White Collar Episodes

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Justice League - Secret Origins (2001) Review

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(More customer reviews)As the ads for the original comic book said, Just Imagine! Superman, Batman, Wonder Woman and more on one team. Well, actually as a child of 1970s, I can imagine it quite easily. On TV, it was called The Superfriends. But in the comics, these heroes were The Justice League. Now, they are back!
This DVD is the first three episodes of a new cartoon series which at the moment isn't being shown in my country of Canada.
First the good, the cartoon is exciting. It's a fast-moving plot -- which as others have stated owes a debt to Wells's War of the Worlds (as well as some Justice League comic books, where the invaders were White Martians and Apellaxians.)
For an action-driven movie, the character interplay is very good. Flash is an impulsive joker, Green Lantern a military type, Hawkgirl a fierce warrior. Relatively simple characterization but they blend fairly well.
And I like the composition of the team. With several Green Lanterns to choose from, they picked John Stewart. I see that a former reviewer complained about this. Well, essentially, GL is just a name and a power. So, why not pick the black (or African American, as Americans say) one? The same with Hawkgirl? I really don't see the big deal here. It makes sense. After all, Kryptonians and Thanagarians and Martians --- well, that really isn't diversity.
My problems? Well, the plot is a bit thin. I think this comes from being a "widescreen" (well, full frame in this case) epic battle. But the bigger problem? I know who John Stewart is (originally a social activist with a chip on his shoulder, and an architect). I know who the Wally West Flash is. But I doubt the non-comics reader does. Sure, the DVD has a character bio section. But I think with newcomer Wonder Woman, someone could have given her a brief description of the heroes. It's called Secret Origins, but really, the only origin we get is J'Onn J'Onnz's origin. I'm not even sure anyone ever calls Green Lantern by his superhero name once.
But if their names don't come through, their characters do. Much more sharply than they did on the old Superfriends.
Still... my biggest problem? That it doesn't contain all those cool adventures I've been hearing about? Manhunters? The Injustice Gang? A Pseudo-Earth 2? Metamorpho? Bring them on!
Oh, and as for the person who said this was DC's answer to the X-Men? Well, the Justice League came first.

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WHEN GLOBAL CATASTRPHE STRIKES, SOMETIMES THE JOB IS TOO BIGFOR A SINGLE HERO. THIS IS WHEN THE WORLD'S GREATEST SUPERHEROES ANSWER THE CALL TO JOIN THE JUSTICE LEAGUE. MEMBERS OF THE JUSTIC LEAGUE MUST LEARN TO WORK TOGETHER AS A TEAM TOOVERCOME A DANGEROUS ARRAY OF INTERSTELLAR INVADERS.

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Spider-Man: The Venom Saga (1994) Review

