The Criterion Collection announced its April titles on Friday. New additions to the collection include 4K UHD of three John Singleton films and a Monty Python Classic.
The late Singleton supervised and approved Boyz's transfer before his 2019 death. He had recorded audio commentaries for all three films, which are included.
New bonus features include a conversation between filmmaker Ryan Coogler and Poetic Justice actor Regina King, a documentary on Singleton's process and audio interviews with Baby Boy stars Taraji P. Henson and Tyrese Gibson.
Boyz n the Hood depicted gang violence in South Central Los Angeles and, along with the success of New Jack City, precipitated a wave of inner-city films from Black filmmakers in the '90s. Singleton's Best Director Oscar nomination made him the youngest ever nominee in that category at the time.
Boyz was included in the Criterion Collection on Laserdisc. Poetic Justice starred Janet Jackson as a poet in her film acting debut, with Tupac Shakur as her love interest. Baby Boy revisited South Central L.A. and co-starred Snoop Dogg, Mo'Nique and Ving Rhames.Monty Python's The Life of Brian also gets a 4K upgrade from its previous laserdisc, DVD and Blu-ray editions. Python Terry Gilliam supervised the restoration of the film directed by the late Terry Jones.
Gilliam directed Monty Python and the Holy Grail and provided animation for Python projects before directing is own post-Python films. Life of Brian is available April 14.
In a famous scene, he tells a crowd gathered that they don't need to follow him because they're all individuals. They respond in unison, "We're all individuals," except for one lone voice who says, "I'm not." Brian is also naked in that scene.
The new edition also includes archival extras including 1979 and 2007 documentaries, Michael Palin's own Super 8 film, deleted scenes, and previously recorded commentaries.
Also in April, The Criterion Collection will include the classics Gilda on April 7, Trouble in Paradise April 14, and Point Blank on April 21 in 4K restorations.
Bi Gan's surreal new release Resurrection enters the Criterion Collection in its first home video edition on April 21, and a collection of six films directed by Kinuyo Tanaka is the 48th in Criterion's Eclipse series on April 21.
