Wipeout Omega Collection review

Right, just for a change I figured I would do a review on a video game for a change and since I've not been gaming much lately and with the great news of the release of the HD remastered Wipeout Omega Collection on the PS4, I figured its time to purchase, play and then review them.  So, having played the game(s) for a few days I figured I might aswell put a review up.

So, how do they fair??? Well let's find out....

Well the first thing that is worth mentioning is that no matter what the differences are, each game follows essentially the same format in which the players will pilot anti-gravity ships around futuristic race tracks....and that's it!

But anyway let's take a quick look at the three games (well technically its two as Wipeout Fury is an expansion pack of Wipeout HD).

WIPEOUT 2048 

Well starting off with Wipeout 2048, which is actually supposed to be a prequel to Wipeout HD and is set in the years 2048, 2049 and 2050 and it was originally released on the Playstation Vita console.  In this game, the races are depicted as taking place on the streets as dedicated race tracks have yet to have been built and this helps add a different element to the gameplay, which is rather nice.

The game also has four different types of ships that are speed ships, figher ships, agility ships and prototype ships.  The speed ships tend to be lighter and offer great acceleration and maximum speed for time trials or races.  The agility ships on the other hand offer greater manoeuvaribility and handling, which are great for navigating sharps bends and winding tracks.  And lastly there are the fighter ships, which are slower but offer greater build and are heavily armed for combat races.

In the game during the races, the ships can pick up various weapons by flying over different coloured weapon pads.  The weapons available to players include missiles and canons that can be used to destroy other ships and there are also defensive weapons such as mines, sheilds and speed boosts.

The game also has different modes of play such as one on one races, time trials, tournament races, speed laps and also the zone mode.  The zone mode was an addition to Wipeout HD that is featured here again and it tests the player's limits to navigate a track at increasing speeds, while the track rapidly changes colours as your progress through the zones.

As for the medal system in Wipeout 2048 it is also a little different as 1st, 2nd and 3rd place still applies but this time round you don't get gold, silver or bronze, you either get a pass for coming in anything from 5th place to 2nd place or for 1st place you get an elite pass.  The points and awards system however is pretty much the same as the more points you are awarded it will enable for more advanced ships to be made available.  

WIPEOUT HD & FURY 

As Wipeout Fury is an expansion pack of Wipeout HD, I figured I might as well put them together in this review.  

Wipeout HD features five racing modes, which include a standard single race tournament in which the player will race against other opponents in order to try and gain a gold medal but silver and bronze medals are also awarded for 2nd and 3rd place.  Tournament mode consists of four single races in each tournament and the player who earns the most points during the tournament will win.  Time trials and speed laps involve the player trying to get the fastest time on a track in either a single lap or several laps.  And finally there is the Zone mode, which is again the same as the mode in Wipeout 2048, which is basically a survival mode where a player's ship accelerates to extreme speeds.

Similar to Wipeout 2048 (and Fury also) each ship has its own built-in energy shield, which absorbs damage sustained during a race although if the shield is depleted then the ship will be destroyed.  Energy however can also be replenished by absorbing pick ups as the ship flies around the track, which can restore or save the ship from being destroyed although of course players will take damage from other ships in combat races.

Another addition to the game is of course the air breaks, which is a staple of all the Wipeout games and they are used to manoeuvre around corners at high speeds.  And there is also the auto-pilot pick-up that lasts only a few seconds but does allow to pilot the ship smoothly for a brief time.  And lastly there is the barrel roll move, which allows your ship to do a quick spin in mid-air but is only effective when the ship ramps off in the air and also using reduces your ship's shield, so its not always advisable to use it.  

As for Wipeout Fury, it added 8 new tracks, 13 new ship models and three new game modes, which are the eliminator, zone battle and detonator. The Eliminator mode simply involves trying to destroy other opponents during races to gain points, whereas the Zone battle mode is a multiplayer version of the original Zone mode.  And lastly the detonator mode is where a player scores points by shooting mines that are scattered throughout the racetrack.

GRAPHICS 

As for all three games graphics, well they are pretty uniform looking overall and frankly their PS4 remaster looks absolutely stunning as the game tracks are richly detailed and the ships all look great with their own unique designs.  And there is little to separate them although Wipeout 2048 does offer some slight changes in its design due to the setting of the tracks being on the streets and not on specially engineered racetracks as is the case in Wipeout HD and Fury.  Overall though, regardless any differences, the Wipeout Omega Collection looks friggin awesome.

MUSIC

As for the music well it features the usual mix of techo tracks and electronica, which are actually not too bad however overall the soundtrack does have a rather lacklustre feel to it, as it does suffer from a lack of any killer tracks.  Although the soundtrack does still feature some notable techno artists such as The Chemical Brothers, who provides a good track "Boys Noize" and The Prodigy, who also provides one of the soundtrack's more standout tunes "Invaders must die".  Other good tracks also include Emika's "Double Edge" and DJ Kentaro's "North, South, East, West".  However despite these strong tracks, you still get the feel that while its a pretty decent soundtrack it could still be better.  

FLAWS

As for flaws....well the collection overall is pretty good but I would have to say there only one or two snags with them overall.


And to kick off one of the problems I had with the games was to do with a rather inconsistent level of difficulty as Wipeout 2048 is notably trickier that either Wipeout HD or Fury, although this may have something to do with maybe the level of difficulty getting tougher in the latter two games in the later events.  However in Wipeout 2048, I was finding myself frequently in races failing to even get a 2nd or 3rd place (or maybe I'm just a crap racer!) but it was much easier to do in the other two games, although the medal system is a bit different since you only get a pass or an elite pass for 1st place. 

Another issue I had was to do with Wipeout 2048 and how remarkably stingy they are at releasing the number of ships available.  I mean there are tonnes of them but as you win events it is really stingy in terms of the ships you can access and its probably only a couple to start off with and you must need to win alot more points or get a bunch of elite passes before you can access the really good ships.  So, for the most part you are stuck looking at most of the ships greyed out with the lock symbol on them, which is a real pain in the ass, yet you have fuller access to the other different types of ship available in the other two games.  Not a fair shake to be honest, shame on you Wipeout 2048!!  

I also felt that another issue I had was to do with the whole Zone mode feature of the three games as the point of it as I mentioned already was to survive the track as the speeds getting faster and faster, however as does this you are subjected to some strong psychedelic colours, which can be very distracting to look at.  In fact it was said during testing that the Zone mode's colour and visuals had to be toned down as it failed epilepsy testing and being someone with epilepsy myself its easy to see why!! (Although I have never suffered from any game-induced seizures myself).  So, basically I feel if there is any mode in the game that could be expendable then it would be the Zone mode.

In fact...I found the perfect way to play the Zone mode tracks without getting a headache or risk any potential seizures (well not sure about the last bit) and that way is this....turn down the colour on your TV to make it black and white!  Yep, that's the best way to deal with this problem if you are finding the Zone mode colours are a bit overkill and let's face it they are! 

You could also argue that quite a few of the tracks have a very samey feel to them in their design, so when you are racing around them it could easily be just the same track as the last one with only the odd bit of visual reshuffling here and there!  In fact Wipeout 2048 offered some nice differences in its visuals by utilising the street racing idea rather than the custom built, high-tech race courses of the future games.

Anyway that's it for the flaws (well for now in case I think of anymore!).

SUM UP

So in summary, Wipeout Omega Collection is a great buy for anyone, who is a Wipeout fan and its great too see the series get its visual update and release on the PS4 and for £30 you are certainly getting your money's worth here with three games to choose from.  The games are not short on race-tracks, ships, features or indeed on stunning visuals even though it does have one or two flaws and the soundtrack could have been alot than it is.

However putting that all aside, Wipeout Omega Collection is an essential purchase if you are a fan of the Wipeout series and its a great welcome back for the franchise to the PS4.

Right, so that's it for now and I will be back soon with maybe another review just before the end of the month.

So, till the next one, its bye for now!

The Room (revisited) "Oh, hi Mark!"

Right, OK, I must admit this is just another excuse to revisit one of my older posts but this one, which is well worth it as it is the classic cult film, The Room, Tommy Wiseau's bizzare romantic comedy/drama.  The Room is often said to be one of the worst films of all time....but is it??? Well, let's grab the tux and play some football....(or to put it another way, let's take a look at the film!). 

And yes the usual warning is coming up....

SPOILERS ARE AHEAD!! 

STORY

Right, so the story focuses on a successful banker named Johnny (Wiseau) who lives in San Francisco with his fiance Lisa (Juliette Danielle).  They appear to have a very passionate and intimate relationship where they often have sex.  However Lisa all of sudden appears to have grown discontent in her relationship with Johnny as she tells her mother Claudette (Carolyn Minnott) that she doesn't love Johnny anymore and has grown bored of him.  Claudette however tries to convince Lisa that Johnny would make a good husband as well as being in a good steady job he can provide for her.

Lisa however decides to ignore Claudette's advice and embarks on having an affair with Johnny's best friend, Mark (Greg Sestero) who at first is reluctant to do the dirty on his good friend but ends up sleeping with her anyway.  Meanwhile Johnny one day comes home from work deflated to tell Lisa that he didn't get his promotion and Lisa decides to try and cheer him up by getting him drunk.  The next day Lisa tells Claudette a lie that when Johnny got drunk he hit her, which Johnny overhears from upstairs and he then decides to tap his phone so he can hear any phone call Lisa might make.

Johnny goes up on his apartment building roof angry about Lisa's accusation of him hitting her where he talks with Mark who gives off the signal that he is already seeing someone but he doesn't tell Johnny who it is and leaves.  After this Johnny's next door neighbour, Denny (Philip Haldiman) also arrives on the roof who admits to being in love with Lisa, but instead of being angry Johnny calmly listens and explains that Lisa loves him also but as a friend and Denny instead decides to propose to his own girlfriend, Elisabeth (whom we never see).

Johnny then meets up with his friend Peter (Kyle Voght) who is a pscyhologist and asks him to help with his problems over Lisa but Peter is reluctant to get involved and Mark soon comes around as well to visit, followed by Lisa who eyes Mark who decides to leave shortly after.  Peter then confronts Mark on the roof as he realises that Mark is having an affair with Elisabeth which causes Mark to nearly push Peter off the roof but he let's him go and apologises and confesses his affair with Lisa.  Peter then warns Mark that Lisa is a sociopath who is incapable of loving someone and that he should stay away from her.

After this, Lisa plans out Johnny's surprise birthday party but on the night of the party, with all of Johnny's friends in attendance, Lisa intends to turn her relationship with Johnny on its head as the film leads to its climax.....

THOUGHTS

It has to be said that The Room truly is a unique film and its a difficult one to review like any other as on one hand it is utterly awful but on the other hand it is quite brilliant and in a way a real work of twisted genius from its director/writer/star Tommy Wiseau.  And despite being regarded as one of the worst films ever made it has undeniably gained a cult following since its release and it regularly has had sold out viewings in cinemas in the US, Canada and the UK.

The production itself had its problems and Wiseau reportedly had fired numerous actors from the film.  Wiseau's grasp on the English language also at times made for some of the lines to be comical while in other moments such as the one where Mark tells the story about how a girl he knew was beaten up once for cheating on one of her boyfriends, which Johnny in the film laughs at.  And Wiseau was asked by Sestero and his first assistant director to not laugh at this scene which he refused to do.  Wiseau also frequently forgot his lines during filming, so much so it involved many takes in order for him to get them right or in most other cases he simply had to redub his voice during post production.

