberate mediocrity; it’s a lot harder for a filmmaker to swing for the fences and miss this spectacularly. That’s the sort of effort that separates a run-of-the-mill disappointment from a truly wonderful film fiasco.” – Hillary Busis, Vanity Fair
Available Formats (4/30):
ARCTIC
A man stranded in the Arctic after an airplane crash must decide whether to remain in the relative safety of his makeshift camp or to embark on a deadly trek through the unknown in hopes of making it out alive.
Description and score provided by Metacritic.
Cannes Film Festival Nominee: Camera d’Or (Best First Feature) – Joe Penna
“It’s pretty amazing just how compelling this is for being so simple, but it allows the viewer to really get wrapped up in the minutiae of it all: The performance, the landscape, the minor triumphs and major setbacks.” – Lindsey Bahr, Associated Press
“Penna’s concept is hardly new, but his execution is sharp, clean, and smartly paced; a harrowing postcard from the void.” – Leah Greenblatt, Entertainment Weekly
Available Formats (4/30):