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Reviews
WWF Insurrextion (2001)
Average Pay-Per-View
Backlash certainly isn´t the best Pay-Per-View event of the year 2001 as far as the WWF is concerned. Therefor this event doesn´t have a very interesting main-event and too less good matches. A short summary:
6-Man Tag-Team Match: Dudley Boyz vs. X-Pac, Justin Credible & Albert
I´m not really a fan favorite when it comes to tag-team matches and this one certainly isn´t a memorable tag-team match. Average in every way I would say.
Hardcore Championship Match: Raven vs. Rhyno This match is one of the highlights of this pay-per-view. Brutal and very entertaining. A good match between these two former ECW-superstars.
Triple-Threat European Championship Match: Matt Hardy vs. Christian vs. Eddie Guerrero. Also not a very memorable match-up. I had expected a little bit more from these three very unique and very extraordinary athletes.
Duchess of Queensberry Rules Match: William Regal vs. Chris Jericho
These kind of childish matches give the WWF a bad name. When you purchase this movie I would skip this part because it´s not worth it.
30-minute ultimate submission match: Chris Benoit vs. Kurt Angle
A rematch after their match at Wrestlemania. I think this match is better than their Wrestlemania match, but it´s too long in my opinion. I think it would have been better if it was a 20-minute submission match. But hey, if you are a Kurt Angle or Chris Benoit fan you will certainly enjoy it.
Last Man Standing Match: Shane McMahon vs. Big Show Matches like this proves that the WWF doesn´t take itself too serious. An average sized Shane McMahon (6´1, 200 lbs) takes on the biggest wrestler in the WWF: The Big Show (7´2, 500 lbs). And he even stands a chance. I´m a big fan of the Big Show, so I kind of hated this match. The only memorable thing of this match is Shane McMahon´s elbow drop of a 50 ft high Titantron.
Three Titles on the line: Stone Cold Steve Austin & Triple H vs. The Undertaker & Kane Main-event of the evening and like I said I´m not a fan favorite of tag-team matches. Certainly not when it comes to main-event tag-team matches, because they are always so predictable. There were three titles on the line in this match. The WWF Championship from Stone Cold, The Intercontinental Championship from Triple H and the Tag-Team Championships from The Undertaker & Kane.
In the end I can say that Backlash 2001 wasn´t a great pay-per-view because it lacks too few great match-ups with good storylines.
WWF Unforgiven (2001)
A good but not a memorable pay-per-view
WWF´s Unforgiven took place in the Mellon Arena in Pittsburgh Pensylvania at the 23th of September 2001. It contained 8 matches: Perry Staturn vs. Raven; Tajiri vs. Rhyno; Dudley Boyz vs. Hardy Boyz vs. The Hurricane and Lance Storm vs. Big Show and Spike Dudley; Undertaker & Kane vs. Kronic; Chris Jericho vs. Rob van Dam; Edge vs. Christian; The Rock vs. Booker T & Shane McMahon and finally Stone Cold Steve Austin vs. Kurt Angle. The highlights of the evening were Rob van Dam vs. Chris Jericho, Edge vs. Christian and Stone Cold vs. Kurt Angle. It´s a good pay-per-view but I don´t think it will live in your memory very long.
Royal Rumble (2001)
The best Royal Rumble ever
There couldn´t have been a better pay-per-view for the WWF to open the year 2001, because it is almost perfect. This pay-per-view contains 5 matches:
Women´s Championship Match: Ivory vs. Chyna The least interesting match of the evening. I´m not a favorite of women´s wrestling because most women in the WWF can´t wrestle all too well. Except for Chyna of course.
Tag-Team Championship Match: The Dudley Boyz vs. Edge & Christian
All I can say about this match-up is that they have had better ones in the past.
Intercontinental Championship Ladder Match: Chris Jericho vs. Chris Benoit
This was a good solid match with two of the better wrestlers within the WWF.
