JUICE, Starring Tupac Shakur, Debuts on Blu-ray June 6th for its 25th Anniversary
A powerful morality tale steeped in 90s urban culture, JUICE marked the feature directorial debut of Spike Lee’s acclaimed cinematographer Ernest R. Dickerson and the first starring roles for Omar Epps and an electrifying Tupac Shakur. 25 years later, the gritty and influential film continues to be celebrated for its realistic portrayal of Harlem life, the early New York hip hop scene, and the fate of four friends in pursuit of the power and respect they call the Juice. To mark the film’s 25th anniversary, Paramount Home Media Distribution will release the film on Blu-ray for the first time ever on June 6, 2017, packed with brand new interviews and more.
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The furry little menaces from the genus Rattus are something to be feared in the repellent rodent films Willard and Ben. Making their Blu-ray and DVD debuts May 16th, 2017 from Scream Factory, 
The 1990s found me knee deep in anything I could consumer horror-wise, no matter what depths the first half of the decade would bring. Though, both with the theater and the rental store, I’m pretty sure I never sat down to watch Tales From The Hood. Maybe I did, but I figured I’d remember it. The film probably came across as too silly for me at the time and I wasn’t really into comedy-horror (I wanted my stuff serious and scary) or moreso wasn’t on the wavelength of it back then. Like what happens so many times, the folks at Scream Factory help to rectify past missed opportunities and give the films the best possible chance to win me over with their Collector’s Edition series of films. Tales From The Hood is entering that fold when they bring it out on April 18th. I’m looking forward to digging into this one as I feel there’s a good chance I’ll have a fondness for the movie that probably would not have been there when it was new and I was in my teens. 
M. Night Shyamalan has been the butt of many the general filmgoers jokes and received such visible and audible ire from audiences whenever even a trailer of his plays and his name shows up. The director took a steep drop after being heralded as the next great thing following The Sixth Sense, Unbreakable and Signs. But, in 2015, he broke his rotten streak and made The Visit, a truly fun, low budget horror film that really took him back to square one. While one film a full on comeback does not make, you still have to give the guy credit and realize he could be on to something. Shyamalan smartly chose to stick with the low budget studio Blumhouse for his follow up, Split which wound up dazzling audiences this past January, becoming one of his biggest and Bluhmhouse’s biggest releases ever. You can own or check out Split when it comes to Blu-ray on April 18th. 
Last week fellow WhySoBlu.com critic and a movie man I admire Aaron Neuwirth suggested that my inclusion of the iconic film Apocalypse Now might not be an outing that’s all that forgotten. (In fairness I was basing the pick on that fact that my older son had never heard of the film and we had recently watched it together – gotta school the next generation!) So this week I’m doing my colleague proud by digging deep and doubling down with a scarce savory cinematic selection that I’m willing to bet he and my fellow cohorts have not only not seen, but may never have even heard of – welcome to Forgotten Friday Flick! Today we’re dissecting a past picture that even the director of the film doesn’t want you to see. A quirky and controversial little gem that not only got the ire of the MPAA ratings board at the time of its 1990 release, but is a movie that the filmmaker has tried to make disappear. An English speaking Asian courier, a soothsaying street urchin, a mysterious dark dame and a briefcase with questionable contents are just a few of the odd elements used to prove that…Life Is Cheap…But Toilet Paper Is Expensive! 
Indie flicks all but dominate the amount of studio fare this week (and mostly every other week too!), so film fans have continual opportunity to get their film fix on. Below is just a fraction of the myriad of releases out now that cover the gamut of subjects and genres for the ardent cinefile to seek out. Two by the Herzog (way to go Werner!), more beautiful Dree Hemingway movies (I’m a fan!), monsters manned by woman, blind sights restored, dealing with loss and death and youth party docs (supposedly!) all make up the seven films dissected via this weeks Encapsulated Movie Reviews. Check out the opinions on Salt and Fire, Live Cargo, Queen of the Desert, Colossal, The Ticket, Aftermath and All These Sleepless Nights below!
Apparently Germany in the 1980s wasn’t a good time to be a horror fan. Most of the films you’d have wanted to see were either not released or got edited really bad to the point where enjoyment was gone. There was a revolt as many fans would get together and make their own movies at home and try to feature over the top and ridiculous gore that would set those censors going crazy if they were ever to get their hands on it. The most famous and popular of that bunch are The Violent Shit movies featuring Karl the Butcher. These films are now seeing their first official release in the United States courtesy of Synapse Films. Before you cry out as to this release being a DVD, you should know that these were shot on a VHS camcorder. The format is fitting enough for these movies. They’ll be available for purchase April 11th. 
While I didn’t make it to the theater to see it, Office Christmas Party had my interest and attention. You put Kate McKinnon in something and you’ve immediately got that from me, but the movie looked like a little bit of escapism lunacy that would probably be a fun time. It opened the weekend right before Rogue One: A Star Wars Story showed up to take all the moneys (Moana was taking the moneys at this time, about to tag another Disney fighter into the ring), but managed to do some pretty solid business despite rather middle of the road to negative reviews. And now, its coming home to Blu-ray where it will probably find even more of a life. You can grab the film to own beginning April 4th! 
The legend of Samara takes a chilling turn in the new chapter of the hit Ring franchise, RINGS,which comes calling on Blu-ray Combo Pack, DVD and On Demand May 2, 2017 from Paramount Home Media Distribution. Dare to watch on Digital HD two weeks early on April 21.
In terms of iconic directors with a rich filmography to die for, nobody is more notable than the legendary 
A movie that is truly absolutely everything its title says it is; Monster Trucks. The film is literally about a truck that is pretty much controlled by a monster. Star Lucas Till says “Its everything the title says it is”. Its a trailer that was sort of groaned at and laughed at or people weirded out by a “What the heck is this?” reaction. So, yeah, it was pretty much dead on arrival. When it opened in January, its numbers underwhelmed. I couldn’t find the budget, but from the sounds of it, this thing cost too much and lost a lot of money. However, for the scoffy adults, this movie was obviously not made for them (or was it?). Now, we’ll see if a generation of kids picks up on this movie when it comes home on April 11th to Blu-ray (Digitally March 28th). 
