Twelfth episode: Let's rock / The Return, Part XII

Content: Gordon and Albert recruit Tammy and deputize Diane to the Blue Rose task force. Sarah Palmer has an unsettling experience in a grocery store, which leads Deputy Chief Hawk to check on her at her house. Albert interrupts Gordon and his French lady friend to show him a text message Diane received asking about Las Vegas. Cooper and Sonny Jim play catch. Audrey Horne demands that her husband, Charlie, help her find Billy, her missing lover. He reluctantly phones Tina, and is astonished by what she tells him, but does not tell Audrey what Tina said. Chantal and Hutch assassinate Warden Murphy. Frank Truman visits Ben Horne to tell him his grandson Richard killed the boy in the hit-and-run, and then attempted to kill the only witness, Miriam. Ben gives Frank the key to Room 315 as a memento for Harry, and agrees to pay Miriam's medical costs. Diane finds that the coordinates on Ruth Davenport's arm point to Twin Peaks.

Analysis: This new episode asks a lot of new questions instead of answering any which is very interesting in my book. First of all, what's going on with Sarah Palmer? My impression is that she is controlled or possessed by an evil spirit because of her weird reactions at the grocery store and at home. This underlines my impression that she could be the nameless girl from the eighth episode that became the host of a demoniac creature. Up next, what's going on with Audrey Horne? She seems to have become a more sinister Person. Perhaps, her husband is more like a business partner and both are trying to use and abuse each other. My guess is that Billy is the guy whose truck had been taken by Richard Horne and that he got abducted or assassinated by him. The fact that Richard knew Billy and that Audrey Horne seems unusually aggressive underlines my thesis that Audrey Horne is Richard's mother and that Evil Cooper might be his father. Diane Evans either collaborates with Evil Cooper because she must obey him as he has found a way to put her under pressure or she collaborates with someone who actually wants Evil Cooper dead to take revenge on him for what he has done to her.

Description: This was one of the most controversial episodes of the new season. A lot of viewers complained about the episode's slow pace, Audrey Horne's disappointing return and a lack of action, content and tension. I have to disagree. I thought that the episode's slow pace was perfectly employed. It added a light-hearted touch to the hilarious yet intimate conversation between Gordon Cole and Albert Rosenfield in the hotel room. It added some depth and emotions in the conversation between Ben and Beverly. It added some Tension and uneasiness in Audrey's dispute with Charlie. Overall, I thought this episode was perfectly balanced between emotional sequences, humorous parts and uneasy passages. It was also perfectly balanced between scenes happening in and around Twin Peaks and parts Happening in Nevada and South Dakota. While this episode wasn't particularly memorable or outstanding, it was high-quality Twin Peaks material.

Favorite scene: My favourite scene involved Albert Rosenfield, Gordon Cole and the beautiful French Lady. The scene didn't have much content but a lot of Situation comedy and was perfectly acted by everyone involved. I've read several theories that the different characters' reactions in this episode are parables linked to the audience's potential attitudes. Some viewers might fully enjoy this episode like Gordon Cole who is very active in this episode. Others might cringe and feel this episode stretched but try to carry on like Albert Rosenfield. Others like Audrey Horne might get really impatient because their expectations aren't met. Personally, I feel like Gordon Cole.

Rating: 8/10

Samurai Cop is a movie that is bad on so many levels that it's difficult to know where to begin. First of all, the acting performances are below average and lead actor Mathew Karedas seems to only have one facial expression. The plot is everything but clever, extremely predictable and could be described as almost childish. The dialogues are thin, unconvincing and often performed in poor English because the script was written by Iranian director Amir Shervan who didn't have much experience. The female characters in this movie are all stupidly obsessed with sex and the male characters try to look cool on purpose which makes them look like complete idiots. The camera techniques are often terrible because characters who are talking are sometimes out of frame or picture. Technicians are sometimes visible in the reflections of sunglasses or as shadows in a small room. There are numerous continuity mistakes with people wearing sunglasses in one cut and not wearing them in the next cut four seconds later, hospital rooms being filled with people that have mysteriously vanished five seconds later and people being asked to come from New York City to Los Angeles who are suddenly present a few minutes later as if they had taken a rocket ride. The locations of this film are also boring and mostly consist of exchangeable alleys, random intersections and cheap restaurants. The worst part about the movie is that the director forgot to shoot some important scenes and asked the different actors to come together again to finish the film about four months after it had already been finished. The problem here is that our static lead actor Mathew Karedas cut his long hair after the movie had been completed and had to wear a wig to avoid continuity errors. The problem is that this wig looks extremely fake and is even pulled off his head in a fight Scene if you watch closely which is the cherry on the cake of this goofy b-movie.

