Wholesale and Distribution Movie Reviews

If you own Daz's new cd (DPGC You Know What I'm Throwin Up), you might as well not spend the $15.00 on this dvd. Most of the material on this dvd comes with his new cd. The actual movie is only like 5 minutes long, a lot shorter than Murder Was the Case, and it is not really professionally shot either. I have been a Daz fan for 10 years and have been waiting for this to come out for a long time, but there is just not enough unique material on it to warrant buying it. I will say that the Suge Knight lookalike is quite funny though, and i am glad that Daz finally got that $25 mil settlement from Suge and Death Row. Folks are about to see alot more of Daz as he is now working with JD on an album set to drop in the near future and will also be on the heavily touted DPG-Unit album with the DPG and 50's crew. Stay up Daz and don't let the hater's hold you down!!!

The fifth entry in the showa (1960s - 1980s gamera films) Gamera series, Gamera vs. Viras (Destroy all Planets as it was released in the US) is a most enjoyable, although juvenille film.

In the movie, two prank-loving boy scouts are kidnapped by aliens looking to take over the world. Gamera attempts a rescue, only to be put under the Virian's (the aliens) control and forced to attack Japan. The two boys find a way to put an end to the Virian's mind control and escape. The Virans, in a last-ditch effort, fuse together into a gigantic, silver squid monster. Can Gamera defeat Viras and save the earth? (well, i can't give away the ending, now can I?)

The quality of the print used is subpar, presenting a slightly faded picture and several scratches. However, the film is still completely enjoyable in this form and could be a lot worse . . . trust me. The audio is generally clear and crisp, showing little problems.

The DVD itself has little to show. The menus are still images, with no music. There is however a picture gallery and a chapter index.

As a hardcore kaiju (japanese monster movies) fan, I strongly recommend this DVD, even though its not in the best possible quality.

The Dick Tracy movies from RKO offer a lot to keep them fresh even many years later. Without ever seeming spoofy, they inject a lot of Gould's cartoony sensibilities into what are basically hard-boiled thrillers.

Dick Tracy Vs. Cueball offers fewer of these virtues than others. I enjoy all of these pictures, but will use this space to say why you may enjoy others better.

Among DTvC's debits are the fact that Cueball is dull: he's simply a big bald thug, strong but not particularly smart. In addition, Vitamin Flintheart plays a role in this film; the actor portraying him is excellent, but the character is annoying and (despite his prominent role in the comic strips) out of place here, even though he is given a task to perform in the plot.

The movie's worst crime is that Tracy's sidekick Pat is made to be too [clumsy]- three times Cueball escapes due solely to his incompetence.

This is well-acted for a B-programmer, by a colorful cast, some of whom are given far too little to do. It is also less of a mystery than others; even when we know who is doing the killing in other Tracy movies, we don't know why. Here we know everything, and the story just sort of plays out without any real momentum being built until there is only 10 minutes left. There is a good chase climax which culminates ultimately in a weak, cop-out ending. There are also few of the noirish expressionistic shots that made the others so watchable. Like I said, it's all fine, but there are other episodes that are better than merely fine.

I like fan-favorite Ralph Byrd in the Tracy role as well, but Morgan Conway always seemed more the Tracy type to me, and he acquits himself well in this, one of his two attempts. Anne Jeffries is also very appealing as Tess. But then you consider that other episodes also included Boris Karloff, Anne Gwynne and Jane Greer, then you start to wish for more here.

I can't recommend buying this one individually when there are cheap collections of two or more Dick Tracy movies out there, but it IS inexpensive. And the quality of the dvd is quite good. I have noticed a marked increase in quality from Alpha Video since they first started to sell dvds.

Bottom line: I recommend Dick Tracy, Detective and Dick Tracy Meets Gruesome over this one, for their more offbeat and chiaroscuro qualities.

Boris Karloff does his fifth film as Mr. Wong, the Chinese detective in this 1940 film directed by William Nigh. Shipping magnate Cyrus Wentworth (Melvin Lang) is mysteriously murdered after one of his ships is sunk with over $1 million in bonds. Captain Street (Grant Withers) arrests Dick Fleming (William Sterling), the son of the dead man's rival since he was the last person to see Wentworth alive. But reporter Bobby Logan (Marjorie Reynolds) believes Dick is innocent and brings Mr. Wong into the case. This is one of the lesser films in the series. The mystery is rather obvious and the only real fun in the film is Mr. Wong having to deal with Bobby, who keeps trying in vain to outwit the ace detective.

