Costumes Movie Reviews

The "Backstage" DVD is a great slice of hip hop life showing you the behind-the-scenes, industry point of view on the hip hop music touring biz mixed with snippets (NOT whole songs) of some the hits songs performed live on the tour. Just for the scene where Dame Dash puts Def Jam prez Kevin Liles on blast for trying to steal Roc-A-Fella's shine by giving all the artists on tour Def Jam Hard Knock Life tour jackets is worth the price of the DVD alone.

However, I have had trouble with 2 copies of the DVD I have bought so far. Both times, chapters 9-12 have played OK but won't fast forward or rewind. When you try to do either the DVD freezes up. I'm not sure if I'm buying from a bad batch of DVDs at the particular store I went to or if this is a problem with all the Backstage DVD's but it's frustrating if you want to just skip to a particular scene within any of these chapters. In summation: great disc for those wanting to see some of the reality behind the glitz and glamor of the hip hop music world but buyer beware: there may be problems with your DVD depending on where you purchase it.

They needed to extend the length of this DVD. Despite the title i thought it would have more concert footage. Its fustrating when one of your favourite songs begins and is then cut off, and believe me with the rappers featured on this DVD its rather frequent. DMX is by far the most entertaining because what he says is most interesting and at times relevant. Its good to see how Ja acts in a interview senario. he seems very on point. Method Man and Redman are themselves, entertaing and so high they could kiss tha sky as always. This DVD was a must for my collection beacuse of the all-star cast. If u respect the people mentioned above i recommend u buy this DVD. Definatly blunt somkin material.

If there is one hip hop documentary u gotta pick up, its Backstage. Whats more fun than seein Red and Meth gettin high? Whats more fun than seein Damon Dash curse out da Def Jam prez? This documentary gets you so close to the backstage action even tha artists was startin to get [mad] yellin at da cameras. Some people said there wasnt enough actual concert footage: READ THE TITLE...! ITS CALLED BACKSTAGE NOT ONSTAGE!

Perhaps I am spoiled because I saw a world class performance of this opera in the Teatro Colón. This performance however doesn't come close.

While it is professional, it is not world class. The recording mix is poor, and it wouldn't surprise me if it weren't mixed at all. The result is that the symphony often drowns out the vocalists. The camera work is poor too, but overall it is just a poor production.

As to the technical aspects, the format cuts out the right and left sides so as to fit on a tv screen. I was also extremely disappointed that though the opera is sung in Italian, there are no Italian subtitles.

The fact that it was filmed in Lyon and not somewhere like Milan should say it all. You go to Lyon for a gourmet meal - not for the opera.

I am 12 years old and a big opera fan. I absolutly love this preformance. The camera angles are great, there are some funny parts, the preformers are great singers and actors, and Roberto Alanga is so cute. I don't see how anybody can't love it.

Wonderful singing and acting. There's real chemistry between the two leads--helped, I am sure by the fact that they are married. To my tastes, the audio and video are just fine. This opera is pitched at just the right level to deliver the most at its comic moments.

Domingo is a fine Lohengrin and the rest of the cast sing beautifully. They are also well complemented by Abbado and and the Vienna Philharmonic.

But an opera is more than its music: It is also a drama. Those of us who purchase a DVD also expect -- and deserve a convincing production. And, unfortunately, this Lohengrin is not worth seeing. The staging is stilted and confined. The camera work is boring. Even the poor king's costume lacks regality.

It is difficult to be a hero in Wagner's operas, to both sound and look the part. Domingo does that. It seesms to me his distinctly non-German voice sets him apart from the rest of the cast and adds to the White Knight ness of his character. Welker is a first rate "bad guy"; he seems to have a soul, and be much more than the usual two dimentional characters you encounter in this type of role. The sets are odinary and depressing. Thank God for the singers!

Unlike some of the other reviewers, I thoroughly enjoyed this performance. Abbado was wonderful in his conducting. The cast was solid and the singing quite good, even Placido Domingo who is not one of my favoite tenors. Judging from the applause at this live performance, the audience loved what they saw. Given the reasonable price, I wouldn't hesitate to add this to an opera collection.

