Wholesale and Distribution Movie Reviews

When I saw this DVD was coming out....I thought finally I can SEE and listen to the artist I never get to see perform at concerts. I like the DVD over all, but was disappointed at the fact that the never show the artist/group videos in its entirety and that they did NOT show or discuss all the videos by the artist/group that was done. For example, thou I love Angel Clivilles from Cover Girls there where other songs by the group after she was gone and vidoes....where were they or why wasn't it mentioned?!?! NOT a complete documentry if you ask me. I am a die hard fan and hope the next dvd volume(s) show all the vidoes by the artist/group in it's entirety, not over lapped with interviews. But I do recommand buying it and adding it to your colllection. PEACE

I always wondered why they never had a video or dvd Freestyle compilation. Very happy to finally have 1. The video is decent, a little raw at some points but better than nothing. Could have been edited a little better and the segments a little more organized. But overall its not a bad video at all. They could have added EXTRAS like the Full videos...that would have been cool... not a bad deal though...

Finally Freestyle on Dvd!!They picked some of the most talented artists.Lisette melendez,george lamond,covergirls,etc..What these collections offer ,some great interiews and what these Freestyle artists been up to. also,clips of some of their greatvideos and songs.What the collection needs in upcoming collections is the entire Freestyle videos, the entire songs at concerts,and a little more education on freestyle.meaning,how did freestyle originate,what is freestyle?How did it become a Puerto Rican/latino american form of music?I know all the answers,but its good to have these questions on these collections,to show the importance of this music,that still lives today.Also,the differnt types of Feestyle like Latin Freestyle,New school to Old school,Progressive Freestyle To Euro Freestyle and the most popular areas of Freestyle like New york,miami,chicago,The Bay Area(san francisco to san jose),Texas,Puerto Rico,Canada,and Germany.I hope the next collections get better.great work guys and thanks for being the first,to put this music,which means alot to alot of people on dvd.

In NANCY DREW, REPORTER our heroine comes to the aid of another young person who is falsely accused of murder. Bonita Granville has the role of Nancy Drew as she does in all four movies in this series made before World War II. The small supporting cast includes John Litel, Frankie Thomas, Mary Lee and Sheila Bromley.

NANCY DREW, REPORTER was made specifically for a juvenile audience which was unusual for a detective movie at that time. The Nancy Drew films were never as successful as were the Nancy Drew books.

The movie is played mainly for comedy; there is neither hide nor hair of Bess and George; and why on earth would they call him TED Nickerson?

All in all, this movie does depict the fun and excitement that you would relate to any Nancy Drew book. Nancy comes across young, smart and with a lot more opportunities than anyone has a right to expect. But she's not spoiled and you can't help falling in love with Bonita Granville's portrayal of the heroine.

The movie is short, fast and funny and will appeal to children and younger adults.

As a Nancy Drew fan, I wanted to see the series of movies made in the 1930s featuring the teenage sleuth. Nancy Drew, Reporter, is the best of the lot. Part screwball comedy, part mystery, it reminds me of the popular Thin Man series. While the series of movies with Bonita Granville takes MANY liberties with the Nancy Drew characters, Nancy herself comes across well.

If you are a Colbert fan or not or simply want to know her, this movie should be on your list! She gives a good range of her acting (even if Hollywood believes that mascara was easy to come by in a Japanese camp!). What`s more, Sessue Hayakawa, a typical villain, proposes a sweet & sour taste to his character rather uncommon to his more typical roles. And if you liked that movie, go to "So Proudly We Hail", a story with a similar plot but even better!

Claudette Colbert gives a very strong performance as real life writer Agnes Keith, an American woman living on Borneo with her British husband and son during WWII. When the Japanese invade, she and her son are separated from her husband, Patric Knowles, and all are imprisoned in camps. A Japanese colonel, very well played by Sessue Hayakawa, takes an interest in Colbert since he has read her book, and they have a platonic relationship that is one of the most interesting features of the movie. He has been educated in America, and he reveals more about himself than a typical Japanese soldier would. Three Came Home illustrates the poor conditions of prison camps during WWII and the effect of the war on those who weren't soldiers but had to fight to survive. It's a dramatic story, well acted, and worth viewing.

