Wholesale and Distribution Movie Reviews

I agree with the other reviews here, a pretty poor effort by EMI. Beatles collectors are used to that. The video quality is shockingly bad, but watching on a 100" screen it is really atrocious. My feeling is it was transferred from a VHS tape.

My main beef, however is the 5.1 soundtrack. It is merely the stereo reprocessed into 5.1, and it is obvious. Fosgate surround decoders are far superior to what is given us here. I was really looking forwards to real surround mixes. Check out Queen's DVD, it has awesome 5.1 mixes. Also the Beatles 5.1 material on Anthology from Sgt. Pepper on are outstanding. Blondie is not some second rate group, they deserve better than this.

Please, EMI give us a REAL DVD of Blondie's videos!!!

This collection of blondie music videos would be fitting, if wasn't such a lackluster job at creating it.in what attemps to be ripped from the best of blondie vhs of the 1980's seems to do it well, at this go-around, as it contains all the previous videos that were included, but slapping a greats hits on it and onclude a few bonus songs that were taken from the eat to the beat video and the hunter abulm. Pretty cheesy and a bad marketing ploy at that. While it is nice to have the best of blondie, it would have been better to include the complete collection of every music video the group made.while the complete pictute took advantage of this, and include Debbie harrys solo efforts, it managed to a more mere collection of videos worth it. While the best of blondie is good, I wished they would have re-mastered it,included some interviews with the band,and edited out the cab driver driving around, which attends to get annoying, and plot wise, has little to do,leading up to show videos,and driving around.
This is a mere dissapointment,because the dvd format offers much more, and it doesn't. for emi to pull this on a hardcore fan, and it is just a repackaged product, why not just labeled as it was" the best of blondie".
While the marketing for this product was terrible. It is nice to have it on dvd,while it could have some more improvements. Maybe someday they will release a more comprehensive collection to rival this. But since this is the official product of the groups work, it is satisfying.

This DVD contains 16 video tracks from Blondie. Most of them are "studio" tracks. The first ones doesn't give a good picture. "X Offender" and "In the Flesh" are like all the videos in 70's. They are in the studio and play. So are the rest of the material. Finally there's some songs "Heart of Glass" which is played in the disco, "Union City Blue" which is played on the dock. "Dreamning" is played live. The bonus tracks are probably better than the real material. "Island of the Lost Soul" isn't their greatest song but the video is the best they have done. There's Blondie in the island when the lost souls play instruments. "The Hardest Part" is also a good track although played in a studio. Deborah has dark hair and very cool black clothes too. "Maria" is a great video, modern.

Standout tracks: Island of Lost Souls, (I'm Always touched by Your) Presence, Dear, Hanging on the Telephone

The Trial of BJ is possibly the most pretentious, preachy and embarrassingly icky film I've ever endured. I admit I kind of liked Billy Jack (the movie), but this unfathomably long egomaniacle kick to the teeth is not worth wasting the media on which it is saved.

This is a review of the VHS version.

I recently acquired this DVD and watched the film for the first time since its release in 1974. As I watched it, I couldn't help imagining what Tom Servo and Crow might have to say if "Mystery Science Theater 3000" skewered it. Obviously, the film has numerous flaws, not the least of which is its interminable length; cutting it down to two hours might not have made it a good movie, but it would have made it much easier to sit through. As the voice-over commentary by Tom Laughlin and Delores Taylor makes clear, they had a fixation with 1960s and 1970s campus riots, especially those resulting in student deaths, which fixation caused them to conclude, Oliver-Stonishly, that every single one of these incidents was a political-campaign ploy calculated to demonstrate law and order to the electorate. Needless to say, this perspective makes the film painfully didactic and even manipulative. Finally, The Trial of Billy Jack is much more implausible than the original Billy Jack movie, which creates major problems when it comes to the willing suspension of disbelief.

I will say this, however--the film has some great aerial shots of Monument Valley and Canyon de Chelly.

I thought A lot of the movie Billy Jack. But I do not think they should Remake it Because no actor no matter how good they are could replace Tom Laughlin it just would no be the same.

