Jerry Lawler vs the Monsters

See Jerry Lawler take on all The Monsters that were brought into Memphis to destroy him!!!

1. Footage of Jos LeDuc (which includes the Blood Oath and LeDuc tossing Lawler out of the Ring)
2. Jerry Lawler vs. Jerry Blackwell
3. Kamala Video
4. TV Debut of Kamala
5. Jerry Lawler vs. Kamala
6. The Road Warriors Promo
7. Jerry Lawler & Austin Idol vs. The Road Warriors
8. Jerry Lawler vs. Bruiser Brody
9. Jerry Lawler Interview about King Kong Bundy
10. Jerry Lawler vs. King Kong Bundy
11. Jerry Lawler vs. Bam Bam Bigelow

Extras

• Kamala Speaks
• Kamala vs. Bill Dundee
• Lance Russell Talks about Jos LeDuc

this is one of the DVDs from Highspots and it's loads of fun.  like the others, it's more or less chronological in nature, from say 1981 to sometime later.  the cool thing about this disc is the two Road Warrior matches.  well, it's the first one I Iike, as the second one is the most common match on tapes and DVDs.  the first one the Warriors were sans "Precious" Paul Ellering in that bout (they had very publicly fired him and beaten him up on TV).

listening to Kamala speaking is fun, as is Lance's memories of Jos LeDuc.  good stuff, order it here.

the Yesterday Machine (1963)

never heard of this movie before. it's low budget and a little slow movie (so much talking) but the characters are fun.  it starts out with Howie and Margie having car trouble and going to an old house to get some help.  something odd is happening...

there is a light on!

wait, wait, before you start thinking about a different movie, that's pretty much the end of the similarities. Howie gets shot by some Civil War soldiers and Margie disappears.

most of the rest of the movie is Sandra, Margie's sister, and a reporter looking for her.  what they find is an evil Nazi trying to use a time machine to bring back Hitler so they can win WWII. 

it's a pretty fun 80 minutes of low budget goodness.  the acting ranges from bad to passable, but I've seen worse in major movies.  too bad the picture quality isn't better, but it's nice to be able to see it at all.

Superman/Batman: Apocalypse (2010)

started watching this a while ago, but am revisiting it now.

and if nothing else, I like it because of Krypto's appearance.  lord I miss that dog.  the voice acting is most of our favorites from the JLA/U as well, which is also a real plus.

basically it's Kara Zor-El coming to Earth, and Darkseid trying to use her to kill Superman.  it's not bad, but it's not the best.  Darkseid's voice especially isn't that good. still, I am enjoying it a lot.

more Krypto!

The Brave and the Bold season 1 v.2

back to a fun Batman!  though it's more light hearted than some of the other Batman related media, there's still death and mature themes in this series.

we just aren't beat over the head with it constantly.

anyway, this is the last 13 episodes of season one, which means only 26 more for the entire series.  drat.  and where's the movie that usually accompanies a Batman series these days?

probably no extras on this one either.  it came out today, but I'll get it in the next day or two.

Radar Men from the Moon (1952)

possibly the first or second serial I ever tried to watch all the episodes of as a kid.  they were shown each Sunday night, which made it problematic back then, as it was a "school" night.

I didn't know Commando Cody was the second person to wear the rocket suit, either.  I just know the suit was cool and there was a ton of action in the chapters.  now it's fun to see Clayton Moore as a henchman for the villainous Krog.

this has fallen into the public domain, and there are several versions out on DVD. I recommend this one!

Batman Beyond: Return of the Joker

the final part of the Batman Beyond series, this movie is pretty good.

it's pretty easy to guess the main plot- the Joker returns.  the twists come in figuring out just HOW the Joker is back and so young and spry.

though anyone with any comics or sci-fi history will easily figure it out once all the pieces are in place (or if they read the Wiki link I included up at the top of the review).

still, the whole story of Bruce being alone in his cave driving everyone away from him is sad and a bit unrealistic.  I mean, really,would it take him 60 years or so to figure out what really is important in his life? he can't be that emotionally retarded, can he?

