Costumes Movie Reviews
More Pages: Costumes Page 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 32 33 34 35 36 37 38 39 40 41 42 43 44 45 46 47 48 49 50 51 52 53 54 55 56 57 58 59 60 61 62 63 64 65 66 67 68 69 70 71 72 73 74 75 76 77 78 79 80 81 82 83 84 85 86 87 88 89 90 91 92 93 94 95 96 97 98 99 100 101 102 103 104 105 106 107 108 109 110 111 112 113 114 115 116 117 118 119 120 121 122
Not Too Good
Bought it for 10 dollars, if i had to i'd pay 30 again.
A Fun Highlights Reel, But In No Way Reel-y Perfect...Highlights
Many ECW stars are featured in this video. The most prominent of them is Balls Mahoney, everyone's favorite chair-swinging freak. Mahoney has been an ECW tag team champ with FMW's own Masato Tanaka, so no wonder he is so highly respected among FMW. Other stars include Tajiri and Super Crazy (who are sadly not shown here in full), Pitbull #1 (who's disappeared from America's ECW since 1998), and even Paul Heyman, the big boss of ECW. Sorry, but Tommy Dreamer and RVD are nowhere to be found.
The top FMW stars are H, Ganosuke and Masato Tanaka. Tanaka plays the big heel who is jealous of H and Ganosuke's friendship and respect. So, Tanaka begins wreacking havoc on FMW by joining ECW. Lots of bloodshed, acrobatics, and smashed noggins abound. This video is definitely for Tanaka fans, since he stars in at least 4 matches in this tape.
H is the legendary man FMW knows best as Hayabusa, except he is unmasked, looking like a Japanese version of Spike from "Buffy the Vampire Slayer". He knows many many moves, from Fame-Asser to Rockbottom to the Firebird Splash (not all these moves are named, though). Fans of H and Hayabusa will be pleased that both versions of the aerial master can be seen here several times over.
You like tables? Well, in almost every match, someone falls down a table. Sorry, no ladders.
My favorite scene happens close to the end of the tape. In a match where H and Ganosuke are set to fight Tanaka and Mahoney, Mahoney grabs H and spike piledrives him off the ropes! The driver is so effective that H can't get up, and Mahoney is holding his head in utter shock! Mahoney's white expression is priceless, and so is the next scene, where someone carries an unconscious H over his shoulder. This is absurdity at its very best.
Dan Lovranski and John Watanabe, the so-called infamously bad announcers of FMW, do a much better job calling the shots than any other tape I've seen. It's too bad this isn't the best video from FMW.
"War of Attrition" lacks "Rule the Asylum's" complete matches and "The Enforcer's" flowing narrative style, and should best be worth a rent for wrestling fans. Other people, beware.
More FMW Madness...First the good - the wrestling is actually hard worked and exciting. While some may criticize Tokyo Pop for editing the slow points of the matches, I think what's left is all we really want to see and keeps the action moving. One match in particular - H & Mr. Ganosuke vs. Masato Tanaka & Tetsuhiro Kuroda being an exceptional standout worth the price of admission alone. That match is high spot heaven, trust me...
Now, on to the inevitable bad. This series took an big step forward and another one back when they changed the announce teamed with Dan "The Mouth" Lovranski (forward step FYI) and then saw fit to take away the original Japanese track (umm... that was the backwards part). Tokyo Pop, hear my words - choice is good. Worse yet, in this release Lovranski and John Watanabe spend an inordinate amount of time bickering back and forth in support of the baby face (John takes this duty) or the heel (Dan's got that covered). I thought this wrestling announce routine went out with Jesse Ventura and Gorilla Monsoon. It just seems so rehearsed and unnecessary; the people making these production decisions need to realize it's target audience - and respect them.
Again as I have in the past I will recommend this series, if only by default. In a country where there is a severe lack of choice in Pro Wrestling product, any alternatives from the mainstream are welcome. And in this particular release - War of Attrition, the wrestling stands on it's own merits quite well indeed. Now if some North American publisher would just secure the rights to release All Japan, New Japan or Noah Pro Wrestling on DVD - I would be the first to pre-order it. Honest!!!
