Welcome back to CraveOnline's monthly movie guide. April is a big month for theatrical releases, and we're here to help make sure you're not wasting your cash when you head to the movies this month. At least when you spend twenty bucks on popcorn and a soda you know what you're getting - rarely the case with the movie you're there to see.

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Shine a Light

Director: Martin Scorsese
Release Date: April 4
Starring: The Rolling Stones, Buddy Guy, Jack White
Rated: PG-13

Martin Scorsese  keeps his rock dreams alive with a new concert documentary, centering this time on legendary rock band the Rolling Stones. Filmed over two nights at New York's Beacon Theater in the fall of 2006, Shine a Light is packed with promise, featuring special guests like rock's golden boy Jack White, blues legend Buddy Guy and bombshell soulstress Christina Aguilera.

Scorsese assembled a dream team of cinematographers to capture the legendary band as they play songs for the first time ever, as well as behind the scenes footage of everything from Scorsese's hand-wringing neurosis about the production to Mick's teasing diva behavior. Oscar-winning cinematographer Robert Richardson (The Aviator, JFK) supervised the elite, award-winning camera team, and the film was edited by David Tedeschi, who recently worked with Scorsese on the spectacular Bob Dylan documentary No Direction Home: Bob Dylan.

CraveOnline's Call: With Scorsese at the helm, there's no doubt that Shine a Light will be a unique and memorable experience. For a generation of passive Stones fans, this film could serve not only as a bridge of introduction to the band, but also a way to save yourself the hundreds of dollars a ticket to an actual Stones show would set you back. The only downside: After a while it can get hard to watch a bunch of wrinkled guys older than your grandfather rocking out and thrusting their (soon to be replaced) hips.

Leatherheads

Director: George Clooney
Release Date: April 4
Starring: George Clooney, Renee Zellweger, John Krasinski
Rated: PG-13

Billed as a "quick-witted romantic comedy," Leatherheads is another successful attempt by Clooney to remind everybody what an affable, fun guy he is. He directs himself in the lead as Dodge Connolly, a football hero with sky-high hopes for his ragtag team. Connolly convinces World War I hero and college football star Carter Rutherford (John Krasinski) to join their ranks, and hilarity ensues as the two find themselves vying for the attention of reporter Lexie Littleton (Renee Zellweger). Lexie, however, has hidden intentions that could threaten the team's chances at the big time.

CraveOnline's Call: Leatherheads looks pretty campy, but Clooney provides pretty consistent quality material. Krasinski, who's best known for his role as Jim Halpert on the reason I own a TV,"The Office," translates well to the big screen and provides a good on-screen counterpart for Clooney. No disrespect to George, but we'll catch this one on DVD.

Nim's Island

Director: Mark Levin, Jennifer Flackett
Release Date: April 4
Starring: Jodie Foster, Gerard Butler, Abigail Breslin, Alphonso McAuley
Rated: PG

A spunky young girl named Nim (Abigail Breslin) lives on an island where adventure is only limited to the imagination, and the exotic animals are her friends. Her life is much like that of her literary hero, Alex Rover, the world's greatest adventurer. When her island is threatened, Nim reached out to her hero, who is actually a big-city recluse named Alexandra Rover (Jodie Foster). They must find the strength in one another to save Nim's island together.

CraveOnline's Call: Sounds great for kids!

Day of the Dead

Director: Steve Miner
Release Date: April 8
Starring: Mena Suvari, Ving Rhames, Nick Cannon, Christa Campbell
Rated: R 

In 1985, George Romero made a disappointing zombie film that flopped. This year, Steve Miner decided to remake it, and stay true to the original's quality deficiency. The film centers on a group of scientists, soldiers and ordinary people who find themselves battling a plague of flesh eating ghouls. When a band of survivors seek shelter in an underground military bunker, they find themselves trapped with an even greater danger that lurks inside.

