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Review: These releases spotlight innovation and overcoming adversity

These releases include the latest in ghost busting; an action movie with potential; a love letter to cinema & more.

A scene from 'Ghostbusters: Frozen Empire'
A scene from 'Ghostbusters: Frozen Empire' courtesy of Sony Pictures
A scene from 'Ghostbusters: Frozen Empire' courtesy of Sony Pictures

These releases include the latest chapter in ghost busting; an action movie with potential; a love letter to classic cinema; a couple of old school Michelle Yeoh pictures; and old and new South Park stories.

'Ghostbusters: Frozen Empire' on Blu-ray
Sony Pictures Home Entertainment

Ghostbusters: Frozen Empire (Blu-ray & DVD)
The Spengler family (and Gary) (Carrie Coon, Finn Wolfhard, Mckenna Grace and Paul Rudd) returns to where it all started — the iconic New York City firehouse — to team up with the original Ghostbusters, who’ve developed a top-secret research lab. But when the discovery of an ancient artifact unleashes an evil force, Ghostbusters new and old must join forces to protect their home and save the world from a second Ice Age.

There’s a lot going on in this movie, yet it still manages to feel like it’s missing something. From the family perspective, Gary is trying to figure out his role as stepdad, Trevor is navigating the new responsibilities of adulthood and Phoebe struggles with the constraints of being a teen. Spectrally, there’s a Casper-like friendly ghost, the return of the adorably suicidal mini Stay Puft marshmallows, and the big, powerful baddie that inspires fear in other spirits. Meanwhile, the original ghost busting team prove they never really left (for better or worse), and a random guy inherits fire magic and a fancy metal costume. These are a lot of great ideas, but there’s a total lack of cohesion between them. To make matters worse, there’s also a number of poor choices that make the critical error of portraying the characters as fools. This is an unfortunate turn of events since their first outing showed such promise.

Special features include: commentary with director and co-writer Gil Kenan; deleted and extended scenes; “Return to the Firehouse: Making Ghostbusters: Frozen Empire”; “Busted: Capturing the Ghosts of Frozen Empire”; “Manifesting Garraka”; “New York, New Gear”; “Welcome to the Paranormal Discovery Center”; “Knowing the Score”; and “Easter Eggs Unleashed.” (Sony Pictures Home Entertainment)

Matinee on 4K
Shout! Studios

Matinee [Collector’s Edition] (4K Ultra HD & Blu-ray)
It’s 1962, and fifteen-year-old fan Gene Loomis (Simon Fenton) can’t wait for the arrival of Woolsey (John Goodman), who is in town to promote his latest offering of atomic power gone berserk, Mant! But the absurd vision of Woolsey’s tale takes on a sudden urgency as the Cuban Missile Crisis places the real threat of atomic horror just 90 miles off the coast. With the help of Woolsey’s leading lady, Ruth (Cathy Moriarty), the master showman gives Key West a premiere they’ll never forget.

This is an entertaining and heartfelt throwback to an interesting era of cinema spearheaded by William Castle. He and others used a variety of gimmicks to entice people into theatres and provide them with an experience that extended beyond the big screen. Notably, their film experiments were the precursor for modern-day D-Box theatre seats. Goodman’s character is a compilation of these filmmakers, though Castle is the most prominent influence. However, director Joe Dante also aspired to capture the spirit of the 1960s, and the fear and paranoia that surrounded the Cuban Missile Crisis, as well as the style of horror/sci-fi pictures of the period. There’s a lot of build-up to the Mant screening, but it doesn’t disappoint, creating a spectacle for all the senses that genre fans would have loved to enjoy.

Special features include: commentary by film critics Drew McWeeny and Eric Vespe; deleted and extended scenes; behind-the-scenes footage; vintage making-of featurette; interviews with actors Kellie Martin and David Clennon; “Master of the Matinee: Interview with Director Joe Dante”; “The Leading Lady: An Interview with Actress Cathy Moriarty”; “MANTastic: The Making Of A Mant”; “Out Of The Bunker: An Interview with Actress Lisa Jakub”; “Making A Monster Theater: An Interview with Production Designer Steven Legler”; “The Monster Mix: An Interview with Editor Marshall Harvey”; “Lights! Camera! Reunion!: An Interview with Director of Photography John Hora”; “Paranoia in Ant Vision: Joe Dante Discusses The Making of the Film”; and still gallery. (Shout! Studios)

Monkey Man on 4K
Universal Picture Home Entertainment

Monkey Man (4K Ultra HD & Blu-ray)
Inspired by the legend of Hanuman, an icon embodying strength and courage, a man with no name (Dev Patel), scarred by a brutal childhood ekes out a meager living in underground fighting rings. But when he finds a way to rise up and infiltrate his city’s corrupt elite, he kicks off an explosive campaign for retribution to settle the score with the men who took everything from him as a boy. Channeling the rage of the poor and powerless, an unexpected hero emerges.