You will want to stand up for most of this one. Alas, it will do no good. The simpletons have cut off the feet in over half of the Covent Garden Performance. When will they ever learn feet require at least one meter of stage perspective.
The Red Square portion is somewhat better in this regard. However, the outdoor staging is quite distracting.
In my opinion, the Kirov Ballet Company is a near perfect human endeavor and deserves better. These recordings will become the standard by which future dancers will be judged.

A magnificent DVD! Simply breathtaking !

This DVD features excerpts from performances of the Kirov Ballet at Covent Garden and an open-air concert from Red Square in Moscow.

It is difficult to know were to start: there are so many exquisite performances on this disc. I will pick out a few (really, you could mention all of them)
The beauty, grace and sensitivity of Julia Makhalina as Odette(with Andris Liepa) in the Adagio from "Swan Lake".
The obvious joy and subtle sadness, coupled with the incredible dancing skill of Altynai Asylmuratova and Konstantin Zaklinsky in " The Leaves Are Fading " (especially the second part); music by Antonin Dvorak.
The unbelievable athletic abilities of Farukh Ruzimatov in his Pas de deux with Larisa Lezhina from Drigo's "Diana and Actaeon".

And then there were the young dancers from the Vaganova Ballet Academy doing a wonderful job on Minkus's "Paquita: Polonaise and Mazurka" and also a credible rendition of the Dance of the Mirlitons from Tchaikovsky's " The Nutcracker"

Overall, I personally enjoyed the Covent Garden section a little more and yet my favorite piece is probably the Pas de deux from the Act II of Giselle (Adam) by Carole Arbo and Kader Belarbi; the smoothness, the height of the lifts, the glides, the quiet touches and the grace of both performers is simply hard to believe.

As a bonus there is a short commentary on the history of ballet by Ruth Leon in the accompanying booklet that is interesting reading.

All in all, some of the greatest performances of the greatest ballet works you'll ever find on one disc.
The only thing I would change on this disc is the name: Instead of "Essential Ballet", maybe "Quintessential Ballet" might be more accurate, because I believe you'd be hard pressed to find any better anywhere.

if you enjoy the ballet, this is a must for your dvd library.

Well, for starters, there are problems with this. The music is crappy and obnoxious, some small parts of matches are clipped out, there are very, very limited "extra" features for a DVD, and the biggest one of all, the commentary is godawful. Its terrible, I watched this video over three days because after about 20 minutes I couldn't stand listening to those idiots anymore, "Straight Up" John Watambe couldn't stop himself from calling every 4th word out of his mouth "straight up". On the plus side, the matches that are on the CD are quite good, but again a downer, paying 22 bucks for a DVD thats essentially nothing more than three wrestling matches isn't a steal by any stretch of the imagination. So, to sum it up, I enjoyed the actual wrestling, but you have to look past some real problems, the main one being "straight up" morons for commentators.

This is a great introduction to Hayabusa of FMW fame. This makes ECW:The Best Of Cactus Jack look like any Triple-H profile video.

First up is a highlight reel of Hayabusa's signature moves including the Firebird Splash(450 splash),Pheonix Splash(backflip into a 450 splash),the Falcon Arrow(suplex into a Michinoku Driver), numerous dives to the outside,Fisherman Bomb(Fisherman DDT/the "Franchise's" Pitsberg Plunge)and the Shooting Star Press.
This features a tournament to see who will face the Evil Mr. Ganosuke for the FMW Undisputed Double Titles.
Next is a tournament match with Masato Tanaka vs. Hayabusa.
a five star match in it self. This alone is worth the price of the VHS/DVD. Hayabusa wins with the Falcon Arrow.

The next segment is Hayabusa's visit to a temple to keep his skills sharpend.

The next match is Hayabusa vs. Mike Awesome
Mike Awesome is one of the only guys that I have seen get a clean pinfall on Hayabusa. Hayabusa beats him after a Dragon/Fullnelson suplex. great match with some cool spots. Five stars.

Next we have the history of the Hayabusa vs. Mr. Ganosuke. It is as personal as a war gets. These two start out as friends training togather then Gannosuke turns his back on Hayabusa and FMW.