If you're a Bob Hope fan, this movie rates at least 4 stars. Bob Hope was on the top of his game in the 1940's, and this is one of his best. Unfortunately, the movie is practically unwatchable due to one of the worst transfers to disc that you will ever find. The sound and picture quality are bad beyond my ability to describe. Maybe someday they'll get this one right, but stay away from this edition.

Wish I had read the other reviews before purchasing this wretched "dvd". Beyond pathetic. It's like watching something found in an abandoned theater's basement. It actually hurts to watch this great movie being butchered by this production company.

Just saw it on Turner Classic Movies --- tape it in SP mode and make it a part of your permanent collection. STAY AWAY FROM THIS DVD!

A photographer turned private eye by accident and becoming involved in a very important plot to eliminate a couple of people in order to appropriate a uranium mine. Every single detail is hilarious, upside down, wrong. This poor photographer does everything the wrong way and misses all the details or fails all the possibilities, and yet he succeeds because of his great luck. Nothing much more can be said without reducing the fun of the film. So go and rush to it. Its worth a good laugh.

Dr Jacques COULARDEAU

Look im one of the biggest zombie nuts out there
and have every title one i came across
Premutos - Lord of the Living Dead seen as how Olaf Ittenbach
directed the famous Burning moon one of the gore greats
i thought another zombie movie to add to my collection so
i bought it when i recived it the cover art already gave
me the imprision that it was not going to be good. It starts out
with guys breaking into a crypt finding mulated corpses ect
finally tracking the guy down killing him then we skip like 200 years later to one of the most ass backwords familys i have ever seen how son has a hissy fit for 20 mins cause he cant find his soccer gear and it just gets worst the zombies are pretty shabbly and the fx suck the dubbing is terribal and there is no story!!!! None i love cheese but this is far from it it takes its self 100% serious and for the others on here that say
this is more gorey and just as gory as Dead Alive give me a break this dosent come close hell even Hell of the living dead
and burial ground were much better then this and more bloody
if you want good zombie films check out Dawn of the dead,day of the dead,night of the living dead,return of the living dead,Zombie, city of the living dead ,the beyond ,house by the
cemetery,let sleeping corpses lie,mutant, And Demon's 1 and 2 and the story of ricky i just wish they would relase Burning
moon on dvd now thats a classic

This movie is not as gory as some people describe it. I mean the violence is there, but the budget is just way too low. Most of the gore is obviously fake and people are almost always getting in the way of the camera when someone is being killed. There is also some poor production quality and atrociuos editing and lighting, especially towards the end when everyone is in the basement fighting off the "zombies". They could have easily used neon yellow fluid for the blood and i dont think anyone could have noticed. This would have been much better had the makers had a higher budget (most of the actors also worked behind the scenes, and i doubt anyone was paid for this project). Still this movie isnt a total loss. There is alot of black humor and downright rediculous scenes to make it enjoyable. all in all, this is a fun movie, but if its hardcore gore your looking for, check out Ittenbach's earlyer film "The Burning Moon", which in my opinion, has much more realistic bloodshed than this.

This low budget German zombie flick is most often compared to "the goriest movie ever" 'Braindead' and rightfully so (please note that even the alledged "unrated version" of this film titled Dead/Alive is cut by approx 8 minutes! and I am comparing Premutos to the full version 'Braindead') Essentially both movies are surprisingly similar in that they are both comedies and both have climaxes that last around 15-20 mins of non-stop gore featuring zombies running amuck at a party. However Premutos feels in a sense alot closer to 'Bad Taste' in that its low budget seems often show, especially during the historical flashbacks and like 'Bad Taste' the whole production feels as though it was put together by a group of friends with more enthusiasm than cash.

To cut to the case, no 'Premutos' is not gorier than 'Braindead' in my opinion. It easily has a higher bodycount and plenty of great gorey moments, but the limited budget makes it impossible for every gore scene to be as over the top as the ones in 'Braindead'. While not out doing 'Braindead' I will concede that 'Premutos' probually equals it in a way or at least comes closer to topping 'Braindead' than any other film, including 'Bad Taste' and 'Ricki Oh'.

