Welcome to See/Hear, InsideHook’s deep dive into the month’s most important cultural happenings, pop and otherwise. Every month, we round up the biggest upcoming movie, TV and album releases, ask some cool people to tell us what they’ve been into lately, make you a playlist we guarantee you’ll have on heavy rotation and recommend a classic (or unduly overlooked) piece of pop culture that we think is worth revisiting.
MOVIES
The Friend
in theaters April 4
Movies about dogs tend to be a little overly saccharine, but this one looks promising: Naomi Watts plays a novelist who’s forced to take in the enormous beast owned by her recently deceased friend and mentor, played in flashbacks by Bill Murray. Will having the dog around help her navigate her grief or be a lingering reminder of loss? Ann Dowd and Constance Wu also star.
Hell of a Summer
in theaters April 4
Finn Wolfhard — yes, the kid from Stranger Things — wrote and directed this horror-comedy set at a summer camp. It stars Fred Hechinger, who you’ll likely recognize from the first season of The White Lotus, as the camp counselor trying to keep everyone safe from a deranged killer. (Is naming his character Jason a little too on the nose? Sure, but who doesn’t love an homage?)
The Luckiest Man in America
in theaters April 4
Walton Goggins is currently dominating HBO Sunday nights with roles in The White Lotus and The Righteous Gemstones, but his next project sends him back to the ’80s to revisit one of the most infamous game show appearances in television history. Goggins plays Peter Tomarken, the host of Press Your Luck, who finds himself in uncharted waters along with the rest of the producers and executives at CBS when Michael Larson, an ice cream truck driver with a penchant for get-rich-quick schemes, memorized the show’s five different Big Board light patterns — sort of the TV game show version of counting cards. Larson effectively figured out how to avoid the dreaded “whammies” and beat the game, taking home an unprecedented amount of money. Was it cheating per se? That depends on how you look at it, but we can’t wait to see Paul Walter Hauser bring the story to life as Larson. David Strathairn, Maisie Williams and Johnny Knoxville also star.
Eric LaRue
limited release April 4, VOD April 11
Actor Michael Shannon steps behind the camera and makes his directorial debut in this story of two parents grieving after their son murders several of his classmates in a school shooting. Judy Greer and Alexander Skarsgard play the couple struggling to make sense of their son’s senseless act.
G20
April 10, Prime Video
Viola Davis playing a president? I’m intrigued. Viola Davis playing a president who has to personally fight a bunch of terrorists and defend the world when the G20 summit is attacked in a big, dumb action thriller? I’m sold.
Psycho Therapy: The Shallow Tale of a Writer Who Decided to Write About a Serial Killer
in theaters April 11
It was only a matter of time before Severance star Britt Lower landed a lead role in a movie, and this one looks like a doozy: Lower plays Suzie, whose husband Keane (John Magaro) is a struggling writer working on a book about a fictional serial killer. Keane somehow winds up striking a deal with a real, “retired” serial killer (played by Steve Buscemi) to consult on the book. Oh, and to hide the fact from his wife that he’s hanging around with a for-real murderer, he has him pretend to be their marriage counselor. Who among us hasn’t found themselves in a similar pickle, amirite?
The Amateur
in theaters April 11
Rami Malek plays a CIA cryptographer who’s forced to go rogue and seek revenge after his wife is murdered. Laurence Fishburne, Rachel Brosnahan, Jon Bernthal and Michael Stuhlbarg also star.
The Uninvited
in theaters April 18
The Walton Goggins renaissance continues: Here, he plays Sammy, a Hollywood agent hosting an industry party at his home with his wife Rose, an actress-turned-housewife played by Elizabeth Reaser. When a confused elderly woman shows up at the affair, thinking that their house is hers, it “forces Rose and Sammy to confront the industry’s unspoken rules about who belongs — and who is no longer welcome,” according to the film’s official synopsis. Pedro Pascal also stars as Rose’s ex.
