Batman Ninja (Blu-ray Review)
Earlier this year we were treated to Batman: Gotham By Gaslight, a one-off elseworld tale of the dark knight in a unique style and visual setting. In that review, I mentioned that this was the kind of stuff I’d like to see more of. More wild and crazy variations or adaptations on a superhero that pretty much everyone is familiar with. Now, just a couple months later, my wish has been fulfilled. Now Batman is being presented with a tale in the spirit of the culture of the Eastern hemisphere. And its being visually brought to us in the visual style of anime. This film created some big buzz when it was unveiled at the New York Comic Con last year and its finally landing upon us. You’ll be able to check out the film when it arrives on Blu-ray May 8th. Continue reading ‘Batman Ninja (Blu-ray Review)’
If you’re a Region Free enthusiast like myself, you’ll know David Lynch’s Wild At Heart has had various Blu-ray releases over the years in different countries. In the United States, however, there’s been just one. It was a Twilight Time release that has been out of print for many years. Limited releases is their business model, like it or not. Their license on the film must have run out because now we have a brand new collector’s edition of the film from Shout! Factory putting it under the Shout Select banner which is very exciting. The new release with feature a new interview with the author of the book the film is based on, a special on the 40th anniversary screen and over an hour of deleted scenes to go along with previously released featurettes. Its available May 22nd, so get your pre-orders in below! 
Iconic Cult director Larry Cohen broke onto the scene with a pair of iconic blaxploitation films starring Fred “The Hammer” Williamson in the early 70s. Following, he’d begin to carve his legacy as a unique face in the world of horror with It’s Alive. The film proved to be sort of his well he’d return to between God Told Me To’s and Q: The Winged Serpents with two sequels; It Lives Again! and Island Of The Alive. Scream Factory has been fond of Cohen’s works and is now bringing his famed trilogy to Blu-ray for the first time in this new box set. It features some new interviews as well as commentaries on each film from Larry Cohen himself. Scream Factory is releasing it on May 15th and you can pre-order it on Amazon to make sure yours arrives in time for day 1. 
Embrace your inner hero when “Tomb Raider” arrives onto 4K Ultra HD Combo Pack, 3D Blu-ray Combo Pack, Blu-ray Combo Pack, DVD on June 12th and Digital HD May 29th. From Warner Bros. Pictures and Metro Goldwyn Mayer Pictures, “Tomb Raider” is a story that sets young and resolute Lara Croft on a path toward becoming a global hero. 
Sorry movie fans – sadly only a mere tripod of Indie flicks reviewed this week. (Both Backstabbing For Beginners and Disobedience were not made available to me!) But at least there’s a pinch of smaller film fare to provide some cinematic counterbalance to the mighty Marvel big budget stuff. Tales of being trapped on a highway by a rifle wielding madman, a saga of two bumbling lawmen looking to regain their jobs and the adventures of a woman in search of love via many gentlemen suitors all make up the movies dissected via this week’s edition of Encapsulated Movie Reviews. Check out the skinny on Downrange, The Escape Of Prisoner 614 and Let The Sunshine In all below!
The action classic, DIE HARD, celebrates its 30th Anniversary with an all-new 4K Ultra HD™ re-master and Blu-ray™ available May 15 from Twentieth Century Fox Home Entertainment. Bruce Willis is John McClane in the film that launched the billion-dollar action franchise, DIE HARD. McClane, a New York City cop, flies to L.A. on Christmas Eve to visit his wife at a party in her company’s lavish high-rise. Plans change once a group of terrorists, led by Hans Gruber (Alan Rickman), seize the building and take everyone hostage, McClane slips away and becomes the only chance anyone has in this beginning-to-end heart-stopping action thriller. 