Something of a disappointment to me... read whyActually, even with this dud, the Carlin Collection Box Set is still a better deal than buying the individual platters separately. So go for the box set instead, and pay this disc no mind. Pretend it's a complimentary coaster or mini-frisbee or something. Of course, if your curiosity's piqued about what's on this particular platter... well, there's nothing I can do to stop you, is there?
'Late
funniest yet
Informative, but light on musical highlights
I just did not get enough of Ms. Horne's musicAnyway the whole DVD is too superficial but I enjoyed it anyway.
What the martial arts is NOT about !celebrating the diversity, philosophy and techniques of the modern world of martial arts. However, about one third of the way through this film it becomes apparent that what you are really watching is really more propoganda in support of no-holds-barred fighting and glorification of the violent attitudes inherent in street-fighting.
Although it features true legends of the martial arts such as
Furio Demura, Jet Li, Tak Kubota, Benny "the Jet" Urquidez,
Don "The Dragon" Wilson, Rorion Gracie, Bill "Superfoot" Wallace, Bong Soo Han,and Bas Rutten, it understates the importance of the philosophy of the martial arts and fails to provide the answer to the important question of what distinguishes martial arts from the simple bully mentality and sloppy tactics of street fighting. What's worse is that the video seems to cover traditional martial arts in the introduction only to later ridicule it when juxtaposed next to semi-realistic
footage of street fights and no-holds-barred matches.
I'm not exactly sure what the point of showing miscellaneous home video style street-fighting footage is either. In covering this phenomena, the film itself seems to drop down to the level of its subject matter and even some of the martial artists who should know better such as Richard Norton and actor Louis Mandylor get caught up in the bashing of formal martial arts training. These comments contribute to the overall negative feeling of this film.
If the point of this film is to present the emergence and evolution of the sport known as no-holds-barred fighting,
then it falls short here as well by neglecting to mention the fact that even in these so called "reality fighting" contests, good technique and disciplined training usually win out in the end.
The filmmakers fail to point out that one of the primary goals of martial arts is the _striving_for_perfection_ of technique, whether it be a technique of striking, blocking, throwing or grappling.
The only saving grace of this video are the interviews and footage of Benny "the Jet" Urquidez, Don the Dragon Wilson and Bill "Superfoot" Wallace: three exceptional martial artists who successfully applied their martial arts training in the world of full-contact fighting without forgetting about their roots in traditional martial arts.
Do you know the difference between Martial Arts and fighting ?
Unfortunately the filmmakers of "Modern Warriors" do not seem
to know. Instead of using the tremendous amount of wisdom and talent they had before them to create an inspirational documentary about the true meaning of the martial arts and the spirit and dedication of its practitioners, they decided to
edit the footage and interviews in such a way that ultimately
glorifies macho street violence and no-holds-barred fighting.
An amazing look into what is real in the Martial Arts
This 1995 performance from the Schwetzinger Festspiele in Germany is proof positive that Salieri's operas can hold their own onstage. Director Michael Hampe stages the farce at a brisk but never breakneck pace, and he and his designers conjure up a plausibly comic world. John de Carlo looks exactly right as the overbearing knight whose eye for the ladies leads to his comeuppance, and he sings with brio. Conductor Arnold Östmann and the Radio Symphony Orchestra Stuttgart play the bright-sounding score with panache. Visually, this Falstaff looks great, and aurally, the stereo mix is quite good. Since this is an opera that's rarely recorded, let alone heard, this disc is a must for fans of 18th-century music. --Kevin Filipski
Salieri is not Mozart
A very pleasant surpriseNow granted that it comes nowhere close to the standard set by the Verdi opera and it lacks the great beauty of the Vaughan Williams "Sir John in Love," it is almost as good as Nicolai's "Merry Wives of Windsor" and quite respectable on its own terms. As in Boito's libretto for the Verdi work, Salieri's librettist, Carlo Prospers Defranceschi, cut the Shakespeare play down to its essential plots and even more so. The subplot of Fenton and Ann Page is gone. Indeed so are Mr. and Mrs. Page, the second merry wife here becoming Mrs. Slender. The incident of Falstaff in drag is included, however, and Mr. Ford gets two jealousy arias, where Boito gives him one.