Sinners
in theaters April 18
Ryan Coogler (Black Panther, Fruitvale Station) directs this horror movie set in the South in the 1930s. Michael B. Jordan pulls double duty as twin brothers Smoke and Stack, and while there hasn’t been a ton of information released about exactly what kind of evil awaits them, we can’t wait to find out.
The Shrouds
in theaters April 25
We know that any David Cronenberg movie is going to involve some upsetting body horror, but this one is his most personal film yet: Vincent Cassel plays a widower who invents GraveTech — a technology that allows people to monitor their loved ones’ corpses in their shrouds and watch them decay — as a means of coping with his grief after the death of his wife (played by Diane Kruger). Cronenberg has said that the movie was directly inspired by the loss of his wife Carolyn, his partner of 43 years, who passed away back in 2017.
TV/STREAMING
The Bondsman
April 3, Prime Video
This eight-episode limited series features Kevin Bacon as Fred Herbert, a bounty hunter who comes back from the dead only to discover that he’s been tasked with a new job: working for the Devil to hunt down demons who have escaped hell and are now roaming the earth and return them to their fiery afterlife.
Dying for Sex
April 4, Hulu
The title for this miniseries is more literal than you might expect: Michelle Williams plays Molly, a sexually frustrated woman who finds out she has stage 4 breast cancer and decides to leave her husband of 15 years (Jay Duplass) to make the most of her remaining time and finally have an orgasm — something she never did in all her years with her husband. Jenny Slate, Rob Delaney and Sissy Spacek also star.
The Handmaid’s Tale Season 6
April 8, Hulu
The dystopian Hulu series that has managed to feel more and more like our present reality returns for its sixth and final season, where rebellion seems to be the name of the game. See what Yvonne Strahovski had to say about the show’s last batch of episodes in our interview with her.
My Next Guest Needs No Introduction Season 5
April 8, Netflix
Indiana’s favorite son David Letterman sits down with Indiana Fever superstar Caitlin Clark for the latest episode of his longform interview series to discuss her childhood, her competitive spirit and more.
Spy High
April 8, Prime Video
The title makes this sound like some sort of cheesy teen espionage show, but it’s actually a four-part docuseries exploring the 2010 digital privacy case of Robbins v. Lower Merion School District, in which a 15-year-old named Blake Robbins sued his high school after he was accused of selling drugs, claiming they were spying on him via the camera on the MacBook they issued him and all their students.
Black Mirror Season 7
April 10, Netflix
What sort of technological nightmares can we expect in the seventh season of this Netflix hit? Well, there’s an episode where Rashida Jones plays a woman whose life is saved by a “revolution in neurological science” that involves running ads in her consciousness, another with Paul Giamatti as a man with the ability to step into old photographs, an episode starring Issa Rae, Awkwafina and Emma Corrin centered around AI, and much more.
Hacks Season 4
April 10, Max
The popular HBO show, which upset The Bear to take home Outstanding Comedy Series at the Emmys last year, will reportedly pick back up right where it left us at the end of season 3, with Deborah Vance and Ava Daniels about to start work on the new late-night show after Ava blackmailed Deborah into giving her the head writer job. “You leave season three on such a tense moment that it felt like to skip ahead any more than that, you’d be leaving so much juice left unsqueezed, so to speak,” co-creator Jen Statsky said in a recent interview.
North of North
April 10, Netflix
This new Netflix comedy set in a small, tight-knit Arctic community centers around Siaja, a young Inuk mother who got married right out of high school who suddenly finds herself reinventing her life after divorcing her husband, who just happens to be the town’s golden boy.
Your Friends & Neighbors
April 11, Apple TV+
Jon Hamm returning to our TV screens is never a bad thing, so this new Apple TV+ series feels promising. It stars Hamm as Coop, a hedge fund manager who loses his job and turns to a life of crime, robbing his affluent neighbors’ homes to maintain the lifestyle that he and his family have grown accustomed to. Olivia Munn and Amanda Peet also star.
