Cinema Sneak Peeks: April Ups the Ante

April may be known for showers, but this month is full of features worth the umbrella. The offerings are spread across the gamut, with solid performances all around. From experimental thrillers to action-packed mayhem, April is bringing the A-game to theaters.

Blockers

Leslie Mann, Ike Barinholtz, and John Cena star as three overbearing parents undergoing wacky hijinks in a herculean effort to stop their hormone addled teenage daughters near adulthood from fulfilling a pact to lose their virginities on the night of their high school senior prom.

Although the cartoonish premise leaves a lot to be desired and John Cena has a long way to go before even approaching upon Dwayne Johnson levels of charisma, early word of mouth has been fairly positive and Kay Cannon, making her directorial debut has had experience with raunchy comedies subtly touching on female issues, having written the “Pitch Perfect” series.

A Quiet Place

John Krasinski directs and stars with Emily Blunt in a post-apocalyptic horror thriller about predatory creatures seeking their human prey via sound, forcing a family to grow up and live their lives in self imposed silence less they risk incurring the attention of the creatures.

Although low budget horror movies tend to get a bad reputation these days, the decision to enforce muteness among the cast in isolated environments lend credence to rumors of the film’s boldness that has earned it high praise at South by Southwest.

Rampage

A mutated ape, lizard and wolf grow to giant size and tear up a city while Dwayne Johnson attempts to mitigate the damage.

Between a thin premise intended as an excuse for arcade game action and the unintentional hilarity of the film’s insistence in putting The Rock at the center of all of the giant monster action as though he intends to stop the carnage by punching the monsters himself, the only thing this one really has going for it is that “Tomb Raider” was so boring that it has a shot at being the best video game based movie released in 2018. Not particularly high praise but we’ll see if “Rampage” can step up to the task and at least provide a diverting popcorn fun experience.

Super Troopers 2

After 17 years the Vermont State Troopers are back to settle a border dispute with Canadian Mounties over a highway separating the state of Vermont from Canada.

Why this is happening is honestly anybody’s guess. If you are a part of some sort of die hard cult following of “Super Troopers,” than perhaps your prayers will have finally been answered but in a world where good movies worthy of sequels are denied their due every year, only to fade into general obscurity and be rediscovered, why a mediocre comedy nearly two decades old that only succeeded at the box office due to being a micro-budgeted independent film in an age of renewed interest in indie filmmaking honestly has me perplexed beyond words. Hopefully, towards the end of the month, “Super Troopers 2” will deliver an answer.

Avengers: Infinity War

In a move that is perhaps one of the most pleasant cinematic surprises of 2018 thus far, Marvel studios has bumped the release of “Avengers: Infinity War” up from its initial May release. The titular superhero team unites along with the Guardians of the Galaxy and several other heroes to mount an offensive against cosmic war lord Thanos in a battle that will serve as the culmination of the entire Marvel Cinematic Universe nearly ten years in the making.

The success of this entire franchise from a creative and marketing standpoint will be written about and studied by film historians for years to come regardless of whether its massive scale finale lives up to a hype that seems almost impossible to meet. As for whether or not it will meet it, audiences around the world will find out at the end of April but the sheer fact that something like it can exist after years of development for every individual member of its cast, the number of which extends into the double digits, is a staggering achievement in blockbuster storytelling that was seen as a mere pipe dream less than six years ago.