Not only has telling stories of World War II brought director Steven Spielberg Academy Award attention in the form of Best Director nominations and his two Oscar wins, the historical subject has brought forth some of his best and most passionate work. His second Oscar win for director is actually his sixth exploration of the second great war in some way, shape or form. Twenty years have come since this film that began the Spielberg-Tom Hanks relationship that also likely paved the way for the phenomenal HBO mini-series Band of Brothers. In celebration, Paramount is debuting the film on 4K Ultra-HD Blu-ray on May 8th. This year (As well as last) is seeing plenty of Spielberg jumping to the format and they can keep on rolling. Hopefully Jaws and Munich aren’t too far away either! 
They may have different years of released attached to them, but Steven Spielberg had two big releases in three months. He’s no stranger to multiple films in a calendar year, as a quick peruse of his filmography will show many double features. Three months before Ready Player One, Spielberg had an Oscar caliber film in The Post (Which wide released in 2018, so you could argue its the same year for most people). Starring Tom Hanks and Meryl Streep, the political thriller based on the attempt of the Washington Post to publish The Pentagon Papers may have been on of the most overlooked and taken for granted candidates for Best Picture. Scoring only a Best Actress nomination for Streep, in a crowded year of great films, Spielberg’s period piece could have easily argued for a lot more consideration. Heck, on another given year, it might’ve been a shue in for more gold. The film is already available on 4K Ultra-HD Blu-ray, so if you haven’t already, you can pick yourself up a copy and see for yourself. 
You would have to be living under a rock if you’re not familiar with the Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU) of films by now.
Metro Goldwyn Mayer Pictures presents director Eli Roth’s reimagining of the 1974 revenge thriller Death Wish. Dr. Paul Kersey (Bruce Willis) is a surgeon who only sees the aftermath of his city’s violence as it’s rushed into his ER – until his wife (Elisabeth Shue) and college-age daughter (Camila Morrone) are viciously attacked in their suburban home. With the police overloaded with crimes, Paul, burning for revenge, hunts for his family’s assailants to deliver justice. As the anonymous slayings of criminals grabs the media’s attention, the city wonders if this deadly avenger is a guardian angel…or a grim reaper. Fury and fate collide in the intense action-thriller Death Wish. 
It’s time to get down and dirty with the raunchy hilarity of Dirty Grandpa when it arrives on 4K Ultra HD™ Combo Pack (plus Blu-ray™ and Digital) June 12 from Lionsgate. Starring Academy Award® winner Robert De Niro (Best Actor, Raging Bull, 1980), Zac Efron, Aubrey Plaza, Zoey Deutch, Julianne Hough, Jason Mantzoukas, Danny, Glover, and Dermot Mulroney, experience four times the resolution of Full HD with 4K, which is also joined by Dolby Vision™ HDR to bring to life the stunning cinematography of this hilarious film. Dolby Vision transforms the TV experience in the home by delivering greater brightness and contrast, as well as a fuller palette of rich colors. The release also features Dolby Atmos® audio mixed specifically for the home to place and move audio anywhere in the room, including overhead. Rotten Tomatoes Certified Fresh™, the Dirty Grandpa 4K Ultra HD Combo Pack is loaded with special features. 
Just in time for summer break, Disney’s “A Wrinkle in Time,” from acclaimed director Ava DuVernay, comes home May 29 on Digital HD, 4K Ultra HD and Movies Anywhere and June 5 on Blu-ray™, 4K Ultra HD™, DVD and On-Demand. The stunning story of an ordinary girl’s extraordinary adventure through time and space offers exhilarating entertainment and positive messages for the whole family—encouraging self-confidence, inclusion and pushing imagination to the next level.
Celebrate the 65th Anniversary of Walt Disney Animation’s Peter Pan, available on Digital and Movies Anywhere May 29 and on Blu-ray™ June 5. Joining the Walt Disney Signature Collection, relive the animated classic with more than two hours of bonus features and new never-before-seen extras. Experience the timeless adventure from Disney’s golden age of animation with the whole family and let imagination soar off to Neverland once again!
