magx01

Rescue Me is a show about firefighters struggling with their inner demons in a post 9/11 New York City. Ladder 62 is the crew that the show centres on, and it features, among others, Denis Leary as Tommy Gavin, the main character, whom has, among other things, a drinking problem, a drug problem (at times), a marriage that has fallen apart, and survivor's guilt which resulted from his cousin's (another firefighter) death on 9/11.

The show starts off as somewhat of an ensemble show, although the focus starts to narrow as the seasons wear on. It mainly consists of watching these firefighters deal with their issues, grief, guilt, anger, substance abuse and relationship problems, with some on the job focus as well (a fire scene or two is present in most, but not all, episodes).

The show also features a healthy amount of comedy, which usually consists of antic between the "brothers" in the firehouse, much of it centring around practical jokes and conversations about things like discoloured penises and sexual orientation. Another source of laughs is Tommy's absolute inability to tell the truth with any consistency, and watching him stumble trying to lie his way out of the myriad of situations he finds himself on, often due to either his drinking problem or his rampant infidelity (or both).

The characters other than Tommy Gavin are mostly fellow firefighters, his wife Janet, and his myriad of mistresses, including a long term one who also doubles as his biggest critic, apart from his Janet. Speaking of his Janet, she at first appears to be the utter antithesis of Tommy, but then, as the show moves forward, you come to realize that she is no better, and in some ways is much worse, although she acts as though this is not so, and is adept at playing the victim role and projecting onto Tommy her personal demons. The two of them and their never ending struggles provide a main thread of the story, and, luckily, their every changing relationship and dynamic works well, as it needed to in order to maintain viewer interest.

The other firefighters alluded to earlier include, among others, his best friend Kenneth Shea (who they refer to as Lou), a stocky middle aged firefighter with a good heart and nice disposition who has some inner turmoil he deals with in ways he'd just as soon not have the guys know about; Franco Rivera, the hunky Puerto Rican player, Sean Garrity, the affable and somewhat dumb goof, Mike Silletti, the 'probie' (probationary firefighter); also a bit dumb and struggling with his sexuality, and later addition, Bart (Shawn), the house's first black firefighter and someone whom becomes tied to Tommy in a personal way as the series progresses.

Filling out the cast are Tommy and Janet's four children (Colleen, Connor, Kate and the baby), his brother Johnny, the ghost of his deceased firefighter cousin Jimmy (who he sees and converses with on a regular basis), Jimmy's widow, Sheila, his cousin Mick, a priest and his AA sponsor, Tommy's uncle Ted, his father, sister Maggie, and a few other family members. There are also characters who come and go, many of whom end up being love interests/flings for the guys (particularly Tommy and Franco).

As I alluded to earlier, Tommy regularly converses with his deceased cousin Jimmy, as well as a few other ghosts as the series progresses. This, in part at least, causes Tommy to wonder about the possibility of an afterlife, as well as the existence (or non) of a god. Raised Catholic, he struggles with belief throughout the series, seeming to alternate between belief, non belief, and contempt, depending on events. Religion is also an area of note for a few other characters in the show. The treatment of religion in the show seems to be pretty accurate, and religion provides the backdrop for a few of the more memorable scenes in the series, involving Tommy and his priest cousin, but I won't give anything away here.

As an atheist, I did not find the religious aspect to be at all annoying, as it is not overly prominent, and there is certainly no proselytizing (nor would you expect there to be, seeing as how Leary, the main character, creator and writer, is an atheist). It merely shows that religion is a part of the characters' lives, and a prominent one at times (and not a consideration at all at others).

The fire scenes are actually the least gripping aspect of the show, in my view. They're wholly uninteresting, not very unpredictable, not all that exciting, and visually bland, as they are (of course) dark and smoky, and therefore they come with reduced visibility (understandable, certainly, but a bit annoying at times). They are not a prominent aspect of this show in the least, and I usually find myself slightly disappointed when that fire bell rings. I'd much rather them continue the conversation they were having, especially the really intense or funny ones (both of which there are a lot of).

The acting is almost uniformly great. The writing is mostly good, often great, occasionally magnificent, and sometimes poor/predictable/clichéd/replete with plot holes. It's fairly consistent but sometimes gets lost and takes an episode or two to find its way. I can honestly say that I haven't truly hated any single episodes, and I have loved the majority of them. I have come to genuinely care about almost everyone on the show, and quite often I have come around from dislike to like, hate to love, even multiple times with the same character.

