ecw06 Reviews

Spin City (1996–2002)

simply awesome

[10/10 · 3 October 2006]

This fantastic American sitcom is just to put it mildly simply AWESOME. From 1996-2002 it was the best sitcom on TV. better than Frasier, Becker, drew Carey show and certainly much better than the over rated and disgustingly over hyped FRIENDS, thats not to say those shows weren't good (save for friends)but spin city was refreshingly different. Michael j fox in the seasons he played the arrogant but caring deputy Mayor Mike Flaherty were some of the funniest TV performances i have ever seen and he thoroughly deserved his Emmy awards and of course who can forget the supporting cast... just brilliant. Stuart Bendeck (ALAN RUCK)i personally believe should have got a spin off show the man is such a perfect comedic actor his sexist remarks and facial expressions are just priceless, Carter Heywood (MICHAEL BOATMAN) as a gay rights activist and the only person who seems to be totally sensible and is yet just as neurotic and wacko as the rest is superb,The sexy as hell Nikki (CONNIE BRITTON) oh my god the thoughts I've had about her.... anyway another fantastic cast member who was MJFs love interest from the first season till MJF left in 2000 was totally superb and much sexier than any of the female cast in friends put together, and of course how can anyone forget Paul (RICHARD KIND)a lazy, offencive, crazy yet lovable press officer. some of his scenes especially with James (ALEXANDER GRABHAM) were just genius. of course i could talk about the other cast members most notably (JENNIFER ESPOSITO) and of course The mayor (BARRY BOSTWICK). They were characters i will never forget. Of course the introduction of Heather Locklear raised a few eyebrows and i for one was sceptical of the decision to bring her in, i don't know why maybe it was because the show was working really well that it didn't needed to be tampering with, but apparently the powers that be thought otherwise but never the less she proved herself to be an adequate acquisition even though it meant some of the cast that had been so brilliant in support was more or less moved to the background and when MICHAEL.J. FOX left in 2000 because of his Parkinsons disease i don't think it came to much of a surprise that a few cast members Ir, Nikki, James, Stacey etc. Getting Charlie Sheen in as MJFs replacement as the equally arrogant deputy mayor Charlie Crawford was another inspired piece of casting and he was more than a able replacement for MICHAEL J FOX and he was able to Carry Mike Flahertys traits and personalities and manifest them into his own selfish, egotistical way quite superbly. This show was for 7 years the freshest, sexiest and downright funniest show on TV. It was a damn shame that it got took of the air in 2002 and that the TV producers had decided to stick with friends (im sorry but i just think that show is so corny and syrupy and is nowhere near as funny that or people like to think it is)or Frasier etc, etc as entertainment, not that there was anything wrong with Frasier it was just time for them to call it day and thankfully not long after spin city ended it did. I personally feel that SPIN CITY can still be a success now as it was when it finished if some people just had a lot more believe in CHARLIE SHEEN. I personally don't think there was a better person to carry SPIN CITY in what was ultimately its final years than CHARLIE SHEEN so its good hes went on to even more success in the equally hilarious TWO AND A HALF MEN. God bless SPIN CITY. I give this 15 out of ten

I Spit on Your Grave (1978)

a brutal, brutal rape/revenge shocker

[8/10 · 24 September 2006]

i finally managed to watch this film last nite as it was shown on the horror channel ( sky channel 321) after years trying to buy it. i had heard from friends and even my mother who had said that this film is sick, perverted and degrading. well they were right. this film is sick, perverted and degrading but it also not a typical sleazy movie of the seventies this film is really smart. it is not stereotypical by any means in the fact that the cowards who brutally attack and rape the poor girl are not killed by some angry mob or a vigilante cop. no the victim , the woman, becomes judge, jury and indeed executioner and exacts revenge in the bloodiest ways imaginable. i think its up to people to decide if this is just another piece of mindless 70s horror/ porn trash that got caught up in the 'VIDEO NASTY' debate of the 80s or a more serious subject matter. this film leaves nothing to the imagination and has some really, really shocking moments most notably of course the rape scenes and the one that made me wince was of course the infamous 'bloodbath scene' but hey these guys deserved it maybe not the village idiot maybe he was kind of forced into doing these shocking acts but i think he did have enough sense of right and wrong and when the other three thugs send them back into the house to kill her and he cant do it means he had, but not much, more heart than the rest of his gang which makes his hanging scene all the more effective. This film also works through its lack of musical scores throughout the film as it seems more like a documentary especially during the rape scenes and the director does not attempt to hollywoodnize by presenting rape in an offbeat, hip kinda way but merely presents to us all for what it really is sick' degrading, putrid, vile and nasty. This film is not for the weakened heart but it deserves a lot more credit than it gets. this is a very powerful film about despair, loneliness, recovery and revenge.

