These are the most anticipated new titles hitting Netflix Canada in April 2021, including The Circle season 2, a new thriller starring Sarah Paulson and Idris Elba in Concrete Cowboy.
What we can’t wait to watch
Thunder Force
There’s something really endearing about Melissa McCarthy’s love of genre stuff. Whether she’s inserting herself into a Bond movie in Spy, or running around Seattle at the behest of an AI that sounds like James Corden in last year’s Superintelligence, she always finds a way to let the audience share in her fun at getting to goof around in a preposterous story. Written and directed by McCarthy’s husband and regular creative partner Ben Falcone, this superhero comedy pairs her with Octavia Spencer as childhood friends who become unlikely powerhouses. The trailer looks very silly. This is a good thing. April 9 (NW)
Run
If it feels like you spent most of last year following the buzz for director Aneesh Chaganty’s follow-up to Searching… well, you have. Run, a thriller starring Kiera Allen as a housebound teen who’s beginning to suspect her mother (Sarah Paulson) doesn’t exactly have her best interests in mind, was bounced around the release schedule by COVID, finally premiering on the American streaming service Hulu last fall. But it never made it up to Canada… until now. Hopefully you’ve managed to avoid spoilers. April 2 (NW)
The Circle (season 2)
Last year’s first season of The Circle U.S. – in which isolated contestants interact with each other solely through a social media-type app – was a massive hit for the streamer. And even if the contestants didn’t quite play the game like their savvier Brazilian counterparts (check out The Circle: Brazil if you get a chance), it’s back for a second season this spring. The rollout of episodes is clever. Four episodes will be released weekly to help build momentum until the big finale on May 5. April 14 (GS)
Prank Encounters (season 2)
There’s no word yet on when Netflix will release a fourth season of its retro sci-fi hit, Stranger Things. But you can check out how Gaten Matarazzo, who plays the series’ delightfully nerdy Dustin, has aged as he hosts this show of elaborately staged practical jokes and pranks. Ideal viewing for April Fool’s Day, of course. April 1 (GS)
Dolly Parton: A MusiCares Tribute
Netflix has learned it can’t have too much Dolly Parton content. Joining the terrific doc, Dolly Parton: Here I Am, and the delightfully cheesy Dolly Parton’s Heartstrings and Christmas On The Square, is this star-studded musical tribute to the country music legend. Everyone from Willie Nelson and Emmylou Harris to Miley Cyrus and Katy Perry deliver songs and stories about the iconic artist. April 7 (GS)
Searching For Sheela
Wild Wild Country, the Netflix doc series recounting the early 80s utopian Rajneesh movement, was a breakout hit in 2018. Three years later, the show’s breakout (ahem) star Ma Anand Sheela is getting her own spinoff documentary, which follows her on her first trip to India in 30 years. The commune’s former secretary moved to Europe after doing time in a U.S. federal prison on an array of charges. The film promises to follow Sheela on an interview tour and on a visit to her family home. Coming soon (KR)
Life In Color With David Attenborough
What better way to celebrate Earth Day than by staying indoors and bingeing on a new three-part series created by the guy who made us all glad we bought high-def TVs? This time out, Attenborough and his revolutionary camera technology take us from the rainforests of Costa Rica to the snowy Scottish Highlands. April 22 (GS)
The Disciple
Mumbai writer/director Chaitanya Tamhane made a big splash on the international festival circuit last year after his second film picked up a few awards in Toronto and Venice. The Disciple follows a classical Hindustani vocalist whose spiritual and studious devotion to his craft brushes up against the material demands of the modern world. Executive produced by Roma director Alfonso Cuarón, the movie promises to put a meditative spin on a classic story. Coming soon (KR)
Why Are You Like This
HBO has been pumping out confrontational Gen Z dramas like Euphoria, Genera+ion and We Are Who We Are for the past year. While those shows can sometimes feel like like Gen Xers and Millennials projecting their own pathos onto the younger generation, the Australian comedy Why Are You Like This has been lauded in its home country for its fresh – and arch – take on 20somethings navigating identity politics, cancel culture and “the divisive sociopolitical hellscape” we live in today. April 16 (KR)
The Mitchells Vs. The Machines
Originally scheduled for theatrical release last fall, this Sony Pictures Animation feature is the latest from producers Phil Lord and Christopher Miller, who gave us the LEGO Movie franchise and the Oscar-winning Spider-Man: Into The Spider-Verse. Directed and co-written by Mike Rianda, The Mitchells Vs. The Machines is a family comedy about a cheerfully dysfunctional family driving across America to drop their teenage daughter at film school… just as millions of robots rise up to destroy humanity. Danny McBride and Maya Rudolph are the parents; Abbi Jacobson is the daughter. Eric Andre and Olivia freaking Colman are in there somewhere, too. This is going to be a blast. April 30 (NW)
Snabba Cash
Remember Easy Money? Released in 2010, it was a Swedish thriller (starring a young Joel Kinnaman) that followed an ambitious young man’s questionable business decisions as they led him into an action-movie nightmare of gangsters, betrayal and bullets. It ended up spawning a trilogy, and now this television series, which uses the same Jens Lapidus novel as a springboard for further moral compromise and chaos. This time, it’s Evin Ahmad (The Rain) whose life becomes a raging sea when she borrows money from the wrong people – and she’s not the only one. April 7 (NW)
