The 12 Movies That You Need To See This Spring

Captain Marvel

Captain Marvel is the 21st movie in the Marvel Cinematic Universe, and the first to focus on a female superhero: the ’90s fighter pilot Carol Danvers, whose DNA gets infused with alien chromosomes. The exceedingly likeable Brie Larson dons Danvers’ supersuit, and the supporting cast is as strong as the lead, featuring Samuel L. Jackson, Jude Law and Annette Bening (where have you been, Annette??).

March 8

Captive State

Rise of the Planet of the Apes, the 2011 simian reboot, was miles better than it needed to be, so we’re excited to see what director Rupert Wyatt does next. His new film serves up a different kind of planetary takeover, set 10 years after a reptilian alien force has invaded Earth and enslaved humanity.

March 15

Wonder Park

The adorable Wonder Park is just what we need to tide us over until Toy Story 4 comes out this summer. It hits the same beats of nostalgia, imagination and the end of childhood, following a young girl who discovers the amusement park she dreamed up has come to life, staffed by a crew of quirky, celebrity-voiced animals (including Kenan Thompson as a beaver, Mila Kunis as a wild boar and John Oliver, fittingly, as a porcupine).

March 15

The Mustang

This quietly haunting neo-western stars Matthias Schoenaerts as a convicted murderer in Nevada who trains a wild stallion as part of a prisoner rehab program. The cast is superb: Schoenaerts is as much of a hulking enigma as his horse, Connie Britton brings some golden warmth as his therapist and Bruce Dern shows up as a wizened horse trainer.

March 15

Us

In Jordan Peele’s hotly anticipated follow-up to Get Out, a sunny beach house transforms into a hellscape as dark as the Sunken Place. It’s a Hitchcockian horror show about a couple—played by Lupita Nyong’o and Black Panther’s Winston Duke—who are terrorized by a group of strangers who look exactly like them.

March 22

Dumbo

Tim Burton directs a live-action remake about Disney’s cutest animal hero (sorry, Bambi), rendering the tale of a bullied baby circus elephant in a golden retro aesthetic. And make sure to listen for Arcade Fire’s yearning cover of the tearjerking lullaby “Baby Mine.”

March 29

The Beach Bum

The latest film from Spring Breakers director Harmony Korine stars Matthew McConaughey in the role he was born to play: a long-haired, perpetually buzzed Floridian layabout named Moondog. Joining him are Jonah Hill (returning to his stoner-comedy roots), Zac Efron, Isla Fisher and a coke-snorting parrot.

March 29

Shazam

Big meets Deadpool in this schticky DC Comics movie, about Billy Batson, a troubled kid who finds himself transformed into a ripped superhero by an ancient wizard (we’ve all been there). The film was shot in Toronto, giving local viewers the tiny triumph of seeing TTC subways and Fort York on a 40-foot screen.

April 5

High Life

Robert Pattinson proves he’s more than just a sparkly vampire hunk in the first English-language film from the French art-house director Claire Denis. It’s bleak and bizarre, about a group of convicts, Pattinson included, who are sent on a space mission to explore black holes, and the perverse doctor—Juliette Binoche!—who performs strange sexual experiments on them.

April 12

Booksmart

Olivia Wilde’s directorial debut follows two friends—played by Lady Bird scene-stealer Beanie Feldstein and Short Term 12’s Kaitlyn Dever—who try to make up for their goody-goody high school career with one hedonistic night of partying. It’s molded in the American Pie tradition, albeit wiser, warmer and considerably less disgusting.

May 24