Mark Hamill reprises his role as the Joker, but he's not quite as fun as he was in the original run.  and no dapper outfit?  there's a fail right there as well. the futuristic black outfit doesn't work on everyone, much less a colorful character like The Joker.

still, it's a nice ending to the Beyond mythos (not quite counting the Earth BB shown in the JLU series, which also ties things up even further).  the DVD has some fun features on it as well.

Batman: Under The Red Hood (2010)

watched this movie and it's pretty good, if a bit dire.  and not even close to the "realism" that it pretends to want to have.

the voice acting for the principles is excellent, especially John DiMaggio as the Joker.  he stays away from the great Mark Hamill and does it well, if a little more subdued than one might think of the Joker.

still, when you have Ra's al Ghul using the Lazarus Pit as a main plot point, all "realism" goes out the window.  then you have the heroes (and otherwise) hopping about like they were in the Matrix...

because it's done in the style that's not as cartoony as some of the other versions of animated Batman it seems a little odd to me.  and having Batman and Nightwing take on Amazo by themselves... I know Batman has become the equivalent of the 1960s Superman (in that there's nothing he can't do now) but that's just plain silly.

it's worth watching for free on Netflix.  interestingly my Batman posts always get a lot of hits.

The Heroic Ones (1970)

this is a DVD review, and sort of a movie review.

on the plus side the DVD is great looking and has both Mandarin and English language tracks. the English subtitles are good and legible and the sound is crisp.  it's a very good presentation by Well Go USA and if you like movies that look great this is one for you.

however, if you like movies that are good, then you may want to stay away from this one.  the first half makes NO sense except to prove that our 13 heroes and their father aren't very likable overall.

I usually love Shaw Brothers movies, but this one is one of the rare ones I don't care for.  it's got a good reputation, but I can't understand it that at all.

at least it's not just me. here's a review that says it better than I can.  but I'm not gonna watch it again.

missed it by THAT much...

Get Smart was a big deal when I was growing up.  we loved the show and repeated many of the lines Agent 86 used.  even my mother did this (and still may, now that that I think about it).  and this was all in syndication! we loved the show.  it was funny, it had spies and action and it had Agent 99 (Barbara Feldon).

after watching the first eight episodes of this series on DVD, I am not sure what we were all so excited about.  the storylines are pretty silly, to be polite.  but so many of the jokes just fall flat, and the inane laugh track just made it worse. I hate being told when to laugh.

it's the cast that shines and makes much of the show work.  Don Adams is excellent as our hero, and not nearly as bumbling and inept as the blurbs on the box would have you believe.  he's kind of dense and really lucky, but not a hapless buffoon.

I just wish they had some better material to work with, at least in these 8 episodes.  maybe after they got into a rhythm it gets better.  I hope so!

The Secrets of Isis (1975)

this is one boring show.  I thought so when I saw it back in the 70s and I think so now.  Much like Shazam! there are no real superheroics to watch or supervillains to fight.

and what could be worse than that?  how about morals at the end of the show?  I can forgive a low budget show if it's exciting, but not if it's both dull and sanctimonious.

the cast is OK.  JoAnna Cameron is lovely to look at, and is a decent actor.  she sure smiles a lot, even in the "dangerous" bits.    she later showed up in a couple episodes of The Amazing Spider-Man, which was slightly more exciting.  the kids do alright, some are better than others, but that's par for the course.  it's the stories... stupid kid dares other stupid kid into doing something stupid... and runs into car thieves.

I remember being quite excited to see the crossovers with Captain Marvel, but even those were ho-hum.  this is very typical of most 70s superhero fair though, anything that might be exciting was excised as it might be "camp".  I guess boring can't be called that. is it still better now that it's not "rare"?

good day, eh

OK so good day and welcome to the movie review.

well, it's really just a trailer, but it's a beauty movie.  the DVD would have been great if Bob and Doug had done a commentary for it, eh.  I mean, they are geniuses. Strange Brew is really funny and has good actors also.  beauty.

so fire up the Coleman, heat up some back bacon and open some cold ones while you watch it.

Gamera on Blu-Ray... cheap

it's really inexpensive, and has two movies on it, and some fans are whining still.