WWF Championship Match: Kurt Angle vs. Triple H This match-up could have been better, but it was entertaining.
30-man Royal Rumble Match The highlight of the evening. The best royal rumble ever, because there were so many great superstars involved in this match, such as Stone Cold Steve Austin, The Rock, The Undertaker, Kane, Rikishi, etc. It also contained the surprising return of the Big Show and some guest entrances from The Honky Tonk Man and Drew Carey. This certainly was a perfect rumble.
Rush Hour 2 (2001)
Even better than the original
It doesn´t happen often but I enjoyed this movie even more than the original. The interaction between Jackie and Chris is still hilarious. The story is better and the movie has more funny scenes. Especially the opening scene where Chris Tucker does an amazing Michael Jackson imitation is brilliant. The supporting roles are also better this time with Zhang Ziyi and John Lone. This film focuses more on comedy and less on action, but this movie still has a couple of good action sequences. I can´t wait for Rush Hour 3.
Rush Hour (1998)
A new action duo has stand up
Mel Gibson and Danny Glover were a great action duo in the Lethal Weapon movies and so are Jackie Chan and Chris Tucker in Rush Hour. These two make Rush Hour a funny action movie which will entertain you for almost two hours. Great action, great interaction between Jackie and Chris and a couple of memorable scenes. One of the better action movies of recent years.
Hercules: The Legendary Journeys (1995)
It's a shame it became so childish
After five successful tv-movies it was just a matter of time before there would come a tv-show. And it didn't take long for that to happen. In 1995 the show aired in America and at December 8th the show aired in Germany (where it was of course dubbed in German, but it was a very good dubbing). I was a big fan of the five tv-movies so I expected that the tv-show would also be very good. In the beginning it was, but the longer the show ran, the more boring and childish it became. The tv-movies were made for people older than 16 years.The tv-show looked to be made for people younger than 16. The acting was not as good as in the tv-movies as well as the action sequences. In my opinion there has never been an episode that could match the tv-movies. And in my opinion that's a shame.
Hercules in the Maze of the Minotaur (1994)
Good, but it could have been great
This is the fifth and final episode of the Hercules television movies. This movie contains a lot of flashbacks of the other four movies. Because of this the story itself slows down and most of the times the flashbacks are annoying. And that is a shame, because this could be the best episode of them all, because it has the best plot. It could have been so much better if they put King Minos and all the others in the movie as well. But in stead we just see the Minotaur. But still, this Hercules-movie is a good and enjoyable action/adventure movie with good acting, great locations and a good climax. It still is a lot better than the tv-show that followed.
Michael Flatley - Gold: A Celebration of Michael Flatley (2000)
A must-see for all Flatley-fans!
"Gold: a celebration of Michael Flatley" contains all of Michael Flatley's greatest hits. And since I'm a huge fan of Michael Flatley this was a videotape I just had to buy. This video was released in November 2000 and it contains some new as well as some old stuff. It contains pieces of Riverdance, Lord of the Dance and Feet of Flames. But it also shows us some footage of Michael Flatley's last and final show: The Feet of Flames World Tour. That footage was shot in Budapest, Hungary in front of 100,000 people. This video contains also a preview of Michael Flatley's new film and some special footage of an old performance from Michael back in 1987 and a reunion with the Chieftains in 1998. I hope that in the future they will release a video of the entire Feet of Flames World Tour show, but for now we'll just have to do with the 10 pieces of footage that are on this tape. For every fan of Michael Flatley this is definitely a must-see!
