Weekend Watch - APril 2023 Recap

                Welcome back to the Weekend Watch where each week, we take a look at a new piece of film or television media and give it a rating, review, and recommendation. This week, we have come to the end of another month of film releases and will be looking back at the films with a potential for greatness that released in April, categorizing them as either long shots, possible things, or sure things. April 2023 has been a fascinating month for film, featuring a little bit of everything – animated family blockbusters, action thrillers, horror hits, romantic comedies, indie darlings – all of which have some representations here. April has nearly doubled the number of films to keep an eye on for the year, even if none of them are solidly sure things yet. Let’s get into it.

Long Shots:

Chevalier: The biopic of French composer Joseph Bologne, Chevalier de Saint-Georges, has opened to some fairly mixed reviews, with lots of love for the performances of Kelvin Harrison Jr., Lucy Boynton, and Samara Weaving, but not much to say for the story execution. Don’t be surprised if this film gets recognition for its production design later this year, but I would be surprised to see much more love from the awards shows, which it needs to be able to make its way onto the List.

The Super Mario Bros. Movie: The film that “broke critics” continues to press on toward being the first billion-dollar film of 2023, potentially the highest-grossing film of the year despite its mediocre critical reception. It helps that audiences really love this film, as well, appreciating the adaptation of the simple video games and nostalgia that the film incorporates. It’s not unthinkable that it’ll make noise come awards season for animated feature as well (and maybe for Jack Black’s original song “Peaches” too).

Beau Is Afraid: I don’t know what else is left to say about Ari Aster’s psychological horror comedy thriller that hasn’t already been said. It’s well-made but incredibly divisive among audiences and critics, meaning that to make it onto the List it’ll need some love for Phoenix or LuPone or Aster or (best) all three come awards season.

Evil Dead Rise: The return to Sam Raimi’s iconic Evil Dead series by writer/director Lee Cronin has pleased audiences and critics to a high degree – earning some truly rave reviews for the horror soft reboot. Now, its scores won’t be quite enough to get it there on their own, and the genre’s difficulty in earning respect from awards shows keeps it at a long shot, but this would be a refreshing return to greatness for horror if they decide to opt for this one.

Mighty Morphin Power Rangers: Once and Always: Look, this film technically fits the requirements for a feature film as laid down by the Academy, and that’s why I’m mentioning it. The nostalgia-infused return of the classic Power Ranger team hits the notes that fans want and has done enough for critics to keeps its Metacritic score green and its Tomatometer in the 80s range. I don’t expect anything else from this, but it’s fun that it has gotten the love that it has.

Guy Ritchie’s The Covenant: Guy Ritchie has been really hit and miss with his past few offerings, struggling to reach anything near the cult success of Lock Stock and Snatch or the economic success of Sherlock Holmes. This Afghanistan War film with Jake Gyllenhaal seems to be doing some of that for him, though, with decent critic returns and overwhelmingly positive audience reviews. Gyllenhaal’s star power might even be enough to bring the film to true greatness come the end of the year.

Somewhere in Queens: Ray Romano’s directorial debut in this indie dramedy sounds like a true feel-good R-rated film, in the vein of Jon Favreau’s Chef and the like, capturing Romano’s heart for his script through his direction and performance as well. Critics have been fairly positive in their reception, as have audiences, making the rookie director’s debut a solid first outing with some outside chances at writing awards.

Sisu: The history-bending Finnish answer to John Wick looks to be capitalizing well on the world’s desire for visceral action films where the protagonist can handle just about any kind of injury imaginable. Critics and audiences so far have been pleased with this new take on the genre. John Wick: Chapter 4 seems to be the film from this genre most likely to break onto an awards scene, but the foreign nature of Sisu keeps it as an outside contender.

Possible Things:

Air: Ben Affleck’s first film directing his friend Matt Damon has already started generating awards-buzz. The feel-good Sonny Vaccaro biopic about Nike’s courtship of Michael Jordan seems to have the right combination of solid script work, good acting, and a unique angle on a somewhat familiar story to put it poised to make some awards noise if they play their cards right. I’d personally love to see this film keep its momentum going throughout the year and put itself into a spot among the greats.

How to Blow Up a Pipeline: The TIFF darling finally got a wider release through NEON this month, and it has continued to receive love from the audiences who have seen it. The film’s topical content about climate activism acting against “big oil” also helps its chances to elevate its status from festival darling to truly great film.

Suzume: Makoto Shinkai’s latest release follows in the footsteps of its predecessors Weathering with You and Your Name., achieving success at the box office, with audiences, and with critics in such a way that he might even give Miyazaki’s upcoming How Do You Live? a run for its money in terms of best Japanese animated films this year. With plenty of buzz around the filmmaker’s latest film, I wouldn’t be at all surprised to keep hearing about the multidimensional adventure film well beyond this year.

Polite Society: The sister-focused action comedy that had Sundance buzzing this year has now released in theaters and is continuing its run of pleased critics and audiences. The film’s unique niche in the action-comedy genre and its representation of South Asian culture in a more mainstream film could help its chances to leave its mark of greatness on film history.

Judy Blume Forever: In addition to the horror successes that we saw this month, we have also entered into some sort of Judy Blume fever. The Amazon documentary about the author and her impact on culture and celebrities has released with stellar reviews. Its proximity to the success of Are You There God? It’s Me, Margaret. could spell the potential for continued love for both films as more audiences go to see them.

Are You There God? It’s Me, Margaret.: The adaptation of Judy Blume’s classic novel from The Edge of Seventeen filmmaker Kelly Fremon Craig has opened to mass critical acclaim and solid audience reviews. With the attached names of Rachel McAdams and Kathy Bates boosting the performance of Ant-Man alum Abby Ryder Fortson, it’s easily imaginable that this film will still be making waves come awards season.