Wholesale and Distribution Movie Reviews

okay...this dvd wasn't great, but it did have 2 hot babes that worth the price of the dvd...nothing really hot happens besides the standard girl stripping...if you want a better dvd grab playboy's girls next door with the dark haired babe from the miller lite cat fight commerical...or america's wildest bachelor parties...or all time favorite the best of pamela anderson by playboy.

Another entry into the Johto Champions collection comes Johto League Champions: Volume 3. Seven episodes are featured on this disc as follows:
#415 - Mountain Time: After Pikachu is swiped by Team Rocket, Ash teams up with a young mountain ranger in training and his Ledian to save him.
#416 - Wobbu-Palooza!: A peaceful village is having their annual Wobbuffet celebration, but thugs from another town are determined to ruin the event! To everyone's surprise, even Team Rocket offers to help out!

#417 - Imitation Confrontation: Ash and friends run into Duplica again, who has caught another Ditto, which stays it's size even when copying a huge Pokemon!
#418 - The Trouble with Snubbull: The kids find Madam Muchmoney searching for her beloved Snubbull, who was last seen chewing on Meowth's tail.
#419 - Ariados, Amigos: Ash happens upon an ninja training ground, where he find Koga's sister Aya training with her Ariados.
#420 - Wings 'N' Things: A wreckless Yanma is causing trouble for a town
#421 - The Grass Route: Ash enters Bulbasaur into a Grass Pokemon tournament.
Of all these episodes, only Wobbu-Palooza! and Imitation Confrontation stand out; the others are merely filler episodes following the 'trainer of the day' formula. Also, since Pioneer is no longer handling the DVD production, the video quality has taken a hit. There is some noticeable grain and it only looks marginally better than VHS. The only improvement over previous volumes of the Johto Champions series is that the menus are easier to navigate. Only hard core Pokemon fans need apply for this volume.

Jon Hall stars as Dr. Tom Reynolds, or "Ramar" in this jungle adventure series set in Africa and, later, India. The series ran 52 episodes over a two year period from 1952 to 1954 and was broadcast well into the 1960s in syndication. The stock scenes of wildlife were good, but didn't always mesh well with scenes set in obvious studio "jungles." Besides Hall, also in the weekly cast were Ray Montgomery as Professor Howard Ogden and Nick Stewart as their native guide, Willy-Willy. Look for Woody (billed as "Woodrow") Strode in two of the four episodes on this DVD.

Alpha Video's DVD presentation is reasonably good, considering the age of the broadcasts; video contrast is, for the most part, good and the audio is clear throughout all four episodes. The show isn't great, but it's enjoyable enough on its own terms and will certainly bring back lots of memories for Baby Boomers and those who enjoy television from the early days. Alpha has also released a second volume on DVD with an additional four episodes. Episode titles on this first volume include "Dark Venture," "Voice of the Past," "King of the Watus," and "Lady of the Leopards."

My rating is closer to *** & 1/2.

The Three Mesquiteers (get it?) were one of the Saturday matinee staples of the 30's, starring in more than 20 low-budget oaters never much more than 60 minutes in length. They did battle with all variety of sidewinders and banditos and claimjumpers and murderers. Crash Corrigan is perhaps the best known name to modern fans, but all three were likable types, handy with a horse and a gun.

The Mesquiteers had no time for women, and were too busy working on their ranch to drink much or smoke or swear at all. And thankfully, there are no songs here to kill the momentum. But kill people, they did, with impunity. So many villains get thrown off cliffs or shot (bloodlessly, natch) in these movies, that the body count is akin to a small war. This aspect alone keeps Riders of the Whistling Skull from being cartoon-ish in the manner of Scooby Doo, one of its closest modern ilk. Yet there is a guileless innocence to the proceedings here that renders the mayhem all in fun: the good guys are good, the bad guys are bad and deserve to die before they kill more people. (This overlooks a few un-enlightened subtexts, but roll with it, okay?)

The plot, as I hinted before, is like something from Scooby Doo, with a few more red herrings than that show typically adds. It involves the archaeological search for a mountain shaped like a skull, a map torn in pieces, and murders which may or may not be related to a legendary curse connected to the Whistling Skull. The group sets out and the murders continue. There are chases and shootouts and captures and rescues. It must've laid 'em flat in 1937.