WWF Royal Rumble (2000)
Great PPV
After Wrestlemania, the Royal Rumble is my favorite Pay Per View (PPV). This Royal Rumble has all the right ingredients. The PPV starts of with a Tag-Team Championship Match between the New Age Outlaws and the Acolytes. This is a good fight. The match between Tazz and Kurt Angle is fun to watch and Kurt Angle is definitely one of the best WWF-superstars. The Miss Rumble Swimsuit Competition is boring and disgusting at the end. The Tag-Team Table Match between the Dudley Boyz and the Hardy Boyz is great. The triple threat Intercontinental Title Match between Chris Jericho, Chyna and Hardcore Holly is also a good and solid fight. The Street Fight for the WWF-Championship gives this PPV a little bit extra, because it is one of the best and most brutal street fights ever in the WWF. Mick Foley proves ones more that he is one of the biggest daredevils in WWF-history and Triple-H one of the best entertainers in WWF-history. The main-event: The 30-man Royal Rumble is also very good. The fight has got some great performances from Rikishi, The Big Show, Kane and of course The Rock. Royal Rumble 2000 was a great start of the year 2000 for the WWF.
WrestleMania X-Seven (2001)
One of the best Wrestlemania's ever!
A crowd of 67,925 fans set a new attendance-record for the Astrodome in Houston, Texas at April 1, 2001. And those 67,925 fans got their money's worth because Wrestlemania X-Seven is one of the best Wrestlemania's ever and even one of the best PPV's ever. Of course this Wrestlemania isn't without any stinkers. The match between Eddie Guerrero and Test for the European Championship is bad in every way and is nothing more than an average "Raw-is-War"-match. Ivory vs. Chyno for the WWF's Women's Championship is one of the worst matches I've ever seen. Chyna is a talented wrestler, but you can clearly see that Ivory isn't. She's better of as a henchman than as a wrestler. The rest of the fights are good or even very good. The Acolytes and Tazz vs Right to Censor isn't bad, but it's also rarely memorable. The Triple-Threat Hardcore Championship Match between Raven, Big Show and Kane is one of the highlights of the evening. It's brutal and it features the two largest athletes in the WWF: Big Show (7"2, 500 pounds) and Kane (7", 330 pounds). Chris Jericho vs. William Regal for the Intercontinental Title is also a entertaining match. Kurt Angle vs. Chris Benoit is a good technical wrestling match, Shane McMahon vs. Vince McMahon with Mick Foley as a special guest referee turned out to be a lot better than I thought. The Gimmick Battle Royal was a lot of fun to watch and it brought up a lot of memories with wrestlers like Hillbilly Jim, The Iron Sheik, Sgt. Slaughter, Eathquake and Nikolai Volkov but it could have been a lot better if there were a little bit more famous gimmicks like Hulk Hogan, Bret Hart, Ricky Steamboat or Randy Savage. The other 3 highlights of the evening are the TLC II match for the Tag-Team Championship between The Hardy Boyz, The Dudley Boyz and Edge & Christian. Just like Wrestlemania 2000 (where these 3 teams also battled each other) this is a high-risk and very entertaining match. Triple-H vs. The Undertaker is also a great match and it truly uses the talents of both superstars. The main-event is a WWF Championship match between The Rock and Stone Cold Steve Austin. This match was a lot better than their match at Wrestlemania XV, because it's a lot less predictable. This is definitely one of the best main-events in WWF history. Wrestlemania X-Seven is great and it's almost perfect. So far the year 2001 is one of the best years in WWF-history.
WWF Armageddon (2000)
WWF goes into Hell!
Armageddon 2000 is a good show with an excellent main-event: the Hell in a Cell match for the WWF Championship. This PPV contains 8 matches:
1. Kane vs. Chris Jericho in a Last Man Standing Match is a good f fight that greatly uses the talents of both superstars.
2. Chyna vs. Val Venis is ok, but nothing special. 3. William Regal vs. Hardcore Holly is a boring fight and I expected a little bit more out of these two good WWF-superstars.