In fact its worth mentioning that there is an excellent book that gives a full account of the trials and triabulations that took place on the film's production called "The Disaster Artist" which was written by Greg Sestero himself.  Its a great book, which is filled with fascinating stories about the production and even about Sestero's career and his friendship with Wisea also.  So, I would definitely recommend checking it out, especially  if you have seen the film and also if you are a struggling actor in Hollywood! 

Wiseau also later tried to claim the film was in fact a black comedy but at the time many of the actors involved in the film said it was supposed to have been a serious romantic drama and ultimately Wiseau may have been trying to cover his own tracks by claiming it to be a comedy (which it totally is but a thoroughly unintentional one!).

PERFORMANCES AND NOTABLE SCENES (Warning: this section contains spoilers!)

Moving onto the performances..... yes........... well I think it would be safe to say that for once the performances here are truly a mixed bag to say the least.

And to start off we might as well look at the film's star, director and producer: Tommy Wiseau, and its pretty obvious here the man clearly has little or virtually no acting ability whatsoever as he often delivers his bizarre lines in such a nonchalant, indifferent manner.  Also with Wiseau's bizzare foreign accent its hard to guage his nationaility as he has often been mysterious about his background, although he said he spent many of his former years in France.

So it has to be said as far performances in films go Wiseau's here must rank as one of the all time worst ever.  However.... it has to be also said that it must rank as one of the most entertaining performances of all time as well and Wiseau despite his total absence of acting chops delivers his lines in such a comical way it often will have you guffawing at just how awful it sounds.  And its also worth pointing out that Wiseau throughout the film keeps saying "Hi" to everyone and doing that creepy laugh of his at everybody as if that would endear himself to an audience.  Well....it doesn't.   

So it has to be said with all that in mind that Wiseau has actually got some highlights in the film, such as his first scene where Johnny comes home and hands over a present to Lisa and he says "Hi, babe!".  And as the present turns out to be a sexy dress, Lisa puts it on and they are interrupted by Denny and as Denny is wowed by how Lisa looks in the dress, Johnny says "Anything for my princess!".

Then there is the infamous scene where Johnny angrily talks to himself as he walks up onto the roof entrance of his building and he says in reference to Lisa "I did not hit her!  Its bullshit!  I did not hit her! I did NOT!" and he glances over and sees Mark and casually says "Oh, hi Mark!" as if nothing was wrong.  And in the same scene Johnny also says to Mark that maybe he should find a girlfriend and asks him about one of his former girlfriends, Betty and Mark says "She wasn't that good in a bed and we argued alot of times" and Johnny says in response "That's too bad.  Lisa is great whenever I can get it".

Then there is the scene where Johnny confronts Lisa over why she said he hit her and he says to her "I never hit you!  Why are you doing this Lisa, why?!  You are tearing me apart Lisa!!" in a less than convincing manner!

Another classy and hilariously pointless scene comes when Johnny and Mark have coffee in a shop and Mark asks "How was work today?" and Johnny replies "Oh pretty good.  We got a new client and the bank will make alot of money" and as Mark tries to find out who the client is Johnny says "I cannot tell you, its confidential" and then he asks Mark out of the blue "Anyway, how is your sex life?".  And at that point if I were Mark I would be spitting out my coffee all over the place!

Then there is the scene where Johnny dispondently tells Lisa that he didn't get his promotion and he says to her "That son of a bitch told me that I would get it within three months. I save them bundles. They're crazy. I don't think I will ever get it. They betrayed me, they didn't keep their promise, they tricked me, and I don't care anymore".

And of course there is the priceless scene where Johnny buys some flowers for Lisa in a florists and the women serving him says "Oh, hi Johnny.  I didn't realise it was you" and Johnny says "That's me!" and they have a very quick exchange, which ends with the women says "You're my favourite customer" and Johnny quickly walks out the door saying "Thanks.  Bye!".  Its just another WTF moment as how could she possibly mistake Johnny for anyone else given that he is a strange looking long haired weirdo!  

And last of all there is the showdown scene when Johnny confronts Mark over his affair with Lisa and in the scene they first off have a quick spat as Johnny pushes Mark back and Lisa tells them to stop it.  And Johnny all of a sudden quickly says "OK!  Fight's over everyone!  I'm sorry Mark" and then he walks off only later to find Mark and Lisa canoodling with one another in plain view of everyone!  And Johnny looks on surprised (or as surprised as Wiseau can!) and says "What are you doing?" and as Mark tries to reason with Johnny he puts his hand on Johnny's shoulder and Johnny bats it off angrily saying "Don't touch me, motherfucker!  Get out!".  And Johnny continues to rant at Mark "You betrayed me! You're not good. You, you're just a chicken. Chip-chip-chip-chip-cheep-cheep!" doing the most feeble chicken impression ever during a rather dramatic scene (or as dramatic as this film can be).

And after this to top it off Johnny "Everybody betrayed me! I fed up with this world!" before going off upstairs to sulk before the film's ending.  And in his last scene of the film (SPOILER!!!!) Wiseau as Johnny tells Lisa to get out and trashes the place in the most nonchalant manner possible as he yells "Why Lisa?? WHY???!  You bitch!" and he proceeds to dry hump her red dress, tear it up and take the gun he took from Denny's drug dealer earlier in the film and well....I shall say no more! 

Next there is Greg Sestero who it has to be said fairs a bit better overall in his performance as Mark
(although it wouldn't be hard to do!) Johnny's good friend who is manipulated and seduced by Lisa.

Sestero has some cringing moments as well but also some highlights such as the scene on the rooftop where Mark tells Johnny the story about a girl he once knew "I used to know a girl; she had a dozen guys. One of them found out about it... beat her up so bad she ended up at a hospital on Guerrero Street".  And after the story Johnny laughs out loud and says "What a story, Mark!" and Mark smiles and says "Yeah, you can say that again!" and Mark continues saying "Oh man, I just can't figure women out!  Sometimes they're just too smart.  Sometimes they're just flat-out stupid. Other times they're just evil!".

Another noteworthy scene is when Mark is first seduced by Lisa and he is rather slow on the uptake as she removes her negilge to show her sexy black dress.  Then Lisa moves over to Mark and caresses him and he finally says "I mean, the candles, the music, the sexy dress... I mean, what's going on here?" (come on take a hint, Mark!).

Then there is the scene where Peter, the psychologist and friend to Johnny, confronts Mark on the rooftop and Mark very nearly pushes Peter off the roof but let's him go and feebly says "I'm sorry" as if nothing happened.  And in the scene Mark confesses to Peter "Well, you are right. It's Lisa. I don't know what to do, man. I'm sort of pressed. It's HER fault. She's such a manipulative BITCH!".

And lastly there is the scene when Mark and Lisa kiss at the party with everyone else outside, one of the guests comes back in and catches them in the act and Mark angrily says to the guy "You don't understand anything, man. Leave your STUPID comments in your pocket!".  Also Greg has the honour of asking the one question that must be on everyone's mind in the film in the scene where Mark confronts Johnny about his affair with Lisa and he says to Johnny "Leave her alone.  She doesn't want to talk to you".  And Johnny angrily pushes Mark saying "Since when do you give me orders?!" and Mark says "Since Lisa changed her mind about you!  Wake up man, what planet are you on???!".  And this is the most sensible statement that is made in the whole film!    

Then we have Juliette Danielle who is arguably and ironically probably the best perfomer in the film as Lisa, Johnny's two-timing and manipulative girlfriend as she is the only that appears to be emote properly.

Danielle has some good albeit cringeworthy moments herself such as the scene where Lisa first seduces Mark and she says to him "I like you very much, loverboy".  And as she caresses Mark's hair and sits on his lap, Mark says "What about Johnny?  I'm his best friend" and Lisa says "Forget about, Johnny. Tonight this is just you and me".   

Then there is the scene where Lisa get's drunk with Johnny after he comes home letdown because he didn't get the promotion.  And Lisa says to Johnny "Do you want me to order pizza?" and Johnny says "Whatever.  I don't care." and Lisa says "I already ordered a pizza" and Johnny laughs says "You think about everthing!".

Then there is the scene where Lisa meets with her friend Michelle and tells her of her affair with Mark and she says "You know, I really loved Johnny at first. Everything’s changed. I need more from life than what Johnny can give me. Suddenly my eyes are wide open and I can see everything so clearly. I want it all".  And as Michelle asks "You think you can get it all from Mark?" Lisa cooly replies "If he can't give me what I want, somebody else will".

Then there is the scene where Lisa tells Michelle that her announcement that she is having a baby is a lie "There is no baby.  I told him that to make it interesting. We’re probably going to have a baby eventually anyway".

BIG SPOILER COMING UP IN THIS NEXT PARAGRAPH!!!

And last of all as Lisa finds Johnny has shot himself and lies dead, she sobs and Mark examines Johnny and she asks tearfully the stupidest question "Is he dead?!".  Ermmm duh!!!  But Lisa after tearfully asks Mark "I still have you though, right?" and Mark suddenly looks at her with disgust and says "You'll never have me!  You caused this!" but Lisa through her tears says "But we're free to be together.  I love you". However its too late for that as Mark tells her "I don't live you!  As far as I'm concerned you can drop off the face of the earth!  That's a promise!".  And welll....that line doesn't make any sense either!   

And lastly I will mention two more cast members, first off there is Philip Haldiman as Denny, the rather creepy and overly chirpy youth who lives next door to Johnny and Mark and clearly has a thing for Lisa.

Halidman has some amusing moments as well such as his first scene where Denny butts in on Johnny and Lisa's sexy time as the two of them go upstairs for some action, Denny takes it upon himself to follow them up and get involved!  And as Johnny asks him "Denny, haven't you got something to do?" and Denny says "I just like watching you guys!" and Johnny finally drops the hint "Yeah but two's company and three's a crowd" and Denny finally relents and says "I get it.  You wan't to be left alone.  I've got some homework to do anyway.  See you two lovebirds later".

Then there is the cringeworthy scene where Denny later turns up at Johnny and Lisa's apartment and Lisa opens the door and Denny says to her "You look beautiful today.  Can I kiss you?" and Lisa smiles saying "You are such a brat!" and Denny backpedals saying "I'm only kidding!" but of course he isn't as he is madly in love with her!

And then there is the scene where Denny confesses his love for Lisa to Johnny "I gotta tell you something.  It's about Lisa.  She's beautiful.  She looks great in her red dress.  I think I'm in love with her".  And as Johnny rationalises Denny's feelings most likely to be just a crush and that Lisa loves him too as a friend and finally that Denny should persue his relationship further with his existing girlfriend instead, Denny simply puts it into perspective and says to Johnny "Awesome.  Thanks, Johnny!".  Yep that simple!    

Next is Carolyn Minnott who does Ok as Lisa's mother Claudette (although apparently she had no acting experience prior to this role!) who is very a much practical person and wants to see Lisa marry Johnny primarily because he has a good secure job which guarantee their financial future.  In fact this is something Claudette tells Lisa in just about every scene they have together!!

Minnott however has one inexplicable scene where Claudette tells Lisa that she has breast cancer, which her daughter almost totally dismisses "Everything goes wrong all at once. Nobody wants to help me. And I'm dying".  And Lisa says "You're not dying mom" and Claudette insists "I got the results back - I definitely have breast cancer!" and Lisa says "You're gonna be fine mom".  Yeah OK that's good to know!

And then there is the scene where Lisa and Claudette walk in on her friend Michelle and her partner Mike having sex and later on after they go, Denny appears which prompts Claudette to ask one of the film's very rare legitimate questions "How many people come in and out of this apartment every day? This is worse than Grand Central Station!".