As much as I loved 'Premutos' there are some drawbacks that keep it from ever being as good as 'Braindead', some with the film but most with the DVD presentation. Like I said the film itself is a low budget affair and you can tell, this makes no difference to me but I know there are people out there that hate anything with this indie feel. While some very cheese war and Jesus flashbacks might not bother me, I didn't care much for some of the tedious and boring scenes in the middle of the film. Now I have a great attention span, '2001' is one of my favourite films and I love all those plodding Jess Franco flicks but the scenes with meaningless dialogue between the characters at the mid point of the film really broke my patience. Of course this could be due to the attrocious dubbing. A major flaw hindering the film is the dubbing on the DVD which makes any dialogue painful to sit through. I have great affection for kung fu flicks and hearing the bad dubbing may add to the flavour of these movies, but the dubbing used on this disc out does any terrible 70s dubbing at times completely out of sync with the visuals, in the climax there are plenty of moments where characters mouths are moving yet the is not dialogue and the voice acting is ghastly. The disc gives you the option of hearing the original German soundtrack which is great but I don't speak German and there is no subtitles? Audio in general is bad quality overall too.

Overall this is a great flick and should be in any gorehounds collection, the disc like I said suffers from terrible audio but has some advantages such as being fully uncut and also there a good little making of doco included.

... It's not only bad. It's annoyingly bad. Some bad movies make you laugh. This makes you want to throw your tv out the window. It's full of every hip hop cliche you can think of. And I like hip hop. It's just a gangsta video fantasy made into a feature film. A lot of rap artists are in it (ones I like too, like B-Real and MC Eiht). But it makes no attempt to be more than a genre film, and a bad one at that. You want to watch a good urban gangster style movie? Check out Fresh or Ghost Dog, or even Menace to Society. Those are artistic movies. Anyway, I'm just [upset] this one keeps popping up on my searches because I want the surf movie 'Thicker than Water', not this ...

This is NOT the same as Jack Johnson's epic surf movie.. Thicker than water. This is some hip-hop nonsense. Do not buy if you are looking for the surf movie.

this movie is not bad at all it is good funny and dramatic i think its better than menace to socioty its not that voilent it focoses more on the story which i like although they could of swaped mack 10's role for ice cube's because ice cube is only in it for 10 minutes

This DVD is nothing like the Story of O that I read and it makes no sense anyway. They throw a lot of scenes at you without expalining anything. The only reason I understood parts was because I had read the book. This DVD gives no insight, isn't even erotic, and would be plain confusing to anyone who didn't understand what the plot is suppose to be about. If you haven't read the book, your money is better spent on the book. Don't bother with this poorly filmed DVD, that once your done is really only fit as a coaster. 1 star was the lowest rating I could give, the true rating of this DVD is a -3 Stars.

Most of us, myself included, have no frame of reference for legitimate sexual servitude. One of the true minority expressions of attraction, affection, and admiration, voluntary surrender of this degree is an almost ineffable experience. Like Anne Rice's Beauty series, The Story of O gives some insight into this world. In the age of feminism, the idea of such surrender is anathema, but following the story to the end we see that O is as much the master as is Stephen. In her perfect obedience, she enslaves the man who knows he will never find such perfect submission and is enchanted.

The film is beautiful,as are the people. Taken as eye candy, it is worth the price, but is further and more complex.

Recommended

For sleaze fans there are a few minutes worth of excellent stuff here if you do the work of editing out the cutaways into cohesive scenes, but that shouldn't be a problem for porn fans, who are always on the cutting edge.

We got four, count 'em, four girl-girl whipping scenes, two very brief and all reaction shots, but still effective. We got a wake her up, chain her up whipping scene, we got a branding (just reaction shots) and some other assorted nudity. Two full and two half stars for the girl-girl scenes and another for the other nastiness, along with a certain amount of credibility for mainstream film reality. I mean, it really looks like they're being whipped. Not like most euro sleaze where it's in slow motion or where the whip is a strip of a soft flannel blanket soaked in a little red food coloring to leave a mark, the ridiculous Jess Franco method.