EIGHT MASTERS (1977) is part of the 18 BRONZEMEN series of kung fu films produced in Taiwan by Joseph Kuo. Not exactly a sequel to the previous films in the series (although it was long available only in a ... VHS edition under the title, 18 BRONZEMEN 3), it nonetheless features series regular Carter Wong as a student who undergoes years of training at Shaolin Temple, beginning as a child, and graduates by fighting the 18 Bronzemen in a series of contests. After the first half-hour, the story takes a different turn as Chu Shiao Chieh (Carter) reunites with his now-blind mother and meets Ming Chu (Lung Chun Erh), the girl who's been taking care of her and whom Mom now wants Carter to marry. Unfortunately, the Eight Masters of the title won't let things rest and persist in harassing Carter, demanding a match with him in order to allow them to avenge the death of one of their number at the hands of Carter's father (in a fight seen under the film's opening credits).

Carter tries to avoid fighting so as to live up to his Shaolin master's admonitions: "Keep the peace; have patience; forgive offense." Eventually it becomes too much for him and he takes on all eight of the masters in a series of furious kung fu fights, all masterfully staged by Wong Fei Lung, who also appears in the role of the chief villain, Tu Lung. Female star Chia Ling has a small but important role as one of the eight and has one great fight scene with Carter. Miss Chia (aka Judy Lee) was one of the greatest of '70s kung fu divas and her appearance elevates the film by a few notches.

The lead actress, Lung Chun Erh (SHAOLIN INVINCIBLES, THE STOMP), co-stars as Ming Chu and gets plenty of opportunities to emote as she's torn between her growing love for Carter and loyalty to a mysterious "uncle" who keeps appearing at night to demand that she betray Carter. She has some highly emotional scenes, helped considerably by superb English voice dubbing (well above average for the entire cast).

Ultimately, however, the chief draw of this film remains the abundant kung fu, especially in the nonstop series of final battles. This DVD was made from a high-quality print and superb transfer, suffering only from the lack of letter-boxing, which kung fu films like this so sorely need in order to show off all the fight action. In addition there's an evocative and dramatic original Chinese music score.

This DVD was something of a disappointment. Apart from an IDENTICAL opening and closing musical tribute to Negrete, and a short look at his funeral procession, this DVD was little more than rather grainy clips from Negrete's many movies.

I had hoped to see footage of Negrete away from the movies - clips of him in the studio or at home. I had hoped that some of the actors/actresses who worked with him would be interviewed. I had hoped to see Negrete himself being interviewed about his life or work. But none of these hopes were met.

Not a bad DVD, but it could have been so much better.

If you enjoy watching Pete climb then you will enjoy this video, watching him manuever effortlessly through the ice falls is incredible. He makes it seem so easy. I have the 50 years on Everest DVD as well (Pete is also in this video). His approach to the mountain is very sincere and I praise him for this; he seems like a very humble person. My only fault with the video is all the North Face product placement. I think they make some great stuff but sometimes the big red square is distracting on the screen because the makers of the film stuck the logo on just about everything. I also wished the video could have been longer because there is just so much to say about this place and the Sherpa people

Slight disappointment because this is a single-track DVD, meaning no DVD menu or special features. There are also no chapters and you don't even get a time counter while the movie is playing!

Technicalities aside, this is not a bad movie. (It's not amazingly good either.) This is Kari the action girl, and it's entertaining enough although the plot is simple. Leo Rossi and Jennifer Rubin(?) don't make great bad guys - more worrying than frightening. The movie is definitely low budget, but the effects aren't bad.

Buy it if you love Kari like I do.

Having seen the ultimate springbreak video, I can tell you that this is not the best of it. Nothing breaks the monotony of the topless flashing. There is almost no bottomless flashes. If you are going to buy one of the two volumes, buy the second one, is much better.

theis dvd is not bad. the starting sequence of the the film and the bird's eye view of the herd of caribou running was absolutley awesome. but the film feels abit slow and drags on abit about the life of the INuit. great but stick to landscape views. NOt as enthralling as I thought it would be but worth watching nonetheless.