Kyle Voght is not too bad in his role as Peter, Tommy's friend, who is a psychologist who later learns the truth of Mark's affair with Lisa although you do get the feeling his performance while is one of the better ones, he does appear to hold back a little and his performance feels a bit dialled in at times.  Voght also inexplicably disappears from the film near the end but this was due to the limited availability of Voght during production so his character had to be later replaced with another, Steve, who turns up at Tommy's birthday party later on. 

Voght however does have a fairly good scene with Sestero where Peter goes up to the rooftop of Mark and Tommy's apartment building and he confronts him over his affair with Lisa.  And in the scene Peter says to Mark "Just chill out, Mark. I’m just trying to help. You’re having an affair with Lisa, aren’t you?" and Mark angrily asks "What?!" and Peter says "Am I wrong?".  However Mark suddenly in a fit of rage half-heartedly tries to push Peter off the roof with Peter shouting "What are you nuts?!! Gah!!" but Mark then let's him go and apologises.

So Peter warns Mark "You know this is going to ruin your friendship with Johnny? What were you thinking? Alright, you want my advice? Sometimes, life can get complicated, and you’ve got to be responsible. So you don’t see Lisa again, and you definitely don’t sleep with her again! Just find yourself another girl. She’s a sociopath! She only cares about herself. She can’t love anyone!".

Robyn Paris also fairs a bit better in the film as Michelle, Lisa's best friend (and she's pretty cute too it has to be said!) and Robyn replaced an actress, who had already been cast to play the part.

And Robyn's notable scenes include the one where Michelle and her boyfriend, Mike, sneak into Johnny's apartment to have sex only for them to be caught in the act later by Lisa and Claudette.  However before they do they amusingly share some chocolate before Robyn takes off Mike's shirt and she says to him "Arms up!" before they get down to it on Johnny's sofa.

Then later there is the scene where Lisa tells Michelle of her affair with Mark and Michelle is surprised and says to Lisa "Lisa! This isn’t right. You’re living with one guy and you’re sleeping with another guy?.  And Lisa says "I'm doing what I want to do" and Michelle asks "So, who is he?" and Lisa says "His best friend and he lives in this building" and Michelle concerned says "I can’t believe you’re telling me this. It’s Mark, isn’t it? Lisa, you know, you’re just thinking about yourself. Somebody’s going to get hurt. You’ve got to be honest with Johnny".

Scott Holmes is OK as Mike, Michelle's boyfriend although his character is pretty laughable and silly throughout the scenes he appears in.

And two such scenes are of course the one where Mike sneaks into Johnny's apartment with Michelle and the two of them start to make out but before they do so, Mike opens a box of chocolates.  And Mike says to Michelle "Did you know that, uh, chocolate...is the symbol of love?" and Michelle laughs and says "Feed me!" and he feeds her a chocolate before they start to get down to it.  However Mike pulls some stupid faces even before Michelle starts to go down on him!

Then there is the scene where Mike confesses awkwardly to Johnny that he sneaked into his apartment with fool around with Michelle.  And Mike tells Johnny awkwardly " Um, actually, Johnny, I got, I got a little bit of a tragedy on my hands, yeah. Me and Michelle, we were, we were making out, uh, at your place…" and Tommy seems remarkably unfazed by this and simply says "A-ha-ha!". So, Mike then says "…and, uh, Lisa and Claudette sort of, uh, walked in on us in the middle of it. That’s not the end of the story".  And Johnny, amused says "Go on..." and Mike continues "Okay. We’re going at it, and um, I get out of there as fast as possible, you know, I get my pants, I get my shirt, and I get out of there. And then about halfway down the stairs, I realize that I have misplaced, I’ve forgotten something. Um, my underwear!".

And Mike continues "So I come back to get it, I pretend that I need a book, you know, I’m like looking for my book, and then I reach and put the underwear in my pocket, sort of slide out real quick. Well Claudette, she saw it sticking out of my pocket, so she pulls it out, and she’s, uh, showing everybody me underwears!".  And Johnny amused, laughs his creepy laugh and says "You must be kidding.  I get the picture...underwear" and Mike embarrased says "I don't know what..." and Johnny says "That's life".

And last of all Dan Janjigian does quite well in his brief role as Chris R. (what the R stands for who knows???) the drug dealer, who is after Denny for money that he owes him.

So this is Dan's only scene and it starts with Chris R. confronting Denny on the rootop of his apartment building.  And Chris R. says "Hey, Denny" and Denny, looking scared says "Chris-R.  I've been looking for you" and Chris-R says "Yeah, sure you have.  You have my money, right?" and Denny says "Yeah.  Its coming.  It'll be here in a few minutes".  However, Chris-R suddenly turns aggressive and says "What do you mean its coming, Denny?  Where's my money?" and Denny, panicked says "OK just give me five minutes".  But then Chris-R pulls a gun on Denny and shouts "Five minutes? You want five fucking minutes, Denny? You know what? I haven’t got five fucking minutes!".  And Chris-R pushes Denny to the ground and points the gun at his head and again yells "WHERE'S MY FUCKING MONEY, DENNY?!  WHERE'S MY FUCKING MONEY???!" but pretty soon Tommy and Mark arrive to save the day and they grab Chris-R and haul him downstairs just as Lisa and Claudette inexplicably appear nearly at the same time!   

DIRECTION AND MUSIC 

I would say something about Tommy Wiseau's direction but it would be a bit of a laugh to do so and it would be more accurate to say the film has an inherent and fundamental lack of direction!  In fact for me I think the problem with Wiseau's direction is that he directs the film as if it were actually more a stage play with people just dropping in and out of random scenes. 

I also think the script that Wisea had written for the film was done just shortly after he had taken a crash course in English and that might explain why there are so many bizarre sounding lines as the guy clealy doesn't understand it well!  In fact in Sestero's book "The Disaster Artist" it was revealed Wiseau's actual script was such a mess that they needed the film's assistant director, Sandy Schklair to rewrite the script into some sort of manageable form, so I can only imagine what it read like before!!  

So, yes overall, Wiseau's "direction" leaves alot to be desired although somehow he has still through his erroneous decisions created something very entertaining.  So as a director, Wiseau here is both a failure and a success of sorts!  

And then there is the film's music score by Mladen Milicevic which is actually OK and main theme is fairly decent but its not a very memorable score overall.  The film also features some crappy, soppy love songs for the film's various sex scenes such as Kitra Williams's "You're my rose" and "Crazy" by Clint Gamboa.  

FLAWS

Which brings me onto the film's flaws........................and yes this is a pretty stupid question but I will ask it: does The Room have any????  Yesssssssssssssssssss.

OK deep breath....... this is going to be quite a big section!

For starters it has to be said that the film's plot is a total mess and it is riddled with inconsistencies as well as subplots which are never followed up.  And as a first example there is the scene where Claudette tells Lisa that she has breast cancer and Lisa nonchalantly dismisses the idea and not only that it is never mentioned again in the entire film!

Another arrives in the form of Denny being attacked by the drug dealer he owes money to who holds him at gunpoint only for the dealer to be restrained and taken away to the police station by Johnny and Mark.  And in the scene Johnny and Mark appear about a minute later, which when you think about it is pretty quick as they must have found a cop on the street or something and Denny naively assumes the dealer will already be under arrest and well on his way to jail and again this is never followed up later.  Also further to this, Johnny actually takes the dealer's gun yet surely this would have been questioned by the police in reality!  But hey, this is anything but!  

Then there is the inclusion of the couple Michelle and Mike who inexplicably appear out of nowhere and sneak into Johnny and Lisa's apartment to have sex, which is complete with some utterly cringe inducing sharing of chocolate while kissing and Mike given a ridiculous cross-eyed expression as Michelle moves down to give him a blow job!  And at this point you have to ask??  Who the hell are these two???  And did they have a key to the apartment?  And if they did how did they get it?  Did Lisa borrow it to them or did they make a copy of it?  Or did Lisa simply leave the door unlocked for them to go and help themselves???!

It has also to be said that Mark's affair with Lisa must be the most one-sided not to mention amnesiac -esque affair of all time in cinema as he appears to almost forget they had sex before every time they meet up!  And each time Mark is reluctant to carry on by saying "I don't want to do this" and "But Johnny is my best friend" but he gives in and shags her anyway!  And Mark clearly never really has any real feelings for her as this is shown in the scene where after the Denny is attacked by the drug dealer on the roof with Mark and Lisa both present, Lisa calls up Mark and says to her "I miss you" and he says "What do you mean?  I just saw you!".  In the end Mark nearly relents and starts to show feelings for Lisa but it is soon stopped dead later by Johnny's untimely death (or timely depending on your point of view).

And another problem is with the sex scenes, which are not only far too long and drawn out, they also feature some really crap R and B love songs as well, which I have already mentioned in the last section, which are well worth fast forwarding!  And Wiseau's sex scenes with Danielle are particularly cringeworthy as Johnny insists on stroking Lisa's skin with a rose and his genitalia appears to be connecting with Lisa's belly button instead of her vagina!  So not only can the guy not direct or act he can't even figure out how to have sex on screen either!  Greg on the other hand in stark contrast seems to have a better handle on performing onscreen sex as at least he appears to get his body in the right place!

And further to the inconsistencies I've also mentioned there are further ones and one of the biggest comes during the scene where Lisa talks to Claudette and Claudette says that Lisa has been with Johnny five years.  Now later on in the film during the scene when Lisa argues with Johnny he clearly states that it was seven years and not five as he yells "Seven years of my life I gave you!".  So where did the other two years disappear to earlier in the film?????   Wiseau can't even keep track on his own continuity! (well I guess we all knew that).

Correction: Actually further to this last paragraph to be fair, Wiseau had covered his tracks for once here as earlier on in the film, Claudette mentions that Lisa has been with Johnny for "over five years" so that would actually be fairly reasonable to suggest it would be seven years.  So, in a way the above paragraph flaw is a moot point.  

Also in that scene Johnny's final proof of Lisa's affair with Mark is when he plays back the tape recording of her conversation with Mark and ONLY then he accepts it happened and then tells her to get out!  I mean he's already had the proof shoved in his face when Mark and Lisa were canoodling with one another right in front of him in the previous scene at the party!  Plus earlier in the film Johnny said he will record everything on tape whenever the phone rings after overhearing Lisa's conversation with Claudette and we see him place a tape recorder in the shelf below the phone.  And from this we are to guess that presumably a 90 minute tape can record days or even weeks of telephone calls!  Plus unless the tape recorder has a reverse mechanism (and some do of course) Johnny would need to change sides of the tape before he could record again!  

And one of the film's most notable inconsistencies comes in the scene where Mark, Johnny, Peter and Denny all wear their tuxes for some unknown reason.  And in the scene when they all congregate at Johnny's apartment, Mark arrives with his beard shaven off and they all go out and play football in their tuxes but at no point does any of this have any bearing on the plot and its never explained just why they are wearing the tuxedos in the first place!  Denny hints that it may be to do with Johnny's wedding photos so perhaps they were doing some sort of dress rehearsal although God knows why??  And again Wiseau was heavily criticised for the scene due to its complete lack of relevance to the story.   

Also it seems pretty strange that Lisa would be so unhappy in her relationship with Johnny as in the film's opening scene where she has sex with Johnny, the next morning she looks very happy and content lying in her bed after Johnny heads off to work which suggests she did have a really nice time.  And in the next scene Lisa instead comes over all morose when she speaks with her mother and she says that she doesn't love Johnny anymore because he is boring and she later even lies about him hitting her.

