From Easter weekend to the start of baseball season, there’s a lot going on at the moment.
Feeling stressed? You’re not alone! Spring is here and with it, the whole sleepy world seems to have woken up all at once. And now, in addition to all the social, professional, familial, and personal obligations packing your calendar already, a trio of big annual occasions are all descending upon us at once. Hold on tight!
This weekend marks the beginning of baseball season, the arrival of Easter, and then, most dangerously, April Fools’ Day arrives on Monday. How does one handle such a confluence of events? With a carefully selected stream, that’s how. Mark this busy time with a sweeping epic based on a Bible story, a pair of prank-filled reality series, or a whole weekend’s worth of inspiring sports movies. If you start to feel pulled in too many directions, just remember: In a moment with so much going on, there are no wrong answers.
But first, what’s new on Netflix?
An American trailblazer. Regina King stars in John Ridley’s Shirley, the new biopic about Shirley Chisholm, the first Black woman elected to Congress who made a historic bid for the presidency in 1972. Looking for something on the sweeter side? Season 3 of Is It Cake? — which looks hard at a selection of three-dimensional objects and poses that age-old question, “Is it cake?” — is here with more deceptive desserts. Not your game? Bill Nighy and Michael Ward star in Thea Sharrock’s new drama The Beautiful Game, which follows an English football (i.e. soccer) team competing in the Homeless World Cup in Rome.
If you have just a night…
Tell an old story. This weekend brings Easter, a profoundly holy day for many Americans and a chance to eat egg-, bunny-, and chick-shaped candy for many others. No matter which camp you fall into, you can celebrate with a stream of Darren Aronofsky’s 2014 Old Testament epic Noah, starring Russell Crowe as the titular ark-builder and Jennifer Connelly as his wife. Whatever your relationship to the ancient flood myth (which, unlike the observation of Easter, is not unique to Christianity), it’s an extraordinary, timeless tale.
If you have a whole day…
Stay vigilant! Monday is April Fools’ Day, that annual celebration in which practical jokers are given free rein to unleash their trickery without repercussions. Mentally prepare for the antics (and maybe do some research for your own) with both seasons of Prank Encounters, a hidden-camera prank show with horror-inspired scares, presented by Stranger Things star Gaten Matarazzo. Not enough hijinks for you? Follow it up with Flinch, which dares its contestants to do just that. And when the day of prankery finally arrives, stay in the zone with the brand-new The Magic Prank Show with Justin Willman.
If you have the entire weekend…
Step up to the plate. Baseball is back, and while your home team is still in its first steps on the long road to October, you can prepare with a movie marathon dedicated to America’s favorite pastime. Start with a trio of documentaries about great ballplayers: Sean Mullin’s 2022 doc It Ain’t Over celebrates the iconic Yankee Yogi Berra; Bradley Jackson’s Facing Nolan (2022) examines the long career of legendary pitcher Ryan Nolan; and in 2018’s Late Life: The Chien-Ming Wang Story filmmaker Frank W Chen documents the comeback of pitcher Chien-Ming Wang after injuries derailed his career.
Next, take a break from the MLB with a pair of stranger-than-fiction docs of the minor and independent leagues: Chapman and Maclain Way’s riotous The Battered Bastards of Baseball (2014) and Morgan Neville and Jeff Malmberg’s moving The Saint of Second Chances (2023). Finally, take your last pair of true underdog stories in dramatic form, with Bennett Miller’s Oscar-nominated Moneyball (2011), in which Brad Pitt stars as Oakland A’s GM Billy Beane, and Jeff Celentano’s 2023 biopic The Hill, starring Dennis Quaid as the father of the young Rickey Hill, who pursues his dream to play baseball despite suffering from a degenerative spinal condition.
Don’t forget, you have one last chance…
…for a little chaos. A handful of DCEU titles are leaving Netflix in the US this weekend, including some films revolving around the (kind-of) rehabilitated supervillains known as the Suicide Squad. Fly through David Ayer’s Suicide Squad (2016), Cathy Yan’s Harley Quinn–centric spin-off/sequel Birds of Prey (and the Fantabulous Emancipation of One Harley Quinn) (2020), and James Gunn’s The Suicide Squad (2021) before they all make a break for it at the end of the month.
Source:Tudum