The Last of Us Season 2
April 13, Max
The second installment of HBO’s hit video game adaptation is set five years after the events of season 1, and it adds some big names to the cast: Kaitlyn Dever joins as Abby, Jeffrey Wright will appear as Isaac and Catherine O’Hara is slated for a yet-to-be-announced role. Will the show deviate from its source material, or stay true to the main plot points of the game?
Government Cheese
April 16, Apple TV+
David Oyelowo plays a convict who returns to his family determined to get rich quick after being released from prison in 1969. The period comedy also features Bokeem Woodbine, Sunita Mani and Simone Missick.
#1 Happy Family USA
April 17, Prime Video
This A24-produced adult animated series was created by comedian Ramy Youssef, and it’s centered around a Muslim family living in post-9/11 America. The voice cast also includes Alia Shawkat, Mandy Moore and Chris Redd, and Amazon seems confident in its success; a second season has already been ordered.
The Rehearsal Season 2
April 20, Max
When Nathan Fielder’s The Rehearsal debuted three long years ago, it quickly revealed itself to be an insanely meta, layered Synecdoche, New York-esque situation unlike anything we’ve seen on TV before. Is it reality? Is it completely scripted? We’ll likely never know for certain, thanks to strict NDAs that participants were made to sign, but whatever it was, it was fascinating, funny and surprisingly poignant. What can we expect from season 2? HBO is remaining tight-lipped about what’s in store for the second installment of Fielder’s experimental series. The laptop harness he spent a good chunk of season 1 peering over seems to be back, though.
Andor Season 2
April 22, Disney+
The Rogue One prequel series starring Diego Luna returns for a second and final installment, so savor it while you can: Disney+ will drop three episodes at a time, each covering one full year in the story’s timeline, for four weeks.
MUSIC
Craig Finn, Always Been
April 4
The Hold Steady frontman is back with his sixth solo LP, which was produced by The War on Drugs’ Adam Granduciel and features guest appearances by Kathleen Edwards and Sam Fender. “I believe this to be the most narrative record I have made,” Finn said in a statement. “Most songs concern a protagonist who pursued a career as a clergyman despite a lack of faith. The record tells the story of his rise and fall and redemption, while also filling out the details of his travels and the world in which he lives.”
Elton John and Brandi Carlile, Who Believes in Angels?
April 4
This collaborative album from Elton John and Brandi Carlile features both singers on lead vocals at various points, and it of course includes lyrical contributions from Elton’s longtime songwriting partner Bernie Taupin. They are backed by an all-star band featuring Pino Palladino, Chad Smith and Josh Klinghoffer. “This record was one of the toughest I’ve ever made, but it was also one of the greatest musical experiences of my life,” Elton said in the album’s press materials. “It has given me a place where I know I can move forward. Who Believes in Angels? feels like going into another era and I’m pushing the door open to come into the future. I have everything I’ve done behind me and it’s been brilliant, amazing. But this is the new start for me. As far as I’m concerned, this is the start of my career Mark 2.”
Sleigh Bells, Bunky Becky Birthday Boy
April 4
Alexis Krauss and Derek Miller, better known collectively as Sleigh Bells, return with this tongue-twister of a new album — their seventh studio album and their first in eight long years. “‘Bunky Becky’ was a nickname for Alexis’ dog Riz, who passed away in December 2023. When she passed away, Alexis and I had been talking about writing an anthem for her,” Miller writes. “And then Alexis’ son Wilder was born, and he’s the birthday boy. Even though the title sounds a little ridiculous — and it’s totally okay to laugh at it — with a little bit of context, it’s actually life and death. We lost somebody that we love, and we gained somebody that we love.”
The Waterboys, Life, Death and Dennis Hopper
April 4
Mike Scott and company’s 16th album is a pretty big swing: it’s a concept record about the late actor Dennis Hopper. “The arc of his life was the story of our times,” Scott explains in a statement. “He was at the big bang of youth culture in Rebel Without a Cause with James Dean; and the beginnings of Pop Art with the young Andy Warhol. He was part of the counter-culture, hippie, civil rights and psychedelic scenes of the ’60s. In the ’70s and ’80s he went on a wild 10-year rip, almost died, came back, got straight and became a five-movies-a-year character actor without losing the sparkle in his eye or the sense of danger or unpredictability that always gathered around him.” The album also features guest appearances by Steve Earle, Fiona Apple and Bruce Springsteen.