And its bizarre how her character can suddenly make such a dramatic shift in her body language from being very happy to being pretty miserable and surely would have made more sense for after Johnny left to go to work to show Lisa sigh sadly or looked unhappy which would lead you into the next scene with her mother more convincingly, but nah its too sensible for Wiseau!  Although Lisa did look pretty bored when she was lying awake during the night watching Johnny sleep right enough.

Also Lisa one minute bad mouths Johnny for allegedly hitting her and next minute she praises him for how he had taken in Denny and treated him like a son.  So hang on, on one hand he's allegedly guilty of domestic abuse but on the other he's really a wonderful father figure???  Come on, at least try and be consistent!

The film's title in itself it has to be said is bit vague as well as what exactly is the specific room the title refers to?  Is it Johnny and Lisa's living room?  Or is it their bedroom??  Because if you look at it that way, Mark and Lisa both have sex in the upstairs bedroom and downstair living room.  So in that case you could really argue that the title should instead be The Rooms as opposed to just one room where all the shagging went on, when in fact they did it in two rooms.

In fact the characters seem to spend a fair bit of time up on the rooftop of Johnny's apartment in the film as well so they might as well have called the film The Roof instead!  In fact while I'm on the subject its funny how the characters all seem to neatly congregate on the roof during the scene where Denny is attacked by the drug dealer.  Its like they were keeping an eye on him and turned up just when things took a turn for the worse (as you do of course!).  

So that's it for the flaws, so quite a big section!  

SUM UP 

And that's it for my re-look at The Room, which remains something of a puzzle, its clearly a shoddily acted film with terrible writing and awfully inconsistent direction by its star, Tommy Wiseau.  Yet somehow it is strangely enjoyable and it really is worth watching despite how cringeworthy it can be and when you see it, its no wonder they call it "The Citizen Kane of bad movies" because while it is awful, its brilliantly awful at that.

So to sum up for anyone who is curious to see the Room, I definitely recommend you give it a go and even though as a piece of serious drama its a joke, it is hilarious and priceless entertainment as an unintentionaly comedy and it has to be seen to be believed.

And with that being said I shall leave you there and will be back again sometime soon with another review.

So, till then its Cheep-cheep-cheep from me!

Pulp Fiction revisited "Correctamundo!!"

Right, time for a bit of post revisitation and this time I will look at another older post, which was my original review of Pulp Fiction (well from this blog anyway).  So after 23 years (wow can't believe its been that long since it was released!) how does it fair???  Well, let's take a look....

And the usual warning is coming...

SPOILERS ARE AHEAD!!!

STORY 

So the plot is told in a typically non-linear fashion for wrtier/director Quentin Tarantino and is split across two main stories with some subplots and the first one features hitman Vincent Vega (Travolta) who goes on a job with his partner Jules Winfield (Jackson) to retrieve a briefcase from some young kids who were stupid enough to rip off their boss Marcellus Wallace (played by Vingh Rhames).  In the ensuing scene after they have killed the guys, Vincent accidentally kills one of their associates, Marvin (Phil LaMarr) by shooting him in the head while Jules is driving.  After that Jule's calls his local friend Jimmie for help (played by Tarantino himself) and Marcellus who sends one of his business associates Mr Wolf (Harvey Keitel), who "solves problems" and aids in cleaning up their mess for them.

The other story follows Vincent, who is asked by Marcellus to take out his wife Mia (Uma Thurman) one night on the town while he is away on business.  As the two of them have a good night out, and share a steak, burger, and take part in a twist contest, at a "wax museum with a pulse" 1950s style diner.  But when they go back to Mia's place, Mia accidentally overdoses on Vincent's heroin baggie, thinking it to be cocaine.  At this point Vincent in a panic takes the dying Mia over to his drug dealing buddie Lance (Eric Stoltz) from whom he bought heroin, which leads into the infamous "needle" scene where Vincent brings Mia round with an adrenaline shot.

The next big story is the "Golden Watch" where a boxer Butch Coolidge (Bruce Willis) who is coming to the end of his career and is being forced to take a dive in his fight by Marcellus.  But Butch has other ideas and ends up winning the fight, unintentionally killing his opponent in the process and plans to flee with his girlfriend and the winnings he made from the bookies who placed bets on him.

However as Butch and his girlfriend, Fabienne (Maria de Medeiros) plan their departure, Butch notices that Fabienne neglected to pick up his precious golden watch, which was given to him as a present from a soldier (Christopher Walken) who was entrusted the watch given to him by Butch's dad.  Enraged by Fabienne's failure to pick up the watch, Butch decides, with little choice, to go back to get the watch.  So as Butch goes back to his apartment to pick up the watch he proceeds to have the "weirdest fucking day of his life" as he rightly puts it.

And lastly the film concludes with Vincent and Jules having breakfast in a coffee house where they have a deep conversation about the freaky encounter they witnessed at Brett's apartment, when a gunman fired six bullets straight at them and they all missed.  Not long after two thieves, Pumpkin (Tim Roth) and Yolanda (Amanda Plummer) hold up the coffee shop (whilst Vincent is in the bathroom) but as Pumpkin approaches Jules to get his wallet, the thief get's more than he bargained for as it leads into the film's surprising climax.

THOUGHTS 
  
It has to be said that Pulp Fiction remains one of the most seminal and purely entertaining films of the last 20 years, which really established that Tarantino was no one-trick pony and that he could continue to craft excellent films.  Tarantino's script for the most part is wonderfully written and is filled with rich (and profane) dialogue which is highly memorable as well as quotable.  And its Tarantino's emphasis on the characters is what helps Pulp Fiction work so well as they are all very drawn out.  Vincent as the main character in the film, is both dim and smart at the same time, as he holds a rather stubborn view of life, but at key moments isn't the brightest of sparks (especially leaving his machine gun outside the bathroom, in the scene where Butch faces off him with his gun).

Jules on the other hand is much brighter, cockier and smarter, and as he and Vincent face certain death at one point in the film, Jules is smart enough to realise that at this point, this probably isn't the life for him.  And its most likely Jules decision after his dice with death that would go on to save him from a similar fate than Vincent's.  In the final scene Jules also helps the two coffee shop robbers (from the opening scene) to escape unharmed, as prior to that he would have just killed them.

Mia is also a really good character as she is nice and smart enough to know that her husband is protective of her, but she can look after herself.  And Mia's close call with death also, provides a chance for Vincent to be the good guy and save her, although he wouldn't stand a chance in hell if she died on him.  There's almost a fine line between Mia also flirting and going a step further with Vincent, but Quentin sensibly doesn't let it go that far, although in a later scene its implied they have been seeing each other behind Marcellus's back.

PERFORMANCES AND NOTABLE SCENES (Warning: this section may contain spoilers and strong language!) 

As for the performances, well the film features a star cast that are all on top form.  

Starting with John Travolta who's career was totally revitalised here as he plays the part of the dim-witted hitman Vincent Vega, who get's into hot water when he unwittingly blows the head off a business associate and also has to try and save his boss's wife from overdosing on his own heroin.

Travolta has numerous highlights in the film such as his opening scene where he talks with Jules about the subtle differences between the cultures of America, Paris and Amsterdam.  And in the scene Jules says "Do you know what they call a quarter pounder with cheese in Paris?" and Jules asks "Don't they call it a quarter pounder with cheese?" and Vincent says "No they've got the metric system they wouldn't know what the fuck a quarter pounder is.  They call it the Royale with cheese".  And of course when Jules asks him "What do they call a whopper?" Vincent says "I dunno.  I didn't go into Burger King".

Then there is the scene where Vincent teases Jules about giving foot massages and says "Would you give a guy a foot massage?  I'm little tired I could do with a foot massage myself!".  And as Jules tells Vincent it wasn't right that Marcellus threw Tony "Rocky Horror" out of a window for giving Mia a foot message, Vincent responds.  So, Vincent tells Jules " Now look, I've given a million ladies a million foot massages, and they all meant something. We act like they don't, but they do, and that's what's so fucking cool about them. There's a sensuous thing going on where you don't talk about it, but you know it, she knows it, fucking Marsellus knew it, and Antwone should have fucking better known better. I mean, that's his fucking wife, man. He can't be expected to have a sense of humor about that shit!". 

And later as he fights the temptation to try anything on with Mia after their dinner, he talks to himself in the bathroom mirror at her place and says "You see, this is a real test to see if you can prove loyality, which is very important".  And then after he says to himself "So what you're gonna do is go out there and say "I had a lovely evening" get in the car, go home, jerk off, and that's all your gonna do!".

And later the scene where Vincent desparately drives Mia over to Lance's place and drags her unconscious body out the car, despite Lance's protests "you are not to bring this fucked up bitch into my house!".  And Vincent let's her drop to the ground and says "This fucked up bitch is Marcellus Wallace's wife!  Do you know who Marcellus Wallace is???  Now if she croaks on me I'm a fuckin grease spot!".

And later after they shoot the gunman in Brett's apartment, Vincent kneels down and asks Marvin "Why the fuck didn't you tell us about the guy in the bathroom?  Did it slip your mind?  Did you forget there was someone in there with a goddamn hand cannon?!".  And as Jules insists it was "divine intervention" that has kept them alive from being killed by the hail of bullets, Vincent tells him "Do you wanna continue this theological discussion in the car, or at the jailhouse with the cops?!". 

And lastly one of my favourite lines from Travolta is during the robbery of the diner and as Jules is about to give his money to Pumpkin he warns him "Jules if you give that fuckin nimrod 1500 dollars I'm gonna shoot him on general principle!".

Samuel L Jackson next up, who made his breakthrough with this role, is simply terrific in his role as the philosophical hitman, Jules Winfield, who decides to turn a new leaf after his incident at Brett's apartment when retrieving Marcellus's case.

Jackson has so many highlights in the film as well as priceless dialogue its hard to name them all but I will mention a few.  The first being the scene where Jules and Vincent arrive at Brett's apartment and he asks Brett if he can take a bite of his burger and he does so and says "This IS a tasty burger!" followed by "Do you know what they call a quarter pounder in France?" and he tells Brett its a Royale with cheese and why and as Brett says "because of the metric system?" Jules says "Check out the big brain on Brett!".

And later in the scene he taunts Brett just before he shoots him and asks "What does Marcellus Wallace look like?!" leaving Brett a stuttering wreck who keeps saying "What?" and Jules's short fuse is about to reach the limit and he points the gun at him saying "Say what again?!  I dare you!  I double dare you, motherfucker!  Say what one more goddamn time!".   And this is of course is followed by his famous Ezekiel 25:7 passage from the bible, which he finishes by shouting "And you will know my name is the Lord, when I lay my vengeance upon thee!" before unloading into Brett.

Then there are some priceless Jackson moments in the "Bonnie Situation" storyline, such as when the gunman bursts out of Brett's bathroom and opens fire on Jules and Vincent but all the bullets miss.  And Jules looks down at the dead gunman, after they shoot him, and he says "Did you see the size of the gun he fired at us?  It was bigger than him!".  And as Jules looks at the bullet holes in the wall he says "We should be fuckin dead, man" and Vincent says "Yeah, I know, we were lucky" and Jules says "No, this shit wasn't luck, this was divine intervention.  Do you know what divine intervention is?".  And Vincent, humouring Jules says "I think so.  It means that God came down from heaven and stopped the bullets?" and Jules says "That's exactly what it means.  God came down from heaven and stopped these motherfucking bullets!". 