I am not the biggest fan of Shusuke Kaneko's monster movies.  they are not awful by any means, but they are also not the be all and end all some fans seem to think they are.

having said that, you can get the first two films on blu-ray at Amazon for $5.49.  sure, they are from Millcreek, but they look pretty amazing and it's TWO freaking movies for less than six bucks.

now, some of the more hardcore fans are complaining that there are no extras like commentaries or "making ofs" about the movies.  this saddens me, if doesn't surprise me.  before the digital revolution we were happy watching bootlegged copies, sometimes many generations down, with little to no extras.  and any extras there were usually a trailer or two.

OK, enough ranting about such things.  you can get this at Amazon for the above price.  it's the first blu-ray disc I have ever bought, for less than the price I paid for the first DVD I ever bought.

let's clean the King's Clock...

and so Green Arrow and Batman do in the opening to the first episode of this really fun series.

I've reviewed several episodes here and there on the blog before, so my feelings for it are easily apparent.  I was a little apprehensive (just like with B:TAS when it first premiered) but it took about 3 episodes to win me over.

this DVD set collects the first half of season one, that would be 13 episodes.  these are all the ones that have been released previously on DVD in single sets, but it's much nicer to have them all together.

the humor is really well done here.  I've never been a big fan of Plastic Man, but they do a good job of getting him to work here.

there are no extras here, sadly, as it would have been nice, but for the price it's not a big quibble. the picture and sound look great. 

a mystery solved!

ever have a lifelong mystery solved unexpectedly?  happened to me tonight.

when I was very young, I remember being at the drive in, possibly around 1970 or 1971.  it would have been in the summer time, being in CO, so I would have been either 5 or 6 years old.  I don't remember what movie we saw for the first feature, but I do remember seeing part of the second feature.

why? because one of the characters took out his eye.  I'd never considered that being possible.  now, either we left after that or I fell asleep and didn't see any more of the movie.  in the ensuing years I thought about that scene, and wondered if I would ever know the name of the movie or see it again.  not knowing what kind of movie it was, I thought my chances were slim to none.

tonight, I decided to watch this film.

visiting Tera!

I had heard of it of course, and knowing it was a Gerry Anderson production I was looking forward to if nothing else, the fine miniatures.  I was not expecting to see Herbert Lom remove his eye in the exact same manner I had remembered so long ago!  so now I know what movie I didn't get to watch!

so far, it's a good movie, too.

supaida-man

OK, sure, the Japanese name is actually "Spiderman" with no hyphen, but I just can't spell it that way.

spider string!

notice anything about this picture? yep, those are subtitles. marvel.com had subtitled all the episodes a while back, but I didn't get around to watching them.  I watched four or five episodes, but it's not always easy watching something on the computer like that.

anyway, now I'll be watching the series again, for the first time.  it's loads of fun, just what a superhero show should be.  I'm still surprised Marvel never released it over here to cash in on the Spider-man movies of recent times. 

but that's their loss!  I'll report more on the episodes as I watch them, I am sure.  I bet you all can't wait!

18 Jade Arhats

seems I'm on a kung fu kick these days. The Eighteen Jade Arhats!

pick a title, darn it!

this is a DVD from Tai Seng, who for years was the place to go (unless you wanted Shaw Brothers, then you were outta luck) to get kung fu movies. now, these older titles are kind of frustrating, as they are poorly transferred and mostly fullscreen versions of these movies.

who said that?

and too damn dark on occasion!  this movie suffers from hard to discern night scenes.  a new transfer would be really nice.

this is a good movie, full of fights and action.  the plot is a little convoluted, revenge, mystery, theft and double crosses- and two men fake their own deaths- but it's not too hard to follow.  Polly Kwan is looking for the man who stole the titular Arhats and then there's some frame ups as well.

our heroes walk away

Golden Arm! pt 2

this is a great title

here's a couple screen caps from the new Tokyo Shock release of this fine movie.  it looks great and while lacking many extras, the DVD is well worth owning.  in fact, even if it was JUST THE MOVIE it would be worth owning, as we used to love fullscreen VHS tapes with nothing else added at all.  people have gotten way too spoiled these days about such things.

the final battle

there is a lot of fighting in this, and it's all very inventive.  we get to see an unusual style of drunken kung fu from Philip Kwok as he battles Meng Lo at the end of the movie. 

don't make him angry, don't make him shake...