The "mystery" is solved (or rather, revealed) well before the end. But there's enough action that it really doesn't matter. The rescue of the scientist's daughter from a sacrificial ceremony in a cramped grotto offers good atmosphere. Bad staging in early scenes gets markedly better later, and some shots even manage to be beautiful, especially some forced perspectives of isolated craggy peaks against wispy clouds. They do look spooky, especially in black-and-white. The print of the movie and the sound get better, too; the recurring wind howling onscreen manages to heighten the tension as was its intent. Fine Republic miniature work (a good rock slide), a couple of nice stunts (a man hangs from a fraying rope over certain death- mandatory from Republic), and one decent "effect" (the skull-like cave itself) add to the fun. There's even a "mummy," although not in the Universal sense of the term. The manner in which our heroes defeat the evil cult behind it all is not altogether satisfying, but it's likely the production was coming to the end of its three-day shooting schedule. :-)

While a notch below the polish of Roy Rogers' King of the Cowboys, a highwater mark of juvenile westerns, Riders of the Whistling Skull still possesses a lot of old-skool charm. If you like the Lone Ranger or old cliffhanger serials, give this a try.

Roxy Music is one of the greatest bands in history. However, the exact same live footage, plus additional songs, can be found on another DVD called Best of Musikladen: T-Rex/Roxy Music. Luckily I was able to rent this title before purchase. Otherwise, I would have been upset as the description does not give you enough information to figure this out.

Sabotage in my personal opinion is good flick, and i would definately rate it as one of Hitchcock's early bests, yet it doesn't quite pack the punch of the man Who Knew Too Much which was made 2 years prior to this film.

Tha basic plot line, to avoid spoilers and revealing the mystery is a terrorist gang plan to place a bomb in a public place and an undercover agent takes up employment close to where the bomb is to be planted to thwart the gang.

Suspensful? Yes, Pleasing to watch? Yes, Good character development? Yes after all this is Hitchcock.

Sadly a bare-bones DVD disc, with no extras, but this film is worth the money nevertheless, so throw away your VHS copy, and immortalize Sabotage on DVD for your collection!

This movie is almost an exact remake of "World Of The Vampires" except that the vampire isn't as cool and he doesn't play an organ made of human skulls and bones. Count Dracula wants revenge on the family that did him in 400 years ago. He gets his faithful werewolf servant, Rufus Rex, and a demented creep called Eric to help him. It all culminates in a duke-out in Dracula's cave with Santo and Blue Demon taking on a small army of werewolves and vampires with ill-fitting fangs. During the course of the movie Santo wrestles "The White Angel", Blue Demon wrestles "Renato, The Hippie" and at the end there is a tag team match with both Santo and BD fighting Reanato and Angel. The announcer would like to have you think it's happening in an arena but it's obviously a studio with no audience. That's about it, and it doesn't sound too bad except that it is. It has been written that this is one of the better Santo flicks so it is with a sense of dread that I look forward to checking out the other four I bought. Look guys, there is a reason why these movies are either lost, forgotten, or both. The truth is that they are not very good. The action is not all that exciting, there is no T&A, it's not even campy, creepy or funny. It's the kind of thing you'd watch if your life is "on hold" for 90 odd minutes and there is really nothing else better to do. It's a so-so color print with easily-read subtitles. Comes with an informative little insert and a photo gallery + some trailers. I really wanted this to be better but (sigh!) it's not much fun. At least none of the cast members are as annoying (not even the kid) as they are in latter-day movies. No sassy women and no smart*ss brats, and that can't be a bad thing!

Imax Documentaries as compared to say BBC or Discovery Channel documentaries are low on substance and big on camera footage. In the case of "Seasons", there are no breathtaking footages or even interesting shots of anything. Not to say that this documentary doesn't cover anything, but for $..., I expected more than what a sixth grader already knows.

I have recently received a copy on DVD of this film and for the first few minutes I was not impressed by the films quality, however as time wears on you do not notice it too much. Overall for the price you can't expect too much, but the film is worth buying and watching. Hopefully more titles will be released.
From what I have in my collection so far, this budget series are unlike more expensive labels, uncut versions
and you do a decent DVD cover.

Over the years I've always read what a bad film this was, so I was pleasantly surprised when I bought this DVD and found the film to be quite good. I think Christopher Lee is a perfect Sherlock Holmes! Granted, it is a disappointment that he was POORLY dubbed in the American version, but this is something I can overlook because the film is a compelling mystery. Besides, Lee is often dubbed in these European films he made in the 60's, like Mario Bava's "THE WHIP AND THE BODY" and "HERCULES IN THE HAUNTED WORLD"; the lame Italian comedy "UNCLE WAS A VAMPIRE"; "THE TORTURE CHAMBER OF DR. SADISM", etc. So, if you can get past that, you'll find an intriguing and well-paced thriller well worth a look for fans of Lee and/or Holmes. The picture is ok, the print is a bit scratched here and there, and is presented full-frame (my big complaint). I'd rather have a widescreen picture myself. Lee is so tall, often the top of his head is cut-off here. Still, I enjoyed it and do recommend it quite highly.