And one of Jackson's funniest moments comes in the scene where Jules and Vincent have to clean out the blood stained car and Jules groans in dispair as he cleans out bits of skull and blood "Oh, man!  I will never forgive your ass for this shit!  This is some fucked up repugnant shit!".  And when Vincent tries to say "when a man admits all his wrongdoings he is immediately forgiven" Jules says "Get the fuck out of my face with that shit!  The motherfucker that said that shit didn't have to pick up itty bitty pieces of brain and skull on account of your dumb ass!".

And when Vincent says how is "ready to blow" this is finally followed by "Well, I'm a mushroom clould layin motherfucker, motherfucker!  Every time my fingers touch brain I'm Superfly TNT!  I'm the guns of the Navarone!  In fact what the fuck am I doing in the back?!  YOU'RE the motherfucker that should be on brain detail!  We're fuckin swtiching!  I'm washin windows and you're pickin this nigger's skull!".

And lastly when Jules grabs Pumpkin he tries to chill out Honeybunny (or Yolanda) by saying "We're gonna be like three Fonzies!  And what's Fronzie like?" and Yolanda says "cool?" and Jules says "Correctamundo!".  And as Yolanda tells Jules to let Pumpkin go, Jules tells her "Yolanda, I thought you were going to be cool.  Now, when you yell at me that makes me nervous and when I get nervous, I get scared.  And when motherfuckers get scared that's when motherfuckers accidentally get shot!".  Then Jules negotiates with Pumpkin and gives him money so he doesn't have to "kill his ass" and he quotes the Ezekiel 25-17 bible passage and explains what he thinks it means.

So, Jules says to Pumpkin "I been sayin' that shit for years, and if you heard it, that meant your ass. I never gave much thought to what it meant. I just thought it was some coldblooded shit to say to a motherfucker... before I popped a cap in his ass.  But I saw some shit this morning made me think twice. See, now I'm thinkin' maybe it means...you're the evil man, and I'm the righteous man, and Mr. 9-millimeter here, he's the shepherd...protecting my righteous ass in the valley of darkness. Or it could mean... you're the righteous man, and I'm the shepherd, and it's the world that's evil and selfish. Now, I'd like that. But that shit ain't the truth.  "The truth is...YOU'RE the weak and I'm the tyranny of evil men.  But I'm tryin, Ringo.  I'm trying real hard....to be the shepherd!" and he lowers his gun and let's Pumpkin and Honeybunny go.       

Uma Thurman is also excellent in her role as Mia Wallace, Marcellus's sultry wife who has dinner with Vincent and their scenes together provide a nice chemistry between them both.

Uma's highlights include the scene where Mia wants to dance for the Jack Rabbit Slim's dancing trophy and Vincent says no and she says "No, no, no, no.  I do believe Marcellus Wallace, my husband, your boss, told you to take me out and do what I wanted.  Now I wanna dance, I wan't that trophy.  So dance good!" and they proceed to carry out a pretty cheesy dance (which wins them the trophy nontheless!).

Then there is the scene where Vincent at the diner with Mia, asks her about the incident with Tony and Marcellus.  And Mia asks him "So, did you think of something to say?" and Vincent says "Actually, I did.  However you seem like a nice person and I don't want to offend you" and Mia, surprised says "Ooohh! This doesn't sound like the usual, mindless, boring, gettin'-to-know-you chitchat. This sounds like you actually have somethin' to say".  And when Vincent asks her if Tony ever gave Mia a foot massage, she replies "Only thing Antwan ever touched of mine was my hand when he shook it... at my wedding.  Truth is, nobody knows why Marsellus threw Tony out that window... except Marsellus and Tony. When you little scamps get together, you're worse than a sewing circle!".

And after Mia has her harrowing near death experience and is saved bt Vincent she wearily asks him if he wants to hear a joke she told on the TV pilot she did.  And Mia tells the joke "A daddy tomato, a mommy tomato and a baby tomato cross the street.  The baby tomato starts lagging behind, the daddy tomato get's angry goes back and squishes him and says "Ketchup!".

Bruce Willis also puts in a good performance as the troubled boxer, Butch Coolidge, who is haunted by nightmares involving a soldier who hands Butch his late father's watch, who died in Vietnam and later on goes on the run from Marcellus Wallace as he ends up killing the boxer in his fight.

Willis play the part with his usual type of coolness combined with some hot tempered moments, which we see in the scene where he frantically looks through his suitcase for his father's watch, which his girlfriend Fabienne has forgotten.  And he says to Fabienne "That was my father's fucking watch.  Do you have any idea what he went through to get that watch??  I don't have time to go into it but it was alot!".  And Butch continues "All this other shit you could've set on fire, but I specifically reminded you not to forget the fucking watch! Now think!  Did you get it?" and Fabienne nervously says "I think so".  However, Butch now angry says "You believe so???!"  What the fuck does that mean??!  You either did or didn't get it!!" and Fabienne says "Then I did" and Butch asks again "You sure?" and Fabienne, frightened says "No".

So, then Butch explodes in a rage, yelling "FUCK!  FUCK!!! FUCK!!! MOTHERFUCKER!!!" and he starts leaping up and down and he grabs the motel room TV and smashes it and yells "DO YOU KNOW HOW FUCKING STUPID YOU ARE???!!".  However Butch then regains his composure and shouts "NO!  It's not your fault. You left it at the apartment. If you left it at the apartment, it's not your fault. I had you bring a bunch of stuff. I reminded you about it, but I didn't illustrate how personal the watch was to me".  And after he leaves and reassures Fabienne, we cut to him in his car and he pounds the steering wheel angrily, shouting "SHIT!! OF ALL THE FUCKING THINGS SHE COULD FUCKING FORGET, SHE FORGETS MY FATHER'S WATCH!!  I specifically reminded her!  Bedside table!  On the kangaroo!  I said the words "don't forget my father's watch!".   

And one of Willis's best moments is where after he and Marcellus have been captured by the rednecks in the pawnshop and he breaks free of his bonds and he decides to save Marcellus.  So, Butch rummages through the pawnshop for a weapon to rescue Marcellus with and he picks up a samurai sword (a katana) and goes downstairs and exacts some revenge on the rednecks.  And in the scene, Butch skewers one of the rednecks and then points the katana at the other, Z, and he notices a gun on a table near him and he says to Z "You want that gun, don't you, Zed?  Go ahead and pick it up!".  And as Z is tempted to pick it up, Butch says "Atta boy!  I want you to pick it up...Z!" but then Marsellus stands up behind Butch armed with a shotgun.....

And later when Marcellus let's Butch go he takes Z's chopper (Z is played by Peter Greene) and picks up Fabienne and he tells her "Honey, since I left you, this has been, without a doubt, the single weirdest fuckin' day of my life!".  And as Fabienne get's on the bike, she asks him "Who's motorcycle is this?" and Butch says "Its a chopper baby" and she says "Who's chopper is this?" and Butch says "Zed's?" Fabienne "Who's Zed?" and Butch says "Zed's dead, baby.  Zed's dead!" and they drive off.

Vingh Rhames is great as the crime boss, Marsellus Wallace who sends Vincent and Jules to retrieve a case containing something of great value (and has a golden glow) which we never see what it is and later on has a confrontation with Butch.

Rhames also has some good moments such as in his first scene where Marsellus talks to Butch and tells him "I think when this shit is all done and over, you're gonna find yourself one smilin motherfucker" as he tells Butch to take a dive in his fight.  And in ths scene, Marsellus holds out an envelope of money to Butch and he says to him "Are you my nigga?" and Butch takes the envelope and says "It would certainly appear so".  And Marsellus says to him "The night of the fight you might feel a slight sting.  That's pride fucking with you.  Fuck pride!  Pride only hurts, it never helps.  You fight through that shit.  Cause a year from now when you are kickin it on the Caribbean you're gonna say to yourself "Marsellus Wallace was right!".  

And later in the scene where Butch, driving his car, spots Marsellus cross the street, carrying a box of doughnuts and they look at each other and Marsellus shouts "Motherfucker!" and Butch puts the car into gear and runs him over only to crash into another car in the process. 

But later on Butch decides to save Marsellus during being raped by the rednecks, and Marcellus then takes the shotgun and blasts Zed's private parts to bits.  And as Butch asks him if he is OK, Butch says "Naw, man.  I'm pretty far from OK!".  And Butch asks Marsellus "What now?" and Marsellus says "Let me tell you what now. I'm gonna call a couple of hard, pipe-hittin' niggers...to go to work on the homes here...with a pair of pliers and a blowtorch"  And Marsellus shouts at Z, who writhes on the floor in agony, nursing what is left of his gentialia "You hear me talkin', hillbilly boy? I ain't through with you by a damn sight! I'm gonna get medieval on your ass!". 

So, Butch asks "I mean what now between me and you?" and Butch says "Oh, THAT what now.  I tell you now what between me and you.  There IS no me and you.  Not no more".  And Butch asks "So, we cool?" and Marsellus says "Yeah, we cool.  Two things: Don't tell nobody about this.  This shit is between me, you and soon to be living the rest of his short ass life in agonising pain, rapist here, it nobody else's business". 

Eric Stoltz is also good in his role as Lance, the drug dealer who sells Vincent the heroin, which Mia later overdoses on and he takes the call from Vincent when Mia has OD'd he says to him on the phone "This is not my fuckin problem!  You fucked her up, you fuckin deal with this!  Are you talking to me on a cellular phone?!  I don't know you!  Prank caller, prank caller!" and hangs up.

And later when Vincent brings the OD'd Mia to Lance's place, the two of them squabble as Lance prepares the needle with adrenaline to resuscitate Mia.  And Lance says "Here, I'll you what to do" but Vincent refuses, saying "You're gonna give her the shot" and Lance insists "No, you're gonna give her the shot!" and they continue to argue.  So, Lance finally says "I never done this either! I ain't starting now! You brought her here. You give her the shot. The day I bring an O.D.ing bitch to your house, then I give her the shot!  Give her the shot!".

So, Vincent relents and takes the needle and uses a black marker to mark the point on Mia's chest where he is to inject the needle.  And Vincent says "All right, tell me what to do" and Lance says "Okay, you're giving her an injection of adrenalin straight to her heart. But she's got a breastplate... You gotta pierce through that. You gotta bring the needle down in a stabbing motion!" and Lance indicates a stabbing motion three times.  So, Vincent asks "So, I've got to stab her three times?" and Lance shouts "No, just stab her once! But it's gotta be hard enough to get through her breastplate into her heart. Once you do that, you p-press down on the p-plunger".  And Vincent asks "OK, then what happens?" and Lance shrugs and says "I'm kinda curious about that myself" and Vincent angrily says "This is ain't no fuckin joke!  Am I gonna kill her?!" and Lance says "She's supposed to come out, just like that!".  And after Vincent injects the needle in Mia, she suddenly is brought to life and screams out loud and Lance nervously asks her "If you're alright, then say something" and Mia looks a bit needle embedded in her chest and says "Something...." and Vincent and Lance sigh in relief. 

Harvey Keitel also provides an amusing performance as Winston Wolf, the problem solver who turns and sorts out the "Bonnie Situation" which refers to Jule's friend, Jimmy's wife, Bonnie who will come home from work any time.

