The Shield - Award wi nning for a reason

Advantages: Brilliant, shocking storylines
Disadvantages: Ended too soon

...The Shield has to be one of the best police dramas ever written in my opinion. It has been running for seven years, but unfortunately it is now coming to an end. Please be aware that the final season has already been broadcast on FX UK, and on Five so this review may contain some spoilers relating to all seasons. The Shield follows the story of Detective Vic Mackey played by Michael Chiklis, and his strike team, which consists of Det. Shane Vendrell (Walton Goggins), Det. Curtis Lemansky AKA Lem(Kenny Johnson), Det. Ronnie Gardocki (David Rees Snell) and Det.Terry Crowley (Reed Diamond). The strike team are responsible for cleaning Farmington division of drugs and drug lords. Vic and his strike team, which originally had only 4 members, resort to highly illegal tactics in order to achieve their goals. Suspicious of this Capt. David...

Fiver29 13.05.2009 · Read review
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Review of The Shield

Brooke

Advantages: Great plot, gripping
Disadvantages: Ghost writer, Short

...a course which would map out the rest of her life as an author. Before her passing in 1986 caused by breast cancer she wrote eight books including the imfamous 'Flowers in the attic'. With hundreds of more ideas penned, the family members left behind sort and found Andrew Neiderman who was to become her ghost writer. He now uses her short stories and makes them into a novel which is then published under her name. In 1998 the five books of the Orphan series was published. Like most others made the idea is four separate storys which somehow come together to create the fifth, In this instance the books in order were to be named Crystal, Butterfly, Brooke, Raven and finally Runaways. Plot At the tender age of two Brooke Okun is abandoned by her mother and is left with only a faded pink ribbon to remember her. This allows Brooke...

ovetta2001 06.02.2008 · Read review
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Review of Brooke - Virginia Andrews

The Shield

Advantages: Powerful Storylines, Great Cast
Disadvantages: N/A

...A friend recommended this to me with the warning 'It's quite gritty and a bit graphic so be prepared'. This was a massive understatement. 'The Shield' focuses on group of detectives called the 'Strike Team' of the LAPD in the (fictional) Farmington District of Los Angeles. The team is led by Vic Mackey (Michael Chiklis) and includes Shane Vendrell (Walton Goggins), Ronnie Gardocki (David Rees Snell), Curtis Lemansky (Kenny Johnson) and Terry Crowley (Reed Diamond). As the seasons progressed the team gained new members but the ones listed above were the 'originals'. The Strike Team use questionable methods to enforce what they believe to be justice and are basically corrupt. The thing that I really like about this show is that, although you know that the team shouldn't be doing what they do, you always support them as you know that its...

dandadda 20.02.2009 · Read review
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Review of The Shield

Brooks & Marshall - Fascinating Characters

Advantages: Engrossing storyline, superb acting.
Disadvantages: None.

...Director: Bruce A. Evans Writers: Bruce A. Evans & Raynold Gideon Genre: Crime - Drama - Mystery - Thriller Country: USA Certification: 18 Language: English Released: 8th February, 2008 (DVD) MAIN CAST: Kevin Costner (Mr. Earl Brooks) William Hurt (Marshall) Demi Moore (Detective Tracy Atwood) Dane Cook (Mr. Smith) Marg Helgenberger (Emma Brooks) Danielle Panabaker (Jane Brooks) Earl Brooks is a highly successful businessman, a loving husband and a doting father-but he's also a serial killer who loves killing couples and placing them in romantic positions so that he can photograph them. When Mr. Brooks inadvertently leaves the curtains open during a murder, an amateurish mistake caused by an unconscious desire to be caught and stopped, he is captured on camera by a voyeur who was getting off watching...

GoFigure 09.09.2008 · Read review
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Review of Mr. Brooks (DVD)

FREE DVDs

Advantages: Free trial, large choice, post included,new realeases
Disadvantages: see review

...I like movies and I like freebies, so when you get offered both in one swoop you?re bound to accept! I used my two week free trial with this company and remained with them for a couple of monthsbefore moving on to try many other companies free trials (and winning a new DVD player on Tesco DVD rental site on their free trial offer). I then had an email from DVDs 365 asking me to go back, and offering me a free DVD if I did so. I had just left Tesco (with my new DVD player) so I chose to go back with them. ∆◊◊ THE SERVICE THEY OFFER ∆◊◊ Basically it?s like going to a video shop and hiring films on DVD, except you don?t pay for each film you chose ? rather a monthly fee for which you can watch as many movies as you can fit in, for us this is usually around 8 a month (2 a week usually weekends...

dabmim 15.11.2004 · Read review
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Review of dvds365.com

Killing by the Brooks

Advantages: Dane Cook shows he may have range and William Hurt is very good.
Disadvantages: Poor writing and direction that leads to an absence of tension.