I love the music from this era of the band but I dont love this video. problems i have with this release:

1. widescreen format: The DVD cuts the heads of dio in Die Young and neon knights!
2. no restoration of film. its very grainy and fuzzy throughout the film
3. Very short clips of Trashed and Zero the hero. Where is the rest of the footage?
4. Too much interuption of the vocal biography track. (which is ironic considering this "biography" is completely lacking in details. where is the care and thoughtfulness in this release?)
5. actual biography is only 45 min. True there is another 30 minutes of interviews elsewhere on the disc but it completely confuses the chronology of the band, because it rehashes what we already heard on the biography.
6. no transitions at all between segments except for a video still of the album cover.
7. most importantly: who is the narrator of this biography? it should be toni iommi but he is absent through much of the discussion. I seriously cannot follow the development of the story because there is no story other than this band is a buisness arangement.
8. finally no videos were created for dehumanizer. All we are given is some studio session video with no clear presentation of what we are seeing there either. Frankly it seems that the whole video is a promotion for this tour. And the tour did not even last a year before dio left! What a tragic mistake this video is. Please do not purchase this video.

The only great thing about this DVD is that Ronnie James Dio is on it rocking out with sabbath. It shows the very awesome Ronnie James Dio with Black Sabbath performing at some gigs and they do very well at it and the fans don't even miss Ozzy. The fans are too caught up in the perfection of Black Sabbath with Dio singing. The flaws are that they did not spend time reviewing the mob rules cd which went Gold and placed in the billboard top 40. In other words Mob Rules was the last popular and classic Black Sabbath cd. The flaws are they did not cover enough of the Ian Gillan era which was only for one year but it was good nonetheless. The rest of the dvd consists of Tony Martin and Glenn Hughs where all of us witnessed Black Sabbath fall from stardom and into unpopular cheese rock. Then they covered the short reunion with the very busy Ronnie James Dio or Dio. The tour and album was called dehumanizer (being the heaviest sabbath album and tour ever). Black Sabbath immediatly became popular again (playing in packed arenas) with Dio until he left and continued onward with his own very awesome band called DIO.
Pretty good DVD but way too short with way too much talking!

This is a great compilation of videos, interviews and assorted info regarding what is arguably Black Sabbath's best era. It could have been better; full- length song inclusions for one thing. But no interview with the band's greatest frontman Tony Martin is bewildering to say the least. And while it seems far too much rope is given to the comparatively weak '92 reunion with Dio, this originally came out at that time. So while this dvd is far from perfect, it's the best there is to highlight this magnificent era in Sabbath's history. Hopefully a third volume will appear, if only to sum up the final three years in the true Black Sabbath story, '93-'96 (before that horrendous reunion with Ozzy).

For starters, I love independant horror films and like the work of Trent Haaga (who wrote this and made a small appearance) but there is no way in any hell asylum that I can endorse this film.

I picked up my copy as soon as it came out, mainly because I love Dead & Rotting which is a great film and the limited special edition has so many featurs that it puts to shame most major studio DVD releases. Also Hell Asylum was pushed as being "the most gory Full Moon production". Sadly I found that the film's gore entirely consisted of hooded figures eating thin entrails, that couldnot possible be confused with anything in the human anatomy, which had merely been placed on top of the actors.

The story, which could have worked under different cirumstances, is no lesser than the average horror flick and the acting isn't that bad at all ( Tanya Dempsy is cool ) but still the clumsy and extremly poorly done gore and the directors failure to capture even a split second of tension or surprise renders this production totally unwatchable.

Full Moon productions seem to have only two types of flicks: great horror films that exceed their low budget with their brillaince Dead & Rotting for example and films so baddly directed and technically clumsy that they waste the time of the viewer as well as that of all involved. Witchhouse 3 for example had Debbie Rochon, Tina Crause and Tanya Dempsy all in starring roles and got some hype and 'generous' reviews but isn't worth a single watch, it's just that amazingly flawed.