And Harvey's best scene comes when Vincent disputes Winston's straight talking no-nonsense manner and says to him "A please would be nice" and Winston, taken aback asks "Come again?" and Vincent says "A please would be nice".  So, Winston tells Vincent "Get it straight, buster. I'm not here to say please. I'm here to tell you what to do. And if self-preservation is an instinct you possess, you'd better fuckin' do it and do it quick. I'm here to help. If my help's not appreciated, lotsa luck, gentlemen!".  So, Jules tries to step in to diffuse the tension and says "No, it ain't like that, Mr Wolf, you're help is definitely appreciated!" and Vincent says to Winston "Mr. Wolf, listen. I don't mean disrespect, okay? I respect you. I just don't like people barkin' orders at me that's all".  So, Winston says "If I'm curt with you, its because time is a factor.  I think fast, I talk fast and I need you guys to act fast if you want to get out of this.  So pretty please, with sugar on top, clean the fuckin car!".

Christopher Walken who makes a cameo appearance in the film as the solider who gives Butch as a child, his father's watch, is also great and his long speech is nicely written and also pretty funny.  And of course there is funny moment where he tells the young Butch "The way your dad looked at it, this watch was your birthright. He'd be damned if any slope's gonna put their greasy, yellow hands on his boy's birthright, so he hid it in one place he knew he could hide something... his ass!  Five long years he wore this watch up his ass. Then he died of dysentery...He give me the watch. I hid this uncomfortable hunk of metal up my ass two years. Then...after seven years, I was sent home to my family and...now...little man, I give the watch to you!".

Maria de Medeiros is also good in the film as Butch's girlfriend, Fabienne although it has to be said that she get's the worst of Tarantino's dialogue given that she has to say lines such as "pot bellies are sexy!" and "I'm gonna order a big plate of blueberry pancakes... with maple syrup, eggs over easy and five sausages!".  So in all honesty I'm not going to bother quoting any of her scenes here just for the sake of time (sorry!).

And lastly Quentin Tarantino also can't resist putting himself in the film in his small role as Jimmy who through little choice has to help out Jules and Vincent with their problem.

And Tarantino's most noteworthy scene comes when Jules compliments Jimmy on how good his coffee is and asks what flavour it is and Jimmy says "Knock it off, Julie!".  And Jules asks "What?" and Jimmy angrily tells him "I don't need you to tell me how fuckin' good my coffee is. I'm the one who buys it. I know how good it is. When Bonnie goes shopping, she buys shit. I buy the gourmet expensive stuff 'cause when I drink it, I wanna taste it. But you know what's on my mind right now? It ain't the coffee in my kitchen. It's the dead nigger in my garage!".

So, as Jules tries to calm Jimmy, Jimmy interrupts him and asks "When you came pulling in here, did you notice the sign on the front of my house that said, "Dead Nigger Storage"?".  And as Jules is about to reply, Jimmy asks louder "Did you notice the sign on the front of my house that said, "Dead Nigger Storage"?!!".  And Jules says No, I didn't" and Jimmy asks him "You know why you didn't see that sign?" and Jules asks "Why?" and Jimmy yells "Cause it ain't there, 'cause storing dead niggers ain't my fuckin' business, that's why!".

And Jimmy then tells Jules "Now, look, you know, she comes home from work in about an hour and a half. The graveyard shift at the hospital. You gotta make some phone calls? You gotta call some people? Well, then, do it, and then get the fuck out of my house before she gets here!".  And as Jules tries to reassure Jimmy that "We don't wanna fuck your shit up" Jimmy angrily yells "You're fucking my shit up right now! You're gonna fuck my shit up BIG TIME if Bonnie comes home!  Do me that favor, all right? The phone is in my bedroom. I suggest you get going!".

DIRECTION AND MUSIC 

As for Tarantino's direction, well its speaks for itself and technically it is also pretty good film and as he did with Reservoir Dogs he employs the use of long takes in certain scenes and even has a little nod to Brian De Palma with the scene where we see Butch on the right edge of the frame, exhausted on the run from a groggy Marcellus who went see in the disance on the left of the shot.  He also makes good use of visual creativity, such as in the scene with Fabienne's reflection standing inside the motel room TV while an action film is playing.   

As for the music in the film it features a memorable soundtrack made up of tracks such as Dick Dale's "Miserlou", and Kool n the Gang's "Jungle Boogie", Aretha Franklin's "Son of a preacher man" as well as other songs like "Countin flowers on the wall" by the Statler Brothers, "Comache" by The Revels, used during the hillbilly rape scene and Chuck Berry's "You never can tell" used during Vincent and Mia's dance.  

FLAWS (Warning: this section may also contain spoilers!)

As for flaws....yeah well as good as Pulp Fiction is, it still has some worth mentioning.

And for starters, I do think that the film could be a little shorter as certain scenes do feel a bit panned out.  And for examples sake the scenes between Butch and Fabienne do drag on a bit, and are the only fairly tedious scenes in the film, especially with Fabienne wittering on, about wishing she had a pot belly like "Madonna did when she did Lucky Star!".  At this point you want to just hit the fast forward button as the dialogue starts to get a bit cringeworthy!   

And one of the few things that does leave me slighly uncomfortable about Pulp Fiction is the somewhat racist element on the dialogue, especially in the scenes such as Lance the drug dealer saying to Vincent about his deals "Am I a nigger?  Are we in Inglewood??" as well as Jimmie saying to Jules "when you pulled in here, did you see a sign on the front of my house saying dead nigger storage??".  It does show an uncomfortable mix of humour blended in with racism, and it was the same in Reservoir Dogs where the gangsters talk about "how every nigger they know treats their women like a piece of shit?".

I also though that in the redneck scene where Marcellus is raped by one of the good ol boys, it does appear very stereotypical in its depiction of these characters and it almost like Quentin threw in the sodomy scene for shock effect more than anything else.  Its almost like Tarantino is doing a nod to the classic 1970's thriller "Deliverance" where Ned Beatty's character is also sexually assaulted by hillbillies.

Another issue is to do with the idea of Winston driving the tainted car with Marvin's dead body in it as he tells Jules and Vincent that he will drive that car and he gives Vincent the keys to his own Acura sports car.  So in the scene Winston tells Vincent "I drive real fuckin fast, so keep up" but if he does that then surely they will get pulled over by the police!  So, in this instance wouldn't it be better for Winston to exercise a little care when he is driving a car containing a dead body rather than belt it out at 90 miles an hour and risk being pulled over and arrested!  Its certainly one of the plotholes in the film that I hadn't picked up on before now but it remains a big one.

Then of course there is the continuity flaw in the scene where the guy in the bathroom bursts out and unloads his magnum at Jules and Vincent only to miss them both and the bullets go into the wall instead.  However if you look carefully before this scene, the bullet holes are already in the wall!  This however is already a well noted continuity flaw in the film itself, so I guess its nothing new but still worth pointing out all the same.

Another problem I had with the film was to do with Butch's choice when he went back to his apartment to get his watch and THEN go in and make himself some pop tarts in the kitchen!  I mean what hell???!  Surely to God he should have just got his watch and left the apartment straight away!  However I guess the flipside is that by killing Vincent that's one other problem dealt with but on the other hand even though Butch saves Marsellus's life, he does also kill one of his main henchmen, so wouldn't that also cancel out Marsellus's new found faith in Butch??!  Just maybe.  In short, Butch really should have just left the apartment straight away than hang about to make breakfast for himself.

Anyway that's it for the flaws.

SUM UP

So to sum up, Pulp Fiction remains one of the best crime/comedy films of its era and even though it does have some rather overly talky, long drawn out scenes at times with the occassional moments of cringeworthy dialogue.  However any of its bad points are far outweighed by its good ones and the film is helped along by its great cast, soundtrack and of course solid direction from its director and writer, Quentin Tarantino, who provides plenty of funny moments and memorable scenes and dialogue.

So, after 23 years does Pulp Fiction still hold up???  Yes, it sure does and it remains engrossing viewing after all these years and it rightly earns its status as a modern classic.

Right, so that's it for now and I will be back soon with another post for you's.

Till the next one, later!

Wonder woman review "Where we come from, that's what we call slavery!"

Right, its time for a brand new review on a brand new film and the movie in question is Wonder Woman, which is the latest entry in the DC Extended Universe franchise.  The DCEU films so far have mostly been poorly received, so will Wonder Woman be the one to save the franchise???  Well, let's take a look....

So, below is my usual bit where I look at the plot but don't worry I will try and keep this section and brief and try and not reveal too many spoilers but just to be safe I will give out a warning....

SOME SPOILERS MIGHT BE AHEAD (BUT NOT TOO MANY!!)

STORY

So, the story begins with Diana Prince (Gal Gadot) recalling her past and it cuts to when Diane was a child and where she was born and raised in Themyscira, which is home to the Amazons, who are a race of warrior women that were created by the gods of Mount Olympus.  Diana requests as a child to train as a warrior however her mother, Queen Hippolyta (Connie Nielsen) refuses to allow it, so Diana starts to train in secret with her Aunt, General Antiope (Robin Wright).

Some years later when Diana has become a young woman, she sees a plane crash off the coast of Themyscira and she dives in and rescues the pilot, Steve Trevor (Chris Pine).  However they are soon interrupted by the arrival of German soldiers, who were pursuing Steve but as the soldiers arrive, the Amazon warriors lead a charge and kill the soldiers, however Antiope is killed during the battle as she tried to protect Diana.

Steve is then taken prisoner by the Amazons, who wrap the lasso of truth around him to force him to tell the truth of why he is there and he tells them that he is a spy working for the British during World War I.  Steve also tells them that he stole a notebook from a chief German scientist, Doctor Maru (Elena Anaya) who is creating a deadlier form of mustard gas under the orders of General Ludendorff (Danny Huston).  Diana believes that Ares, the God of war is behind WWI and decides to go with Steve to find and destroy Ares in the hope that this will end the Great War.......

THOUGHTS

Well after dreary DCEU films such as Man of Steel and Batman vs Superman, not to mention critically maligned ones such as Suicide Squad, Wonder Woman is thankfully a real breath of fresh air for the series.  Here we have a film that is very entertaining and engaging and thankfully features plenty of humour and a much lighter tone than many of the previous DCEU films that we have seen.  However the film also has its share of great action throughout and the action scenes involving Wonder Woman are terrfic and the WWI sequences are very impressively staged.

What's even better and more important is that the character of Wonder Woman here has been given a strong moral code and centre and she is character that shows great compassion but also great ruthlessness for her enemies.  And in the film Diana (aka Wonder Woman) allows for plenty moments of humour when she fails to understand many of socities traditions and cultures as well blossom a romance with Steve as the film progresses.  So its great to see a film that balances out its mix of drama, suspense, thrills and fun so well.

PERFORMANCES  (Warning: I will only mention one or two scenes from the film but not too many!)

As for the performances well they are all very good and the cast are all in good form.

To start off, Gal Gadot is excellent in her role as Diana Prince/Wonder Woman and it also kind of helps too that she just happens to be also drop dead gorgeous!  Gadot throughout the film gives Diana a great mixture of compassion, humour and toughness and it appears to be a role that she was born to play as she manages the action scenes just as well as the humour and drama.

And I won't really mention her scenes as such but I will mention one or two great little moments of dialogue she has in the film.  And for starters there is the scene where Diana meets Steve's secretary, Etta Candy (Lucy Davis) and Etta tells Diana "I'm Steve's secretary" and Diana asks "What is a secretary?" and Etta tells Diana "I go where he tells me to go, I do what he tells me to do" and Diana says "Where we come from, that's called slavery!".

Also later there is a scene where Diana tries out an ice cream cone for the first time and she loves it and she says to the ice vendor "Its wonderful!" and she turns to the vendor and says "You should be very proud!".  So, these scenes show Gadot's adeptness for playing out the humour, there are plenty of others but I will leave it at that for now.