...Mr Brooks is a successful businessman and devoted husband and father. But unbeknownst to anyone else, he's also a prolific serial killer and one who is so good that he's never been caught. He's tried desperately to control his urges and the sardonic alter-ego he calls Marshall. But when he gives into temptation he's caught on film by a creepy peeping Tom. The next thing he knows, he's tangled up in the twisted agenda of the opportunistic bystander and they are both being hunted by tenacious detective Tracy Atwood. Can Mr Brooks keep his secret under wraps, or will he be exposed to his wife and daughter? This is Bruce A Evans' second feature as director in fifteen years (after the forgettable Christian Slater vehicle "Kuffs") and his inexperience shows. It should be a serial killer movie with a strangely sympathetic anti-hero. But...

afy9mab 24.10.2007 · Read review
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Review of Mr. Brooks (DVD)

Brooks by day, killer by night!

Advantages: Great film all round
Disadvantages: Complex plot twists in abundance

...When people think of Kevin Costner and his films, you can be pretty sure they're thinking of Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves, or the flop Waterworld, or his critically acclaimed roles in JFK or Dances With Wolves or the smash hit The Bodyguard. Costner has hit it as a screen legend, but of late he hasn't been as hot in terms of publicity. This surprises me, as two of his more recent roles I consider to be possibly his best. The first is his role as a drifter in the cult western film Open Range. The second is here, as the obsessive serial killer Mr Brooks. Costner seems to excel at the more artistic films that don't hit the screens in such a big way. Mr Brooks is a highly entertaining and well worked thriller directed by Bruce A Evans and starring Costner alongside some other eyebrow raising names such as Demi Moore, William Hurt and CSI...

pmcds 26.03.2009 · Read review
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Review of Mr. Brooks (DVD)

Black Rabbit Summer by Kevin Brooks is a fantastic book

Advantages: Fantastic story, interesting characters, you can't put it down,
Disadvantages: Not suitable for younger children

...Black Rabbit Summer, by Kevin Brooks When/why/how I got the book I always seem to get given lots of books at Christmas, and this year this was one of the best I was given. I had asked my mum for it, because Kevin Brooks is a fantastic author and this was one of the few books of his I hadn't yet read. I'd read an extract from it at the back of another book, and already wanted to know more about the story. Plot If youre planning to read this, be warned that this might ruin it for you. I won't tell the endings. The book starts when Pete, the main character, is upstairs doing nothing, something he is used to doing quite a lot of, looking forward to the summer holidays, and he gets a phone call from an old friend, Nicole. This is unexpected, he hasn't properly spoken to her for years and he wonders what she wants. What...

Ruby.xo 28.06.2009 · Read review
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Review of Black Rabbit Summer - Kevin Brooks

Surprising Picture Quality - Panasonic DVD-S54

Advantages: Incredible picture quality when compared to my old non-upscaling player with a scart lead
Disadvantages: Sometimes disc drive can be really noisy when DVD's initially load.

...At first I wasn't convinced by up-scaling DVD player technology but was persuaded after reading an article in "What Hi-Fi? Sound and Vision" magazine. Unable to afford a Blu-Ray player my sister and I bought the Panasonic DVD-S54 to match our parents brand new Panasonic TX-32LZD80 LCD television as their Christmas 2008 present. Admittedly it was a slightly selfish purchase as we both live at home and wanted to watch DVDs on the big new TV ourselves! We bought the player from the electrical retailer Comet for about £100 just before Christmas so there were no discounts applied. On Christmas day when opened we found a relatively small box tightly packed with the player in polystyrene packaging. All the components such as cables, remote and manuals were well presented in their own protective plastic bags, to keep them protected. The player...

bobbacon985 12.02.2009 · Read review
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Review of Panasonic DVD-S54

Shield smash, but only if you are the hulk!

Advantages: An inbetween toy for my inbetween aged son!
Disadvantages: Doesn't allow the child to do what it is supposed too.

...My baby Connor turned 4 years old a while ago and along with the extortionate amount of money he received, a pile of toys and gifts re-appeared, funnily enough in the exact space I had only cleared last weekend of the Christmas stuff! As I have mentioned in other reviews, my son is at a funny age not a baby by any means, (well to me he is!), but not really old enough for the toys he wants to play with. The one type of toy he seems to receive a lot of at present are action figures, one of which I will now review. The toy I will now review is - ?Shield smash Hulk? Now obviously my son is discovering the Hulk a generation after we (myself and my husband) remember him, and by goodness has he change! The toys available now are of course based on the remake film featuring Edward Norton. With this remake film being a lot more...

sarahbarrow 16.09.2009 · Read review
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Review of Hasbro Hulk Movie Action Figure Shield Smash Hulk