L.A. Witch, DOGGOD
April 4
This Southern California dark-wave trio landed on a palindrome for the title of their new record to make a broader point. “There is this symbolic connection between women and dogs that expresses women’s subordinate position in society,” vocalist and guitarist Sade Sanchez explains in a press release. “And anything that embodies such divine characteristics never deserved to be a word used as an insult.”
Sarah Mary Chadwick, Take Me Out to a Bar/What Am I, Gatsby?
April 4
Don’t let the title fool you: singer-songwriter Sarah Mary Chadwick actually got sober immediately after recording her new album. “I can hear it [in the music],” she says in a statement. “The desolate desire for change, the goodbyes, the fading romance, the memories. And the pain — that’s different but that never leaves, it’s part of me.” (Scroll down to our “Artist Recommendations” section below to find out what Chadwick’s been listening to lately.)
Bon Iver, SABLE fABLE
April 11
Justin Vernon returns with his fifth Bon Iver album — his first since 2019 — and it represents a new era for him. “It was all inspired by real feelings — becoming happier, becoming healthier, feeling more confident, feeling more bold,” Vernon recently told The New York Times. “And I think it came out in the songs being a little more basic. Like, yes, I’m just going to tell you what it is, be more generous with lyrical content rather than evasive.”
Beirut, A Study of Losses
April 18
Zach Condon’s latest is a sweeping 18-track work commissioned as a soundtrack for a Swedish circus. “When I was first approached about writing a soundtrack for a circus, a certain amount of ‘Elephant Gun’ era trauma initially came rushing up,” Condon says in a press release. “I had been pigeon-holed for years as a whimsical circus waif, full of sepia-toned images of penny farthings and perhaps lion tamers with handlebar moustaches. It couldn’t have been further from how I pictured the music I was making. Ironic then, that I found Kompani Giraff’s project so enticing.”
Julien Baker & TORRES, Send a Prayer My Way
April 18
Julien Baker becomes the second boygenius member to release new music in less than a month (check out that Lucy Dacus album if you haven’t yet). Here, Baker teams up with TORRES for a queer country album. The origin story is simple: the duo first played a show together way back in 2016 and decided they should make a country record. It took them this long to get their schedules to align and make it happen, but we’re so glad they finally did.
Tunde Adebimpe, Thee Black Boltz
April 18
After 20-plus years as the lead singer of TV on the Radio, Tunde Adebimpe is finally releasing his debut solo album. “I’ve been doing this thing with this group of people for so long, that I can just have a vague sketch of a concept and I know Jaleel or Kyp will have five brilliant ideas on where it can go,” he explains in a press release about the record. “But for Thee Black Boltz, I didn’t have that scaffolding to hang on. That was both terrifying and exhilarating.” The collection of songs sees Adebimpe wrestling with a post-pandemic world, the rise of authoritarianism, and grief following the sudden death of his sister. As he puts it, “It was my way of building a rock or a platform for myself in the middle of this fucking ocean.”
Sunflower Bean, Mortal Primetime
April 25
Sunflower Bean’s fourth LP is also their first self-produced album, and you can hear their determination in lead single “Champagne Taste.” “You get to decide what your prime is, and you fight for it,” bassist and vocalist Julia Cumming explains in a statement. “This is ours, and that can’t be taken away by circumstance. We can’t take it away from each other. This moment, where we are now, is what we’ve always fought for.”
Samia, Bloodless
April 25
Samia’s follow-up to her 2023 breakout album Honey was reportedly inspired by unsolved mysteries. “It’s easier to be what someone wants you to be if you give as little as possible,” the singer-songwriter writes in a press release. “I noticed a pattern in my life of wanting to live up to the person I became in someone’s head; you become a lot bigger with distance.”
