5 Best New Movies to Watch This Weekend (April 24-26): ‘Apex’ and More

Sasha (Charlize Theron) is an American rock climber looking for new thrills in the Australian wilderness. She gets way more than she bargained for when she encounters Ben (Taron Egerton), a drifter who is far deadlier than he appears. It turns out that Ben is an expert hunter, and he’s found his next prey — Sasha. Alone with few supplies, Sasha will have to somehow evade Ben while surviving everything nature throws at her. 

Lean and a little mean, Apex is a tense survival thriller that will make you cancel those hiking plans you had for the weekend. With only two main characters, the film has to rely a lot on its lead stars to carry it. Fortunately for us, Theron and Egerton are more than up to the task, going mano e mano in several spectacular action sequences. If you’ve ever wanted to see Furiosa duke it out with Elton John in a raging river, Apex is the movie for you.

In 1952 New York City, you have to hustle to make your dreams come true — and no one hustles more than Marty Mauser (Timothée Chalamet). He wants to become the best ping pong player in the world, but he needs money — and a little luck — to do so. That’s why he romances retired actress Rachel Stone (Gwyneth Paltrow) and steals from his childhood sweetheart Rachel Mizler (Odessa A’zion). Rachel might also be pregnant with Marty’s child, but that won’t stop him from flying to Japan to compete in a winner-take-all tournament that will show he’s one of the best table tennis players ever.

Nominated for nine Oscars, Marty Supreme is an evocative and rousing period sports drama that features Chalamet’s best performance to date. Marty isn’t a great guy — he’s constantly lying and betraying those closest to him, but he believes it’s all for a good cause — him. He’s selfish, sure, but he’s also incredibly charismatic — you want him to win even if you don’t approve of anything he does. The film also features outstanding supporting performances from Paltrow and A’zion as the women in Marty’s life, who have his number right from the get-go but can’t help falling for him anyway.

Desperate times call for desperate measures — and no one is more desperate than Man-su (Lee Byung-hun). He just got laid off at his cushy papermaking job and quickly discovers the youth-obsessed South Korean job market doesn’t favor older men like him. When a possible job opens up, he realizes the only way to snag it is by eliminating the competition. In a cutthroat job market, Man-su will do anything — and kill just about anyone — to become employed once again.

No Other Choice is an entertaining and dark social satire with jokes laced with painful, all-too-real observations. Anyone who’s been laid off can understand the sheer panic and desperation Man-su feels, even if they are unwilling to execute — pun fully intended — the immoral acts he does throughout the picture. Squid Game alum Byung-hun gives an outstanding performance as a man who just wants a steady paycheck. It doesn’t sound like much, but in Man-su’s world, he might as well be asking for the moon.

No, Dolly isn’t a Dolly Parton biographical film a la Michael — it’s a sick horror movie about a serial killer who wears a porcelain doll mask while stalking its prey. Dolly’s (Max the Impaler) latest victims are Macy (Fabianne Therese) and Chase (American Pie’s Seann William Scott), a longtime couple looking forward to a romantic getaway in the woods. Dolly has other plans and, after leaving Chase for dead, kidnaps Macy and traps her in a large nursery-like room in her remote cabin. As Chase desperately searches for her, Macy tries to escape Dolly’s bizarre prison with her limbs and life intact. 

Dolly is a simple-minded and straightforward horror film with a small cast and even smaller budget. But if you’re looking for a gruesome slasher with excessive gore and an unforgettable killer, Dolly delivers the goods. Dolly also breaks ground as one of the rare films in the genre to have an older woman as its lead villain. Representation matters, even when the person being represented wears a silly mask while mutilating a person’s jaw.

Devon (Sadie Sandler) is a college freshman in need of a roommate— and on how to be popular. She thinks the cool and pretty Celeste (Chloe East) can help her out on both fronts, but as the two become roomies, Devon quickly realizes they’re more frenemies than friends. Can Devon navigate the highs and lows of college freshman life while also making Celeste like her?

Roommates is a winning comedy about all the crazy antics that occur when you move away from your family for the first time and take the first few steps as a young adult. For Devon, that means finding the confidence she needs to be comfortable with who she is — even if that means pushing Celeste away for good. The film is energized by a better-than-expected supporting cast of comedy pros like SNL’s Sarah Sherman, Nick Kroll and Poker Face’s Natasha Lyonne.