One of the best World War Two era dramas ever. The fact that I had never heard of this movie is a testament to it's being under-rated. It's usually not shown in retrospectives of war movies, not enough testosterone displayed, I presume, which is a shame, as it is a powerful take on the "human" side of war, and the effects on the individual. Claudette Colbert, whose only starring role I was familiar with was in "It Happened One Night", is wonderfully touching and noble in this true- story based drama of an author forcefully seperated from her husband and placed, with her little boy, in a Japanese prison camp. As anyone who reads my reviews knows, I like strong womens roles, the good ones of which are few and far between. This is one of the best. Her portrayal is one of pathos, bravery, and perseverence in the face of overwhelming, spirit- breaking odds. This film also offers a rare for that time somewhat sympathetic view of the Japanese, in the role of Sessue Hayakawas' Japanese officer who, over time, developes a true respect for Colberts character that transcends gender and war time prejudices, and, shows the human loss on both sides. This film says just as much about the tragedy of war, maybe more so, than any battle scenes. I am not generally a fan of many war movies, how many battle scenes can you watch??, but I was totally drawn in when I happened upon this film by accident on the History Channel. I was so impressed by it that I bought the video, after trying to track it down for some time. A wonderfully moving drama, yes, it is a "tear-jerker", but much more than that, it is also ultimatley uplifting. A classic movie, very radical for it's time, it's a must have for any film buff, or anyone who wants to see what true movie making WAS.

MASK OF DEATH (aka SHAOLIN DEVIL AND SHAOLIN ANGEL, 1979) is a well-made costume tale about a series of murders that offers just enough fighting to barely qualify as a kung fu film. Detailing the fate of a family decimated by the murders, it follows the efforts of a brother and sister to identify the murderers and avenge their family. They are helped by a secret agent, masquerading as an assassin (Wong Tao), and encounter numerous surprises along the way, culminating in a final battle with an unlikely enemy. It's packed with characters, incident, subplots and flashbacks, but, while never boring, is never very exciting either. No one bothered to string the incidents together in any cohesive order. Key people disappear for long stretches and we're not always sure who the main characters are supposed to be. When we learn finally who the villain is and why the murders occurred, it's too late to develop any dramatic tension or suspense.

Tung Wei is credited as co-fight director and also plays a young scholar who goes off, after his father's murder, to learn kung fu from a Buddhist monk. When he finally reappears to join the heroes, his kung fu doesn't help much. Overall, the fight scenes lack the vigor, imagination and relentlessness such scenes require. Wong Tao, normally quite a firebrand in his films, including THE HOT, THE COOL AND THE VICIOUS, in which he played a vaguely similar character, is too restrained here, trapped in a wig and period costume, spending too much time brooding and lamenting a childhood spent working in a brothel (seen in flashbacks). There's far more melodrama than a film like this is generally comfortable with.

All that said, however, the film is beautifully photographed, designed and costumed. It's a consistent visual treat, even when the narrative sags. The Crash Cinema DVD offers a very good letter-boxed transfer of an original print with sharp imagery and striking color. However, the print is extremely scratchy in parts, with occasional speckles and scratch lines streaking vertically through the film. Some parts, however, are not so bad and look almost pristine. The DVD case features a picture of Yasuaki Kurata, a Japanese actor/fighter who often starred in Hong Kong movies (SHAOLIN CHALLENGES NINJA), but doesn't appear in this one.

This is an entertaining Kung fu flick, but it has allot of scratches and lines throughout the movie. I've seen older kung fu flicks in better condition. There was no effort in remastering it. This is the only copy of MASK OF DEATH on DVD right now so if you really want it just be aware of the condition of it.
Nuff said.

i bought this one on a whim because it was cheap
i was not dissapointed
i'll watch again and again and again
really fun

this is a priceless time capsule. the lineup of musicians is covered by other reviewers--in my opinion, this film and event is most valuable for the Colosseum, Roland Kirk, MJQ, Buddy Miles, and Buddy Guy performances . . . but all of it is wonderful and deserves the highest rating.

Beware: this is NOT the original 79-minute film that I purchased in 1987 on VHS. Led Zeppelin's "Dazed and Confused"--sequenced between Roland Kirk's "Primitive Ohio" and Buddy Miles' "Texas Blues"--is MISSING from this DVD. Owning the great new Zep DVD partially solves this problem, but we're left with an *incomplete* Supershow! DVD audio is scratchy/hissy, especially noticeable during quiet tunes like MJQ's "Visitors From Venus". the back cover claims a 4:3 aspect ratio when it's presented in 1.66:1 widescreen.

As the others correctly state, this is an essential purchase if you want to see a classic encapsulation of rock, blues, jazz and soul in an era where such different streams were celebrated, their fusion expected and no-one knew what exploitable demographics were, or at least didn't place these in priority over music. Roland Kirk steals the show for me.

... especially as Led Zeppelin's performance is missing from the original film, at least on my version. Was this because of the 2003 release of the Zep DVD, and the inclusion of the Supershow performance? I assume so.

And there's no original commentary, which certainly added to the whole atmosphere, cool little comments such as 'This, ladies and gentlemen, is as good as it gets.'

