Wholesale and Distribution Movie Reviews

For anybody unfamiliar with this infamous Chinese films reputation all I can say is that this could very well be the nastiest film ever made! I am in a position to say that I've seen nearly everything "shocking" out there, ie 'Cannibal Holocaust', 'I Spit on Your Grave', 'Emanuelle in America', 'Baise Moi', the 'Guinea Pig' series, ect and anything on the 'video nasties' list and most films that have a reputation (btw I will admit as I write this I have not yet seen 'Aftermath') and after all this I still feel that this film is the most unsettling for a number of reasons: it depicts a TRUE story, the film has an unblinking realism that is nowhere present in any other film to tackle a similar subject matter, the cruelty of the men conducting these experients illustrates the darkest side of humanity which did and I guess still does exist and lastly, this film contains the most sickening animal cruelty ever caught on film.

During WW2 Japan occupied parts of mainland China and along with the many enormous massacres and genicides the Japanese army carried out for their emporer in the true 'samurai spirit', they also conducted cruel human experiments in germ warfare research camps using Chinese and Russian civilians and POWs. If the details of these Japanese atrocities are unfamiliar to you it is not your fault, while the Japanese govourment have humbly apologised for their treatment of US and Australian POWs, they certainly lose their memory fast when it comes to the subject of war crimes aginst the Chinese, the Nanking massacre and germ warfare camps such as these. Futhermore at the end of WW2 the same red army of "fighting Chinese allies" quickly became a "communist threat" and a defeated Japan with a new found passion for car manufactor and baseball became the friend in Asia thus Western history books and school classes ignore these events aswell.

Men Behind the Sun is a film made to tell this forgotten and ignored histrocial facts and is therefore one of the most important war films out there. The director has chosen to not spare the viewer any gruesome detail and even goes so far as to secure an actuall cadaver of a young boy (the boys parents where glad to release his body as they felt the film was important for China) for a inhuman surgurey scene in the film. The director even went too far in the opions of many with a scene in which a cat is thrown into a pit with hundreds of starving rats. While I felt this scene adds nothing to the film besides extra nastyness and am myself a vegetarian and oposed to animal cruelty, I find it hard to boycott or dismiss a film soley on the basis of it comtaining animal cruelty as thousands of cows die each day for mere hamburgers that serve little more purpose than to put fat into comsumers butts.(Please note: while I have always seen no reason to disbelieve the authenticity of the cat scene as the rats are set on fire for real later in the film and of course it's no secret that dogs and cats are eaten in Asia, alot of people feel, or at least like to say, this scene is faked by smearing fake blood on the cat and later using a prop cat puppet.)

Due to the graphic nature of this film it has being long associated with the gore film genre and occasionally called "the Cannibal Holocaust of the 80s" and most viewers watch it simply due to its gorey reputation (I know I heard of it this way) which is good in a sense that it will live in infamy forever in horror buffs discussions and lists but not so good that most will not take it seriously. However this unbeleivably horrific film already has huge cult status and I have no doubt that future generations will appreciate it for its brutal honesty.

For those of you who are pacifists, the video delivers a positive message. Mike V says that he has not been in a physical confrontation in two years now, and tells us why. Despite the misconceptions, Mike V is not a war monger, not short tempered, and not needlessly aggressive. He simply isn't passive about injustices against skateboarders.

His brand of frontier justice, while it may or may not make non-skaters understand skateboarding, at least makes people think twice about how they can treat us.

The video has some very funny footage with Bam, some really good skateboarding, and quite a few worthwhile extras on the DVD. I highly reccomend viewing it.

Nathan Milstein was the first russian to play Bach with intensity and conviction. I use the word smouldering because his intensity is so overwhelming it will grip your ears and your mind and force you to listen closely. His Paganini Caprice 5 is played at a speed so fast I can only describe it as blistering. I love this performance of the Kreutzer sonata and the clip of the Brahms concerto, every note is so clean and articulate.

Paganiniana is a set of variations on the infamous 24th caprice compled by Mr Milstein, it basically contains a medley of the best phrases from all the caprices and concertos and is a fitting tribute to Paganini who was the best violin virtuoso who ever lived. The 24th caprice of course inspired many composers to write variations including Brahms, Schumann, Rachmaninoff, Liszt, Ysaye and Rochberg.

One thing I appreciate about Milstein is his masterful bowing and the fact that he never uses excessive or too wide of a vibrato. From looking at his editing and bowings of many scores I have seen, Mr Milstein has the most masterful understanding of bowing of any violinist I know of. His playing is so tasteful and his intonation is always immaculate, it is easy to understand when you hear and watch him play why he was labeled the violinist's violinist.

I would also have to recommend the VHS about Milstein called Master of Invention. This is an incredible documentary that simply must be reissued and is terribly hard to find. What a shame that some of the best violin materials are so hard to acquire!

Mischa Elman is not my favorite violinist but I always find his playing interesting, here is yet another display of why people fell in love with his tone and why he sold so many records. There is so much charm in the music of Kreisler combined with virtuosity. I remember hearing Kreisler's music for the first time and thinking that he must have been extrememly familiar with Paganini's music because I heard traces of Paganini's music come in to combine with Kreisler's charming Vienese sound.

These videos are incredibly helpful to me for learning these works as a violin student and I recommend them to music lovers of any genre.

DVD contains:

1)Mozart Adagio in E maj K261
2)Mozart Rondo in C maj K373
3)Paganini Caprice 11
4)Paganini Caprice 5
5)Falla Jota
6)Falla Astriana
7)Novacek Perpetual Motion
8)Mozart A maj Concerto 1st movement
9)Brahms Concerto 3rd movement
10)Beethoven Kreutzer Sonata Movement 1
11)Beethoven Kreutzer Sonata Movement 3
12)Bach Chaconne
13)Milstein Paganiniana
14)Bach E maj Partida movement 1

Bonus:
14)Micha Elman - Perghiera in the style of Padre Martini by Kreisler
15)Elman plays Schon Rosmarin by Kreisler

5 star CD all the way, just don't buy it twice like I did.

Although I personally like "Life on Earth" better, I place "The Living Planet" as second in a complete wildlife production.