DVD Late Show Lives... Again!

The last time I mentioned my DVD Late Show website (where I review genre films and television on DVD and Blu-ray) on this blog was last August. At the time, I had just posted a few new reviews after a three month 'hiatus," and promised more. But that didn't happen.

In fact, I didn't post any new reviews for nearly ten months.

 I don't really know why I stopped posting last summer, but part of it was probably just blogger burn-out, combined with my state's new tax laws, which killed the site's only income (through Amazon referrals). I'm back at it now, though, because I really started to miss writing about movies. Hopefully, someone will read my reviews and find them useful and/or entertaining.

I've started with a look at the new Blu-ray of Godzilla Vs The Smog Monster, the 1981 martial arts drive-in favorite, Force: Five, and the James Garner television series, Bret Maverick (new from Warner Archive). I am planning to have one or two more reviews up this week (Evilspeak from Shout Factory and Warners' Jonny Quest: The Complete Eighties Adventures), and hope to continue with regular posting.

Now if I could just get back to regular blogging here and at my Space: 1970 site...

DVD Late Show in August

Well, I didn't plan it that way, but I didn't update my DVD Late Show website in either June nor July. Heck, before this week I hadn't posted a new review since early May. Sure, I had reasons why DVD reviewing had to be pushed to the back-burner - May and June were devoted to finishing up some overdue comics scripts, and July was mostly just too damned hot to write - but I hate that the site was neglected for so long (again). I may not have a lot of readers, but I owe them better than that.

Anyway, this week, I've gotten back to it, and have posted reviews of Warner's new Charlie Chan Collection, Anchor Bay's Solomon Kane Blu-ray, and the Bomba The Jungle Boy collection from Warner Archive (all of which I've mentioned here at one time or another).

Later today, I hope to have a review of Synapse Films' terrific Hands Of The Ripper Blu-ray/DVD combo... and maybe one more.

I'm going to try and keep making regular updates for a while - I have a lot of discs on my desk to review. Stuff like the Adventures of Superboy - Season Three, Spymaker: The Secret Life of Ian Fleming, The Beasts Are On The Streets, The Name Of The Game Is...Kill!, Captain Caveman - The Complete Series, Hangar 18, Fortress and Greystoke: The Legend of Tarzan on Blu-ray... plus a whole lot more. Stay tuned!

The B-Movie Jungle

I received the new Bomba The Jungle Boy manufactured-on-demand DVD collection from Warner Archives yesterday. I've watched the first four of the six films in the set, and while I'll be posting a real review over on my DVD Late Show site early next week, I wanted to mention here how much I'm enjoying these Monogram B-movies.

While clearly shot on a shoestring budget, and a bit too leisurely-paced for their brief running times, I think these compare rather favorably to the Tarzan films that Sol Lesser was producing at the same time; they're clearly cheaper, but not much cheaper than the Lex Barker Tarzan entries. Johnny Sheffield, while still decidedly boy-ish of face, has a remarkably impressive adult physique worthy of a jungle man, and appears to be doing a surprising number of his own stunts.

In these first four films - Bomba The Jungle Boy, Bomba On Panther Island, Lost Volcano, and The Hidden City - there's a reasonable variety to the storylines, even if they do manage to include almost every convention (or cliché) of the jungle adventure film - and we wouldn't want it any other way. (Haven't seen anyone trapped in quicksand yet, though.)

I'm definitely looking forward to spinning the last couple films in Volume One, and hope that Volume Two will be coming soon.

Return Of The Late Show

After a couple of months laying fallow, the DVD Late Show review site roars back to life this week, with a slew of new articles - and a new Blu-ray Giveaway!

I don't really have a good excuse for the two month+ hiatus - it was mostly the result of seasonal depression and creative burnout, I think - but I'm back to work, and hope to both catch up with some of the genre DVDs and Blu-rays that have piled up on my desk and stay current with new releases.