4. Ivory vs. Molly Holly vs. Trish Stratus was better than I thought.
5. Dean Malenko, Perry Saturn & Eddie Guerrero vs. The Hardy Boyz & Lita was a good yet hardly memorable match. 6. "The One" Billy Gunn vs. Chris Benoit is a standard match but it was fun to watch. 7. Edge & Christian vs. Bull Buchanan & The Goodfather vs. The Dudleyz vs. Road Dogg & K-Kwik could have been better. 8. The Hell in a Cell Match for the WWF-championship. This is definitely the only reason why you should purchase this video. All the best superstars are in it: Kurt Angle, The Rock, Steve Austin, The Undertaker, Triple-H and Rikishi. This match was definitely one of the best matches of the year 2000 and also one of the most brutal ones in the history of the WWF.
The Hell in a Cell-match therefore saves this PPV because there aren't many great matches in this PPV.
Robin Hood: Men in Tights (1993)
Non-stop laughing
I first saw Robin Hood: Men in Tights back in 1994 in the cinema. I went to see it because I always liked Robin Hood and I saw the trailer of this movie and thought it was hilarious. After I saw the movie I must say it was even better than I thought. Not only is it very funny, it's also a very well made movie with beautiful sets and costumes and a very beautiful score by Hummie Mann. The acting in the movie is also good, Cary Elwes is funny as Robin Hood and also Tracey Ullman, Richard Lewis, Mark Blankfield, David Chapelle, Amy Yasbeck, Megan Cavanagh, Eric Allan Kramer, Matthew Porretta and Mel Brooks himself are funny. But the best part in the movie is played by Roger Rees as the evil Sheriff of Rottingham. He has the best scenes in the movie and also the best dialogue ("King illegal forest to pig wild kill in it a is", which stands for "It is illegal to kill a wild pig in the king's forest").He somehow mixes up all the words and speaks out a sentence that nobody understands. Robin Hood: Men in Tights is in my book one of the best Mel Brooks films to date and I can't say that I have laughed as much about a film as this one. It's just non-stop laughing.
DragonHeart (1996)
You definitely will believe!
Dragonheart is a modern fairy-tale about two sworn enemy's combining their powers to bring the downfall of an evil king.
Dragonheart is somewhat of an ode to all the fantasy movies made in the '80. Except that nowadays the visual techniques are much better. Dragonheart is an original concept which makes it fun too watch. In the beginning you think that the story predictable, full of the well-known ingredients of every fairy-tale: a brave knight, an evil king, a village in danger, a beautiful princess (or in this case peasant). But yet the ending is unpredictable and the story goes deeper in the characters than most other fairy-tales do. That makes Dragonheart a unique fantasy movie. But besides that, Dragonheart is just sheer entertainment for everybody who still likes fairy-tales. The story is looks simple on paper, but is perfect on the big screen. It really comes alive on the big screen, not only because of the amazing visual-effects, but also because of the great acting. Dennis Quaid is the best knight I have ever seen (and in my opinion it's his best role up-to-date), David Thewlis plays an excellent villain (something he already proved in the Mike Leigh' picture "Naked"), Dina Meyer is a good heroin, Pete Postlethwaite is funny and brings humor in the story and there is also Sean Connery who is of course perfect for the voice of Draco. Also the other characters are very well portrayed by Jason Isaacs, Brian Thompson and of course Julie Christie. Next to the breathtaking visual effects and the solid acting performances, there is also the beautiful art-direction, the excellent musical score from Randy Edelman, the dazzling photography and the superb choreography. The tag line of the movie was: "You will believe", well I certainly did. This is just perfect entertainment the way it should be.
Král Drozdia brada (1984)
A good adaptation
König Drosselbart (or as it called in Czechoslovakia: "Kral Drozdi Brada") is based on the fairy-tale of the same name by the Grimm-brothers. The story itself is of course not as famous as some of the other Grimm-tales, but that does not make it less enjoyable. König Drosselbart is a very entertaining movie for everyone who likes old-fashioned fairy-tales. König Drosselbart is a Czech- and German production. Their approach is of course not the same as Hollywood, but that's what makes this movie somewhat special. It really is a very simple story and is very easily made. That is what I liked about this movie. I didn't want to see a big-budget version, but a very plain somewhat old-fashion approach such as this. The two leading characters, princess Anna and prince Michal are very well portrayed by the beautiful Adriana Tarabkova and Lukas Vaculik. Also the art-direction is beautiful and the medieval music is very effective. A good adaptation.