Well, this was one of the worst movies I've ever seen. I enjoy renting movies that are made by Full Moon or Trimark because they're so stupid they're funny. The people that make these aweful movies actually think that they are making a horror movie, but it turns out to be a comedy. Hell Asylum or however you spell it seemed like it was going to be a stupid horror film when I started it. Mostly because of the short running time and the wide variety of cast members that would have never went on a reality TV show in the first place. C'mon! Why would a ditz that said she was afraid of everything go on a reality television show about getting scared? It's pretty sad. I'm trying to remember other bad stuff in the movie, it's just that I haven't watched it in one or two months. Well then there's the lady that is an incredibly bad actress that talks about how famous she's going to be. Then of course she has sex with the production guy just so they can show it on the trailer and get people to want to see the movie. Well....... if you want to get a laugh from a dumb horror movie, don't rent this one. Try renting House on Hunted Hill from the 60's or something.

I Love all of Danny Draven's work. He is a genius!

I am referring to the Laser Light dvd edition of this film, which promises the best digital transfer of the film. That is great, but they used the worst print anyone could concieve to transfer! I taped this off of television awhile back and decided to buy a dvd version and this is 100 times worse than the version I taped myself on the slowest speed off of late night tv! In reading other reviews it appears that there is a much better VHS version and I would recommend that over this. Do not be fooled like I was with the fine condition of Welles' "The Trial" by Laser Light or the pipe smoking picture packaging of this. This version of Arkardin is a total waste of money.

This film represents sort of an artistic low point for Welles. Presumably exhausted by his four-year ordeal of producing "Othello" and far removed from his Hollywood glory years, he attempted a comeback with this hodgepodge re-working of the "Citizen Kane" theme. The rich and mysterious Mr. Arkadin hires an investigator to research his past, presumably to keep his secrets away from his enemies. However, everyone interviewed by the private eye mysteriously dies! (This idea was realized more effectively in 1987's "Angel Heart"). Although this film showcases' Welles unique style far better than, say, "The Stranger," its utter lack of production values make the experience somewhat grueling. Welles shoots with a manic energy, but fails to reach the giddy heights of "The Lady from Shanghai" or the visual eloquence of "Othello." Fortunately, Welles gets some entertaining performances from his supporting cast, particularly Michael Redgrave as an effeminate shopkeeper and the ubiquitous Akim Tamiroff ("Touch of Evil's" Uncle Joe Grandi) as the kooky Jacob Zouk.

The Laserlight DVD transfer doesn't help matters. As noted, it's taken from a grainy, choppy, poorly synced public domain print. However, you do get an unintentionally funny Tony Curtis intro, as well as the chance to own a rarely seen Welles film for a budget price.

Having now seen all the commercially available versions of Mr. Arkadin/Confidential Report, I have to say that the VHS version from Janus Films/Home Vision Cinema, isbn 0-7800-2063-4, is the only one in which the story makes any real sense. This is the original English language release version, released in Europe in 1955 (a Spanish language version, with some different actors, was released first, in Spain). It is longer than the other versions with many of the holes in continuity filled in with missing footage and dialogue. The image ond sound quality is far above other available versions--beautiful.

This is the one you need to buy. Janus Films releases many films on DVD with Criterion, and I have no idea why they haven't done so with this facsinating film as well.

But, don't buy this expecting to see the "director's cut." Welles never created a final cut. The film was taken from him by his European backers, who had it cut their own way. Reportedly, Welle's version was more like Citizen Kane, with a series of out-of-order flashbacks told through the point of views of different characters. This version is more linear. Peter Bogdonavich wrote that he had seen a copy of the film in the US that restored the flashback format, but that version, if it survived, has not seen a video release.

To confuse the question of "what was Welle's original vision for Arkadin" even more, there was also a novel based on Welle's screenplay that came out before the film was completed and a radio play with the same plot years earlier.

In any case, for now, this VHS from Janus is the best way to go (and, unfortuntely, the most expensive).

