By John Corrado

New releases for the week of March 8th, 2024.

Theatrical Releases:

Kung Fu Panda 4 (Wide Release): Jack Black returns as the voice of Po in this fourth instalment of DreamWorks Animation’s Kung Fu Panda series. Po is now faced with selecting a successor to replace him as Dragon Warrior, while fighting a new adversary; The Chameleon (Viola Davis), who can take the form of the franchise’s past villains. I saw this yesterday, and it lacks some of the spark of the first few films, but as far as fourth instalments go, it’s still pretty enjoyable and amusing enough to pass the time. (Review coming soon!)

More Releases: Imaginary (Wide), Cabrini (Limited), Frida (TIFF Lightbox), Tautuktavuk (What We See) (TIFF Lightbox)

Streaming Releases:

Ricky Stanicky (Prime Video): Peter Farrelly returns to directing low-brow comedies following his Best Picture winner Green Book and Oscar-bait The Greatest Beer Run Ever, with this film starring Zac Efron and John Cena. It follows a group of friends who get caught in a lie, and hire someone (played by Cena) to play the titular fake best friend they invented years earlier. Reviews are mixed, but I’m gonna check it out because I enjoy a good dumb comedy once in a while.

More Releases: The Gentleman (Netflix), Damsel (Netflix), Poor Things (Disney+), American Fiction (Prime Video), Anatomy of a Fall (Prime Video), Mean Girls (Paramount+)