There is a very funny scene in which Mrs. Ford comes in disguise (since there is no Mistress Quickly in this version), pretending to speak German and a little English, while Falstaff professes to speak only English and a little German--all the while the two are singing in Italian, laced with German phrases and a little French thrown in!
There is a little more secco recite than modern audiences would care to have, and not many of the tunes of the arias and ensembles will linger in the memory after only one hearing; but the score is in general bubbly and well composed by the man who almost certainly did not murder Mozart.
The cast is strong throughout. Boasting many American singers, it includes John Del Carlo (Falstaff), Teresa Ringholz (Mrs. Ford), Richard Croft (Mr. Ford), Delores Ziegler (Mrs. Slender), Jake Gardner (Mr. Slender), Carlos Feller (Bardolfo), and Darla Brooks (Betty). Del Carlo gives us a tall, not really unattractive Falstaff (except for the paunch), while Ringholz shows good comic flair in her two disguise scenes. Extra humor is offered by the zesty subtitles, written in rhyme, that paraphrase rather than translate the Italian text.
Arnold Oestmann conducts the Radio Symphony Orchestra Stuttgart at the Schwetzinger Festspiele. The video is excellent, the subtitles are clear. And the disc runs at about 20 minutes longer than the 120 minutes shown on the back cover. A delightful addition to any musical collection.
As in the original, the second-act divertissement is mostly different dance vignettes, here represented as acts in a Marseilles circus. In the greatest divergence from the original score, the middle of the act adds a handful of French café tunes featuring Yvette Horner's accordian, which can be heard embellishing a few other dances (and has something of a parallel in Tchaikovsky's innovative use of the celeste). The grand pas de deux, however, is performed very traditionally following Petipa's original choreography. On a screen above the stage, Bejart himself appears in occasional segments explaining certain plot points, and he goes into more detail in the DVD's 22-minute behind-the-scenes feature, which also includes comments from collaborators and members of Bejart's loyal and longstanding company, Théâtre Musical de Paris Châtelet. If your mind is open to a nontraditional production that includes bare-chested boy scouts and a pair perhaps best described as "drag kings," you'll probably be fascinated by this strikingly envisioned, expertly danced performance. --David Horiuchi
Deconstructing BéjartSome individuals have an ungratified need for the approval of others and embark on an endless search to obtain it. These individuals come in various varieties. One of them is the seemingly pleasantly grandiose type that operates under the pervasive assumption that everyone likes them because they are so irresistible that it is impossible not to succumb to their charms. It is as if they say to the world: "suspend all judgment and adore me because c'est MOI!" This is basically a massive denial of the fear of rejection in the service of maintaining a narcissistic equilibrium.
Maurice Béjart is such a cultural icon in Europe that he has his own entry in the Encyclopædia Britannica: "pseudonym of MAURICE-JEAN DE BERGER, French-born dancer, choreographer, and opera director known for combining classic ballet and modern dance with jazz, acrobatics, and musique concrète (composition by tape recordings)". His productions are known for their "flamboyant theatricality and their innovative reworking of traditional music and dance materials, often in an unusual and controversial fashion". Béjart's highly non-Balanchinean approach has been neglected and critically savaged in the United States. This nutcracker will do little to appease his American critics.
