Ranking the 2025 April New Movies: A Viewer's Perspective

With another month at an end, it is time to share my thoughts and ranking of the new April releases that I saw. I ended up seeing six new movies this month. There were a lot of solid films this month but still no best of the year type of films. This month had a good balance of different types of movies. There were a couple of comedies, a couple of action movies, and a horror film. With all that said, here are my thoughts and ranking of the six new releases that I saw.

6. A Minecraft Movie

A Minecraft Movie is the biggest movie of the month and was a lot funnier than I was expecting. Jason Mamoa and Jack Black steal the show in this movie. They are both playing over-the-top stereotypes of themselves and it is really funny. The two had a lot more chemistry together than I was expecting. The movie also does a good job of embracing the Minecraft lore and incorporating it into the storytelling. The movie doesn't feel like a generic blockbuster but is a story catered to Minecraft. The movie has this dumb high-energy humor to it which works well for its target audience of 5-13 year olds. Even so, I felt the movie could have put a bit more effort into things. All of the characters aside from the two above felt pointless and dull. The movie is also very surface-level, opting for more low-brow humor than any sweet or emotional moments. I get that the movie is for kids, but kids' movies can have something for adults too. Take a look at any Pixar movie. Overall, I'm not the target audience for this movie and did have my issues with but any kid who plays Minecraft is going to love this movie.

Score: 6/10 Grade: C+

5. Hell of a Summer

Hell of a Summer is a new throwback horror comedy very reminiscent of 80's slasher films. The movie follows a group of counselors at a summer camp as the attempt to find a killer who is slowing taking them out one by one. At first glance, this movie feels like a modern day version of Friday the 13th and in a lot of ways it flows like that. I did like that aspect of it as the premise of Friday the 13th is something that could lend itself to a modern retelling. The movie had a lot more comedy than I was expecting and had some pretty funny moments. In the later half of the film, the movie sort of morphs into more of a Scream type of movie, which is one of my favorite horror movies, as it feels more like the self aware slasher that Scream did. However, I think turning in that direction is what hurt the movie a bit. I wish it would have been a little more Friday the 13th coded and a little less Scream coded and I wish it would have been a little serious. I also don't like the direction they took the killer and their motivation, or lack thereof, to kill all these people. I also didn't like the direction the movie took with the older counselor character. I think the main issue here was that the movie wanted to go in too many different directions instead of just picking a single path forward. In the end, while it did have some solid moments, the movie tries to go in too many different directions to do any one of them any justice.

Score: 6/10 Grade: C+

4. The Amateur

The Amateur is a solid mid-level spy thriller. It has all of the things you want from a spy movie, globetrotting, action sequences, and gadgets. I liked that the movie doesn't turn the Rami Malek character into this action hero and instead utilizes his technical skills to defeat enemies. So instead of having him magically be able to shoot people, the movie has him use devices to decompress the air in glass to make a pool break and kill the guy in it. The movie isn't trying to be a big high-octane blockbuster but instead is a more grounded spy thriller. I also like how the movie handles Charlie's grief as he copes with the loss of his wife throughout the film by seeing her in different locations. I did feel like the movie was a bit episodic in structure. It runs like 3-4 episodes of a TV show instead of a cohesive movie. It has Charlie going to a new location, connecting with someone related to the agency, and finding and killing one of the people who killed his wife. It does this four times. There were also a few side characters such as the Jon Bernthal character that were not given much of anything to do. Overall, while there were a few structural issues, it was still a pretty entertaining mid-tier spy thriller.

Score: 7.5/10 Grade: B

3. The Accountant 2

The Accountant 2 is the final movie I saw this month. The best thing about this movie is the whole buddy-cop dynamic between Ben Affleck and John Bernthal. The two actors have so much chemistry together and are just fun when they play off of each other. The opposite nature of their personalities makes for some funny moments. Aside from the buddy cop aspect, the movie as a whole was a lot funnier than I was expecting it to be. There is this whole beginning sequence where Christian deconstructs the algorithm of a dating site that is very funny. If the movie would have stuck with the buddy cop aspect a bit more, I think it would have been much better. However, the movie gets a little bogged down with the actual investigation. I found the whole missing family plot to be a bit uninteresting and convoluted. Every time it shifts to the investigation, I feel the story slow down quite a bit. I wish the movie would have just simplified the plot a bit and focused more on the dynamic between the two brothers. In the end, even though the investigation didn't work for me, I liked the buddy dynamic enough that it outweighs much of the negative in this movie.

Score:7.5/10 Grade: B

2. Warfare

Warfare is the newest film from Alex Garland, the director of last year's Civil War. Warfare uses the memories of soldiers to tell the story of a platoon of Navy SEALs on a dangerous mission in Ramadi, Iraq. This was a very intense movie. Most war movies will take some liberties with the events to make a more standard plot-structured story. However, what makes this film special is that it holds true to what happened on this mission and doesn't attempt to dramatize anything. The movie's main goal is to tell what happened on this mission through the eyes of the soldiers using their memories. Because of that, you don't get much of a plot-driven story because real-life events don't usually flow like the movies. Even though it was made like this, the movie is still incredibly thrilling. There are no moments where things lighten up as these soldiers are constantly under attack. The movie does a good job of showing the horrors of war as well as showing the effects they have on the soldiers. Most of the soldiers shown at the beginning of the movie are pretty much out of the count by the end just because of both the physical and mental trauma they go through. In the end, this may not be the most uplifting war movie out there but if you are looking for accuracy this is a good option.

Score: 8/10 Grade: B+

1. Sinners

Sinners is the newest film from Ryan Coogler and the best one he has put out. Sinners is a very effective genre blender bringing in aspects of horror, historical drama, music, and romance. I liked the historical setting of the film. It does a great job of making the audience feel like they are in the 1930s South. I also thought the horror elements were very well done. They don't get all goofy with the kills but there is still enough in there for horror fans to enjoy. The characters are also very well written so that you care when they die instead of in more traditional horror movies where the characters are one-dimensional and are just there to be killed. I liked the heavy music elements of the film. It isn't a musical or anything but the movie does have aspects of it that are a love letter to the legacy of blues music and its relationship to African American culture. Overall, this is a great horror movie and is not only the best movie of the month but is also the best movie of the year so far.

Score: 9/10 Grade: A