The Best TV Shows and Movies New to Netflix, Amazon and More in April

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Every month, subscription streaming services add a new batch of movies and TV shows to their libraries. Here are the titles we think are most interesting for April, broken down by service and release date. Streaming services occasionally change schedules without giving notice.

Movies New to Netflix

When Renée Zellweger got the chance to play a role a world away from her Bridget Jones character, she won an Oscar for it. In this 2003 film, Zellweger plays a tomboyish woman in North Carolina who goes to live with a lonely neighbor (Nicole Kidman) who’s waiting for her husband (Jude Law) to come back from the Civil War. Their characters become close friends and rely on each other for survival, which becomes another wonderful (nonromantic) relationship to watch. As an added bonus, the movie spends a lot of time showing off the natural beauty of the Smoky Mountains.
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Although the robotic star of this movie makes a big cameo in Steven Spielberg’s “Ready Player One,” his role in afight scene presents a sharp contrast with how audiences first met the gentle Iron Giant in 1999. In the original animated film, a boy name Hogarth finds the large robot from outer space during the paranoia-filled age of the Cold War. He is forced to keep his new best friend a secret even though the giant comes in peace. Unloved at the box office during its first run, “The Iron Giant” later gained a devoted following and helped get its director, Brad Bird, into Pixar Studios, where he went on to make “The Incredibles.”
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In this three-time Oscar-winner (one of which resulted in this moment), a Jewish Italian father tries to protect his young son from the horrors of a concentration camp after they are captured by Nazis. Roberto Benigni starred in, wrote and directed the movie, which uses slapstick comedy to balance some of the film’s tragic scenes.
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Before Joel Schumacher became known as the director behind two of the worst “Batman” sequels (“Batman: Forever” and “Batman & Robin”), he made this thrilling horror-comedy about a group of troublemaking vampires who roam a California boardwalk, seducing victims and squaring off against a group of comic-book nerds. It is delightfully ’80s in every respect: the hair, the clothes, the kinds of mischief the kids get up to. And then there’s the cast, which includes ’80s stars like Corey Feldman, Corey Haim, Alex Winter, Dianne Wiest and Kiefer Sutherland, as the leader of the vampire pack.
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This is the Brian De Palma movie that launched a handful of catchphrases, many bad Al Pacino impressions and countless movie posters on dorm rooms across the country. Written by Oliver Stone, the film follows the ruthless Cuban gangster Tony Montana as he climbs his way up from being a low-level hood to ruling a slice of the Miami drug scene in the decadent ’80s. In his perverted sense of the American dream, nothing is off limits. It’s a mentality that eventually leads to so many scenes of violence and drug use that it makes “Miami Vice” look like a kid’s show.
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Netflix Original TV Series

TV’s prettiest-looking cooking series gets its second spinoff, focused on four of the world’s most acclaimed dessert-makers: the Milk Bar’s Christina Tosi, Room 4’s Will Goldfarb, El Celler de Can Roca’s Jordi Roca and Caffè Sicilia’s Corrado Assenza. As always, expect the director-producer David Gelb and his crew to combine these chefs’ philosophical ruminations with drool-worthy images of food.
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Although it only ran for three seasons in the 1960s, the family-friendly science-fiction series “Lost in Space” has maintained a steady presence in popular culture, thanks largely to its memorable characters and endearingly wonky science. Netflix’s new remake appears to be keeping most of what worked the first time out, albeit with updated special effects and a more modern outlook on gender roles. The comically dour Dr. Smith, for example — played by Jonathan Harris in the original — is a woman in this version, and she’s played by a cleverly cast Parker Posey.
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President John F. Kennedy’s life, career and death have been covered extensively in documentaries, movie dramas, and TV mini-series, much more than his brother Robert’s political career and assassination. The four-hour docu-series “Bobby Kennedy for President” is an effort to correct that imbalance, using the landmark cultural moment of Kennedy’s 1968 White House run — and its abrupt, tragic end — as a lens through which to observe what he stood for and what he meant to a generation of young idealists.
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Also of interest: “The Boss Baby: Back in Business” Season 1 (April 6), “The Magic School Bus Rides Again” Season 2 (April 13), “The Chalet” Season 1 (April 17), “Dope” Season 2 (April 20).