The ballet features the master talking directly to the viewers between the dancing scenes that take off from the themes he introduces. He starts with his father, continues with his mother, his childhood and seems bound to develop a loosely structured personal story dedicated to the memory of his mother. The best way to describe the way one theme flows to the next is free association. As this was unfolding I began to experience a creeping suspicion of being duped. The other shoe dropped when Gil Roman appeared on stage at the act II divertissement to announce that "the choreographer did not want to change the classical choreography of the grand pas de deux so tonight it will be danced in the original version of Marius Petipa". However, Petipa wrote the libretto, but not the choreography, which was created by Lev Ivanov because Petipa was ill. I therefore assumed that this was some kind of joke. This ironic expectation was sharpened when the two dancers, Christine Blanc and Domenico Levrè, appeared both inexplicably dressed in black. Their technique and so-called style in the grand pas de deux was so inept that I thought this was some kind of parody. But no, that was not meant as a joke but rather as a statement of Béjart's claim for some special indirect connection to and reverence for Petipa.
This ballet does not have much to do with Christmas, Tchaikovsky's nutcracker or even the obsession of the young Maurice with his mother who died when he was seven. It seems that what this ballet is about is Béjart's infatuation with himself. Many artists are narcissistically involved. What sets this work apart is the embarrassingly self-indulgent quality of this artist's preoccupation. There is no sense of irony here or any artistic distance from the subject. When an artist uses his own life and memories as material for his work, it is usually the result of a complicated process that involves wisdom, insight and perspective. In order to see something in perspective you need both empathy and distance. Judging by this material it seems that Béjart's mother died before he had the chance to develop the capacity to perceive her as a separate individual other than in the context of his needs. In other words Béjart never really knew his mother and therefore doesn't have much to say about her or about his relationship with her.
Unlike his deceased mother, Béjart's grandmother is painfully available to comment on petit Maurice. She informs us what a wonderful little boy he was and how she was not at all surprised at his fame, as he had always been so special. Initially I was shocked by the absurdity of this. Surely this must be ironic. But apparently not. Béjart seems to assume that anything relating to himself is bound to infect us with the kind of unconditional adoration and approval that only children and lovers claim as their God-given right.
Béjart has a masterly sense of theatre and he knows how to bring out the best in his dancers' personalities. They have to know how to talk, sing and dance. His weakness lies in his manipulating sensational theatricality at the expense of thematic coherence. As René Sirvin put it so well, his "Casse-Noisette" has "un peu de tout, et même parfois de trop". This disjointed mishmash is at best kitsch. With the exception of a few brilliant numbers it does not rise above the banal. On repeat viewing I felt that the major element that was missing in a work dedicated to a mother lost at the age of seven was the emotion of sadness. Children cannot conceptualize death and loss in the same way as adults, but even they can feel sadness. Béjart exposed his artistic shortcomings as an extension and expression of his own infantile self.
L'Orchestre Colonne's playing is the highlight of this performance, hardly a compliment as they enjoy a growing reputation as one of the worst orchestras in France. There seems to be a constant lack of proportion between Tchaikovsky's lush score and Béjart's rehearsal-room esthetics. His style becomes at synch with the music only during the added modern pieces when the orchestra is joined by an ageing music hall accordionist, Yvette Horner, bedecked in Jean-Paul Gaultier. This amounts to Tchaikovsky abuse.
Picture, sound quality and lighting are almost perfect.
A dream for the imaginative mind.
Time of your Life...Not while watching this DVD
What's the dream?
Notable songs for Coleen Sexton and Andrea Rivette (as good girl Lucy and bad girl Emma, respectively) include "Someone Like You," "Once Upon a Dream," and the duet "In His Eyes." Hasselhoff cuts an imposing figure but is somewhat unsteady in such anthems as "This Is the Moment," which are tailor-made for big voices (for example, Linda Eder, Wildhorn's wife and the creator of the Lucy role). --David Horiuchi
Not entirely David's faultHowever, I must throw in a little defense for this. People have complained about the over-acting, broad gestures, and other such things. You must remember, this was not a movie. This is a musical, being performed live onstage in the Plymouth Theatre, which is not a small theatre by any means. All these things, which look rather ridiculous in a film, played much better when you had some distance between yourself and the actors, not a camera that was up in their faces. This is the inherent problem you will get when you film a Broadway show live and must be remembered when looking at the acting.