A contrast between two eras: that of white-hot experimentation, and one which puts compromise first, especially in regard to marketing. Hmmm.

Any video that includes Rahsaan Roland Kirk gets 5 stars! he retiers into the happier world of his dreams. he transforms the contents of them into symptoms. Penetrating the so called "artistic" state of mind held by musicans who for the most part are not artists but doctors. bending his efforts toward studying in his light the most complex mechansim of all "inspiration".
for a truer example of his extraordinary virtue see
Rahsaan Roland Kirk: The One Man Twins - Live at the Montreux Jazz Festival 1972 (1972) --

NOW, don't take this one toooooo seriously; but it is fun and the bodies are quite good - of special note is the still photo gallery ~ devine shots!

HOWEVER, this collection is not as good as the previous 1930 set, but well worth having. A great deal is 'tongue-in'cheek' - make of that what you will. Especially the Santa sequence with that rather odd machine is it?

The nurses have a field day in "Clinic Gone Mad" - great uniforms though and mentioning that - there's quite a deal of B & D here - but in a very genteel sense.

See it with a loved one ..... still delivers a stirr or two and many a giggle!

[Watch out for the final segment - 'the flea' - innocent and quite piquant!]

This collection is put together better than the previous one (from the 1930's), with a menu and so on. However, the choice of videos is much more narrow than that one. Does that mean only one type of erotic movies were made in the 40's? The movies shown here have a heavy reliance on lesbianism and very mild B&D (half-hearted spankings mainly), which is ... well, not my taste. I don't want to say boring, but I enjoyed the first collection more than I do this one.

I watched this with high expectations, I purchased the 1930s erotica before and was pleased. This one was even better! It had a little spanking and whipping scenes, softcore and hardcore. If you like real erotica, and want to see how they made films in the past I suggest getting this, you won't be let down.

1950 TV converted to spectacular... well watchable movie filled with future technology.
Two populated moons are about to crash. One governed by good people. The other ruled by a devious, tricky, tyrantita Patsy Parsons as Cleolanta. Richard Crane as Rocky Jones is in the middle. The action is a gas.

A compilation of episodes from "Rocky Jones, Space Ranger", "Crash of the Moons" is a wonderful example of the kind of kids sci-fi show from the dawn of television.

Two "gypsy moons" are about to collide with a planet, Opheish. The moons are populated, and the United Worlds sends in Rocky Jones and the Space Rangers to help. But the power-hungry ruler of Opheish, the evil Queen Cleolantra, will stop at nothing to have things her way. In this case, it means destroying the gypsy moons and killing everyone on them!

The science here is not exactly up to date, but quaint nevertheless.

Most of the cast surpasses the sub-par, cliche-ridden material, and offer up convincing characterizations. Richard Crane plays Rocky Jones with movie serial he-man gusto. Scotty Beckett, a former child star from the Our Gang series, plays Winky, the flight officer of the rocket ship Orbit Jet. Beckett is strangely effective as a sort of proto-Sulu, comfortably operating his rocket ship controls as if they actually worked. John Banner, forever famous as the bumbling Sergeant Schultz on "Hogan's Heroes", plays King Bavarro with a sense of fun, while Patsy Parsons' Queen Cleolantra is such a sneaky and conniving diva, she could probably have taken over "Dynasty" AND "Falcon Crest" without breaking a sweat.

This is a fun time for fans of early sci-fi, and despite being edited together from three or four episodes, the story plays smoothly.

CRASH OF THE MOONS is a good old Rocky Jones adventure and it's fun to watch it. But be informed that it is recorded in the EP mode.

Although this documentary treds familiar ground for die-hard fans, it provides new insight into Phil Collins's personal life through home-movies, interviews with family etc.

The problem with this DVD is the misleading labelling. The back cover suggests the dvd includes 95 minutes of extras in addition to the 60-minute documentary. In reality, the total running time for the main feature and extras is 95 minutes. In addition, the back cover suggests there are performances of entire songs while, in fact, there are only very short snippets of the featured songs.

Phil Collins has been one of my musical heroes over the last 22 years. I personally have been a drummer for most of my life. Although it was Ringo Starr's drumming that got me started, it was Phil Collins that influenced me to stick with it.
What a pleasure it is to finally have a documentary released on this legendary talented figure. "A Life Less Ordinary" chronicles Phil's life-story from the time he was born up to the present day with his new wife, his new son and his latest album "Testify".
There are a few flaws with the documentary. Some important details are left out especially when discussing Genesis. Also, in the portion where Phil's child-acting days are discussed, nowhere is it mentioned that Phil was an extra in the Beatles film "A Hard Days Night".
However, the good outweighs the bad on this one. Besides interviews with Phil and his bandmates from both Genesis and his solo career, there are many interviews with Phil's family including his children, his brothers and sister, his mother and his new wife. In some cases, Phil's life story gets so personal, it's almost as if your there in the room with him. There are some very emotional moments such as Phil's family all being there when he won the Oscar for Disney's "Tarzan".
Besides this, there is plenty of Phil's music included here spanning his entire career from Flaming Youth, to Genesis, to Brand X, to his solo career, and the list goes on.
This documentary may be disappointing to some but it does provide an excellent overview of Phil Collins' life and music. Phil has truly been blessed with an extraordinary talent and has the success to prove it. With "A Life Less Ordinary", it's like finally being able to shake hands and sit down and chat with the man himself.

