The Room (2003)

Tommy Wiseau's 'The Room' has become a cult movie. Not because its good, because its hilariously bad!

This movie has a dedicated following in America, with a cinema in New York screening it weekly to packed audiences. It truly is an incredible film to experience and one I would certainly like to watch with a large group of people.

What little story there is revolves around Johnny (played by director, producer, writer... tea boy, Tommy Wiseau) and his cheating fiance Lisa. She has an affair with Johnny's best friend Mark and also spreads a false accusation that Johnny hit her. Johnny eventually finds out, they have a fight, then he shoots himself in the head... THE END.

What makes this such an enjoyable movie to watch is the overall quality (or lack of).

The script is hilarious. Most scenes start with at least one of the characters saying "Hi" to someone in the room. Very quickly I learnt the names of each of the characters in the film, something I can't usually do with on my first viewing . By the end of The Room both my friend Dez and myself were shouting each members name as they entered the screen, it was a fun thing to do.


Lets get onto the acting as this is some of the finest I have ever seen. I'm not sure which part of the world Tommy Wiseau comes from but its plain to tell English isn't his native tongue. This adds to the comedy aspect of the film. The scene below is a great example of this.



Apart from Johnny, Denny (Philip Haldiman) is a character to look out for. He's a creepy kid that just seems to appear in scenes randomly and apparently likes to watch Johnny & Lisa together. We decided he was a ninja and was in every scene of the film, hiding in the shadows or in clear sight.

Take a look at the scenery in Johnny & Lisa's apartment. They have framed photos of cutlery, knifes, forks, the lot! I don't think anyone truly understands whats going on here, perhaps Johnny works at a cutlery factory he's very proud of his work? We never see what he does for a living so it could be a possibility. [EDIT: I think he works at a bank actually] When 'The Room' is shown at certain screens in America, the audience is given plastic cutlery to sling whenever cutlery is seen. Its brilliant, interactive cinema at its best!

Tommy Wiseau apparently pretends he made the film awful on purpose but I don't think he's cleaver enough to pull that off. However, a bad film like this hasn't exactly killed his career. Even though Tommy hasn't made another film since 2004's Homeless in America documentary he's still doing the American convention circuits (off the cult success of The Room) as a celebrity!


I can appreciate people not wanting to waste time watching The Room but if you're a movie buff, and enjoy picking holes in poor films I couldn't recommend this enough. Seriously, get a bunch of mates together and some drinks, put this on, you'll have an entertaining time - guaranteed!

RATING

- As a film it stinks.
- For entertainment value alone its one of the best films ever!

The Incredible Hulk (2008)

The Incredible Hulk is back on screen for its second attempt at starting a celluloid franchise after the failure of the 2003 Hulk movie.

Edward Norton has taken over the lead and seems to have used Bill Bixby interpretation of Bruce Banner (from the seventies TV series) for his inspiration, the quiet loner!

*** SPOILERS ***

The story starts pretty much where the first Hulk movie finished (although this isn't an official sequel!) in Brazil with Bruce Banner hiding from the US military, trying his best to avoid turning green whilst trying to find the antidote to turn him back into a normal person.

Inevitably he gets tracked down and is pursued by soldier Tim Roth who's working for the US military, they want to use Banner's DNA to perfect super-soldier's. Banner, now the Hulk smashes his way out of Brazil to mainland US. His main objective to find the scientist that has been helping him find the cure.

Its all pretty standard stuff. The whole film itself is pretty mediocre, keeping firmly within the boundaries of the comic book adaptation code. Its fairly enjoyable but nothing spectacular. I guess after Ang Lee's version Marvel wanted to keep the film fairly safe from any experimental techniques.

This to me is what made the 2003 Hulk so special. Lee had the guts to try some truly interesting direction and editing techniques. I loved the transitional effects from scene to scene and the comic style windows. It made the film feel like a comic book. I know I'm in the minority here, most people hated it.

...anyway, back to the 2008 version.

Roth's character volunteers to restart the military's experiments in DNA and gamma technologies so he can fulfill his vendetta with the Hulk and gain some sort of common ground with the green dude.



As we've all come to expect from watching super hero movies, if a bad guy gains super powers its not usually a good thing. The addictive nature of the new powers mutate Roth into a Hulk-like monster (named 'The Abomination'), uncontrollable by the military and hellbent on causing mayhem.

The film ends with a massive punch-up between the two, with the Hulk now fighting on behalf of the military.

Now, its the very last scene of the film that caused me to pay attention with the appearance of Tony Stark (Iron Man's alter ego, played by the awesome Robert Downey Jr.). Speaking on behalf of the agency S.H.I.E.L.D he wants to recruit Hulk to join his task force of super heroes.

This will eventually lead to what will be a totally awesome comic book crossover - possibly in the form of the Avengers. Marvel will probably need to establish all the other members in their own films first so it will probably take a good 5-7 years to come around but when it does its going to be pretty special!