A decent performance of an incredible show.In addition, I felt that John Utterson (unfortunately I do not recall the name of the actor) had an amazing voice. His voice added a depth and richness generally lacking (as a whole) throughout the rest of the show. It was a breath of fresh air in some scenes.
Coleen Sexton, as the tragically impoverished Lucy, adds a depth to her role that I loved. While her singing occasionally felt pushed, her acting was especially lovely. I found myself on the verge of tears after "A New Life," in which I finally was able to sympathize with her...
As a whole, I think this recording was a good one, and I would certainly prefer it over nothing. I think we must all look past Hasselhoff and give credit where it is deserved.
Hasselhoff Me! Please!One was not disappointed. One imagines that Mr Hasshoffler was exactly what Mr RL Stevenson originally envisioned when the worthy scribe first started mixing lanadaum with opium and One feels quite refreshed. One is prepared to go to work now. One also recommends the "Looking For" album by Mr Hasselhop. The 6th track, "Hot Shot City" is particularly good.
Still, it's a long way to that action, with an extended first act that consists mainly of stoic men, crying women, and a fair amount of "don't go out into the sea" dialogue--in other words, a compelling story has been shoehorned into standard summer movie fare. It's too bad, as Peterson assembled an excellent cast--including Mark Wahlberg, Diane Lane, John C. Reilly, and William Fichtner among them--but seems to opt for only a surface exploration of these characters, though Clooney seems to have a touch of Captain Ahab in him. You may still be won over by the movie, but for a more in-depth portrait, go to Junger's book for the missing details. --Mark Englehart
Slick and refreshingCGI is used to good effect to produce some truly amazing ocean scenes (although you wonder how else they could have realistically reproduced a hurricane at sea safely). Clooney's acting is solid, Wahlberg shines in his role and they are both well supported by actors now plying their trade in far bigger roles (John C Reilly, William Fichtner). It's also nice to see Diane Lane poppoing up as Wahlberg's partner.
They That Go Down to the Sea in ShipsI am writing this on the twelfth anniversary of the incident depicted in The Perfect Storm.
Before the movie even begins, you know it's going to be special. As the Warner Brothers logos appear in turn, we hear the slow, pensive chords of an acoustic guitar, followed by the mournful horns, and then the strings, of James Horner's score.
Starting with the first guitar chord, we are treated to a stunning, eight-minute, opening sequence. We see a ship in the harbor of Gloucester, Massachusetts; a man on the dock, spreading out a plastic container of fish; a shipbuilder at work, much like his ancestors, 350 years before; men on the dock working with netting; Gloucester City Hall, and the honor roll inside; the statue of the "Fisherman at the Wheel"; a storm over the ocean; a sleeping woman crying out from a nightmare the name of her seafaring lover; and the fishing boats' return with their catch, the next morning. A sense of foreboding pervades the proceedings.
Whereas in other towns, the honor roll would be of men lost in foreign wars, at Gloucester City Hall, it is of the over 10,000 fishermen lost at sea, from circa 1623 unto the present day.
When the sister fishing boats the Andrea Gail and Hannah Boden triumphantly enter the harbor, the mournful theme is replaced by a loud, celebratory one, with electric guitars and rapid bursts of horns. Women run to the dock, to greet their men; children speed there on bikes, to meet their fathers. It is as if the men were returning war heroes. And they are heroes, every last one of them.
Some ships' payloads burst with swordfish weighing almost 500 pounds; others' pithy catches fail to make it to 100 pounds. We hear true Massachusetts accents. Along with the fishermen greeted by their families, we see those who have no families to greet them, or whose families have deserted them, men who work so hard, and for so little, that many cannot even afford a car. Their essential, honorable work, virtually unchanged for centuries, lacks all glamor, and they live without dreams or sentimentality. And yet, they do battle with nature, and do things that few today could physically survive doing, let alone do well.
