Sports > 12 years and over Sports > Skating & Skateboarding

In the presence of giants...

Advantages: Straightforward and engaging
Disadvantages: None

...California. Jeff Clark had been riding these waves for 15 years on his own until he finally persuaded a couple of others to join him, and suddenly the area (known as Mavericks) became huge. Until then it hd been thought that all the big waves were in Hawaii and couldn't be matched - but at Mavericks they were matched, and in some cases beaten. Bringing us up to date we meet the man most people describe as the best big wave surfer ever, Laird Hamilton, ...
...few others pioneered a new kind of surfing where you are towed-in to the wave so you can get up to speed more easily. This suddenly makes the biggest waves accessible, and also paves the way for smaller boards (a third smaller than the standard big wave board) meaning you are more manoeverable and faster. Of course surfing carries with it certain risks, and these are not glossed over as we hear of the deaths of Mark Foo, a noted Hawaiian big wave ...

blackpuddinonnabike 08.01.2008 · Read full review
Ciao members have rated this review on average: very helpful
Review of Riding Giants (DVD)

Car crash TV - Exploitative, manipulative and totally compelling

Advantages: If you were a fan of the Warrior, you need to own this
Disadvantages: Pretty biased for a documentary

...abuse and personality clashes. The WWE hired and fired him no less than three times, each time trying to recapture the magic of his first run, before they parted ways in 1996. He surfaced again two years later for a brief stint in rival organisation WCW before finally calling it a day and retiring. As is common practice for retired wrestlers, WWE has put together a documentary charting his career. Normally such things tend to be a bit of a love fest, ...
...lengths Vince McMahon and the WWE will go to to try to get one over on him. It's no secret that Warrior was a difficult guy to work with backstage, and I don't doubt that he let his fame and success go to his head, but even I have a hard time believing some of the stories being thrown around - this is very much Vince McMahon's version of the truth, in which he portrays himself as a patient, forgiving, understanding man who only has his wrestler's ...

Dr-Jones 19.10.2009 · Read full review
Ciao members have rated this review on average: very helpful
Review of WWE - The Self-Destruction Of The Ultimate Warrior (DVD)

Get the pump!

Advantages: Great insights, highly motivating
Disadvantages: Some elements were staged

...something a little special, and Pumping Iron gives us an insight into this. It's 1975 and Arnold Schwarzenegger is preparing to defend his Mr Olympia title for the sixth time in a row. He's been king of the hill for the last five years, but now there's new competition in the shape of Lou Ferrigno - a massive 6'5" bodybuilder who is younger, bigger and hungry for success. The documentary charts their preparations in the run-up to the Mr Olympia contest ...
...surrounding what exactly in this film is real, but that shouldn't distract from the fact that this is an extremely engaging and insightful work. For anyone interested in boybuilding as a sport, or even some of the colourful personalities associated with it, Pumping Iron is the film for you. ...

Dr-Jones 14.10.2009 · Read full review
Ciao members have rated this review on average: very helpful
Review of Pumping Iron (DVD)

Wrestlemania 2000

Advantages: The ladder match, the Main event, the hardcore match
Disadvantages: Much of the rest of it seemed like filler

...of great action in the WWF (or as it's now the WWE), following on from No Way Out and Royal Rumble 2000 was the show case event of the year Wrestlemania 2000. With the absence through injury of Stone Cold Steve Austin the company had started to build it's self through the heel (bad guy) faction of the McMahon-Helmsley faction lead by HHH and Stephanie McMahon. And this was the main story going into the event though of course not the only one. There ...
...shame it is that the WWF dropped the hardcore title). The match had a host of contestants fighting with hardcore falls count anywhere rules, who ever had scored the final pinfall over the previous champion when the time wss up won and kept the title at the end. Although it was over the top and rather a daft idea it was completely fun and easy to watch, there was action by the bucket load and none stop action. Despite the fact it seemed messy and ...

iamasadlittleboy 15.09.2009 · Read full review
Ciao members have rated this review on average: very helpful
Review of WWF - Wrestlemania 2000 (DVD)

Lets get READDDDDDYYY to Royal Rumble

Advantages: Three great matches
Disadvantages: The Swimsuit thing

...of the scope of the WWF the opponent was a huge shock and a bit of a legend in his own right. The fight was quite a short one in all honesty but a brilliant one to open the show. It was followed by the match that helped fuel the fire of the Hardy v Dudley fued that would help form one of the mainstays of the tag team fued of the early 2000's. The stipulation was a table match, in which you had to put your opponents both through a table. The pairing ...
...of the night, for the WWF Title the fight would see Cactus Jack versus HHH in a "Street Fight". At the time this was part of the major storyling which saw most the "Faces" (good guys) fighting off against the McMahon-Helmsley faction headed by Triple H and Stephanie McMahon. This fight in particular had been personal seeing the good fun natured Mankind reveal his alter ego Cactus Jack, a violent hell bent sort of fighter, After being pushed to the ...

iamasadlittleboy 15.09.2009 · Read full review
Ciao members have rated this review on average: very helpful
Review of WWF - Royal Rumble 2000 (DVD)