New Release Thursday, April 30, 2026

Over 103 new titles landed on Relay this week. Here are 6 worth clearing your Thursday night for.

Sometimes Always Never

The director, Carl Hunter, is the bassist from The Farm, whose "Spartacus" hit number one in the UK. Frank Cottrell Boyce wrote the script. Same Frank Cottrell Boyce who wrote the 2012 London Olympics opening ceremony. Bill Nighy plays a father who has spent years looking for a son who walked out mid-Scrabble game and never came back. A recurring image: Anthony Gormley's iron figures standing on the Merseyside beach, rusting, looking out to sea. The film holds grief and dark comedy in the same hand without letting either one win. 82% on Rotten Tomatoes.

Comedy

Generation P

Based on Viktor Pelevin's cult novel, this one took five years and ran out of money three times, including once during the 2008 financial crash. The director brought in Aleksei Rodionov, the cinematographer of Come and See, and he shot it with the same bleached, mythological light. Coca-Cola, Pepsi, and Apple each co-financed portions of the production. The story: 1990s Moscow, everything is collapsing, a failed poet accidentally becomes Russia's most powerful advertising copywriter. Gangsters and ancient Babylonian gods follow. When it came out, Pelevin called for a sequel. It opened at number three in Russia and took the Crystal Globe at Karlovy Vary.

Documentary

Gloria

After seeing a cut of this film, Gloria Trevi sent a cease-and-desist and publicly called it "aberrant." The director is Swiss. The screenplay was written by a serious Mexican playwright. It played SXSW, was shortlisted for Mexico's Academy Award submission, and won five Ariel Awards. Trevi spent five years in detention in Brazil before being acquitted. The film covers all of it: the deliberate provocation, the poverty she came from, the rise, and the fall. Nothing is smoothed out.

Drama

Becks

Lena Hall won the Tony for Hedwig and the Angry Inch after becoming the first performer to play both lead roles in the same production. She wrote the original songs for this film and carries it. Her co-director is an Emmy winner from Inside Amy Schumer. Hayley Kiyoko shows up in a small role. A Brooklyn musician moves back in with her Midwestern mother after a breakup. The film earned a 95% on Rotten Tomatoes, which feels about right. It earns what it's going for without overselling any of it.

Drama

The Final

Travis Tedford, who plays Ricky, was Spanky from the 1994 Little Rascals movie. This was his last film. Same for Jascha Washington. Both walked away from acting after this one. The film was part of After Dark Horrorfest, a program that gave eight horror films exactly one theatrical weekend before pushing them to DVD. It was made before bullying became a national social media conversation. Worth keeping in mind, because the ending lands differently now. We ran an interview with director Joey Stewart this week if you want the full context before you watch.

Documentary

Air Bud

The real dog, Buddy, was found as a stray in the Sierra Nevada in 1989. He appeared on Letterman's "Stupid Pet Tricks" before the film happened. Kevin DiCicco, his trainer, brought the basketball trick to Disney after Buddy kept wandering onto DiCicco's pickup games. By the time the movie was in theaters, Buddy had already had his leg amputated. Cancer. He died in February 1998. The franchise went on to generate fourteen films. DiCicco, who created all of it, died homeless in Los Angeles in March 2026. The movie is a 1997 family film about a kid who moves towns after losing his father and finds a dog who can shoot hoops. It holds up.

Comedy

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Streaming now on Relay.