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I'm lucky enough to have just discovered the Wire I caught the 1st series on FX in the UK and immediately had to buy all the box sets. This is without doubt the finest Police drama ever shown on TV and quite possibly the finest TV show ever. Rarely does a series come along without a single weak episode in its entire run, not a single weak performance. Even when considering great shows such as CSI, The Simpsons, X-Files, Frasier etc all had weak episodes or characters that weren't up to the standard of the rest of the show.

The shows subject matter is downbeat and dark, the drugs and corruption in the city of Baltimore, but the show also has some dark humour to it and is not without it's laugh out loud moments. All the characters are well aware of their absurd situation on both sides of the law. The show has moments of touching compassion as well as brutal violence, comradeship and betrayal in such a mix that it draw you in and makes you care about each and every character not just the main ones. Its a tribute to the show that it involves you so much you begin to worry about what will happen to the characters. As such it's impossible to wait a week for another episode and a box set is the only way to go.

I think the strongest feature of this show is how it makes you see the situation from all points of view. For example the character Bubbs is a drug addict and a petty thief but after being shown his world its impossible not to feel some compassion for him and his situation. His good side and his bad is there for all to see as are the police characters who are not all sweetness and light. While some characters such as Omar could be seen as an anti-hero to be lauded but then other points of view will be shown and you have to choose how you see the character - a predator feeding off the bigger criminals in a way sticking it to the man or nothing but another criminal the show makes no judgements but gives us enough to make our own.

Congratulations should go to everyone involved in this show its challenging, intelligent, entertaining, shocking and informing all in equal measure. My only problem with it is I wish they could have gone on a few more seasons but then again maybe the show would have weakened as it is like all the greats they've left us wanting more. 10/10.

Jean Claude Van Damme stars in this action tale of a Legionere gone AWOL to sort out his families financial problems (by way of bare knuckle fighting of course). This is probably J C Van Damme's best film in terms of overall pace and plot although the dialogue and acting are still fairly clunky at times.

The action is good although I found the final fight rather disappointing, as the end opponent wasn't really that good and had some ludicrous side burns that just made me laugh (this movie is worth seeing to laugh at this guy alone). If this film had had someone with the presence of say Bolo Yeung who stared with Van Damme in Bloodsport it would have improved the movie no end as some of his opponents are a little bland. But to be honest thats just nit picking in what is a pretty fun piece of action cinema. Support acting is good Harrison Page as the manager with a heart and Lisa Pelikan as the hard up sister do well with little material. Deborah Rennard is OK as the hard nosed promoter super b**ch who just happens to look fantastic in the tiny skirts she is given to wear (does every fight promoter turn up to meetings in a bikini!?).

Overall there's not a lot to say about this movie if you like action films you'll like this, it's not ground breaking but it does what it needs to good action, reasonable plot and Van Damme's best acting performance to date. 6/10 Note - In the UK this is known as AWOL but it variously known as Lionheart and the full AWOL: Absent With Out Leave in other regions

Arnie was the action movie superstar of the 80's films such as Commando, Predator, Conan The Barbarian and of course the Terminator made him a global mega star. Raw Deal however was a misfire, even by action movie standards the plot and acting is laughable. The set up is the usual renegade cop against the evil crime overlord which should be a lot of fun but to many times this film descends in to unintentional comedy. Gunfights are poorly staged and thought out the sets look exactly what they are cardboard to be blown up cheaply, clichéd bad guys, poor script need I go on? Even Arnie isn't the presence he was in his other 80's films he must have know how poor this was going to turn out.

Poor script, acting, and unforgivably in a movie of this type poor action scenes 4/10