Monday saw reviews of the new Shout! Factory/Scream Factory Blu-ray edition of Stuart Gordon's 80s horror classic From Beyond, and the Blue Underground DVD release of the 1972 Lee Van Cleef Spaghetti Western, The Grand Duel. Today, I plan to post reviews of Westworld and Gorgo on Blu-ray and the Warner Archive MOD release of the 1974 Wonder Woman television pilot, starring Cathy Lee Crosby as the star-spangled Amazon.

Also on the way are reviews of the Westworld sequel, Futureworld, recently released on Blu-ray, VCI Entertainment's two-volume Creepy Creature Double Features and Overtime, and more. Stay tuned!

DVD Late Show In 2013

After some erratic posting in the last third of 2012 (missing half of November and all of December entirely, somehow), a new review appeared today at my DVD Late Show website: the new Warner Archive release of 1989's Superboy - The Complete Second Season.

Before the end of the day, I'll be posting a review of the recent Scorpion Releasing DVD of Greydon Clark's 1983 teen comedy, Joysticks, and on Friday, I'll have looks at Severin Film's new Blu-ray of the manly merc adventure The Wild Geese and Warner Archive's pre-Code torrid tropical melodrama, Red Dust, with Clark Gable & Jean Harlow.

My goal is to try to settle into a  Monday-Wednesday-Friday update schedule at the Late Show, as long as I have review discs on hand. On my desk at the moment are plenty of DVDs and Blu-rays to get me through January, including Outlaw Brothers, Ashanti, The Definitive Document of The Dead, Godzilla Vs Biollante, A Cat In Paris, Captain Cornelius Cartoon's Cartoon Lagoon Vol. 1, Overtime, and more.

I've been writing and posting DVD (and later, Blu-ray) reviews under the DVD Late Show banner since 2005. That's over 700 reviews, so far. I'm going to try and get at least a 100 more done this year... as long as the discs keep coming and people still find my reviews informative and entertaining.

DVD Late Show Update

Since the last time I posted here about my DVD Late Show website, a number of new reviews have been posted, including looks at the 1981 horror cult classic The Boogens, on Blu-ray from Olive Films; the Cuba Gooding/Dolph Lundgren actioner, One In The Chamber, on Blu-ray from Anchor Bay Entertainment; The MGM Limited Edition Collection MOD disc of Hammer's The Quartermass Xperiment from 1955; the first authorized DVD of the kaiju classic, Godzilla Vs. Megalon from Media Blasters/Tokyo Shock; and the 1976 kids' TV series, Monster Squad, from VCI/Fabulous Films. Check 'em out!

In the next week or two, I expect to have articles on the recent DVD and Blu-ray releases of the 1981 martial arts opus, Kill And Kill Again; Gene Roddenberry's The Lieutenant from Warner Archive; Piranha 3DD on Blu-ray; The Asylum's Bigfoot; Jersey Shore Shark Attack and The Walking Dead - Season 2, on Blu-ray from Anchor Bay, and a couple of vintage children's TV series. Stay tuned!

DVD Late Show Update

Yep, it's that time again. Since the last time I desperately begged folks to go check out my DVD Late Show website, I've posted several more reviews, including looks at the 50s crime show, Federal Men, the Blu-ray releases of Barbarella, Invasion Of The Body Snatchers (the original!) and Robert Rodriguez' The Faculty, the teen T&A comedy, Bikini Spring Break, and several new Manufactured-On-Demand releases from Warner Archive: the Crime Does Not Pay short subject collection, Harry O - The Complete First Season, and the sword & sandal epic, Hercules, Samson and Ulysses!

Still on tap for the next week or two are Alien Origin, One In The Chamber, Some Guy That Kills People, and more. Stay tuned!

Back To The Late Show

Yeah, I know. I was laid up for much of July and that really knocked my schedule and plans all out of whack. Anyway, I'm posting reviews again over at DVD Late Show, and I'd really appreciate it if you clicked over there and took a look. So far this week, I've posted reviews of 1978 The Invisible Man television series DVDs and the incredible Twins Of Evil Blu-ray from Synapse Films.