YOUR MONTHLY PLAYLIST
Trying to accurately predict the weather in the era of climate change has proven to be more or less impossible, but this time of year is famously rainy — you know what they say about April showers — and besides an umbrella, you’re going to need the perfect song to soundtrack those wet walks from the subway station to your apartment. To be clear, this isn’t one of those overly literal rainy day playlists where all the songs feature precipitation in their titles. (How many of us are actually compelled to cue up “Raindrops Keep Falling on My Head” when we’re caught in a downpour?)
No, the perfect songs for a rainy day all share a certain vibe: angsty, melancholy, grand enough to match the spectacle of the sky opening up. Some of them are delicate and lovely enough for a light drizzle (“Bird on the Wire”), while others are more suited for stomping through puddles (“Lithium”). Some are more obvious choices than others — I know, I know, listening to The Cure in the rain, real original — but only two contain the words “rain” or “umbrella” in the title, and they both make the cut because they fit the mood and they’re too great to leave out. So leave your rain gear at home, do your best John Cusack impression and give these songs a spin.
ARTIST RECOMMENDATIONS
Each month, we catch up with a few musicians, actors, comedians or otherwise cool people whose opinions we respect to hear about a piece of pop culture they’re particularly excited about. This month, it’s Sarah Mary Chadwick.
“I have not seen A Complete Unknown, but I did see Chan Marshall sing Bob Dylan in Melbourne a few weeks ago. The album of the performance was the first Cat Power record I have connected with in a little while. The simplicity of the concept and the sincerity of an artist paying tribute to an artist they have loved all their lives really got me on the record and it got me in real life too.
“The first time I saw Cat Power was in 2005. A mezzanine-tiered theatre, dinner-and-a-show, sat with my first boyfriend on Valentine’s Day. I left in tears because she played none of the songs I expected, then played ‘I Don’t Blame You’ without the choruses. I’ve seen her a bunch of times since then, and it’s always kind of the same. A bit like seeing a garden at night, or like looking at a painting propped up against a wall, waiting to be hung. You know it’s beautiful, and you squint or close your eyes to see, you smell wood or rain and you wonder, is this special? Is this good? And you never find out or forget, so I always go back wondering, is this the time? I love to not know.”
WORTH REVISITING
Apollo 13 (1995)
April 11 marks the 55th anniversary of the ill-fated Apollo 13 mission, during which astronauts Jim Lovell, Jack Swigert and Fred Haise found themselves stranded in outer space with only two days’ worth of food, water and, most crucially, oxygen after an explosion disabled their electrical system. What better time, then, to revisit the movie that introduced the phrase “Houston, we have a problem” into the lexicon?
I love small, independent films as much as the next person, but sometimes you just need a big ol’ blockbuster to take you on a ride and wow you with a classic hero’s journey, and Ron Howard’s Oscar-nominated space tale does exactly that. It’s got a stacked cast of ’90s leading men, including Kevin Bacon, Ed Harris, Gary Sinise, Bill Paxton and, of course, Tom Hanks in the first of several roles in which he’s forced to captain an aerospace vehicle to safety under life-threatening circumstances. (Shoutout to Sully.) It’s as well-acted as you’d expect, given those names, but what’s ultimately so impressive about Apollo 13 is the way it still manages to create tension despite the fact that we already know the ending going into it.
Even if you’re not a history buff or you didn’t grow up a few towns away from the steakhouse that the real-life Jim Lovell opened a few decades after the Apollo 13 debacle like some of us did, you’d have to assume that a movie where they were all incinerated attempting to re-enter the atmosphere would be too depressing to make. But Howard and his cast do an excellent job of showing you how high the stakes are while making the story of how exactly Lovell and company got home feel accessible to the masses. Do I want to watch a bunch of stressed-out nerds talking about physics and heat shields for two hours? No, but I’ll rewatch Ed Harris inside mission control yelling “Failure is not an option” any day.
More Like This
This article was featured in the InsideHook newsletter. Sign up now.