CraveOnline's Call: Thumbs down. Zombie films can be done much better than this. Straight to DVD? Sounds great.

Body of War

Director: Phil Donahue, Ellen Spiro
Release Date: April 8
Starring: Phil Donahue, Ellen Spiro
Rated: Not Rated

Body of War is an intimate feature documentary about the truth of war today.

Tomas Young is a 25 year-old veteran of the Iraq war, paralyzed by a bullet which shattered his spine after only a week in battle. Body of War tells the story of Young's evolution into a new person, coping with his new disability while discovering his own passionate voice against the way. The film is produced and directed by Phil Donahue (yes, that one) and Ellen Spiro.

Body of War also features a jaw-dropping double-CD soundtrack, featuring songs from Rage Against the Machine, Against Me!, Pearl Jam, Neil Young, Immortal Technique, Public Enemy, Bruce Springsteen, Serj Tankian and many more. It also features two previously unreleased songs by Eddie Vedder, "No More" and "Long Nights."

CraveOnline's Call: The subject matter will inevitably have this one filling the bargain bin at the video store within a few short months, but that's just because America's not ready to face the ugly truths about the war quite yet, much less pay 30 bucks to do it. But the trailer is gripping, and a necessary view of something we've been programmed to ignore, but need to pull our blinders off and take a good hard look at.

88 Minutes

Director: Jon Avnet
Release Date: April 18
Starring: Al Pacino, Alicia Witt, Amy Brenneman, Leelee Sobieski, Benjamin McKenzie
Rated: R

Al Pacino is Dr. Jack Gramm, a college professor and forensic psychiatrist for the FBI. When Gramm receives a phone call on the eve of the night a serial killer he helped put on death row is executed. The voice on the line tells him that he has only 88 minutes to live, and Gramm must to narrow down every possible suspect before his time runs out, including a disgruntled student, a campus security guard and a scorned former lover.

CraveOnline's Call: I'm a sucker for almost any life-or-death countdown thrillers, but this one seems a little ridiculous. And it could be me, but hasn't Al Pacino has played pretty much the same part in every movie he's been in for the past decade or so?

Where in the World is Osama Bin Laden?

Director: Morgan Spurlock
Release Date: April 18
Starring: Morgan Spurlock
Rated: Not Yet Rated

After getting his hands dirty with the artery-clogging fast-food terrorists, Morgan Spurlock has decided to try his hand at the big time. With a baby on the way and a sudden driving need to make the world safer for his child, The Oscar-nominated filmmaker sets out to do what the FBI, CIA and U.S. military have all failed - and seemingly given up trying - to do: track down the world's most wanted man, Osama Bin Laden.

With no military experience, knowledge of the region or any expertise for the task, Spurlock embarks on what seems like an impossible mission, which takes him through some of the most dangerous places in the world. He encounters a culture and humanity that contrasts sharply with the conventional media images of the Middle East, and witnesses the rational as well as the radical elements in a society so different from our own. However, there are, as Spurlock discovers, more similarities between our cultures than we have been led to believe.

CraveOnline's Call: Does he find Bin Laden? Most likely not. But Spurlock's got an interesting voice and investigative approach. Besides, anything that attempts to entertain while drawing attention to a culture we've been wrongly taught to dehumanize is a good thing. We're there.



The Forbidden Kingdom

Director: Rob Minkoff
Release Date: April 18
Starring: Jet Li, Jackie Chan, Michael Angarano
Rated: PG-13

Shot on location in China, The Forbidden Kingdom features the first, long-overdue onscreen pairing of martial arts superstars Jackie Chan and Jet Li, as well as the jaw-dropping action choreography of Woo-Ping Yuen (The Matrix, Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon).