The show is an excellent mix of comedy and drama that deals with infidelity, substance abuse, imperfect parents and children, brotherhood, friendship, family, dysfunction, bravery, fear, cowardice, religion and the struggle with belief, lust, love, lies and lace. Not to mention discoloured penises and lesbians.

I highly recommend Rescue Me.

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This movie was a complete and utter disaster.

I was against this one in principle, since it's capitalizing on people's ignorance and pseudoscientific nonsense, and then selling their own nonsense back to them, all the while ratcheting up the hysteria, but I finally relented, against my better judgement, and with much hesitation, to my youunger brother's demands and claims of "awesome action movie" and watched the movie.

Here's my succinct synopsis: It was like they took that one moment in every action movie where you go ''okay, come on now, I can stretch my suspension of disbelief but not that damn far'' and filmed 345 of them in a row and called it a day.

Utter trash.

This movie is meant to be brutal, dirty, disgusting, awe inspiring, and terrifying. It succeeds on being each and evry one. The movie, once it "picks up" is unrelenting, suspensful, and leaves you with an uneasy feeling. There is such a stong sense of hopelesness throughout the second half, such negative emotions are elicited without so much as a second of comic relief. Yes, there is some comedy, but its all in the first third or so of the movie. The movie drags for a bit at the beginning, but once it all begins, its some scary s**t. I am an avid horror movie fan, I watch everything that comes out. Nothing has really scraed me, at least not in years. This movie scared the crap out of me. I actually wanted to turn away at one point. I wanted to run, I had second thoughts, kind of like being on a rollercoaster for the first time. I left the theater with an uneasy feeling. I couldn't stop laughing nervously, I guess I was trying to cope with what I had seen. My girlfriend was absolutely terrified. Two girls behind us were literally crying becuase they were so terrified. All around us people were screaming, jumping, squirming. After the movie, everyone was saying "that was the scariest movie I have ever seen" and "that was nuts." I couldn't agree more. This movie really, actually, truly scared me. It was just so brutal. I felt terrified for the victims; I felt afraid of the villian (Leatherface was awesome). I loved this movie. It obvioulsy has flaws. The beginning was slow, there were like thirty "jump scares," people walked around exploring stuff alone, etc etc. But this movie, if judged based on how much it did what it intended to do, gets a 10 out of 10. Easy. I thought this remake was going to be easy to stomach, I figured it was going to be "hollywoodized." I was dead wrong. This movie was insane, period.

Since anyone reading this is probably aware of the story and how this movie came to be, I will just skip straight to the things you want to hear. This movie rocks. Yes there are a couple of cheesy things here and there that make you shake your head, but you do so with a smile on your face. Yes, Freddy has a few one-liners, and one that fits the cheesy mold. However, Freddy is much more menacing than he is in most of the other movies, and he gets downright evil at some points in the movie. His lines in the beginning especially are very chilling. Jason is as ruthless as ever, and he has some awesome kills. There is a lot of blood, and a good amount of gore to boot. The kills, for the most part, are very creative, and cool. The movie maintains a steady pace throughout. The dream sequences will chill you to the bone. There are a LOT of kills in this movie, and some excellent moments where the suspense is almost too much to bear. This movie provides a lot of laughs as well. We all laughed quite a few times during this movie.

AND THE FIGHT!!!! Well, its long, but intercut with some interesting dream sequences and backstory, which keeps it from going stale. The ways they try to kill each other are awesome. Freddy especially. Lots of funny moments, and even a few where you can't help but almost sympathise with the characters. Great great great!!!!!

The movie runs about 1h 40 min, and its rated R for violence, gore, nudity, sexuality, language, and drug use.

Now I ask of you all a favour: Go See This Movie!!!

This movie as a horror movie is fantastic. As a part of the slasher sub-genre, it is the cream of the crop. Nothing has come close in terms of ingeniuity. This is much more than a guy in a mask killing people. Being able to attack someone in their dreams, and having the ability to manipulate aspects of the environment (coming through walls, beds, etc.) this movie is smartly made. Well thought-out; one of the most evil villians ever in a movie. For the low-budget affair that it was, it sure was impressive, and definately stood the test of time.