I'm hoping to get a couple more TV series DVD reviews posted this week (Harry O and Federal Men), along with coverage of a bunch of recent Asylum flicks, and posts on several new cult film Blu-ray releases, including the original Invasion Of The Body Snatchers, Barbarella, Outland, and Robert Rodriguez' The Faculty. Stay tuned... and wish me luck!

New This Week at DVD Late Show...

I'm trying to get back into the reviewing groove at my DVD Late Show website. To that end, I'm aiming to post at least two new reviews a day, every day this week.

Today: I've got reviews of the Spaghetti Western Double Feature: The Grand Duel & Keoma Blu-ray, from Mill Creek Entertainment and Lancelot Link: Secret Chimp - The Complete Series, from Film Chest.

Tomorrow: the greatly anticipated (by me, anyway) Red Scorpion Blu-ray/DVD Combo from Synapse Films, and the 80's Sho Kosugi ninja thriller, Pray For Death, from the MGM Limited Edition Collection (MOD).

Wednesday: Hammer's new Gothic horror, The Woman In Black (on Blu-ray) and the goofy Monster Brawl (also on Blu-ray), from Image Entertainment. 

Thursday: we'll travel to strange worlds with Warner Archive's Captain Nemo And the Underwater City and The Asylum's Nazis At The Center Of The Earth!

Friday: It's a surprise! Stay tuned!

ADDENDUM  6/22/12: Well, I didn't quite make my goal. Will repeat the attempt next week. Stay tuned.

This Week at DVD Late Show

After a couple week's drought, I've recently posted some new reviews to my DVD Late Show site, and hope to have a few more before the end of the week. The most recent posts include the 1984 Tom Selleck caper film, Lassiter; the new 42nd Street Forever - Blu-ray Edition exploitation trailer compilation; and Logan's Run - The Complete Television Series, starring Gregory Harrison and Heather Menzies.

Over the next couple of days, I expect to post reviews of the sleazy 1969 Raquel Welch thriller, Flareup; Nazis At The Center Of The Earth, the 1933 movie serial, The Perils Of Pauline; and the Spaghetti Western classic, A Bullet For The General, which is new on Blu-ray.

I hope you'll swing by the site and check 'em out.

Directed by Dolph

It's funny, but I never really thought of myself as much of a fan of  Swedish action star Dolph Lundgren  until just recently. Sure, I respected the guy - it's difficult not to respect a 6'5' authentic genius (reported IQ of 160) with a master's degree in chemical engineering and a 3rd-degree black belt in karate - and I certainly enjoyed his screen work in the early 90s, like Red Scorpion, I Come In Peace (a/k/a Dark Angel), Showdown In Little Tokyo, and Universal Soldier, but I didn't keep up with his filmography past '93/'94. In fact, I only rediscovered Dolph when I was sent some of his later movies for review at my DVD Late Show site. It was then that I noticed that his DTV movies were generally more entertaining than those starring most of his contemporaries (like Jean-Claude Van Damme and Steven Seagal, for instance.).

Part of the reason for that, I think, is that starting around 2004, Dolph started personally directing some of his direct-to-video flicks, starting with The Defender. Now, I haven't seen all of his self-directed efforts, but I did enjoy The Killing Machine (a/k/a Icarus), Missionary Man, and, in particular, Command Performance.

I'm about to go sit down and watch his second film as director, The Russian Specialist, a/k/a The Mechanik. I've read some favorable reviews of the flick, and found a very inexpensive copy of the DVD for sale online (less than $5, including S&H). It sounds like a fun revenge flick, and I'm looking forward to it....

Now Playing at the DVD Late Show

Here's what's playing over at my DVD Late Show site this week. Since my last update here at Atomic Pulp, I've posted reviews of Josh Becker's Thou Shalt Not Kill...Except, on Blu-ray/DVD from Synapse Films; Robert Rodriguez' RoadRacers on Blu-ray, The Saint Double Feature, from Warner Archive and the 1968 film adaptation of Richard Stark's novel The Seventh - The Split - starring Jim Brown in the "Parker" role.