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(More customer reviews)After buying the Doc Ock installment of Fox's Spider-Man cartoon on DVD, I noticed it contained a promo for "The Venom Saga" coming in Winter 2004. I had been looking forward to it as the three-part "Alien Costume" story arc was what got me interested in the show (and Spider-Man in general) back when I was a lad in 1994. But, Winter 2004 came and went leaving no Venom in its wake. I had completely forgotten about it until just yesterday when I saw it on the impulse-buy shelf at the checkout counter at my local supermarket. I have no idea what caused the delay; at first I wondered if the distributor wanted to hold the release until the next movie (see my review of the Essential Spectacular Spider-Man for a similar gripe). Regardless, the Venom Saga is here now and it includes probably the best episodes of the series currently on DVD.
The "Alien Costume" series features some of the finest supervillains and super-anxieties that you're likely to see Spider-Man face, in this cartoon or any other media. In it, Spidey rescues J.J. Jameson's astronaut son from a downed space shuttle, hoping to receive some real accolades from his alter ego's boss for a change. However, due to some serious yellow journalism from Parker's rival photog, Eddie Brock, Spidey is framed for stealing the highly fissionable alien material Prometheum X from the shuttle and ol' sourpuss puts out a million dollar pricetag on him instead. The Prometheum is actually in the big, meaty hands of the Kingpin who, along with his science advisor Alistair Smythe and his two costumed gunnies, Rhino and the Shocker, is hoping to sell the extraterrestrial WMD to some ski-mask wearing terrorists (seriously). Meanwhile, Peter has unknowingly gained something else than grief from his latest mission: an amorphous alien symbiont that chooses Peter as its new host. Assuming the shape of a svelte black and white "costume", the creature greatly augments Spider-Man's powers, giving him increased strength and speed, natural organic webbing, and the ability to look like Aerosmith lead guitarist Joe Perry whenever he wants. Before too long, Spidey is swatting bounty hunters aside left and right and bearing down on the Kingpin's little racket with the greatest of ease, although a gradual shift in his personality towards ruthlessness, nay, murderousness starts to occur. Realizing that the symbiont will eventually turn him into a bloodthirsty monster, Peter manages to shake it off for good, although it goes on to find Eddie Brock and that's were this disc's title character enters the picture. Venom is like Spider-Man's spurned friend turned mortal enemy. He has all of Spidey's powers and knows his true identity, and he can even slide under his previously infallable spider sense. How will Spider-Man be able to halt this new deadly (and evenly-matched) menace before Venom spills the beans to Mary Jane and Aunt May? You know he will, of course, but how?
It would be two more seasons before Venom showed his Gene Simmons-esque tongue again in the "Venom and Carnage" two-parter, and "The Venom Saga" has that covered as well. In this one, Spidey recruits Iron Man and War Machine to combat the two symbionts on the loose. That's right. During its time apart from Eddie, the Venom symbiont asexually spawned a "son" which later bonded with grade-A looney tune Cletus Kasady to create the razor-handed blood-red terror known as Carnage. Venom and Carnage's jailbreaks are spearheaded by Dr. Strange's nemesis Baron Mordo who needs the symbionts' help in bringing his hot-headed master Dormammu into our dimension. However, when Mordo prepares to sacrifice the soul of Brock's psychiatrist/girlfriend Dr. Ashley Kafka in the process, Venom becomes convinced to try playing the hero for a change. It's all quite a lot of conflict and characters to fit into two Saturday morning cartoons, and I'd say it works very well.
It's a good buy overall, however I have to say that all of these selected-episode discs are really starting to make me wish for the release of complete seasons on DVD. The stories on this disc would have been more fleshed out if I could have seen the episodes about Baron Mordo's original scheme and the pre-Venom Eddie Brock sooner than nine years ago. Marvel's "Distinguished Competition" is already doing that with Batman, Superman, and the Super Friends. Fortunately, I understand that the complete series of the Fantastic Four cartoon from the 90's is coming soon. Maybe we'll see a season set for Spider-Man once the next movie comes out (Am I starting to sound bitter from saying that so often?).

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The Spider-Man(TM) legend continues with an epic battle against one of Spidey's greatest foes. When an alien element falls into the wrong hands, a lethal new criminal is unleashed. Experience all the high-flying animated action and spine-tingling excitement of this spectacular clash in SPIDER-MAN: THE VENOM(TM) SAGA. After rescuing the pilot of a space shuttle carrying two strange meteors, Spider-Man notices a black stain on his costume and a disturbing change in his behavior. Soon, the evil stain consumes his entire costume, and America's favorite Super Hero(TM) awakens to find himself on the run from both the authorities and his arch-enemies. Will Venom(TM) be the one to finally ground the Webslinger, or will Spider-Man be able to defeat this powerful new force?

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Dick Tracy-15 Episodes (1937) Review

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(More customer reviews)This is a great treat for Dick Tracy fans. Before television we had to go to the Saturday morning movie matinees to see our action heros.
Cartoonist Chester Gould created this action hero in the early 1930's and by the middle 30's the FBI and gangsters were in all the newspaper & radio headlines. So Gould countered with Dick Tracy G-man (in the movie serials) & Dick Tracy cop hero in the comic strip.
The "Dick Tracy" (1937) Republic Pictures 15 episode action serial launched Ralph Byrds career as the super crime solving G-man/Sherlock Holmes sleuth. The movie version was always the international view while the comic strip was the local city crime storyline.
Thanks to VCI Entertainment for a great restoration job & super loaded 2 DVD package.
This 15 episode action packed serial is over 290 mins long and is presented with great picture & sound.
Extra features include: a background Commentary by famous Dick Tracy writer Max Allan Collins who penned the comic strip for 15 years after Goulds retirement. Special photo montage & Photo Gallery. Bonus 1945 Radio Show: Dick Tracy in B-Flat - a musical rendition of Dick Tracy with the voice of Bing Crosby as Tracy, Dinah Shore as Tesh Trueheart, Bob Hope as Flathead and many more big radio stars of the 40's. This is fun stuff.
Summary: Action serials are always more about the action packed journey & how our hero escapes the bad guys at the cliff hanging ending chapters than the actual story. We need to have a thrill filled 20 minutes each week and then painfully wait until next week for the continuing saga to take us to more excitement until the finale on chapter/week 15.
Dick Tracy delivers all we expect in an action hero and this being one of the first serials gives us a taste of the world of 1937. Enjoy.