New Netflix Original Movies

The accomplished young comic actors Abbi Jacobson and Dave Franco play against type in the writer-director Marja-Lewis Ryan’s “6 Balloons,” an edgy drama about the stress of dealing with a loved one who’s hooked on drugs. Franco is a heroin addict suffering through a relapse and Jacobson is the hyper-organized, strait-laced sister who spends one long, tense day trying to get him the help he needs while also making sure that his life isn’t totally upended — two goals that aren’t necessarily compatible.
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Chiwetel Ejiofor gives one of the best performances of his long, accomplished career in “Come Sunday,” playing the real-life evangelical minister Carlton Pearson, who around the turn of the millennium began preaching “the Gospel of Inclusion,” arguing that Jesus Christ had saved everyone regardless of a person’s religious beliefs. Directed by Joshua Marston and written by Marcus Hinchey, the film is intended as a bracing challenge to fervent Christian believers, asking them to consider the true purpose of their faith.
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Based on a true story, the indie dramedy “Kodachrome” stars Ed Harris as a cranky, ill old man who takes a road trip with his compassionate nurse (Elizabeth Olsen) and his estranged son (Jason Sudeikis), in order to drop off some undeveloped rolls of film at the last lab in the country that can process them. Similarities to the recent Oscar nominee “Nebraska” are unmistakable, but this move has its own tone and rhythm, paying off in some satisfyingly emotional moments.
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In 1960, not long after NASA publicly announced the names of the seven pilots who became the first American men in space — the so-called Mercury Seven — a private organization started recruiting women to undergo some of the same psychological and physical tests administered to those men. The purpose: to see if the challenges of flying beyond Earth’s atmosphere differed by gender. The documentary “Mercury 13” is a look into this lesser-known project, considering the way the codified sexism of the post-World War II era denied a one-of-a-kind opportunity to some would-be (and perfectly capable) adventurers.
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For the most part, the movies that Adam Sandler has delivered to Netflix as part of his recent four-picture deal have been embarrassingly broad. But there’s reason to hope that this last film in the batch will be the best — in part because it is directed by the incisive veteran comic Robert Smigel (who also wrote the film with Sandler), and in part because it also stars Sandler’s old “Saturday Night Live” castmate Chris Rock. Sandler and Rock play parents who spend an anxious seven days leading up to their kids’ wedding. Rachel Dratch and Steve Buscemi also star, in a film that could potentially hearken to more emotionally complex Sandler projects like “The Wedding Singer.”
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Also of interest: “The 4th Company” (April 6), “Amateur” (April 6), “Orbiter 9” (April 6), “Pickpockets” (April 12), “Dude” (April 20), “Psychokinesis” (April 25) and “Candy Jar” (April 27).

New to Amazon Prime Video

Snake Plissken (Kurt Russell) is a man of action and few words. In the not-too-distant future (1997 — the film was released in 1981), Air Force One crash lands in the prison colony of Manhattan, and Plissken is enlisted to rescue the president before the crooks who kidnapped him seek revenge. Along with “The Thing,” this is one of the best 1980s collaborations between Russell and the movie’s director, John Carpenter. Between Russell’s gruff macho-man character, exaggerated villains and dystopian view of New York City, this movie is pretty out there. Breaking up all the seriousness, the classic-movie star Ernest Borgnine shows up for comic relief as an old-school cabdriver looking to help Plissken with his mission.
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In his mind, Rupert Pupkin (Robert De Niro) is a TV star, and he’ll do just about anything to make his dream come true — including stalking and kidnapping. This is perhaps one of Martin Scorsese’s more understated movies. It doesn’t have the same amount of violence that movies like “Taxi Driver” or “Goodfellas” have. It’s a psychological drama that is tense and sometimes tragically funny.
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Angela de Marco (Michelle Pfeiffer) has a husband in the mafia (a young and dashing Alec Baldwin), and she wants out. Unfortunately, leaving the mob is harder than breaking a marriage, and Angela is left to defend for herself from gangsters and the feds. The premise sounds bleak, but “Married to the Mob” is a lively Jonathan Demme romantic comedy that gives Pfeiffer a chance to play for laughs. It’s funny but poignant, bubbly but still dark at times — all in equal measure so nothing is out of whack.
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This is the low-budget found-footage horror film that helped kick off a craze in the late 2000s. Suspecting there’s something strange lurking in their new home, a young couple sets up stationary cameras to capture whatever might be creeping around at night. But the cause of the disturbances is more terrifying than they anticipated. For best results, watch this movie at night, right before you go to bed.
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This is both a great mother-daughter movie and a good one to watch with girlfriends. “Steel Magnolias” is about a group of women in the South and the many highs and lows of their collective experiences. The central story follows a hard-to-please mother (Sally Field) and her diabetic daughter (Julia Roberts), who despite her fragile health still wants kids. Field and Roberts are amazing, but there isn’t a bad performer in a cast that includes Shirley MacLaine, Daryl Hannah, Olympia Dukakis and Dolly Parton in one of her best onscreen roles.
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For those not familiar with the Mexican musician Chavela Vargas, let this inspiring documentary be your guide. She was a pants-wearing pioneer in an era when Mexican women didn’t sing ranchera music onstage without wearing super frilly dresses. But Vargas ditched the costume, picked up a guitar and sang haunting songs of longing and loss. This documentary goes to great lengths to explain the mysterious Vargas through old interviews and recordings, but it can sometimes feel as if she’s just out of reach. She’s keeping some secrets to herself.
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Sean Baker made a splash at Sundance a few years ago with “Tangerine,” a sun-drenched, foul-mouthed comedy starring two transgender actresses and shot with an iPhone. His follow-up, “The Florida Project,” is no less daring. Set amid a string of pastel-colored roadside motels in Orlando, Fla., just outside the Happiest Place on Earth, the movie follows a precocious 6-year-old troublemaker named Moonee (Brooklynn Prince) as she and her friends wreak havoc and her quick-tempered mother (Bria Vinaite) tries to keep up with the rent. Willem Dafoe gives a career-best performance as their motel’s beleaguered manager, who becomes a kind of surrogate father to Moonee.
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Also of interest: “Basic Instinct” (April 1), “Carrie” (April 1), “For a Few Dollars More” (April 1), “Friday the 13th” (April 1), “The Karate Kid” (April 1), “Marathon Man” (April 1), “Mystic River” (April 1), “Philadelphia” (April 1), “Project Nim” (April 1) and “Spaceballs” (April 1).