Chris Pine next is very good in his role as Steve Trevor, Diana's love interest for the film and also an American soldier spy working for the British during the First World War.  Chris also shares a nice onscreen chemistry with Gal so the two of them work very well together.

Chris also has some good scenes but I will only mentio a couple such as the one near the start where Steve bathes in a pool of water and Diana comes in when he steps out naked and he covers up his privates.  And Diana looks at something and asks "What is that?" and Steve awkwardly says "That is a watch" and Diana asks "What does it do?" and Steve says "It tells the time.  It tells you when to eat, when to sleep..." and Diana amused asks "That little thing tells you what to do?".

Then there is the scene where Steve and Diana embark on their journey to London and Steve asks her "Have you ever met a man before? What about your father?" and Diana says "I had no father.  My mother sculpted me from clay and I was brought to life by Zeus" and Steve, a little surprised says "Well that's neat!".

David Thewlis is not too bad in his role as Sir Patrick Morgan, who is a speaker of peace for the Imperial war cabinet back in London, however he is not all he appears to be as you will find out later on (and I will say no more than that!).

Danny Huston also does well in his part as the ruthless General Ludendorff, who is out to use the nerve gas to wipe out Germany's enemies in an effor to win the war.  Huston plays the part well and appears to have fun with it as he hams up Lundendorff's villainous qualities.  Elena Anaya is OK in her role as Doctor Maru (aka Doctor Poison) but she is somewhat underused in the film I think. 

Lucy Davis is also pretty good as Etta Candy, Steve's secretary although she does appear to be pretty heavy weight wise in the part, so I don't know if she put on weight to play the role as the character herself is pretty stout!

Robin Wright and Connie Nielsen however are both OK but are rather wasted in their role as Queen Hippolyta and General Antiope respectively as they are given alot of melodramatic dialogue to deliver in the early section of the film.

Said Taghmaoui is pretty good as the secret agent, Sameer, who is an ally of Steve's who helps him and Diana out in their fight against Lundendroff.  Said also get's one of the film's best lines when Sameer first meets Diana in a bar and Diana quickly disables one of the rough customers and Sameer looks on amazed and says "I am frightened and at the same time aroused!".

And last of all is Ewen Bremner, who to be honest is a bit annoying in the film as the atypical Scottish drunk, Charlie, who is in fact a sharpshooter and another ally of Steve's.

DIRECTOR AND MUSIC

As for the direction, Patty Jenkins does an excellent job here with the film and she paces the story very well throughout and it rarely lags despite its 2 hours and 21 minute running time.  Jenkins also expertly handles the film's action scenes, which are great and even better manages to pull together a very engaging story for the audience.  Let's just say that Patty here has put Zack Snyder's efforts in the DCEU so far to shame!

And lastly there is the film's music score by Rupert Gregson-Williams which is actually surprisingly good because going into the film I was only too aware of the Wonder Woman theme, which I absolutely hated when I first heard it in Batman vs Superman.  However when you put the theme into the context of the actual film, the theme itself isn't that bad and that its actually backed up by a pretty score by Gregson-Williams makes it that bit better.  So overall the score deserves credit here as it is pretty suspenseful and has its share of emotional cues, which work well and when that Wonder Woman theme finally kicks in, its used just at the right times.  So, well done to Rupert Gregson-Williams for pulling out this one.

FLAWS

As for flaws....yeah well Wonder Woman isn't quite perfect of course but its flaws are nothing too fatal, however due to spoiler issues I can't really go into them all just now!

But what I can say is, part of the film's problem is that the opening section that takes place in Themyscira feels a little slow at times and the dialogue from the characters in this sequence is pretty melodramatic and hackneyed sounding.  And its when the film moves to Diana and Steve going off to war is when the film starts to really pick up its pacing.

I also felt that the film lacked strong villains and there are three principal villains that appear here but they are all pretty much cardboard cut-outs and none of them have any real sense of menace.  And its safe to say that alot of these modern day superhero, sci-fi movies appear to suffer from weak villains and that is certainly the case here.

WARNING: THIS PARAGRAPH AHEAD MAY REFER TO A SPOILER OF SORTS!! 
 
I also thought that Diana's naivety to the world was a bit much to swallow at times, particularly near the end where she thinks killing one of the chief villains will automatically bring an end to the war. However of course it simply wouldn't work that way yet Diana thinks it all comes down to knocking one bad peg out and everything else will fall into place.  Errmm, nope its never that simple, Diana!  So at this point I simply don't buy that she would be that naive and surely being brought up as a warrior, this is something she might have learned from her Aunt.

I'm not entirely sure but I don't think there was one moment in the film where Diana was in fact even referred to as Wonder Woman, which in a way is also a bit daft and seems to negate the character's title itself.  In a way perhaps that not a bad thing though as it makes the film appear less self referential, which can be a nuisance but even so you think they could have said something along the lines of "Hey, that woman is a real wonder!" or "Hey you!  Wonder woman!" just to reference it in some way.  Acchhh!

Anyway that's it for the flaws.

SUM UP

So in summing up, Wonder Woman is everything that disappointed DC films will have hoped for in a superhero film in that here we are finally given a good mix of thrills, excitement, drama, suspense and of course most importantly fun.  This film has so much more going for it than most of the DCEU films we've seen so far and is helped along nicely by its fine cast, particularly its leads performances from Gal Gadot and Chris Pine, who both share a nice onscreen chemistry together.  It also helps that Gal Gadot is a real stunner and she sells Wonder Woman's sex appeal with great ease but she certainly goes deeper than just that and provides a three dimensional character for audiences.

So speaking personally, I'd certainly recommend giving Wonder Woman a go as it is a film that has given the DCEU a much needed shot in the arm and let's hope we get more films like it in the future that have a sense of adventure and fun rather than dark tones and dreariness.

Right, so that's it for now and I shall return soon with another review of some sort or other.

Till then its bye for now!    

Doctor Who - The Mind of Evil "Abandon hope all ye who enter here!"

OK, its that time where I post up yet another Doctor Who review but this isn't a revisit however, this instead is a new review on another story from the Jon Pertwee era of the show, which I hadn't seen before doing this review and the story in question is The Mind of Evil.  This was a story from Pertwee's 2nd season and it saw the Doctor again pitted against his arch enemy, the Master.

So after 46 years how does this story stack up????  Well let's take a look...

And yes, the usual warning is coming up....

SPOILERS ARE AHEAD!!

STORY 

So, the story begins with the Doctor and his companion, Jo Grant (Katy Manning) paying a visit to Stangmoor prison to examine a new method in treating criminals via the use of a device called the Keller machine.  The machine works by removing the negative impulses from a person's mind and the Doctor and Jo witness one of the prison's criminals, Barnham (Neil McCarthy) being processed by the machine, which reverts him to an innocent, childlike state.  The machine however raises the Doctor's suspicions as he suspects that there is something malicious and evil about it.

And its not long before the Doctor's suspicions are confirmed as the Keller machine causes some deaths at the prison, including Professor Kettering (Simon Lack) and each death appears to involve the phobias of each victim, which in the case of Kettering was drowning.  The Doctor also is subjected to the machine not long after as it operates, the Doctor sees images of fire as he recalls the horrific events of the story "Inferno" where he was in a parallel version of Earth, which was destroyed by the Inferno project.  The Doctor however manages to recover and he demands that they destroy the machine but due to it requiring higher permission from the government they are unable to.

Meanwhile, Brigadier Lethbridge-Stewart (Nicholas Courtney) of UNIT is organising the security for the first world peace conference where there has been the death of Chinese delegate leader.  The Brigadier meets with the Chinese captain, Chin Lee (Pik-Sen Lim) who has been behaving strangely and appears to be trying to create tension between the Chinese and US relations.  However it is soon revealed that Chin Lee is under the control of the Master (Roger Delgado) who has placed a transmitter on her to control her and also to project the transmissions of the Keller machine.  Chin Lee attempts to kill one of the American delegates, Senator Alcott (Tommy Duggan) using the Keller machine's transmissions but he is rescued by the Doctor.  The Doctor then reconditions Chin Lee to break her free from the Master's trance and removes the transmitter she has behind her ear and he learns from her that the inventor of the Keller machine, Emile Keller is in fact in reality, the Master.       
In the meantime at Stangmoor prison, a new prisoner, Harry Mailer (William Marlowe) arrives, who is to be conditioned by the Keller machine but he manages to stage a prison riot and seizes control of the prison.  However, after the guards manage to capture Mailer and take control again, the Master, who has been listening on UNIT's radio communications, arrives at the prison and helps Mailer re-take the control of the prison.

The Doctor then returns to the prison where he is captured and taken to the Master, who wants him to help contain the power of the Keller machine, and he tests its power on him, which nearly results in the Doctor dying but the Master revives him.  The Doctor later tells the Master that machine is an alien parasite that cannot be contained and its not long before the Keller machine starts to claim more victims in the prison and even is able to teleport.

So its from here the Doctor must try and find a way to stop the Keller machine and also prevent the Master from his evil scheme for world domination as he intends to steal a nuclear missile, so he can fire it at the peace conference to start a world war......

THOUGHTS

The Mind of Evil is something of a surprise as it was a story I had put off watching forever under the impression that it was not that great, however I was proven wrong here as it is a very good, engrossing story that is well written (by the writer of the classic "Inferno" by Don Houghton) and nicely played by the cast.  The story in fact has a mixed tone as it echoes aspects of Pertwee's first darker season but meanwhile still maintains the humour of the 2nd season of which TMOE is the second story in that season.  

The Master also makes his return here, which is always welcome given that he is one of the show's most memorable villains and here he makes use of the Doctor's skills to try and contain the Keller machine's power only to find that it is virtually uncontrollable.  And here the Master's appearance in the story is still a little surprising given that it was only the 2nd story he appeared but it wouldn't be long before we were given a whole season of the Master, which to be honest was a bit overkill.

PERFORMANCES (Warning: For this section will only quote one or two scenes of dialogue but it will still contain the odd spoiler or two!!) 

As for the performances in the story, well they are all pretty good here.

Starting with Jon Pertwee, who is great once more in his role as the Doctor and by this time he had grown well into playing the role.

And Jon has his share of good scenes the in the story but I will only mention a few to keep it short such as the scene where the Doctor and Jo first arrive outside the gate of Stangmoor at the start of the story and Jo gives the Doctor his pass to show to the guard.  And the Doctor goes up to ring an entrance bell and he notices a CCTV camera and he says to Jo "Smile, Jo, you're on camera!" and he gives a cheesy wave for the camera, which the guards in the security room look at in disbelief. However, the Doctor carries on waving and doesn't notice when the guard comes out and the Doctor then sheepishly stops and shows his pass and is given leave to enter and he get's back into Bessie (his car) and says to Jo "Abandon hope all ye who enter here!".  

is first subjected to the Keller machine's power and it becomes too much for him as he has visions of fire.  However, Jo interrupts, which saves him and Jo afterwards asks the Doctor "Doctor, what did you see?" and the Doctor replies "Fire".  Jo then asks "But why should you?" and the Doctor says "Well, some time ago, Jo, I witnessed a terrible catastrophe. A whole world just, just disappeared in flames. Well, this machine picked that memory out of my mind and used it to attack me".