I hope you'll swing by the site and check 'em out. More reviews coming before the end of the week.

More DVD Late Show Hype

Yeah, I'm plugging my DVD Late Show review site again. And I won't stop plugging it until the traffic on that site equals the readership here. Frankly, if you read my self-indulgent, obsessive pop culture crap here at Atomic Pulp, you'll almost certainly enjoy reading my DVD and Blu-ray reviews, so you should definitely be checking out DVD Late Show regularly anyway.

Well, since my last update here, I've posted reviews of the documentary Corman's World, chronicling the career of maverick B-movie mogul Roger Corman; the 1954 "techno-thriller" Gog; the 1942 wartime adventure serial, Don Winslow of The Coast Guard; and the made for SyFy channel creature feature, Camel Spiders. On deck for tomorrow is the 1985 revenge flick, Thou Shalt Not Kill... Except, with more reviews coming later in the week.

Check 'em out!

New At DVD Late Show

I'm still not quite back to speed with my DVD Late Show reviews, but I'm getting there. This week I've posted my reviews of the Warner Archive DVDs of the awesome, 1966 Tarzan television series, and the much-maligned B-monster flick, Creature, which came out on DVD last week. (I may be the only reviewer on Earth who actually kinda liked that one....)

Wednesday, I expect to have reviews posted for the documentary Corman's World, about B-movie maverick Roger Corman, and the SyFy bug movie Camel Spiders (produced by the aforementioned Corman), both of which go on sale this week.

I hope you'll swing by and check 'em out.

This Week at DVD Late Show

I started off this week at DVD Late Show with "Z-Day:" three recent DVD and Blu-ray releases that begin with the letter "Z." Specifically, the MGM Limited Edition Collection (manufactured-on-demand) edition of 1985's weird war tale, Zone Troopers; the latest horror offering from The Asylum, Zombie Apocalypse; and the 1971, monster-on-the-loose drive-in "classic," Zaat!

Tomorrow, I'll be posting a review of The Slams, a gritty 1973 prison flick starring the great Jim Brown. On Friday - well, hopefully, I'll have my review of the 1966 Ron Ely Tarzan television series, new on DVD from Warner Archive. Stay tuned!

Back To The Grind @ DVD Late Show

I'm not entirely sure how it happened, but what was intended to be a two-week break at the end of December for the holidays somehow grew into an unplanned 3-month hiatus at my DVD Late Show site. For some reason, time just kept slipping away from me, discs kept piling up, and I simply couldn't muster the energy or focus to write up reviews.

Well, whatever the hell was wrong with me, I seem to have gotten over it at last. Today I posted two new reviews at DVD Late Show - Apollo 18 and Sugar Hill - and intend to get at least one more online before the end of the day, with two more to be posted tomorrow. In order to catch up, I'll be mixing discs that came out over the last three months or so with new releases and advance reviews over the next few weeks and will try like hell to update the site at least twice a week.

Among the many titles you can look forward to seeing reviewed on the site in the next few weeks are 2-Headed Shark Attack, Captain Power And The Soldiers Of the Future - The Complete Series, Zaat!,The Dead, Godzilla (The Criterion Edition), Cleopatra Jones And The Casino Of Gold, The Slams, Corman's World, Chillerama, Zombie Apocalypse, Gog, Doctor Blood's Coffin, Camel Spiders and Zone Troopers....

Stay tuned!

New Reviews @ DVD Late Show

It's been rough updating my DVD Late Show review site lately.

First, I had a problem with hackers planting malicious code in one of my web accounts, which, because I hosted images for all of my sites on that server, affected all of my sites. It took about a month to clear that mess up, and then, soon thereafter, I was hit with the loss of my beloved dog (which I wrote about here a few days ago), and couldn't manage to accomplish much of anything for a few weeks. I certainly wasn't up to writing any DVD reviews.

