ASHEVILLE, N.C. (828newsNOW) — With so many films vying for attention, it’s hard to know what’s worth seeking out.
Consult our helpful guide below for the new movies to see, stream and skip in April 2025.
Go see…
“THE BALLAD OF WALLIS ISLAND” (2025, 100 min., directed by James Griffiths)
Sometimes, all we want to see is a movie that feels like a warm hug. That’s “The Ballad of Wallis Island.”
The British comedy follows musician Herb McGwyer, played by Tom Basden, who has been hired to play a gig on teeny-tiny Wallis Island for quirky millionaire Charles, played by Tim Key.
Herb is washed out and aloof, while Charles is warm, awkward and starstruck: in the 2010s, McGwyer made up half of his favorite band, a folk duo called McGwyer Mortimer. The differences between the two exacerbate when Charles reveals he also extended an invitation to Herb’s former bandmate Nell Mortimer, a wonderful Carrey Mulligan, with whom Herb hasn’t spoken in nearly a decade.
The premise is ripped straight out of a romcom cliché, but “The Ballad of Wallis Island” is more thoughtful than that. The film itself is undeniably funny, but its three central characters are a bit more complex. While fans of folk music will probably get more out of the experience – much of the movie hinges on Basden and Mulligan’s musical chemistry and their songs, written by Basden himself – there is a loveliness to “The Ballad of Wallis Island” that, like the catchiest of folk tunes, makes it hard to forget.
“The Ballad of Wallis Island” is now playing at the Fine Arts Theatre in downtown Asheville, 36 Biltmore Avenue.
“DEATH OF A UNICORN” (2025, 107 min., directed by Alex Scharfman)
Can you name more than five unicorn movies? I sure can’t, which is a big part of what makes Alex Scharfman’s foray into class satire such an absurdist blast.
“Death of a Unicorn” stars Paul Rudd and Jenna Ortega as a father-daughter duo who turn a baby unicorn into roadkill on the way to the remote estate of Rudd’s wealthy employers, a family of pharmaceutical industrialists. The family, played by a maniacal Richard E. Grant, an icy Téa Leoni and a himbo Will Poulter, quickly discover that unicorn blood, guts and horn can be used as properties for fabulous innovations, such as curing cancer. The problem is that Mama Unicorn wants her baby back.
The film is preposterous, and, sure, the CGI is a little shoddy, it’s about 20 minutes longer than it needs to be and the naturally charming Rudd is stuck playing a heel. However, for genre fans looking for a bloody and entertaining successor to “The Last Unicorn” (1982), the only truly unicorn-centric movie I can think of, they’ve come to the right place.
“Death of a Unicorn” is now playing in theaters.
Go stream…
“MAGAZINE DREAMS” (2023, 124 min., directed by Elijah Bynum)
Jonathan Majors’ career came to a screeching halt after the actor was convicted of assault in 2023. “Magazine Dreams” is a relic of a time when the “Creed III” and “Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania” actor seemed to be on the fast track to superstardom. The 2023 film was shelved by distributor Searchlight Pictures until Briarcliff Entertainment scooped it up for a modest 2025 release.
Majors is a force of nature in “Magazine Dreams” as Killian Maddox, a socially-inept aspiring bodybuilder. The actor brings his trademark intensity to the role, wrapping his body in hard-earned muscle and his performance in remorseful, rageful outbursts. In Majors’ hands, Killian is as tragic as he is contempible.
Since its release, “Magazine Dreams” has been likened to a modern-day “Taxi Driver.” Its depiction of a lonely and damaged young man lashing out at a world he can’t understand is more or less a photocopy of the 1976 classic. Just as Killian plasters photos of his heroes all over his bedroom walls, “Magazine Dreams” clamors after the heights of its thematic predecessor.
The movie doesn’t quite get there, but its transmogrification of a Travis Bickle-like character into a steroid-fueled bodybuilder is an interesting twist on an oft-told tale, and the film feels like an authentic love letter to a fringe industry. Even if it doesn’t enter into the hallowed halls of “Taxi Driver”-esque fame, “Magazine Dreams” should get the chance to stretch its muscles on the streaming stage.
“Magazine Dreams” is now available to rent on digital platforms.
“NOVOCAINE” (2025, 110 min., directed by Dan Berk and Robert Olsen)
Jack Quaid, son of actors Dennis Quaid and Meg Ryan, has built up a solid career getting typecast as charismatic, bumbling nice guys. “Novocaine” is more of that, but with an action movie twist.
Quaid plays Nathan Caine, a bank employee with a medical condition that prevents him from feeling pain. After his work crush is kidnapped during a bank robbery, Caine embarks on a rescue mission that sees him, among other things, douse his hand in boiling oil, take spiky booby-traps to the back and break an incalculable number of bones.
The experience of watching “Novocaine” is like watching a little kid play rough with an action figure. It’s also a total blast.
Directors Dan Berk and Robert Olsen have a keen eye for gore and physical comedy, which “Novocaine” delivers in spades. If you’re looking to liven up a dead night in, I promise this will make you feel something.
“Novocaine” is now available to rent on digital platforms.
You can skip…
“DROP” (2025, 95 min., directed by Christopher Landon)
The trailer for “Drop” was an inescapable presence in movie theaters for months. As an audience member, the experience of being forced to rewatch the trailer over and over again was akin to, say, repeatedly receiving unwanted airdrop messages, just as the main character of “Drop” is forced to endure during a first date.
Bad marketing can sometimes misrepresent a good film. Not “Drop.”
“The White Lotus” star Meghann Fahy plays Violet, the besieged dropee, while “It Ends With Us” star Brandon Sklenar attempts to drop some charm into the mix as Henry, her befuddled date. The story is mostly confined to Fahy’s furtive glances at threatening smartphone messages, rendered in admirably obnoxious text graphics. It gets old fast.
For most of the film, the formula goes: Fahy receives message. Fahy acts awkward about it. Sklenar asks if something is wrong. Fahy says no. Sklenar tries to move date along. Fahy manages to distract Sklenar long enough to look at message. Message is a threat to Fahy’s safety, her family’s safety or a stranger’s safety. Message could also be a demand that Fahy kill Sklenar. Fahy responds poorly. Rinse, repeat.
Despite pretensions of tension and some third-act grasping at serious subject material, “Drop” is a letdown.
As a rule of thumb, if a stranger tries to airdrop you something, hit decline. You should do the same to “Drop.”
“Drop” is now playing in theaters.
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