Highlander: Endgame (2000)
Finally a worthy sequel to the original!
Highlander Endgame is the fourth episode of the successful Highlander series, which stars both the actor of the movies (Christopher Lambert) as well as the tv-show (Adrian Paul). The original Highlander movie was great, the second Highlander movie was ok, but the storyline was completely different from the original. The third Highlander movie was a little bit boring. The tv-show however, was excellent and belongs to my all-time favorite tv-shows. I was very pleased to hear that Adrian Paul would also star in the fourth episode of Highlander. This fourth episode has all the ingredients a good Highlander movie should have: good action, good music and a well told story. However if you have never seen the tv-show, this movie will sometimes be hard to follow. But in my opinion this Highlander movie is the best since the original.
Willow (1988)
The best fantasy movie ever
Willow is a production of George Lucas, which means great action, a good story and dazzling effects. Willow is kind of a mixture between Star Wars and Tolkien's Lord of the Rings. I first saw the movie when I was just a small child, but even now I think it's a great movie. The story is good and is very funny as well. Warwick Davis is excellent as Willow and also Val Kilmer plays one of his best roles. The costume and set designs are perfect and the visual effects are very well made. Also the music of James Horner is brilliant. Willow is still my all-time favorite movie and the best fantasy movie ever.
Lord of the Dance (1997)
The Most Awesome Danceshow Ever!!!
I first saw Michael Flatley at the Academy Awards of 1997, and it literally took my breath away. I was amazed by how fast he could move and the music was just fabulous. Up to then I never was a fan of dancing but Michael Flatley pulled me over the line. At the end of 1997 the video "Lord of the Dance" came out in Holland and I immediately went to buy it. Up to now, I've seen the video for about a 100 times, and I'm still not bored with it. "Lord of the Dance" is without a doubt the best danceshow ever. Riverdance (which is also a fantastic danceshow) is boring compared to Michael Flatley's first soloproject. The show opens with the fantastic piece called "Cry of the Celts", which in my opinion is the best piece of the show. It starts off with a solo of Michael Flatley in which he shows us exactly who the lord of the dance is. After he has finished his solo the entire troup comes to th e stage en gives us a great example of a perfect choreographed dancepiece. The show last about 1,5 hour, but it's never boring, because it has superb dancepieces, great music from Ronan Hardiman, fantastic sound effects and beautiful art-direction. This makes "Lord of the Dance" the most awesome danceshow ever.
Astérix & Obélix contre César (1999)
a poor adaptation
I've always been a big fan of the Asterix-comics, but I wasn't thrilled when I heard they were filming a live-action movie. I wasn't expecting much of this movie because most comic adaptations fail horribly. And this comic-adaptation is no different. Asterix is one of the best and most popular comics in Europe and a live-action movie would be the next step. But Asterix deserved a better movie than this one. "Asterix et Obelix contre Cesar" is not a bad movie, but as an adaptation from the comic it failed miserably. The story is just a mix of a few comics from Asterix. This makes it a poorly told story and it's rarely original. However, the makers did spend a lot of time on the art-direction, which is superb. Also the make-up is ok, and Jean-Jacques Goldman's opening number is brilliant. The special-effects are ok, but you can clearly see they came out of a computer. The acting is good or bad. Christian Clavier is ok as Asterix, but Gerard Depardieu wasn't at all convincing as Obelix and made it easy on himself by just playing a big teddy-bear. The movie is not as funny as the comics and there some things where the film is different from the comics. That's why I think that this movie is a poor adaptation of the comic. I hope the next Asterix-movie will be better.