But the discs kept piling up - and that pile was starting to get pretty intimidating.

Last week I managed to get two articles posted to DVD Late Show, and I just posted two more today. My intent is to get at least four or five more reviews posted to the site before the weekend. If you haven't been over there in a while, here's a list of some of my most recent DVD & Blu-ray reviews: The Incredible Melting Man, Master Of The World, Frankenhooker (on Blu-ray), Don't Be Afraid Of The Dark, Scream 4 (on Blu & DVD), Dark Angel (a/k/a I Come In Peace), More Brains!, Lucio Fulci's Zombie (on Blu), Wild Wild Planet, Horror Express (Blu & DVD), Enter The Ninja, and Tucker & Dale VS Evil!

I hope you'll swing by the site and check them out. Thanks!

31 Days Has October: THE PHANTOM OF THE OPERA

Over the weekend, I watched the new Phantom Of The Opera (1925) Blu-ray from Image Entertainment. I still have to work my way through the other features (including the 1929 re-release versions of the film) before I can write my full review (for DVD Late Show), but the restoration of this silent film classic is really quite amazing. It's impressive how engaging and thrilling a cinematic experience it is, even now, after nearly a century.

New & Coming Soon @ The Late Show

This week at DVD Late Show, I've got new reviews of Culp & Cosby in Hickey & Boggs, the Man From Atlantis television series, the animated Conan The Adventurer, and the Blu-ray editions of cult favorites Maniac Cop and The 10th Victim.

Over the remainder of the week, I expect to post reviews of The Girl From U.N.C.L.E. - The Complete Series, Master of The World, starring Vincent Price & Charles Bronson, The Incredible Melting Man, the Sword & Sorcery Collection  (Deathstalker, Deathstalker II, Barbarian Queen and The Warrior And The Sorceress) and the Women In Cages Collection (The Big Dollhouse, The Big Bird Cage, and Women In Cages) - both from Shout! Factory's "Roger Corman's Cult Classics" line - and Wes Craven's The Hills Have Eyes on Blu-ray.

Recent reviews include James Glickenhaus' The Exterminator on Blu-ray & DVD, the Norweigian monster flick, Trollhunter, Thundarr the Barbarian, and the 1990 DTV version of Captain America.

But that's only the tip of the iceberg. After a Summer of admittedly erratic posting I now have a bunch of discs on the review stack that I need to get to soon, as well. Stay tuned!


Check 'em out!

Recent Reviews at DVD Late Show

That's right, pulpeteers: it's time for another reminder that I also publish a variety of cult, B-movie and genre DVD and Blu-Ray reviews over at my DVD Late Show website. Admittedly, posting has been rather erratic over the Summer, but I think I'm getting back on track, and hope to plow through the backlog of discs that have piled up on my desk over the next few weeks.

Since the last time I posted a site update here, I've published reviews of Hobo With A Shotgun, starring Rutger Hauer; the classic Hanna-Barbara sci-fi 'toon, The Herculoids; The Baby; the Shout! Factory Blu-ray special edition of Roger Corman's Battle Beyond the Stars; the Women In  Prison Collection (Chained Heat, Red Heat, & Jungle Warriors); the George Sanders RKO Saint Film Collection; the Damnation Alley special edition Blu-ray; the low-budget Steve Austin action flick, Tactical Force; Batman: the Brave & The Bold, Season 2 Volume 1; the Man From Atlantis Complete TV Movies Collection; and VCI Entertainment's Blu-ray of the 1964 spy spoof, Agent 8 3/4 (a/k/a Hot Enough For June).

If all goes well, the next few days will see DVD Late Show reviews of James Glickenhaus' drive-in fave, The Exterminator, starring Robert Ginty & Christopher George; Conan The Adventurer Season 1; the Norwegian monster flick, TrollHunter; Man From Atlantis - the Complete TV Series; the 1990, Albert Pyun version of Captain America; Thundarr The Barbarian and more. Check it out!