You might wonder why this film still deserved a generous five out of ten points. The answer is quite obvious. This film is so bad that it's almost good again. It's quite amusing to catch all the obvious mistakes. The film is unpredictable in its goofy weirdness. A nice drinking game invented by two German comedians specifically for this movie consists of drinking a shot of alcohol each time the main character's wig is visible.

To be fair though, it's a quite entertaining movie with a lot of car chases and fight scenes with bare hands, pistols, swords and improvised weapons. The movie also includes several soft porn scenes and a shallow love story that gives us a break from all the action. I was never bored by this movie because of its vivid flow. Most action movies these days either bore with complicated background stories, endless dialogues and take themselves way too serious or are filled with exchangeable CGI effects and enormous plot holes in unnecessary sequels. From that point of view, Samurai Cop is almost refreshingly grounded and unpretentious.

Fans of old-school action b-movies could be very well entertained by Samurai Cop and can give this film a shot if they are open to have some fun. My advice would be to invite some friends over while watching this film. Despite its numerous obvious flaws, Samurai Cop is still overall an average movie and not among the worst films I have ever watched like so many other people claim.

Verehrte Leserinnen und Leser!

Hier folgen diverse Impressionen von meinem Familienausflug nach Amsterdam, eine der schönsten und unterbewertetsten Städte Europas, die leider immer wieder auf Drogenkonsum und Rotlichtmilieu reduziert wird. Ich war schon einige Male dort und es hat mir jedes Mal noch besser gefallen. Besonders toll sind die Bootsfahrten durch die Grachten, das Gebiet rund um das Hermitage, sowie das Rijksmuseum. Das Hard Rock Café gehörte natürlich auch zum Pflichtprogramm. An der Amsterdam ArenA kann man wunderbar parken und auch einkaufen gehen. Ich kann einen Besuch dieser Stadt nur herzlichst empfehlen.

Meine Damen und Herren!

Gestern war ich mit meiner Familie auf großer Tour. Diese drei Fotos entstanden auf einem Autobahnrastplatz nahe Arnheim, Niederlande, in der Nähe des Nationalparks De Hoge Veluwe.

Liebe Leserinnen und Leser!

Hier folgen einige Impressionen von Exit the Room in Düsseldorf, wo ich gestern zum ersten Mal mit drei guten Freunden war. Das Konzept ist scheinbar simpel: Man wird in einen oder mehrere Räume eingesperrt und hat eine bestimmte Zeit, in der man sich aus diesen Räumen befreien und gleichzeitig noch einige Rätsel lösen muss. Oftmals muss man Zahlenkombinationen herausfinden um Koffer, Safes oder Türen zu öffnen. Hierbei muss man manchmal Abstände messen, Bildern analysieren oder Geburtsdaten addieren oder subtrahieren, um nur ein paar Beispiele zu geben.

Unser Raum nannte sich "Murder Room". Es war der Tatort des neunten Mordes eines Serienkillers. Das Spurensicherungsteam war verschwunden und wir waren in diesem Raum eingesperrt worden. Ziel war es innerhalb einer Stunde lebend aus diesem Raum zu entkommen, das Verschwinden des Spurensicherungsteams aufzuklären und eventuell mehr über den Serienkiller zu erfahren.

Trotz vieler Ideen und guter Mannschaftsarbeit haben wir in einer Stunde vielleicht etwas mehr als ein Drittel der Rätsel gelöst. Trotz dieses Misserfolges hat uns diese Erfahrung genug Spaß gemacht, um sie eventuell bald in einem anderen Raum zu wiederholen. Es gibt auch Räume, in denen man eine Bombe entschärfen, ein Gegengift zu einem tödlichen Virus finden oder den Fängen eines verrückten Wissenschaftlers entkommen muss. Exit the Room gibt es in unserer Umgebung in Düsseldorf, Essen und Köln.

Neben Exit the Room entdeckten wir in Düsseldorf auch einen tollen Craft Beer Laden und waren anschließend noch beim Opladener Wurst Maxe.

Craft Beer Laden

Das Bombenzimmer

Gruppenfoto