A fisherman who passed away at sea, is carried away on a stretcher. Horner has the celebratory and mournful themes play point and counterpoint to each other. Even in joy, there is sadness.
The bringing in of a catch is rough, mundane work, if you're busy at it, but a thing of wonder to behold. Director Wolfgang Peterson, cinematographer John Seale, and Horner, give the proceedings the epic treatment they deserve.
Aspiring filmmakers would do well to study those first eight minutes, to learn how to establish plot, place, and characters.
In late October, 1991, as tropical hurricane Grace came north from Bermuda, she hit a storm system off Sable Island, on the Canadian coast, and was hit by a third system coming down from Canada, which had hitched a ride on the jet stream, to form an apocalyptic "tripleheader." It was the storm of the century - "the perfect storm."
George Clooney is gripping, if flawed, as Capt. Billy Tyne, who thinks there's nothing greater on earth, than being a swordfish boat captain. But Tyne has apparently lost his touch for finding where the fish are, and might lose his "site" (boat), if he doesn't start bringing in some big loads. Fast. And so, at the end of the season, he decides to go out for one last run. But what Capt. Tyne doesn't tell anyone, especially his boat's owner, who has expressly forbidden him from doing, is that he is headed for the Flemish Cap, hundreds of miles east of his usual fishing grounds, where there's "lots of fish ... and lots of weather." What Capt. Tyne doesn't know, is that he is heading straight into hell.
Tyne practically shanghais his men into the additional trip, threatening them with losing their sites (jobs) on his boat.
At dawn, when the men assemble to leave, bidding their women farewell, they look like motley gunslingers headed to the big gunfight, evoking the scene in The Wild Bunch, when Bill Holden's "Pike Bishop" says to Ernie Borgnine's "Dutch," "Let's go."
Eventually, the men must choose whether to risk their ship and their lives for a huge catch, or return home abject failures. The decision isn't about greed, it's about honor and pride.
The supporting roles are exquisitely cast. Passionaria Diane Lane, as crewman Bobby Shatford's lover, Christina "Chris" Cotter, has the Massachusetts accent down, and is believable, if at times over the top, as a woman desperately in love, who sees a way out of a dead-end life, that she fears the sea will steal from her. Mary Elizabeth Mastrantonio is solid as Linda Greenlaw, the successful swordfish boat captain who beckons to the hardbitten loner, Tyne, in her restrained fashion, as the partner he so desperately needs and desires, if only he has the sense to reach out to her. As Dale "Murph" Murphy, the face of John C. Reilly is a map of loss and regret. Murph's crewmate-antagonist, David "Sully" Sullivan (William Fichtener) has seemingly little to gain or lose in life. Michael "Bugsy" Moran (John Hawkes) is a man who, in spite of being consistently beaten down by life, has not lost his charm or sense of humor. As easygoing Alfred Pierre, Allen Payne makes the most of a sketchily-written role.
The special effects were so realistic, as to maintain their grip on my wife and me. Special effects that are "too good," that depict things that couldn't possibly occur in reality, leave me indifferent to whether things pan out on the screen.
While The Perfect Storm abounds in seat-of-the-pants action, it is always about the character of men in dire straits, which is why we care about them.
Finally, you might want to keep a fresh box of Kleenex handy.
Originally published in Toogood Reports, October 31, 2003.
THE PERFECT CASTThis is a movie movie and I enjoyed it immensely!
HIGHLY RECOMMENDED.
- Crazy Boy vs. Ricky Fuji: Crazy Boy is the younger cousin of Super Crazy. There are only some highlights. Some nice high-flying moves and creative counters. Frankensteiner, twisting sunset-flips, brainbustersMost of it was clipped, though.