"24"'s Michael Angarano is Jason Tripitikas, a kung-fu nut who makes a life-changing discovery in a Chinatown pawnshop. He's hurled back in time to ancient China, where he is charged wit the task of freeing the legendary warrior the Monkey King,who has been imprisoned by the powerful Jade War Lord. He is aided by a band of rebel warriors including Silent Monk (Jet Li), as well as kung fu master Lu Yan (Jackie Chan). But only by mastering the sacred art of kung fu can Jason hope to succeed - and find a way to get back home.

CraveOnline's Call: Special effects like these need to be seen on the big screen. The premise isn't exactly goosebump-worthy, but kung-fu movies are like porn: Who cares about the plot?

Baby Mama

Director: Michael McCullers
Release Date: April 18
Starring: Amy Poehler, Tina Fey, Greg Kinnear, Dax Shepard, Romany Manco, Sigourney Weaver
Rated: PG-13

TV's Queen Midas Tina Fey and rising silver screen star/SNL cutup Amy Poehler are two women bound by unusual circumstance. At 37, the ticking of career-driven Kate Holbrook's (Fey) biological clock has become too loud for her to ignore, but she finds out that her chances of getting pregnant are near zero. Determined to have a baby, Kate enlists South Philly working girl Angie Ostrowiski (Poehler) to become her unlikely surrogate.

Once Angie becomes pregnant, Kate goes into nesting mode overdrive, but her plans are turned upside down when Angie shows up at her doorstep with no place to live. Hell breaks loose as Kate tries to turn Angie into a picture-perfect expectant mom. As the war of wills unfolds, the two begin to develop an unlikely bond. 

CraveOnline's Call: Fey and Poehler are the funniest women in showbiz today, so the odds look good for this odd-couple comedy.

 

Zombie Strippers

Director: Jay Lee
Release Date: April 18
Starring: Robert Englund, Jenna Jameson, Roxy Saint, Joey Medina, Shamron Moore, Penny Drake
Rated: R

A secret government re-animation chemo-virus is released into Sartre, Nebraska in the near future, landing in an underground strip club. As the virus spreads, the strippers mutate into "Super Zombie Strippers." Gratuitous sexual gyration and nudity ensues.

CraveOnline's Call: Sure, Jenna Jameson looks like a melting Barbie doll these days, but sex still seeps from her pores like sweat on a blazing summer day. Sold.

 

Forgetting Sarah Marshall

Director: Nick Stoller
Release Date: April 18
Starring: Jason Segel, Kristen Bell, Mila Kunis, Russel Brand, Paul Rudd, Jonah Hill, Bill Heder
Rated: R

Peter Bretter's (Jason Segel) a struggling musician whose world is shattered when the girl he's adored for six years dumps him. All he wants is to get on with his life - if he can only start Forgetting Sarah Marshall. To get his mind off her, Peter takes a trip to Oahu, where his worst nightmare greets him: Sarah and her new rock star boyfriend. As he dwells in the torment of his own private hell, he finds solace in the company of Rachel (Mila Kunis), a laid-back resort employee, who helps him

The producers of The 40-Year-Old Virgin and Knocked Up deliver a hilarious story about one man's disastrous struggle to get over the heartbreak of being dumped and grow up in the process.

CraveOnline's Call: Comedy pro-sluggers Jonah Hill, Jason Segel and Bill Hedern would have to put some real effort into not making a real gut-buster. 

 

Harold and Kumar Escape From Guantanamo Bay

 

Director: Jon Hurwitz, Hayden Schlossberg
Release Date: April 25
Starring: Paula Garces, Kal Penn, Neil Patrick Harris
Rated: Not Yet Rated

In what's being hailed as the "triumphant return of these two hilarious, slacker anti-heroes," John Cho and Kal Penn reprise their roles as Harold and Kumar, two stoners with suicide-inducing bad luck. Instead of driving cross-country on some obsessive weed-induced White Castle craving, this time the boys get themselves in hot water by sneaking a bong onboard a flight to Amsterdam. Suspected of being terrorists (extensive bomb/bong word play is expected, naturally), they have to prove their innocence while circling the globe on the run from the law.