Main event time
FMW Double titles
Mr. Ganosuke vs. Hayabusa
I won't spoil it for any of you, but these guys pull out all the stops and use their entire arsensel on one-another. yet another great matchup to end the Tape/DVD of Hayabusa.

I highly recomend this for any fan of Japanese wrestling or a fan who wants to know the scoop on Hayabusa.

This is the best way to get introduced to the FMW style of mtches. The most popular superstar on the FMW roster is Hayabusa. First off, we have a package of Hayabusa's arsenal of moves, most of wich are high flying. Then we have Hayabusa vs Tanaka.This is the first of three tournament matches leading up to the biggest FMW showdown and the most personal FMW fued: Hayabusa one-on-one with Mr. Gannosuke. This tape shows the history of Hayabusa's FMW stay but it mainly focuses on the Gannosuke/ Hayabusa feud.It also reveals where he got the idea for the costume and gimmick. For those who don't know who him, he is a masked Japanese version of Sabu. This tape is cool.
The second tounament match is Hayabusa vs. Mike "Gladiator" Awesome. It was a good match. Gladiator is one of the few guys that can get a clean pin-fall on Hayabusa.
But he is pinned by Hayabusa. All three matches will have you on the enge of your seat with anticipation.

I could have watched the whole thing, which lasted for six hours, but for some reason the people who put out both the video and the DVD decided to trim it by two hours. Why? Since this was a once-in-a-lifetime celebration, why cut a third of it?
I taped this myself when it was originally broadcast, so I have it all, but my enthusiasm for a couple of the very performeances that were edited out have created some slight damage to those parts of my twenty year-old tape. I hoped I'd find the complete performance when I bought this, and was really disgusted when I realized how much had been cut. Among many others that I have often enjoyed were: the sextet (or is it the septet) from La Italiana in Algeri, with the wonderful Edda Moser doing her high notes, Ara Berberian sounding out like a bass drum; Neil Shicoff and the Met male chorus doing the Kleinzach song from Les Contes d'Hoffmann. this was the first time I ever saw Shicoff and I was a fan of his from that point. If I'd been given the choice of who or what to cut, I could have found some performances I could have lived without, but for this special occasion, I would really have voted to leave them all in. When will we see their like again?

I second all the positive reviews posted here. As for the few who claim this DVD has bad sound...check your DVD player, nothing's wrong with the DVD. Maybe the player just won't play this DVD, I don't know, perhaps you have an old model. I love this DVD, it has most of my favorite singers and they're all wonderful!

This was my 1st dvd purchase.For this operaphile, this is the Mount Olympus of the arts. The performances were extraordinary.Vocal mastery was in abundance.It's difficult to single out specific exemplary performances.The phenomenal Eva Marton set the mood with her searing version of "In questa Reggia". The collaboration of Battle,Von Stade& Soderstrom for the ethereal final trio from "Der Rosenkavalier".Carreras &Caballe scaling new heights with the finale from "Andrea Chenier".The limpid beauty of Madama Butterfly's Act 1love duet sung to it's zenith by Leona Mitchell & Giuliano Ciannella. The list goes on & on. 4 hours of pure listening pleasure. The fashion police ,however,must have been on stakeout at the other end of town. money well spent!!!

Maria Ewing's portrayl of Salome surprised me. In the beginning she irritated me with her swooning style of singing and her german pronunciation. However, she grew into the role and got around even the most difficult parts successfully. She kept the girlish element in her voice prominent, but also played her like a real spoilt girl. I feel though that her direction was too contrived, her movements too static. Michael Devlin's voice is also an acquired taste. The supporting roles were well cast. A worthy choice if compared with the more recent ROH production with Malfitano and Terfel. My top choice is still the production from Berlin with Sinopoli conducting.

AUDBREY BEARDSLEY AND MR. OSCAR WILDE would probably applaud this 'extreme' production ~ a sinful pleasure to see Maria Ewing unlayer this troubled teen's 'tormented' soul . . .the translation's pretty good too ... almost along the lines of mall shopping, but such a pleasure and inspiration to see how Miss Ewing deals with the subject ~ superbly! A consummate artiste we have here - one who not only can emotionally immerse herself in the character and deal with the vocal demands, but also is very technically superior regarding recording 'live'. Here there is no margin to yell "Cut" to deal with a problem costume or a touch of excessive persipiration - this is all dealt with during the long takes - and dealt with superbly. This Lady is a rare beauty!