The Evil Dead (1981)

best horror ever... period

[10/10 · 20 September 2006]

words cannot express how much i love this film. being an avid horror fan i gotta say this is the best one there ever is period. The scene where they drive through the woods in the middle of nowhere ( was actually in the middle of nowhere) to the cabin and the eerie music starts in the background still sends shivers down my spine cos it signifies we are in for a hell of a ride. Bruce Campbell (Ash) is the quisessential demon ass kicker how the hell he did not get a bigger push after this film is beyond me the guy is a legend, he goes from being a sissy, cowardly shop assistant to a bad ass in the space of about 30 mins. one word for Ash LEGEND. Cannot forget the support either absolutely magnificent and some of the scenes in that film will go down in horror folklore most notably the infamous tree rape scene or the pencil in the ankle and of course who can forget the scene where Scotty (Hal Delrich) chops up his former girlfriend into a million pieces, and oh yes how can we forget the underrated star of the show the howling wind that actually came about when Sam Raimi (Director) LEGEND, was asleep and he actually taped the wind that was creaking through his window and used it for the film. a stroke of genius. A lot of indie horror fans might think Sam Raimi sold out for doing the two brilliant spiderman films but not me. No for me it just proved what an absolutely fantastic director he is and he can only get better in face HE WILL get better the guy is a god. This film was made on an extremely tight budget and it became on of the scariest if not THE scariest horror ever made whereas these days Hollywood plough millions and millions of money into horrors purely for special effects, lots of blood but no suspense, but thats what Raimi did and thats how EVIL DEAD didn't just became another run of the mill horror. Go see this film, don't rent it, buy it and keep it for ever.

ER (1994–2009)

great show

[10/10 · 19 September 2006]

Well, well ,well what can i say that hasn't already been said about this truly magnificent show. I've been gripped since it the pilot aired back in 1993 when i was a young'un through to the present day. Whats great about this though that it is not all about medical traumas and blood (and for those who have somehow not seen the show believe there is loads of it)but it also has the right amount of touches of light humour and laugh out loud moments, most notably the seasons (1-5) where DR Doug Ross (George Clooney) DR Mark Greene were in it together. However with that being said i think i owe it to myself to speak about the true star of the show which of course is DR Robert 'rocket' Romano, a homophobic, racist yet somehow caring and undoubtedly brilliant surgeon who had a big soft spot for DR Elizabeth Corday ( The gorgeous Alex Kingston)his scenes with her when he lost his arm and he expressed his love for her and she rejected him or the time he saw her with another surgeon was some of the most heartbreaking scenes i have ever witnessed alongside of course DR Greenes funeral and DR Ross leaving Nurse Hathaway. My favourite episode however is ALL IN THE FAMILY the tragic episode where DR John Carter and his med student Lucy Knight are fighting for there lives after being stabbed by schizophrenic patient. In the end DR Carter survived but Lucy Knight was not so lucky and during the latter stages of that episode another side of Romano came out, a caring, sensitive person, who just wanted desperately to save the poor young girls live and he couldn't were just heartbreaking but for me the best scene in that entire episode was at the end when DR Romano and DR Weaver are closing up the wounds on Lucys body and they exchange a look and it was just a magnificent scene. I must admit i was a bit disappointed with the death of Romano cos alongside DR Kovac (Goran Visncic), DR Lockhart ( Maura Tierney) he was the only full time original cast member left save for DR Carter (Noah Wyle) and DR Weaver (Laura Innes)also i would of liked to see how DR Greene would of handled the new docs such as DR Greg Pratt, DR Ray Barnett etc etc. Ah well never mind go buy this, rent it, lend it, tape it of the tele, order of the internet i don't care just watch this program and be amazed.

Jeepers Creepers (2001)

very good but very frustrating

[7/10 · 18 September 2006]

MAY CONTAIN SPOILERS !well i finally managed to watch this film after years of friends bugging me to go and watch it. i had seen the trailers and thought to myself yeah big deal it just looks like another one of your typical run of the mill teen horror film anyway i swallowed my pride and decided to watch it and to my surprise i absolutely loved it. The way the opening scene was orchestrated with the two leads driving down the highway and then getting terrorised by a truck was absolutely beautiful. There was tension in those opening scenes which i personally don't think has ever been seen since Tobe Hooper's Texas CHAINSAW MASSACRE or Sam raimis EVIL DEAD. sadly we don't get suspense like that anymore cos Hollywood seems to think that a great horror is getting pretty people and killing them BORING. So as i was feeling nostalgic for the golden age of suspense/horror the film sadly descended into the all to familiar Hollywood style of horror film making these days. lots of gore but no suspense. Fair enough having a demon that comes alive every 23 years and can only feed for 23 days was different but you need the suspense to make it work instead it just became very frustrating to watch it become another typical teen horror with the two leads screaming, getting lost, gearbox not working, (come on) and etc, etc. all in all a very good but very frustrating film.