RATING: 1/2*
- Two porn stars go one-on-one: Both are really hot girls. Flying Kid Ichihara referees the match. This is the worst wrestling match I've ever seen. I myself could not picture a worse match in my mind. This is the worst match in the history of professional wrestling, and that covers a lot of ground. El Gigante/Giant Gonzalez, The Big Show, Mick Foley, Axl Rotten, even The Sandman could wrestle more technically-sound than this. They did a clothesline that was so terrible-looking, I'd have trouble putting it into words.
RATING: -9467694694697...Get the point?
- Six Person Tag Team Match: This is intergender. It features names like Chocoball Mukai, Emi Motogawa, Kaori Nakayama, and some others.
Again, highlights only. Not very good. A nice surfboard stretch, but otherwise it's bad.
RATING: 1/4*
- Samoan Gangsta Party vs. Sasaki & Hideki Hosaka: Eddie Fatu of the Gangsta team is Rikishi's cousin, and wears a Rikishi shirt. His partner is Matt E. Smalls. The Samoan Gangsta Party had a short stay in ECW, engaging in some matches against Mustafa Saed and New Jack, The Gangstas. This match is very bloody, but isn't that bad. There's some great spots. A chokeslam on a bunch of chairs. A tope through a table. A double chokeslam. A dive off of a ten-foot balcony. This one wasn't terrible.
RATING: *5/8
- Kintaro Kanemura vs. Ryuji Yamakawa: These two are both from Big Japan. The match is very bloody, but it's rather good. They brawl backstage and a light tube is broken over Kanemura's head. Back at ringside, a nice Fire Thunder Driver (Jumping Sitdown Piledriver [like Rikishi did in his 1999-early 2000 WWF days]) off the apron through a ringside table and an amazing senton bomb by Yamakawa off of a balcony through a table is also featured!!! Yamakawa uses his double underhook face plant twice, and the move is quite a cool sight to see. This was a good hardcore match.
RATING: **
- Mr. Gannosuke vs. Sabu: The match is rather short. Sabu gets in some of his usual slingshot/springboard spots, but the match ends when each uses a fireball against eachother. Ouch...the match was WAY too short and was way below my expectations.
RATING: 1/2*
- WEW World Heavyweight Title Match: Kodo Fuyuki vs. Koji Nakagawa(C): The match is very long, but it's also rather good. There's some brawling, and then some nice exchanges in the room. There's a lot of drama. A good match, but not great.
RATING: **7/8
- Hayabusa vs. Masato Tanaka: Before the match, Jinsei Shinzaki (Hakushi in the WWF) enters and sits in the crowd to watch. Tanaka enters first. He's a former ECW Champion who engaged in several incredible battles with Mike Awesome. Hayabusa then enters, and if you're wondering who he is, I'll tell you. Hayabusa is a spectacular athlete with a dark gimmick. His character is a combination of The Undertaker, Edge, Gangrel, Vampiro, Great Muta, and Yoshihiro Tajiri. He plays a mysterious character, but unlike most guys like that, he's an incredible fan favorite. The guy has tons of finishing moves, including the Stardust Press (Shooting Star Press), the Firebird Splash (450 Splash), the Phoenix Splash, the Falcon Arrow (Vertical Suplex into a sitdown bodyslam/piledriver), and the H Thunder (side bodyslam piledriver [Tommy Dreamer's Dreamer Driver]). These two guys put on FMW's greatest match ever in the late '90's. While this isn't their best, this is a great match. Tons of psychology. Great matwork. Incredible spots. Terrific drama. Awesome bumps. The two have definitely done better, but for a U.S. fan that wants to see FMW at it's best, this is a good match. Hayabusa cuts a promo afterwards (w/out his mask).
RATING: ***1/2
This Pay-Per-View was called "Backdrift," and while the main event and pre-main event was good, nothing else was too watchable. I really would recommend "The Judgment" or "International Slaughterhouse." The Hayabusa and Masato Tanaka videos are also good. The two announcers (Dan Lovranski ... & Don Watanabe) who speak English aren't too good, either. Not recommended unless you really want it.