Then there is the scene where the Doctor is nearly killed by the Keller machine after the Master attaches him to it.  However the Master comes back in and revives the Doctor and the Master tells him "You were within an inch of dying" and the Doctor says to the Master "You wanted to know how long I could hold out against that machine. Well, the answer is I can't. Nobody can".  But the Master is dismissive of the danger and says "Oh, come on, Doctor. We are both Time Lords!" and the Doctor wearily says "Be that as it may, I know the secret of that machine. Inside is a creature that feeds on the evil of the mind, and very soon it'll feed on yours".

Another good scene is when the Doctor has successfully managed to temporarily disable the Keller machine and he is sent back to his cell on orders of the Master, where he is reunited with Jo.  And the Doctor eats a little food and reminisces of his former travels to Jo and he tells her "Did I ever tell you about the time I was in the Tower of London?" and Jo says "No".  So, the Doctor starts to tell Jo "
Well, I shared a cell with a very strange chap called Raleigh" and Jo asks "Raleigh?" and the Doctor continues "Yeah, Sir Walter Raleigh".  So, Jo amused says "Oh..." and the Doctor continues "He got into some trouble with Queen Elizabeth. Elizabeth the first, that is. He kept going on about this new vegetable of his he'd discovered, you see, called the potato. One day, he sat down, pointed a finger at me....."

And to save for time there is also the last scene of the story where the Doctor (SPOILER!) has a phone call with the Master, which ends typically bittersweet.  And Jo asks him "What did he say?" and the Doctor says "His usual threats" and Jo says "Never mind, Doctor, you've beaten him".  However the Doctor is less enthusiastic and he says to Jo "Have I, Jo? He's got his Tardis back. He's free to come and go where he pleases, while I'm stuck here on Earth...." and he glares at the Brigadier and says "with you, Brigadier!".

Katy Manning next up does well again as Jo Grant, but she is strangely sidelined in this story as she spends a fair bit of her time secluded to the cells or just kept in the background of the story itself, which makes this a rather disappointing story for her on a whole.  Thankfully Katy would have better screen time in her other adventures rather than here but to her credit she does well with her part and she also shows a bit of Jo's feisty qualities.

However Katy still has one or two scenes worth a mention such as the one where the Doctor and Jo are kept prisoners in a cell in Stangmoor by the Master.  So in the scene, one of the prisoners, Vosper comes in and notices the Doctor resting on the prison bed and he says "Oh, he's still with us then?" and Jo says "Sorry you're disappointed!".  So, Jo asks "How about some breakfast?" and Vosper scoffs and says "What do you think this is, a holiday camp?!" and Jo demands "You weren't told to starve us to death. What good do you think he's going to be to the Master is he doesn't have any food inside him!" and Vosper gives in and goes to arrange to get some food for them.  And after Vosper goes, the Doctor suddenly springs to life and says to Jo "Well done, my dear. Now perhaps we can do something about getting out of here!" much to her delight. 

Roger Delgado is great once again as the Master and here he oozes both charm and evil effortlessly as he plays a dual role of himself and as Professor Keller, although he only assumes the Keller mantle rather briefly.

Roger naturally has some great moments in the story such as the scene where he goes to Stangmoor prison to start up the riot with Mailer's help.  So in the scene, the Master goes into Mailer's cell, who tries to grab him but the Master takes grip of Mailer's hand and says "Shut up, Mailer, and keep your voice down. I've come here to help you".  Mailer, surprised then asks "Help me?" and the Master tells him "You want to get out of heere, don't you?" and Mailer says "I've tried mate!" and the Master scoffs and says "Yes, I heard about that pathetic little attempt. It was bound to fail. No proper plan and what's more, no resources".  Then the Master opens a case he was carrying that is loaded with smoke grenades, gas masks and pistols.  So, Mailer asks "What's your game?" and the Master says "You and I, Mailer, are going to create a great deal of havoc in this place!".

Another good scene is when the Master revives the Doctor in the prison's process theatre after he was attached to the Keller machine and subjected to its full power.  And the Master tells a weary Doctor "Welcome back. Would it surprise you to know that one of your hearts stopped completely? You were within an inch of dying".  And the Doctor tells the Master "You wanted to know how long I could hold out against that machine.  Well the answer is, I can't.  Nobody can".  However the Master says "Of course you can! If I can control it from that console, then so can you. And you must while I'm not here!".  However the Doctor weakly says "No, no" but the Master insists "Oh, come on, Doctor. We are both Time Lords!" and the Doctor tells him "Be that as it may, I know the secret of that machine. Inside is a creature that feeds on the evil of the mind, and very soon it'll feed on yours" but the Master says "Nonsense!". 

Then there is the scene where the Master tries to wrestle control over the Keller machine only to struggle against its evil power.  And in the scene the Master says to it "You can't harm me. I'm stronger than you are" however the machine at this point starts to activate and make more noise and the Master begins to struggle against its power.  And the Master says "I brought you here. I gave you the minds you need to feed on! You are my servant! You are my servant!" and as he attempts to switch off the machine at the control panel, he sees an image of the Doctor laughing at him loudly.  And the Master panics and yells "No! No! You can't destroy me! I am too strong for you! I am too strong for you!".  So the Master runs out the room and barrs the door and says to himself "No more minds for you to feed on. Let's see how long starvation takes to bring you to heel!".

Nicholas Courtney is also great once again as the Brigadier and here his character has to take charge of the security arrangements for a world peace conference involving the Chinese and other nations. 

And Nick has some good moments also but I will mention only two such as the scene where the Doctor speaks to the Brig about trying to get the Keller machine shut down due to the danger.  And the Brigadier in the scene wearily says "All right, all right, all right, all right, Doctor! You win".  So, the Doctor asks "And you'll back up my report to the Home Office calling for a complete ban on the Keller process?" and the Brig says "Yes!".  And the Doctor then asks "And you'll get in touch with the Home Secretary and make sure that he takes some action?" and the Brigadier testily says "Yes, Doctor, and if that doesn't do any good, I personally will go down to Stangmoor and blow the blasted machine up myself. Now, are you or are you not going to help me with this case?!".  So, the Doctor sarcastically replies " My dear Lethbridge Stewart, your word is my command. You know that you only have to ask!". 

So, the Brigadier get's ready to leave as he takes his suitcase and the Doctor asks "Well, where on Earth do you think you are going?!" and the Brigadier replies " We are going to see the new Chinese delegate, Mister Fu Peng".  And the Doctor says "Fu Peng?  He must be Hokien" and the Brigadier misses the cultural reference and says "No, no, no, Doctor.  He's Chinese!  Now come along!".

And lastly there is the scene where the Brigadier is about to storm Stangmoor prison to save the Doctor and Jo with his UNIT team.  And the Brigadier arrives at the gate of the prison and he is dressed wearing overalls and he decides to affect a naff cockney accent.  So, one of the prisoners, dressed as a guard comes out and the Brigadier says in his cockney accent "Morning, mate.  Provisions" and the guard asks "What?" and the Brig says "Provisions. Nosh. Food!".  So the prisoner tells him "Back gate. You leave it at the inner gate. You can't come in here" but the Brig protests "Oh, it won't get in there, mate. Me van's too big!".  So, the prisoner says to the Brig "Then you'll have to clear off, mate!" but the Brig protests "Ere, wait a minute. I've got a weeks supply of food in there, and booze for the Governor. Am I supposed to go back and tell them you don't want it? They'll think you're barmy!".

As for the supporting cast members William Marlowe is pretty good in his role as the criminal, Mailer, who helps out the Master with his nefarious plan to steal a nuclear missile.  Pek-Sin Lim does not too badly in her role as Captain Chin Lee, the rather feisty Chinese officer, who is attached to the peace conference for the Chinese delegates but ends up doing the Master's evil bidding.  Neil McCarthy also does OK as the criminal, Barnham, who undergoes the Keller machine process and ends up being like a child afterwards and he would go on to play integral part in the story later.

And last of all on the regular supporting cast front, Richard Franklin is good once again as the UNIT captain, Mike Yates.  And Richard has one line that is of particular note, which is the scene where Yates first meets Chin Lee and after their meeting he says to the Brigadier about Lee "She's quite a dolly!".  And last of all John Levene is also fine once again as the reliable and trusty Sergeant Benton, who does his bit throughout the story and even ends up being the acting governor of the prison later on!

DIRECTOR AND MUSIC

Finally getting on to the direction, Timothy Combe does a good job here with the story and he previously also directed "Dr Who and the Silurians" in Jon Pertwee's first season and overall Combe's direction is quite solid.  However the only thing I'd say is that the story has some pacing issues given that it is a six parter, it does run on a bit too long so that is the only that goes against Combe here.

As for the music, Dudley Simpson yet again provides the score, which is again all synthesized as the music was throughout Pertwee's second season due to the change in format of the show, although Simpson himself found the process of writing electronic music and performing was quite exhausting!  Anyway the music here is quite good and the Keller machine's theme is also quite memorable when you hear it and is often replayed throughout the story. 

FLAWS (Warning: this section may also contain spoilers!)

As for flaws....yes "The Mind of Evil" isn't quite all perfect.

For starters I think one of the main problems with the story is that at six parts, the story is just a bit too long and it does feel somewhat padded out.  And the story appears to be split into two sections where the Doctor tries to sort out the Keller machine issues and then there is the whole issue with the peace conference.  Yet somehow it would have been better if they could have condensed down the story to just four parts as it does feel just a bit padded out here. 

Another issue I had with the story was to do with why did the Master bother to try and create the Keller machine in the first place??!!  Ultimately the problem here is that the Master created his own Frankenstein and was totally unable to control it once he did, so not even he could contain its evil power.  So to me, I felt that the Keller machine, even though it is quite a creepy, effective enemy on its own, its surely one of the least smart things the Master did with his skills and surely by the end he would be thinking "Oh, why the hell did I bother creating this thing???!".

Its also worth noting that the Keller machine design looks a bit daft on the top as the top of the machine's design looks almost just like a policeman's Bobby hat!  And this alone kind of threatens to undercut the menace of the machine itself when you are like "God!  This thing is so fearful!" yet at the same time "Ha, am I really looking at a police officer's Bobby hat?!!".  

I also felt the whole idea of the Master wanting to capture a missile, so he could launch it at the world peace conference was also a bit pat and another rather lame idea for the Master to achieve his so-called world domination.  And in this respect it makes you wonder, why did he go to such elaborate lengths to devise the Keller machine in order to access the prison, when presumably he could have just donned one of his many disguises with his facial masks and outfits!  Again, this would negate the need for the Keller machine in the story.

And further to this point, the Master really just helped Mailer to escape from prison, simply so he could get a team of men to capture this missile in the first place.  But again, couldn't the Master have just not tried to get some hired help (or hypnotise someone!) into helping him capture the missile rather than go through all this hullabaloo with the prison in-mates???!  Ah well, they had to come up with something I guess for the story.

Anyway that's it for the flaws.

SUM UP

So, to sum up, The Mind of Evil is a very enjoyable story that features a good mix of drama, suspense and fun and it even echoes the darker tones of Pertwee's other classic story written by Don Houghton "Inferno" as well as keep in tone with the lighter UNIT family of the 2nd season of the Pertwee era.  It also features some very solid performances from the regular cast as well as from the supporting cast especially William Marlowe as the criminal, Mailer and Dudley Simpson's electronic music score is also suitably creepy and effective.

And despite any of its minor flaws, The Mind of Evil remains something of a hidden gem in the Jon Pertwee era and if you haven't seen it before and are a fan of the show, its certainly worth a look.

Right, so that's it for now and I will return soon with yet another review.

So, till the next one its ciao for now!