The rest of the cast? Along the lines of Mel Brooks "Brief History of the World Part I" intentionally funny in a dark, dank way, very dark and dank. Iokannaan? [John?} Another major challenge, practically nude - except for that loin cloth, the blue body make-up and the dreaded dread-locks complete with the Joan Crawford scarlet lips! Almost too much, but it all works .....

Not quite for the neophyte, but an experience worth savoring over and over again ... a brave but accurate vision of the work and the original.

Bravo!

Most opera divas tend to wear a body stocking or similar device to protect their modesty when performing the role of Salome. Not so Ms Ewing! She stands completely naked at the end of her scintilating performance of the Dance of the Seven Veils, a dance I have viewed a number of times with great pleasure.

The Faust Legend is heady stuff, arising from the heart of medieval Gothic culture. No wonder it exercised such a strong effect on Goethe and on the opera composers (such as Gounod) who made settings of his dramatic poem. Among these, Berlioz comes closest to Goethe in his understanding of the tale - not a maudlin love-story as in Gounod's setting but a depiction of demonism, intoxication, and shameless seduction as responses to boredom and mortality. "La Damnation de Faust" (1846) elaborates Berlioz's earlier "Huit Scenes de Faust" (1828); the composer described it not as an opera but as a "Légende dramatique." For more than a century producers considered it unstageable; but in recent decades advances in stagecraft have solved most of the problems. The performance preserved on the Arthaus DVD comes from the 1999 Salzburg Festival. The company is a Spanish one, La Fura dels Baus. The cast is vocally unexceptionable, with a fine Mephistopheles in Willard White, a decent Faust in Paul Groves, and a slightly overwrought but still plausible ingénue (Margarethe) in Vesselina Kasarova. It's stage-director Alex Olle's visual conception that raises questions. Maybe I'm reactionary, but I see "La Damnation de Faust" in Gothic terms; not necessarily as Gustave Doré saw it in his famous illustrations for Goethe's Part I (although that would be fine with me), but as close and stony in its setting, with architecture in the ogival style. An expressionist mise-en-scene in the style of "The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari" would be appropriate, too. What La Fura dels Baus gives us, however, is a highly abstract, skeletal-industrial realization full of incomprehensible and seemingly arbitrary touches. Faust, for example, wears what looks like a patient's uniform from a mental asylum; so does everyone else, except Mephistopheles, who appears to shop at Wilson's House of Leather and Suede. Why is Faust (along with the chorus) lugging a milk-can on his back? Why does Mephisto hand Faust a black leather loafer just before he takes him to see Margarethe for the first time? What are the bizarre objects that look like rejected props from a sci-fi flick that the chorus shuffles around the stage? The large tower just right of center-scene is supposed to represent an alchemist's oven, or alembic. The action is supposed to be taking place "inside Faust's mind." Yeah, but Faust had a Gothic mind, not a hackneyed post-modern one. I felt the same moderate indignation that Peter Konwitschny's "Tristan und Isolde" inspired in me when it turned the ship in Wagner's Act I into a cruise-liner, and tarted up the scene in cream-whites with splashes of primary blue and red totally inappropriate to the darkness of the tale. The eccentricity of the staging in this "Damnation" is a pity, since DVD is obviously THE medium for recorded opera; and because the performance is musically meritorious. (It's not on the level of the criterion-setting Colin Davis readings, old or new, but it's good.) Opera is as much stagecraft as it is music; so SEEING it is half the experience. Even a materially limited staging, like those preserved on the videotapes of the Glyndebourne opera, can be fascinating to watch. Bergman's "Magic Flute" and Syberberg's "Parsifal" are exemplary. I'd like to see a less avant-garde mounting of Berlioz's compelling "Legend." (There must be one, in some television archive somewhere.) Even so, the added visual dimension makes the Arthaus DVD worth acquiring, especially if one were curious about Berlioz and did not already own a recording of "La Damnation." The documentation is good, but buyers will have to content themselves with synopses of the plot rather than with a libretto. This is not so much a problem, however, as viewers can select subtitles in a variety of languages, including the original French. Recommended with the various qualms and qualifications stipulated above.