Shadow And Bone
The latest high-fantasy romantic adventure series is built on the Grishaverse novels of Leigh Bardugo, following a young soldier called Alina (Jessie Mei Li) whose ability to manifest light gives her the ability to survive the realm of darkness her people call the Fold… and makes her the key figure in a battle that threatens to destroy her whole world. It was developed for Netflix by writer/producer Eric Heisserer (Arrival, Bird Box), so we’re hoping for some thoughtful human moments between the gargantuan effects sequences. April 23 (NW)
Solid bets
Concrete Cowboy
The image of Idris Elba on horseback, just charismatic as hell, is likely all it’ll take to grab people’s attention as they scroll through the tiles. But Ricky Staub’s drama – which was picked up by Netflix after its TIFF premiere last year – is really a vehicle for Stranger Things’ Caleb McLaughlin, who stars as a troubled teen offered the chance to turn his life around working with horses in a struggling Philadelphia neighbourhood. Elba plays his father, a modern cowhand trying to keep the stables safe from gentrification. These things are complicated. April 2 (NW)
Coded Bias
Does facial recognition software discriminate against people of colour? Absolutely! And it’s a very serious problem. Shalini Kantayya’s film – which arrives on Netflix after a virtual cinema run and screenings at Sundance and Hot Docs – illustrates MIT researcher Joy Buolamwini’s distressing findings on developer bias and the risks inherent in placing public trust in the hands of deeply flawed algorithms. April 5 (NW)
Amazing Grace
Hollywood is all about Aretha Franklin this year. National Geographic just debuted the Aretha edition of its Genius series, starring Cynthia Erivo as the Queen of Soul. Franklin’s family didn’t consult on the show and have publicly objected to it. But don’t worry too much – the authorized biopic Respect starring Jennifer Hudson, Marlon Wayans, Marc Maron and Mary J. Blige is due out this year. In the meantime, Netflix is getting in on the action by making available Sydney Pollack’s concert film about the recording of Franklin’s seminal gospel album in 1972. There’s nothing like the real thing. April 2 (KR)
High Life
French auteur Claire Denis’s English-language sci-fi horror movie starring Robert Pattinson and Juliette Binoche inspired walkouts during its world premiere at the Toronto International Film Festival in 2018. It’s not hard to understand why – High Life is more future camp classic than futuristic. Set in space on a prison ship, Binoche plays an evil, sperm-stealing doctor intent on seducing Pattinson’s celibate convicted murderer as their craft hurtles toward a black hole. There’s birth, death and impeccably designed space fashions. April 3 (KR)
The full list of new titles available on Netflix Canada in April 2021 by date:
TV
April 1
The Flash (season 7)
Magical Andes (season 2)
PAW Patrol (season 7)
Prank Encounters (season 2)
Worn Stories
April 2
The Serpent
April 5
Family Reunion (Part 3)
April 6
The Last Kids On Earth: Happy Apocalypse To You
April 7
The Big Day: Collection 2
Dolly Parton: A MusiCares Tribute
Snabba Cash
This Is A Robbery: The World’s Biggest Art Heist
The Wedding Coach
April 8
The Way Of The Househusband
April 11
Diana: The Interview That Shook The World
April 13
The Baker And The Beauty (season 1)
Mighty Express (season 3)
April 14
The Circle (season 2)
Dad Stop Embarassing Me!
Law School
April 16
Fast & Furious Spy Racers (season 4: Mexico)
Why Are You Like This
April 18
Luis Miguel: The Series (season 2)
April 20
Izzy’s Koala World (season 2)
April 21
Zero
April 22
Life In Color With David Attenborough
April 23
Shadow And Bone
April 25
RuPaul’s Secret Celebrity Drag Race (season 1)
April 27
Fatma
Go! Go! Cory Carson (season 4)
PJ Masks (season 3)
April 28
Sexify
Headspace
April 29
Yasuke
April 30
The Innocent
Pet Stars
The Unremarkable Juanquini (season 2)
Movies
April 1
300
Alita: Battle Angel
Asterix: The Secret Of The Magic Potion
Breakway
Cold Pursuit
Crank
Crank 2: High Voltage
Dating Amber
The Eagle
Glass
Green Book
Grindhouse: Death Proof
Grindhouse: Planet Terror
Happy Death Day 2 U
In The Line of Fire
The Last Exorcism
Love Don’t Cost A Thing
Margin Call
The New Guy
Racetime!
Shoot ‘Em Up
Tersanjung The Movie
Urban Legend
Watchmen
April 2
Amazing Grace
Concrete Cowboy
Just Say Yes
Madame Claude
Run
Sky High
April 3
Escape From Planet Earth
High Life
April 4
What Lies Below
April 5
Coded Bias
April 7
Dragon: The Bruce Lee Story
Elizabeth
Fried Green Tomatoes
Hop
Leap Year
Liar Liar
Missing Link
Pride & Prejudice (2005)
Ray
Ride Along
This Is 40
Wild Child
April 9
Have You Ever Seen Fireflies
Night In Paradise
Thunder Force
Words On Bathroom Walls
April 10
The Stand-In
April 12
New Gods: Nezha Reborn
Teen Spirit
April 13
Godzilla: King Of The Monsters
My Love: Six Stories Of True Love
April 14
The Intruder
Love And Monsters
The Soul
Why Did You Kill Me?
April 15
Ride Or Die
April 16
The 2nd
Arlo The Alligator Boy
Ajeeb Daastaans
Into The Beat
April 20
The Gift
Ocean’s Eleven
April 22
Searching For Sheela
April 23
The Prodigy
Tell Me When
April 26
Greta
April 29
Things Heard & Seen
April 30
The Disciple
Fighting With My Family
The Mitchells vs. The Machines
Last call
TV series and movies leaving Netflix Canada in April 2021.
April 6
Happy Gilmore
April 11
Shrek Forever After
Shrek The Third
April 12
Fantastic Beasts: The Crimes Of Grindelwald
April 18
Just Friends
April 30
Kingdom (seasons 1-3)