New to Hulu

It is difficult to pick the movie with the best Nicolas Cage reaction shots, but this bombastic Jerry Bruckheimer movie from 1997 is near the top. In it, Cage plays a convict and former soldier who is on his way out of jail when the plane he is on gets hijacked by his fellow inmates. Of course, it wouldn’t be a ’90s Cage action movie without lots of fighting, over-the-top explosions and some pithy one-liners.
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Meryl Streep is at her funniest in this little black comedy about jealousy and magic. In it, Streep plays Madeline, a gorgeous movie star who steals the handsome fiancé (Bruce Willis) of the much plainer Helen (Goldie Hawn), thus setting a disastrous course for both women. Their jealousy drives them to dark magic, which has some interesting physical side effects. “Death Becomes Her” has a lighthearted, macabre sense of humor, full of morbid slapstick stunts and neck-twisting pratfalls. But it is also a bittersweet comedy about female friendships and impossible beauty standards.
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Poor Jane (Mia Wasikowska), who survived several abusive years to become a tutor, earns employment from the dashing Mr. Rochester (Michael Fassbender) but soon finds that her mysterious boss is often brooding and ill-at-ease (and ready to shell out even more abuse). With its bleak setting and low lighting, this adaptation of the Charlotte Brontë novel looks to be as moody as Mr. Rochester. Fortunately, Wasikowska and Fassbender bring a spark of life to this otherwise dark costume drama from the director of “True Detective” Season 1, Cary Joji Fukunaga.
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This 1962 war epic from director David Lean is on a lot of “best movies” lists — and with good reason. The film is among the best of its genre, with its sweeping views of windswept battlegrounds and its penetrating look into the ways that war drives men mad. It’s the story of T.E. Lawrence, who during World War I goes from being an insubordinate officer to a troubled leader. “Lawrence of Arabia” is celebrated for Lean’s stunning direction, for Maurice Jarre’s unforgettable score, for Anne V. Coates’s brilliant editing and for its remarkable cast, which includes Peter O’Toole, Omar Sharif, Alec Guinness and Claude Raines. Don’t let the three-and-a-half-hour run time scare you off. Just put the movie on the biggest screen you can find, and make enough popcorn to get you to the intermission.
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Although it is classified as a documentary, this deeply personal film from Sarah Polley almost feels like a work of fiction. But it isn’t. As Polley peels back the layers of her own family’s history, there’s a kind of “Rashomon” effect that happens as old family myths unravel and stories shift perspective. What results is a touching and breathtaking investigation into ideas of family, narrative and memory.
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Also of interest: “Carrie” (April 1), “For a Few Dollars More” (April 1), “Friday the 13th” (April 1), “Married to the Mob” (April 1), “Paranormal Activity” (April 1), “Project Nim” (April 1), “Spaceballs” (April 1), “Taxi Driver” (April 1), “Life is Beautiful” (April 15) and “Loving Vincent” (April 19).

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New to HBO

Released in 1980, this is a classic call to arms for women facing workplace harassment. The chauvinist boss to the characters played by Jane Fonda, Lily Tomlin and Dolly Parton is one of the worst onscreen employers in moviedom. After so many degrading incidents, the women get their righteous revenge on him, serving him a well-overdue comeuppance. The three women are wonderful together, and “Grace and Frankie” fans will really get a kick out of seeing an early pairing of Tomlin and Fonda.
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There are certain movies that make you happy that you don’t have kids. If you are a parent already, then be happy that your child isn’t the actual spawn of Satan, like the creepy child at the center of “The Omen.” This original 1976 version stars Gregory Peck as the adoptive father of a demon boy who brings him hell. There are sequels, of course, but nothing gets quite as unnerving as watching the original Son of Satan scare the daylights out of Peck.
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Written and directed by Adrienne Shelly, “Waitress” is a comedy-drama about a young mom-to-be (Keri Russell) who wants out of her small town and her loveless marriage. Things get complicated when she falls for her doctor (Nathan Fillion), but she sees her real future in making pies. The premise sounds a little cheesy, but Russell is endearing in her role and carries the story well. Recently, this sweet and empowering movie became the inspiration for a popular Broadway musical.
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Calling all Elvis Presley fans. This two-part documentary combines interviews and archival footage for a special look at that rock ‘n’ roll pioneer. While the documentary may retread a number of familiar stories — like how evil and exploitive Elvis’s manager could be — it provides many lesser-known treasures as well, including archival rarities and interviews with fans, loved ones and the man himself. It also explores Elvis’s musical influences and blues history, which many earlier films about him skip. The two parts combine for more than 200 minutes, and devotees should be thrilled at how much history the documentary manages to include.
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Noel Murray contributed reporting.

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