This DVD has completed my conversion. All my life I have been used to Berlioz's Damnation of Faust as a concert work, and I have had no particular view as to whether it would be suitable for staging. The stage-production here is controversial and even provocative, but it has left me in no doubt at all that the work does not reveal its full stature and significance unless it is enacted. That Berlioz was a maverick I take to be a truism. Here is one of the deepest and most searching parables surely in all literature. Goethe's Faust is not a tragic hero in the Shakespearian sense, with a tragic failing leading to his downfall and death. He is a type of all mankind, embodying the maxim that Stapledon enunciated as Find your calling...or be damned. He is full of ennui, Weltschmerz and general alienation and dissatisfaction. He is not evil or corrupt, but he has hidden the talent that is death to hide, and he is largely a lost soul before Mephistopheles sees an easy prey and unerringly completes the process until all that is needed is his final signature, quickly and casually provided.

Heard and not seen, Berlioz's Faust is largely a lyrical work. There are intermittent 'effects' indeed, and the final ride to the abyss seems to me one of the most thrilling in all music, understated as only a master of hyperbole and overstatement would know how to do; but an astonishing amount of the score is 'absolute' music more notable for melody than for overt drama and consisting in large part of instrumental interludes and songs. Now stage the work and see what happens. The music is transformed into a sublime commentary and magnification as the tragedy unfolds with neither haste nor delay. I took in the staging in an impressionistic way, not an analytical one. Were the strange milk-churns that Faust and the others carried on their backs their souls, their selves, or what were they? They were a burden and load of some kind. Faust starts dressed in pure white and progressively dons black clothing like Mephistopheles. I felt no need to 'understand' it in any detail, as I had my work cut out to get some better understanding of whole overall theme.

The musical direction impressed me favourably. I suspect that in a concert performance I might have found the tempi erring on the slow side, but even there that would be a good fault, and of course a concert performance is precisely what this is not. Paul Groves has a very innocent face, not my usual idea of Faust but not an ineffective or inappropriate one either. My first impression, with ears accustomed to Gedda in the part, was that his vocal timbre was on the light side, but it is a very attractive voice purely as a voice, he certainly does not lack power or show any sense of strain, and apart from one grisly undershoot in his duet with Marguerite he convinced me. Marguerite herself is the formidable Vesselina Kasarova and as you would expect hers is an intense rather than a tranquil reading of the part. Again not my usual idea of how to do it, but that is a matter of my temperament and habituation, not any attempt at objective assessment. Mephistopheles is the no less formidable Willard White, and to my eyes and ears he IS the part, very effectively lit at his first appearance and dominating the light-toned Groves in a way that I found just right.

This is far more of a work for grown-ups than I had ever suspected. The quirkiness that I have always tended to associate with Berlioz simply vanishes in this production. It is quite clear that not everyone will react favourably to the sets or to the production generally. I can only say that I would not have expected myself to either, but I did.

Between the trinatron cylinder occupying the center of the stage to the faux rubber/leather costumes of the performers one can deduce that this is indeed a Euro-kink production of Berlioz' most melodic and underrated Symphony/Opera.

But despite the bizzare treatment, it works. In fact it works very well.

In fact the only complaint I have is the conductors insistance on playing certain pieces particularly slow....a bit of a nusance. But all in all a disc well worth the price.

Best of all is to see the interpretation of Berlioz' incredible music visually. While it dispenses with the stereotypical romantic visuals of flowers, forests, stone clad homes, wide reaching vistas. The music supplies these elements in the sublimely minimalist production. The music afterall is meant to suggest the emotional romantic canvas that our hero Faust exhists in. The minimalist production supports Fausts individual crisis. Creating a somewhat Terry Gilliam "Brazil" like approach to his struggle and eventual demise.

Watch and enjoy. You may need to view it a couple of times. But it is worth it.