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Green Hornet-13 Episodes (1940) Review

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(More customer reviews)This DVD release is SUPERB. I can say that because I have purchased numerous releases for the same serial, including VHS and unauthorized DVD releases. The picture quality is sharp and clear and evidently from the studio masters. The sound is excellent and the detail level is superb.
The serial is chaptered so you can select which chapter you want to watch or you can watch them all from beginning to end without interruption. Old-Time Radio shows are a bonus.
Best part about this release is the liner notes. Authored by Martin Grams, it reveals just how and where they filmed each scene for the chapters, character actors in small roles (such as an unbilled Alan Ladd) and more. I recommend you read the liner notes before watching the serial so you have plenty to look out for during viewing. Makes viewing more fun. (And according to the end of the notes, the author has an authorized book on THE GREEN HORNET coming out in early 2010!)
Overall, quality, liner notes, radio shows, bonus features, this is as good as it gets. If you question whether this is worth the price, take it from a Hornet fan. Grab this.

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Superman & Mole Men (1951) Review

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(More customer reviews)Sorry, but this has to be a dissenting opinion. As some of the other reviewers have noted, "Superman and the Mole Men" was later edited into a two-part episode for the George Reeves TV program, now rechristened as "The Unknown People." Sorry, folks, but in this case the "edited for TV" version is a distinct improvement and for one reason: THE MUSIC! The score used in the original movie is a pallid, third-rate job that does nothing to advance the action or to support the eerie, "film noir" feel of the camera work. But when the film was mixed down for presentation on TV, the show's producers had the genius to replace the film's soundtrack with some of the scariest, most vivid background scores then available. (As a matter of fact, this weird and wonderful music - used over and over again as background music throughout the first, black-and -white season of the 1950's "Adventures of Superman" TV show - has been helpfully collected on CD by the Varese-Sarabande label. You can order it right here, at Amazon.com!) I only wish the edited TV version was made commercially available; anyone who gets to know "Superman and the Mole Men" only through this original theatrical release will have no idea of how good it really is, or understand how the effective use of great background music can turn a third-rate movie into a very good film.

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Space Ghost and Dino Boy: The Complete Series (1966) Review

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(More customer reviews)This is the way to do it. All 20 episodes give you all the Space Ghost and all the Dino Boy stories from the original show in the one package. If you enjoyed Gary Owens' voice of Blue Falcon, in last year's Scooby Doo/Dynomutt Hour release on DVD, you'll think he's just right as the voice of Space Ghost too.
This was Hanna-Barbera's first serious super hero show. Space Ghost, Jan and Jace, and monkey pet Blip respond to calls for help from their Ghost Planet, and tackle galactic threats like Metallus, Brak, Lurker, Brago and Creature King.
The last six stories form a serial adventure, in which you'll see guest appearances by Shazzan, Moby Dick, Mightor and Herculoids, which is an obvious cue for subsequent releases of those characters' shows too.
Here's hoping they put out the later series "Space Stars" (made in 1981, with Space Ghost, Herculoids, Teen Force, Astro and Space Star finales).

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Superman - The 1948 & 1950 Theatrical Serials Collection (1948) Review

Superman - The 1948 and 1950 Theatrical Serials Collection (1948)