You have interviews with Phil's Mother, Children, Wife, Brothers and Sisters, Ex-Bandmates and lots of others so you will get something new out of this. I loved it and I highly recommend it.

I dont no why people think that this video needs to really be rated. This is what kids like these days

"Ruff Ryders:Documentary Vol.1" was pretty good. It wasn't put together that great. Which made it fail. The thing was they were going for was life on the streets and how the Ruff Ryders group came together & how where the members came from. I showed whear the Ryders came from which I liked and I like seeing music videos after they members were done talking about there life. But the way they tried to tell the way the Ruff Ryders Family came together didn't really work and it went from one thing to another and back to the last thing. Overall it was pretty good but nothing great. If you are not a Ruff Ryders fan don't even think of checking out this 86 mintue show. The DVD special features are the highlight. There was fottage that was not showin in the program on the specail features (like 3 of them running 25 mintues) should have been left in 'cause they were really good. The previews for the upcoming DMX & Wink-1000 DVDs were good and the trailer for the other Urban Works Films were mostly good. And the extra music videos were off the hook. So for that it was worth [it]. This if defitnly for Ruff Ryders fan and no one elese!
6/10

This documentary got to the point of what a real documentary should consist of! From the label's beginnings to freestyles, workouts to clothing, videos to ruff ryding, it's all there . Everything I expected was displayed on point like a number 2 pencil during test time. Believe what I say when I tell ya! They 're not playing with us! Ruff ryding is a culture that I experienced first hand before it blew up. Now ruff ryders embraced it and made it second nature! Kids should'nt try this at home was'nt preached in the video is my only con about this purchase. Other than that, I found it hard to relax because I had to keep rewinding scenes to make sure my eyes was'nt being deceived by the motorcycle stunts performed by Ruff Rydin Ryder called Wink and his 1100 cycle . Buying this is a must!It's like watching a blockbuster with out the added digital enhancements on a underground station called "Real,Real,Real T.V." If or if not at all a fan to their music this disc will further evaluate reasons as to why your cord is unplugged!

Ok when i first bought this i was so excited because i'm a big Usher fan and i could not wait to see it. The bad thing about it was when i open the case and but the cd in the dvd player what came on instead of Usher was Pink (the singer). I guess whatever company that made this dvd mixed the cd up. I was to mad. I don't know how they could make this kind of mistake. On the dvd cd it even says Usher big in black but when i put it in the dvd player it's Pink the singer. If you have this dvd please tell me if your usher dvd does the same.

This latest DVD purchase from Amazon[.com] is a real 'keeper.' Neverhas USHER looked 'so good.' Notice I didn't write- sound 'sogood.' The rap (no pun intended) throughout music circles isthat this cat will probably try to ride his gorgeous bod & fancydance moves to the top 'cause he's a tad shy in the lyrics dept.The DVD contains three videos- one a remix of U GOT IT BAD whichis a colloge of vignettes from the original release with betterediting techniques. Within we are treated to his classic duet routine with the microphone stand. The package also contains a photo gallery of 8- count 'em 8 poses, two of which willhave practically all brothas & sistas drooling up a storm.Being the black muscle lover that I am, I was hoping to catchmore than passing glimpses of this dude's smoothly rippledtorso & the disc doesn't disappoint. His beautiful smile &perfectly toned washboard abs certainly do it for me & we allknow I'm not alone on that St. Whether he's sprawled shirt-less on his bed offering up lyrics or dishing them out while admiring his muscles in a bathroom mirror, USHER keeps usmezmorized. But as good as this gets in the sensual sense, myguess is that 'Usher Live' once it arrives will top it 'causehe'll probably let it all hang out, especially during the en-core numbers. Yes this fine lookin' rapper has it going on real good all over his body. I feel another rush comin' on just thinkin' bout it. Now if he could just slide a few decent lyrics into the picture...

Homer Simpson says "Ummmmm..... beer". I say "ummmmm.... Usher". I slobber as much as Homer too. Buy this DVD. Make Usher really, really popular so that he makes more videos that I can slobber over.