This television special works very well. The diversity of its two stars creates a special chemistry. Carol Channing has a rehearsed, Broadway Star appeal, while Pearl Bailey seems very relaxed, as if she's making it up on the spot.

The show is low-concept, which works wonderfully: Put these two entertainers on a Broadway stage in front of an adoring audience ... Have them sing a couple duets ... Let each one have a solo spot ... then bring them back together at the end for a duet of "Hello Dolly".

When I watched this DVD, I was most amazed that I'd never see Pearl Bailey perform before - although I knew her "name" and reputation as an entertainer. And, although Carol Channing is imitated ad nauseum for her funny voice and deer-in-the-headlight-eyes, she is actually a very entertaining performer. I laughed hysterically at her characterization of a silent screen star with a whistling "S". And her version of "If I Were A Rich Man" is very good.

There is also an under-rehearsed, making-it-up-as-we-go-along quality to the special. Pearl Bailey seems like she likes to work without a net and even tries to through Carol Channing with her unscripted asides. All of this lends an authentic show business feeling to the show - as if Carol and Pearl said "Let's put on a show!"

CAROL CHANNING AND PEARL BAILEY ON BROADWAY is an old-fashioned, entertaining television show, guaranteed to entertain. They don't make entertainers like that any more!

a unique document on two leading ladies in entertainment, Miss bailey as jazzy as always, and Miss Channing a great comedienne, espaecially in the impersenations of marlene Dietrich, Carmen Miranda and a hilarious Cecilia Cisson.
loevely duets from various shows and of course their own interpretation of Hello Dolly.
Almost forty years old, but it did not loose its strength
a must have for every "entertainment " person!!
two thumbs up

I have been waiting for this for such along time! Pearl Bailey and Carol Channing may not be singing together in their duets, but to have this on DVD is such a treasure! These two women give an all out performance which showcases why we love them so much, their PERSONALITY! It's only a shame that not much of these women are talked about lately. We can only hope that Porgy and Bess will be released on DVD and that Thoroughly Modern Millie will have a long run when it opens in London! Having said that, this performance is filled with glitz and glamour of a time long ago. These are truly funny ladys!

Sandra Bernhard is a true original as far as stand-up comedy and performance art go, and it is unquestionable that at a certian moment in time she represented the absolute cutting-edge. Diehard Bernhard fans will be fiercely furious for suggesting so, but I think it's true her act doesn't wear so well as the years go by: her onstage persona's dripping contempt for everyone and everything is not as funny as it once was in 1990 or so (and can get more than a little tiresome), and, while she can sing decently, the numbers she performs are not always suited to her voice (she's not as strong a singer as she imagines).

I began to get depressed while watching this video, and actually began to be really put off (for the first time) by the fact that her act is so much about ripping to pieces mostly women in her own chosen fields (comedy, music, fashion, and acting). While she at one point signals her awareness of this in her act (and blames the media for it), this doesn't seem to excuse her entirely. But after the formal show this video present outtakes from it, and she redeems herself utterly. Bernhard seems less soulless and monstrous (and much funnier) when she can give and take with an audience and break down the fourth wall, and there are some routines (especially one about Linda Evangelista fixing her watch) that are absolutely hilarious. I fastforwarded through the songs and even some of the bits of the main show, but I replayed the outtakes several times.

3 WORDS THAT BEST DESRIBE SANDRA, FUNNY, FUNNY,AND FUNNY-SHE TRULY CRACKS ME UP!-HER SENSE OF HUMOR, STYLE IS DIFFERENT AND WELCOMING. SHE JOKES ABOUT EVERYONE FROM A TO Z- THE SONGS SHE SINGS ARE FUNNY AND ENTERTAINING AS WELL- "ON THE RUNWAY" WAS HILARIOUS-IF YOU HAVE NOT SEEN IT-YOU DON'T KNOW WHAT YOU'RE MISSING -DON'T TAKE IT SO SERIOUS-JUST LAUGH AND ENJOY- THAT'S WHAT I DID- GET IT WHILE IT'S HOT!

Sandra is a rare Gem. She is one funny Gal. Bright, Witty, and Refreshing. This is here at her best. I have seen her live many times. I'd travel far to see her but this is as close as you can get when she's not in town. Love You Sandra.