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(More customer reviews)How lucky are we to finally be able to enjoy these two classic Superman serials now available on DVD. These have long been around on bootleg VHS or home-burned dvds, with poor picture quality and sound. The home-burned dvds I got off Ebay did not have the capability to fast forward or rewind, and were not formatted chapter-per-chapter. It's possible that only the die-hard Superman fans and fanboys alike have ever seen Kirk Alyn's portrayal of Superman. Most people think that George Reeves was the first screen Superman not realizing that there were two complete chapter serials starring Alyn as the Man of Steel long before the iconic tv show of the 50s.
That being said, this is a real delight to watch! The fanboys, to this day, continue to cry over the fact that in these serials, Superman's flying sequences were animated. Okay, so it wasn't the high-tech CGI of today's production capabilities. If you're able to get past that, you can enjoy these serials for what they are; pure escapist fun! It's a comic book that's come to life! Kirk Alyn's Superman is not like George Reeves' or Christopher Reeves' or anyone else who ever donned the cape and tights. You've got to see him and judge for yourself. His portrayal of Clark Kent is a little more "mild-mannered" in keeping with the character from the comics, and that's nice to see. Tommy Bond, who played "Butch" in the "Our Gang" and "Little Rascal" shorts is awesome as Jimmy Olson. For me, the real delight was Noel Neill as Lois Lane, the FIRST screen Lois Lane! She was about 27 or 28 when first cast as Lois and she is just too darn cute! She's absolutely adorable with her big hat that she wears in nearly every scene. She's assertive and risk-taking, just like the Lois in the comics of that era, while still remaining feminine. Her Lois Lane of these serials are night and day from her Lois Lane of the tv show and once again, it's very interesting to see both and make the comparison yourself.
The first serial, has Carol Forman, as the Spider Lady. The 1950 Serial, Atom Man Vs. Superman is a better serial than the first one in my opinion. The production values and the writing are a little better and more developed than the first. The flying sequences were still animated but there were "close-ups" of Alyn flying, which were actually him standing upright with his arms extended over his head and the camera laid over on its side to give a horizontal effect. Lyle Talbot's Lex Luthor/Atom Man is great! Talbot was a veteran screen and television actor and many fans will immediately recognize him as Police Commissioner Gordon from Columbia's 1949 chapter serial, "Batman & Robin." In fact, if you're a fan of old movie serials in general, you'll recognize some of the faces of the actors who play Luthor's goons and thugs from other serials. One of the Atom Man's chief lackeys is an actor who is Dr. Daka's henchman in Columbia's 1943 chapter serial, Batman...too cool!
These serials were made on shoe-string budgets in 1948 and 1950 and weren't meant to be more than what they were. They weren't designed to be big screen blockbusters, and they were made for the kids of that time. We've become so sophisticated and demanding of "our" superhero movies, that to me, it seems to quite unfair to deride these two works because of shortcomings with special effects, writing or even the acting. Indeed, how lucky we are to finally be able to enjoy these two classic Superman serials now available at long last on dvd! ENJOY!!!

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Batman and Robin - The Complete 1949 Movie Serial Collection (1949) Review

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(More customer reviews)How does Bruce Wayne convert his car into the Batmobile? Why, he simply puts up the rag-top, of course! Yeah, okay, so the 1949 Batman Serial was not exactly "cutting edge" or "mind-blowing" or "good", but it has its charm. The dialogue is ridiculous, the fight scenes are clumbsy, and the costumes are ill-fitting at best, but for some reason, I absolutely love it. This floppy-eared incarnation of the Dark Knight is more a film noir private investigator than the shadowy, rooftop avenger that we know today. He and the Boy Wonder spend less time lurking in the Bat Cave and more time beating up the Wizard's greasy haired, fedora wearing thugs. Oh...and the Wizard! This guy is actually a pretty good villain. He is cloaked head-to-toe, has blank, glowing eyes, appears from time to time as a phantom, and remains a mystery through most of the serial. Pretty creepy dude, if you ask me, and a fitting opponent for Batman and Robin. If you're thinking about buying this one, take off your critic's hat and enjoy this gem for what it is: an old-school Bat-brawl. It's fedora bashin' fun!

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Join superheroes Batman and Robin in fifteen action-packed episodes of one of the most thrilling adventure serials of yesteryear. The Dynamic Duo careens from one nail-biting cliffhanger to the next as they combat The Wizard, a villain with all of Gotham City at his mercy. This action adventure was originally shown in movie theaters in 1949, one chapter at a time, in weekly installments.Item Type: DVD MovieItem Rating: NRStreet Date: 03/22/05Wide Screen: noDirector Cut: noSpecial Edition: noLanguage: ENGLISHForeign Film: noSubtitles: noDubbed: noFull Frame: yesRe-Release: noPackaging: Sleeve

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Captain America 15 Episodes (1944) Review

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(More customer reviews)Captain America was one of the most popular comics during WWII as he battled his arch-foe the Red Skull and other stereotypical Nazi villians. He got his powers by drinking a super soldier formula.
Unfortunately this Republic serial bares little resemblance to the comics. Captain America is no longer Steve Rogers, the goldbrick soldier...he is Grant Gardner, a Discrict Attorney. He's no longer battling Nazi villians bent on world domination, but common, every day crooks....What's more is that Caps Shield is gone and in it's place is a pistol!!!
Dick Purcell does a decent job as Grant Gardner / Captain America, although he wasn't the best physical match for the part. In fact, he really looks quite flabby in the form-fitting tights. Lorna Grey makes a surprisingly sexy sidekick as they battle a villian called the Scarab, who's name is much more sinister as the villian himself.
While the action sequences are pretty good, and there are fights aplenty, it's obvious that a more trim stuntman was filling in for Purcell. The fights all become pretty repetitive after a few episodes.
The one saving grace to the Serial is the presence of Horror Heavy Lionel Atwill playing yet another mad doctor role, this time as museum curator Doctor Maldor.
As serial go...you could do much worse than Captain America but you could do much better as well.

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