Patel co-wrote the film, which is also his directorial debut. Regrettably, the production was plagued by a series of unfortunate events, including the pandemic. Nonetheless, the movie demonstrates a lot of potential in its storytelling as it tackles universal issues related to police and religious corruption, brutality, discrimination, and violence against women and other minorities. At its heart, Patel set out to tell an underdog story. The narrative’s villains are society’s elite, and signs of poverty and inequity are everywhere. The country’s transgender community, a.k.a. hijra, also play a prominent role in the picture. The film’s promotion advertised a high-octane action picture and while there are some very intense fight sequences, the film is the underdog’s journey to revenge and redemption. Unfortunately, even though the story is solid and universally accessible, the action scenes suffer from frenetic camera movements and frenzied editing that detracts from the unquestionable effort that went into choreographing the otherwise impressive skirmishes.

Special features include: commentary; deleted scenes; and alternate opening and ending. (Universal Picture Home Entertainment)

Royal Warriors on Blu-ray
88 Films

Royal Warriors (Blu-ray)
When CID officer Yip (Michelle Yeoh), a Japanese Interpol agent (Hiroyuki Sanada) and a security guard (Michael Wong) foil an airplane hijacking attempt by a militia fanatic, his veteran friends vow revenge. To stop the terrorist attacks and also to save their own lives, the three heroes must team up once again to fight their gun-toting adversaries.

The movie begins with the near-fatal flight in which all those named above are able to demonstrate their fight skills in a rather confined space. Yip is lauded a hero and eventually accepts the romantic advances of one of the men, though their compatibility is questionable even if his devotion is not. Meanwhile, the terrorist’s friends go to great lengths for their revenge and may even succeed thanks to the blundering of one of the heroes. The action scenes are typical of martial arts movies, in which hand-to-hand combat outweighs the use of firearms. Of course, Yeoh is expectedly explosive, making it still difficult to believe she never received formal fight training.

Special features include: commentary by Frank Djeng; missing aeroplane inserts; and trailers. (88 Films)

South Park: Bigger, Longer & Uncut on 4K
Paramount Home Entertainment

South Park: Bigger, Longer & Uncut (4K Ultra HD & Blu-ray)
Stan, Kyle, Kenny and Cartman sneak into an R-rated movie and it warps their fragile little minds. Soon their indignant parents declare war on Canada and our young heroes are America’s last hope to stop Armageddon.

The South Park movie was a major theatrical event, taking the cursing youngsters from the small screen to the big screen and opting for the unexpected by making it a musical. This release even has a sing-along track so you can lend your voice to “What would Brian Boitano do?” or “Blame Canada!” Making enemies of the U.S.A.’s neighbours to the north was an amusing choice since they’re relationship is generally so banal. It also gave a larger stage to Terrance and Phillip, who teach the kids all kinds of new swears to instigate the war. The dysfunctional relationship between the Devil and Saddam Hussein is also fully explored, allowing Satan to show his more sensitive side. With so much going on, it feels like more than an extended episode, while remaining an extension of the show.

Special features include: commentary by Matt Stone and Trey Parker; sing-a-long version of the film; “What Would Brian Boitano Do?” music video; and theatrical trailers. (Paramount Home Entertainment)

South Park: Joining the Panderverse on Blu-ray
Paramount Home Entertainment

South Park: Joining the Panderverse (4K Ultra HD & Blu-ray)
Cartman’s deeply disturbing dreams portend the end of the life he knows and loves. The adults in South Park are also wrestling with their own life decisions as the advent of AI is turning their world upside down.

Trey Parker and Matt Stone have never shied away from taboo topics or controversial subjects, using the series to voice their opinions and/or spotlight hypocrisy. This short film seems like a personal pet peeve as they specifically target Disney producer Kathleen Kennedy and the studio’s scourge of remakes that reimagines classics with a more diverse cast. They’re quick to point out that most of these movies flopped at the box office, yet the studio was not discouraged. It’s actually pretty amusing to see the boys replaced by women of colour who still act the same and have interchangeable dialogue. But Randy’s crusade about college educations and technological advances depriving middle-class professionals of the ability to perform handy work themselves is by far the funnier narrative.

There are no special features. (Paramount Home Entertainment)

Yes, Madam! on Blu-ray
88 Films

Yes, Madam! (Blu-ray)
Senior Police Inspector Ng (Michelle Yeoh) is assigned to work with Inspector Carrie Morris (Cynthia Rothrock) from Scotland Yard to investigate the murder of an agent from the Commercial Crime Bureau of London, who was killed because of the evidence he has collected against a crime syndicate in Hong Kong.

This is an interesting buddy-cop team-up, particularly for the time, since it features two women. The bonus feature interview with Rothrock reveals that the director was impressed by her martial arts skills and decided to change the gender of the international inspector so she could play the role. Thus, it still plays like a typical good-cop-bad-cop, fish-out-of-water narrative with Morris bringing her own brand of hard-hitting justice to Hong Kong. Nonetheless, she and Ng work well together, even kicking criminal butt in modest skirts. And as dedicated inspectors, they’re willing to do whatever it takes to solve their case, taking on rogue roles not usually seen in women in ‘80s action pictures.

Special features include: commentary by Frank Djeng; select scene commentary with Cynthia Rothrock and Frank Djeng; interviews with Cynthia Rothrock, Mang Hoi and Michelle Yeoh; archive “Battling Babes” featurette; and trailer. (88 Films)

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Written By

Sarah Gopaul is Digital Journal's Editor-at-Large for film news, a member of the Online Film Critics Society and a Rotten Tomatoes Tomatometer-approved critic.

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