Returning to a theater near you this spring are blockbuster stalwarts like Marvel’s Black Widow and Tom Hanks as a WWII sub captain, plus Carrie Mulligan as a woman out for gruesome revenge…and that’s not all, folks!

BY LAURA D.C. KOLNOSKI

THE LOVEBIRDS
(RATED R)
Action, crime, and comedy, peppered with occasionally cringe worthy violent encounters combine in an o beat way here. A couple, Leilani (Issa Rae) and Jibran (Kumail Nanjiani), become unwittingly embroiled in a murder mystery with an array of unsavory characters, which tests their relationship (to say the least) as well as wits. As they strive to clear their names, circumstances become increasingly and desperately zany. Directed by Michael Showalter (The Big Sick, which also starred Nanjiani).

BLACK WIDOW
(UNRATED)
Saddle up, Marvel fans! Natasha Romano /Black Widow (played again by Scarlett Johansson) gets her own fi lm, set after 2016’s Captain America: Civil War and 2018’s Avengers: Infinity War. This will be Johansson’s eighth time playing the character, and the 24th fi lm of the Marvel Cinematic Universe. Its release marks ten years since Black Widow’s introduction in Iron Man 2 (2010). Little Women sensation, Florence Pugh, plays Romano ’s sister, joining a cast that includes Oscar winners William Hurt and Rachel Weisz.

GREYHOUND
(RATED)
This Tom Hanks led war drama may sound familiar. Sony pictures delayed its release by more than a year, partly to put some space between it and Sony’s other Hanks film, 2019’s A Beautiful Day in the Neighborhood. The plot, based on the 1955 book, The Good Shepherd, by C.S. Forester, (Simon Publications) takes place during World War II; a U.S. Navy skipper (Hanks) leads an Allied convoy being stalked by Nazi U boat “wolf packs” during a desperate and perilous journey.

VJ SPREAD

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

ANTLERS
(RATED R)
Keri Russell stars in this gruesome fantasy/ horror/mystery as a small town Oregon teacher whose young student harbors a frightening and perilous secret. Jesse Plemons plays her brother, the local sheri. Based on the short story, The Quiet Boy, written by Nick Antosca, the film features a Wendigo, a cannibalistic creature of Native American folklore. Amy Madigan also stars. Produced by Guillermo del Toro.

PROMISING YOUNG WOMAN
(UNRATED)
“Take her home and take your chances” is the tag line for this chilling crime thriller about a wronged woman (Carrie Mulligan) who methodically and viciously exacts her own brand of revenge using lessons she learned from life…as well as in medical courses. The tune “Boys,” on the film’s soundtrack, is performed by Charli XCX. Sharing the screen are Laverne Cox, Jennifer Coolidge, Molly Shannon, Connie Britton, Alison Brie, and Adam Brody (the last two also starred in 2011’s Scream 4, so they know their way around a fright fest).

THE PERSONAL HISTORY OF DAVID COPPERFIELD
(RATED PG)
This comedy drama, written and directed by Armando Iannucci (The Death of Stalin) is based on the Victorian era Charles Dickens novel, David Copperfield, and stars Dev Patel as the title character its script loosely adhering to the book’s plotline. Co starring Peter Capaldi, Morfydd Clark, Daisy May Cooper, Rosalind Eleazar, Hugh Laurie, Tilda Swinton, Ben Whishaw, and Paul Whitehouse.