I have always thought Alice Cooper's song "Nuclear Infected" from 1980s "Flush the Fashion" was an ode to the Hulk.

montage from part 1

anyway, I am watching the fourth season of "The Incredible Hulk" and am really enjoying it, for what it is.  as a kid I liked the show but was always a bit put out that there were no superpowered foes for our hero to fight.

being older, I realize the reasons now (budget, the damned "realism" thing, etc) so I can appreciate it for what it is.

so this "Prometheus" is the first episode of of the fourth season. a meteor lands and the radiation affects Banner- he only changes back halfway to himself.  there's a lot of money spent on this episode, lots of extras, machinery, helicopters, you name it, even an asteroid special effect (which is very nicely done).

the recent movie sure seems to have taken a lot of cues from this tv show.

the navy vs some "monsters"

watch the trailer here, it's quite exciting!

what, indeed?

here's an interesting, and kind of fun (in the can't believe it is actually a real movie sort of way).  an expedition to the Antarctic brings back some prehistoric plants, which turn out to be mobile and bloodthirsty. they also have acid in their... er, veins, years before the "aliens" franchise made that sort of thing very popular.

sounds great, huh?  it also has Mamie Van Doren as the lead actress, and make of that what you will. the entire cast is decent enough, and there's the standard comic relief mechanic present as well.

I like it, but that may be because I saw the last most exciting part as a kid in the middle of the night.

looks promising, huh?

too bad the DVD print is not great.  it's a bit dark and murky.

my appreciation of Gamera

(this intro originally was written for a full Gamera movie series review for Scary Monsters magazine that I never was sent in.  it did end up being used for the VHS release of Gamera vs Guillon, AKA Attack of the Monsters in 2000.  Yuasa-san shook my hand and thanked me for writing it.  

I have updated this a bit, and for those of you wondering why I don't use the term "kaiju" at all, well, in the mid-70s most kids in America would never have heard that term.)

By the time I was 8 years old, I had watched every movie that had aired on local tv.  I had also seen one or two in the theater and several other monsters movies, both Japanese and American.  I knew their names, origins and major battles.  I'm sure most of this knowledge took up valuable space in my brain that should have been used for useful thinks like math, but how important was that?  I was well on my way to becoming an expert on giant monsters.

So imagine my chagrin, when visiting some cousins in West Virginia, one of them asked me if I liked Gamera.  "Who?" was my reply. He found it difficult to believe that I, self-professed monsterologist, didn't know who "the friend of children" was.  Not only did I not know who Gamera was, I didn't know what he looked like, what his powers were or even what he was!  what kind of monster professor was I?  well, Fate (and the glorious Channel 3) came to my rescue a few months later.

during my usual scouring of the TV Guide for any movie remotely monster related, I found a listing for a film called Attack of the Monsters.  I was showing on Sunday about 11 AM.  there was no blurb, so I had no idea what to expect.  After getting home late from church (it is rather hard to convince grown ups to hurry and leave because one needs to get home and watch a monster movie- I should have old them the Broncos were playing!), I turned on the set in time to see a silver flying monster fighting a knife-headed monster on an alien planet while two lucky boys looked on.  WOW! this was cool!  and not five minutes later either Tom Akio invoked the name "Gamera"... and he appeared! now I had three new giant monsters to add to my list.

evil beast Guiron!

I watched the rest of the film in rapture.  by the time Gamera had defeated the awful beast Guiron and the evil space women, I was a fan.  Back in the pre-VCR days you had to absorb as much of a movie as you could in one setting, as a particular movie may never be shown again.  the images in this movie were quite indelible: the monsters, the spaceship, even the futuristic buildings of Terra were etched into my brain. I even remembered the name of the kids, even though the movie was never shown in my area again.

(since this was written over ten years ago, many things have changed, including being able to own Gamera movies complete and uncut, some with dual languages.  who knew back in 1974 this would be possible?)