Monkey Man (R21)

Starring Dev Patel, Sobhita Dhulipala, Sharlto Copley, Pitobash, Zakir Hussain

Directed by Dev Patel

Monkey Man: Dev Patel and Pitobash get ready to boogie. The movie was mainly shot on Batam. 

Dev Patel unleashes his fists of fury as star and debuting director of this ambitious, blistering, if a bit rough around the edges, thriller. Part Travis Bickle, part John Wick (the Keanu Reeves-starring gun-fu flick gets a shout-out), Patel plays a slumdog street fighter — whose ringside persona is based on the Hindu deity Hanuman — hell-bent on taking down his mother’s murderers, notably a sociopathic guru with his hands deep in everyone’s pockets, from the cops to politicians. Cineastes will have fun figuring out where Patel draws his inspirations from (Enter the Dragon, The Raid, Tom Yum Goong, you name it) but there’s enough crazy juice pumping to make Monkey Man his own. The fights are intensely savage (though I wish they could’ve gone easy on the shaky cam), with the standout being the one-take kitchen throwdown that’ll leave the viewer breathless — and the urge to get a scrubdown and aTetanus jab. (3/5 stars)

Photos: UIP

The First Omen (R21)

Starring Nell Tiger Free, Tawfeek Barhom, Sonia Braga, Ralph Ineson, Bill Nighy

Directed by Arkasha Stevenson

The First Omen: Nell Tiger Free makes a wrong turn in the basement. 

Eighteen years after the so-so remake (great marketing ploy to open on 06/06/06!), the powers that be decide to give the legacy franchise another shot, but this time with far more compelling results. The 1971-set prequel stars Free (Servant) as a postulant who uncovers a conspiracy within the church to summon the Anti-Christ. A few callbacks to Dick Donner’s 1976 original aside, this is an effective female-oriented body horror, slow-burning (read: this isn’t The Nun) and creepy, mixed with some solid shocks, including one of the most intense operating-room moments to grace the screen since Noomi Rapace’s self-surgery in Prometheus. (3/5 stars)

Photo: 20th Century Studios

Ghostbusters: Frozen Empire (PG13)

Starring Paul Rudd, Carrie Coon, McKenna Grace, Finn Wolfhard, Bill Murray, Dan Aykroyd, Ernie Hudson

Directed by Gil Kenan

Ghostbusters: Frozen Empire: Bill Murray is going to have that talk with Paul Rudd.

The original Ghostbusters, which turns 40 this year, always feels like the work of a supergroup — Murray! Aykrody! Ramis! Reitman! — that got together in the right place at the right time. So much so that subsequent attempts — the 1989 follow-up, Paul Feig’s gender-flipped reboot, and a Paul Rudd-led requel —  to recapture the alchemy invariably came up short. The requel now has a sequel: the new-gen characters and OG crew battle a (forgettable) climate-altering phantom. The spectre-chasing shenanigans are rich in nostalgia but low on excitement.  Good thing series newbies Kumail Nanjiani and Patton Oswalt are  around to provide much-needed respite.  (2.5/5 stars)

Photo: Sony Pictures Entertainment