The end of each month signifies both an exciting new selection of movies coming to streaming libraries, but also the sad departure of many other fantastic picks.
Thankfully, there’s still a little over a week left to get in some choice viewings before April gives way to May.
Watch With Us has put together a list of three great but underrated thrillers leaving platforms like Netflix and HBO Max at the end of April that you should prioritize squeezing in while you still have time.
Our picks include a modern Western crime saga, a twisty science fiction drama and a stylish neo-noir from the ’80s.
Toby Howard (Chris Pine) is trying to give his family a better life while keeping their ranch from foreclosing, so he goes into criminal cahoots with his short-tempered ex-con brother and Tanner (Ben Foster) to execute a series of heists targeted at the bank that’s threatening to take away their home. Unfortunately, the brothers have relentless Texas Ranger Marcus Hamilton (Jeff Bridges) on their scent, accompanied by his equally tough partner Alberto Parker (Gil Birmingham). Although Marcus is only weeks away from retirement, that won’t stop him from confronting the brothers in true cowboy fashion: in a climactic showdown, guns blazing.
The screenplay for Hell or High Water comes straight from the brainchild of the Yellowstone Cinematic Universe, Taylor Sheridan, who unsurprisingly makes this riveting crime story a true neo-Western for the modern era. The slow-burn unfolding of the narrative is played out to perfection in the detailed script and the richly textured characters, who are embodied naturalistically by Bridges, Pine, Foster and Birmingham. Though Hell or High Water did receive an Oscar nomination for Best Picture, it’s far too slept on. If you love movies like No Country for Old Men and Bone Tomahawk, be sure to check this one out.
Caleb Smith (Domhnall Gleeson) is a computer search engine programmer who wins a contest to spend a week at the lavish estate of his company’s CEO, tech entrepreneur Nathan Bateman (Oscar Isaac). Little does Caleb know, he hasn’t actually won any vacation. Instead, he was intentionally chosen to act as a guinea pig for Nathan’s latest technology: a highly intelligent humanoid robot named Ava (Alicia Vikander). Through his administering of the Turing test on Ava, Caleb discovers the true extent of her consciousness — and she is far more self-aware than either Caleb or Nathan realizes.
Alex Garland (likely most known for screenwriting 28 Days Later) makes his feature directorial debut with the stylish and cinematic indie film Ex Machina, a philosophically minded sci-fi that questions the nature of human empathy and “God complexes.” The movie trades CGI-heavy special effects for simplistic yet effective designs, with sleek visuals, a sharp script and tremendous performances from Gleeson, Isaac and Vikander. If you haven’t yet given Ex Machina a shot, it doesn’t take long into the runtime to understand why many feel it’s one of the top science fiction films of the 21st century.
Dogged U.S. Secret Service agent Richard Chance (William Petersen) swears revenge on violent counterfeiter Eric “Rick” Masters” (Willem Dafoe), the man who killed Chance’s partner in action. So, he sets out to find Masters alongside his new partner, John Vukovich (John Pankow). Though Vukovich is far more by-the-books than Chance is willing to be, that doesn’t stop Chance from turning to unorthodox methods to get his payback. But when Chance enacts a scheme to ensnare Masters, the resulting violence causes the death of an undercover cop, and Chance’s relentless obsession with Masters only becomes more dangerous.
To Live and Die in L.A. comes from legendary auteur director William Friedkin (The Exorcist, The French Connection), but it’s a lesser-celebrated installment in the director’s acclaimed body of work. The movie bears the distinction of being the source of the Wang Chung hit “To Live and Die in LA” (which some may recognize now as the theme for Everybody’s Live with John Mulaney), but it’s also replete with killer car chases, a masterful sense of stylistic flair, dynamic pacing and a memorably slimy villain in Dafoe’s Rick Masters. To Live and Die in L.A. is a defining ’80s neo-noir you can’t skip out on.
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