This flick shows up in the wee small hours on local PBS stations struggling with a cash-strapped budget. Doc Holliday (Walter Huston) is a friend of Sheriff Pat Garrett (Thomas Mitchell). When Billy the Kid (Jack Beutel) rides into town, Doc spends time schmoozing with the Kid, and Garrett gets upset. Jane Russell's 44s show up with Jane right behind them. Doc and Billy vie for her love, when they are not arguing over a strawberry roan horse. I kept waiting for a plot to materialize. In fact, I was still waiting when the movie ended. This film tells us of the vision of Howard Hughes. What it tells us is uncertain; other than Hughes wanted to feature the natural assets of a young Jane Russell. He succeeded, points taken. Speaking of the white hills of Arizona, there is a weak attempt to tell a gunfighter vs. gunfighter story. There is even some Western-type action. At one point, Indians on the warpath suddenly appear and then proceed to get lost in a cloud of dust. Only in Hollywood. Howard Hawks assisted with the director task, but he just told the camera guy to focus on Jane's cleavage and left the set. Wearing a low-cut top, she leans over the neck of a galloping horse, and the camera angle is full frontal. This is not Shakespeare. The movie had a notorious reputation in its day. Obviously, standards have changed. This is only slightly adult material. For some viewers, this is fun. Be careful of the "so bad, it's good" label. Sometimes, we overuse it. There is no accounting for taste. ;-)

This is a truly strange, hilarious film. Everyone should see it once. I finally got round to watching this extremely fuzzy, shaky dvd. It was dead cheap. What is the story about? Well, the way I see it, Doc Holliday and Pat Garrett are both in love with Billy the Kid. Finally Pat shoots Doc, then Billy chains Pat to a pillar and rides off with Jane Russell close behind him. The dialogue is weird: it's delivered at one monotonous, unchanging pace throughout --- slow. Nevertheless, I couldn't help laughing out loud several times. The plotting is fantastic: nothing is remotely credible from beginning to end. Jane Russell has two expressions, and I don't really mean the right one and the left one. It is extremely enjoyable to witness the film's absolutely total political incorrectness from start to finish. For instance, Doc and Billy smoke all the time. The women sure know their place, and as for the Indians --- well, they just get lost. For a real intellectual puzzle, try to figure out the submerged psychology which is clearly down there somewhere. Maybe I'll watch it again in 3 or 4 years time.

What can I say about "The Outlaw"? It's really, really silly and I really, really like it. The acting is bad, the music is worse, and the camera angles are downright hilarious. I'm not sure how much of the dialogue was intended to be funny, but I'm sure a lot of the bigger laughs were unintentional. Nevertheless, it's a goofy, friendly little movie that moves along at a brisk pace and is nothing if not entertaining.

The plot? Well, you see, Pat Garrett and Doc Holliday used to be best friends, that is until Billy the Kid rode into town, and now Doc spends all his time hanging out with Billy which makes Pat pretty darn jealous. There's also Rio (played by the scantily clad Jane Russell) who used to be Doc's girl before Billy stole her, although neither Doc nor Billy care much about that. They do argue a lot about who owns Doc's horse, but otherwise they're pretty tight, riding around together, humilating Pat, and just generally having a good time. All good things must come to an end, however, and after a couple of shootouts and almost shootouts our hero(?) rides off into the sunset, proud possesor of both the horse and the girl.

"The Outlaw" isn't a classic by anybody's standards (unless you count the classically silly "Gun Switching" scene), but it is fun in a weird kind of way. Gazillionare Howard Hughes tried for years to have it released while he battled the censors (unlike some other reviewers, I do think the film is pretty racy for its time) and there's still about five minutes missing. You can sometimes tell where footage was cut, such as a scene where Doc goes to hug Billy (really) and after a jump they're suddenly talking about something else. Uh huh.

Anyway, check this out if you're a fan of Jane Russell or over the top cheese. If you do see it, watch for my favorite part: Billy strings up Rio and leaves her for dead, has second thoughts, and comes back to find the sheriff waiting for him. "Why didn't you tip me off?" he irritably asks the still strung-up Rio. Great stuff.
GRADE: B+