Best new movies and TV series on Neon: April 2024

Neon continues to bring in a convoy of quality shows and films. See our handpicked highlights below followed by the full release schedule.

Top picks: TV

The Sympathizer: Miniseries (April 15)

Korean auteur Park Chan-Wook adapts a Pulitzer Prize winning novel about a French-Vietnamese Communist spy (Hoa Xuande), exiled to the US after the Vietnam War—jaw-droppingly slippery, he nimbly gets himself into and out of countless fraught situations. Sandra Oh is always a welcome face, and recent Oscar-winner Robert Downey Jr. is set to appear in multiple antagonistic roles—seems he still wants to push himself after escaping the Marvel mines and stunning us in Oppenheimer.

On The Roam (April 22)

Every so often, one pretty-boy celeb actor gets to play rugged for a motorbike docuseries, in which they can sample exotic experiences and meet real people. Ewan McGregor’s done it; the bloke from Outlander‘s done it: now it’s Aquaman’s turn. Jason Momoa is sure to intimidate everyone he encounters in this laid-back road trip series, learning more about the little people’s arts, adventures, and puny daily lives. Vroom vroom.

Top picks: Movies

Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Mutant Mayhem (April 1)

Say a friendly “cowabunga” to the latest batch of sewer-dwelling, Shredder-shredding mutants, this time properly voiced by a pack of unknown teen actors. With a script co-written by Seth Rogen and plenty of famous friends as the Turtles’ wacky foes, this charming reboot is an ideal watch for kids who have energy to spare, and also any adults who haven’t quite grown up since the tubular 80s. Jackie Chan is quite lovely as the kids’ rat dad Splinter, too.

Mad Max marathon (April 12)

Halfway through April, prepare to ride shiny and chrome into apocalypse-movie Valhalla: all four films in George Miller’s transcendent Mad Max franchise are storming NEON. Whether you like your Rockatansky played by Mel Gibson or Tom Hardy, you simply can’t miss with this series: the lore is absorbing, the production design is always on-point, and the action scenes pack an Ozploitation wallop. Tina Turner was wrong: we do need another hero…

Tommy (April 23)

In Ken Russell’s off-the-rails adaptation of The Who’s rock-opera album, a deaf, dumb and blind kid sure plays a mean pinball, bouncing off gonzo performances from Tina Turner (hey, second time she’s mentioned in this guide!), Oliver Reed, Elton John, Jack Nicholson, and Ann Margret, who features in my favourite, chocolate-and-bean-sauce-covered sequence of the film. The perfect upper to the slew of unimaginative, hand-holding screen musicals we’ve suffered through in modern times.