Wholesale and Distribution Movie Reviews

THE MODERN ADVENTURES OF TOM SAWYER begins on an interesting premise, placing Mark Twain's Adventures of Tom Sawyer in modern suburban America. However, the film doesn't work really well. The budget of the picture was obviously low and much of the writing is rather corny. Tom Sawyer, Aunt Polly, and Becky Thatcher are the only major characters that remain true to Twain's original story. Huck Finn has been changed to a kid named Chuck who instead of being a "negative" influence upon Tom, is the one that Tom influences negatively. There are other instances of changing the story to make it politically correct and outside of the famous fence painting episode and a showdown between Tom and Joe at the end, there really isn't much left of Twain's original tale. Erik Estrada of "Chips" fame plays Joe, the phony developer who cons the town, and David L. Lander, who played Squiggy on "Laverne & Shirley", plays the Mayor. I didn't enjoy this film as much as I thought I would. However, overall the movie is a decent family flick that kids will enjoy, but doesn't contain much depth or substance.

This film is third of Boris Karloff's turns as the Chinese detective James Lee Wong. Princess Lin Hwa (Lotus Long) visits Mr. Wong for help and is killed by a poisoned arrow. This time Mr. Wong is joined not only by Captain Street (Grant Withers) but the policeman's fiance, reporter Bobby Logan (Marjorie Reynolds). When the trio check out the apartment of the princess they find her maid murdered and the only witness a mute dwarf (Angelo Rosita) who suddenly disappears. This is a below average mystery which gives Karloff very little to do besides maintain his unruffled demeanor. The last reel picks up a bit as Mr. Wong falls into the hands of the murderer and has to be rescued by his companions. Like the other films in this series, this 1939 film was directed by William Nigh and based on the stories of Hugh Wiley.

The film is worth watching for its portrait of a time long gone, but not interesting enough to watch twice. I expected a wittier film than I got, but enjoyed looking at the great costumes worn by Laraine Day. The problem is that the story is perfunctory and jerkily paced. Kirk Douglas is the weakest character. No way do you believe that Kirk Douglas has fallen in love with Loraine Day, or that the swift turnabouts in personality are credible. But Laraine glows and is fun to watch, and the supporting characters are interesting.

A YOUNG TEEN [D-SHOT] WHO SEEMS HEADED FOR COLLEGE, ALL OF A SUDDEN NEEDS MONEY TO KEEP HIM AND HIS FAMILY FROM GETTING THROWN OUT OF THEIR HOUSE. UNFORTUNATELY, HE GETS THE MONEY FROM AN OLD ENEMY [E-40] WHO HAPPENS TO BE A DRUG DEALER. SOON, HE BEGINS TO GET SUCKED IN TO THE HUSTLING LIFESTYLE. WELL, THIS IS QUITE OK FOR A MOVIE THAT RELIES ON A LOTTA RAPPERS FOR A CAST. THIS AIN'T TOO BAD, IT IS WATCHABLE. ONLY PROBLEM I HAVE WITH THIS FILM IS THAT IT RIPPED OFF THE OPENING CREDITS OF ''BOYZ N THE HOOD''. BUT OTHER THAN THAT, IT'S A SUPRISINGLY WATCHABLE FILM.

By the name of this video, you might hope to see the top pro-skaters battle it out at a skatepark comp. for the title and the cash. Needless to say "side-show bob wanker" Ellis hosts this unmotivated group of "nobody really has time for this" videos. The show kicks off with Danny Ways' insane trickory of pulling a 65' launch air into 18'3" vert air - sick. Things slide off after that. Mike V., Hawk, Rowley, Koston and Burnquist follow up with thier own dreamed up stunts. You are given a bio. on each boarder which slows the pace down a bit, but the music saves the action from flat-spotting. Burnquists' "top off the loop" front side air gives everybody the run for the moolah, in this "cool if it was for free handout like t-shirts and stickers" DVD.

Funny graphic editing made this a jumble of nothing.
Not a proper concert, not a proper documentary.

NOT recommended!

Not a bad DVD, strictly stripping, but there are some very gorgeous women in this DVD. The music and imagery were good; which help to make this a fairly erotic DVD.

This DVD is a live (patchwork) reproduction of Brian Wilson and his band performing the classic Pet Sounds album. Just the album tracks. It is not from his symphonic Pet Sounds tour. It does not contain any of the other songs from the shows it's been culled from (this DVD is about 1/2 a Brian Wilson concert). It does not contain the symphonic overture performed at many of the last Pet Sounds shows. This DVD would be great gift for any hard-core Brian Wilson fan, because they are probably not buying it for themselves due to the above shortcomings.

Fun Serial with Bela Lugosi at his evil best as Dr Zorka. Alpha has broken this 12 chapter serial into 2 separate DVD's for sale. This disk contains chapters 1-6. When I first starting watching this disk, I cringed during Chapter 1 as the quality was quite poor with lots of scrathes and some splicing. I thought, "Here we go again with a substandard Alpha release!" Then, to my surprise, chapters 2-5 were quite good. Still nothing like you would get from the Roan Group, but on par with Sinister Cinema or Retro Media. Chapter 6 falls in closer to the poor quality of chapter 1, however.

If you are a Lugosi fan and want a low cost version of this series, then take a chance on the Alpha release. If you are a Lugosi fan who wants to collect the best possible prints of his films, then skip this Alpha release. The disk contains no extras, but does have a chapter stops for each serial chapter.

Here are chapters 7-12 of the cheesy Bela Lugosi serial Phantom Creeps. Remember, the price of these Alpha titles should tell you something. The video quality here varies greatly from chapter to chapter. There are many scratches and the pictures jumps a little in places. This is a great serial and if you want a cheap copy, this Alpha version is okay. If you are a collector, however, wait for a better version.