Escape From New York (1981)

Film of 2012 #64


The John Carpenter film starring Kurt Russell as Snake Plissken, New York has been walled off as a maximum security prison and the inmates are allowed to run free. A Terrorist takes Airforce One and crashes the plane and the President is played by Donald Pleasence ejects and lands in New York and the army have to get him out. So they use Snake as the best at what he does to go in and get him out. He meets Ernest Borgnine as the Cabbie and runs into Isaac Hayes who is the Duke of New York and the person who runs the city. Lee Van Cleef as Hauk and Adrienne Barbeau as Maggie round out the cast from this 80's cult favourite.

Scored by John Carpenter this film is another of his very strong 80's films with a strong cast and interesting story, even if it is a bit contrived. This film looks at a society where criminal actions and violence reach such a peak that it becomes viable and acceptbale to shut off New York and turn it into a prison and as plot point in a film it is good as it gives you a famous city to run around and you can make up your own rules as anything goes. There is some interesting thoughts on how far people would go to survive with some of the lower class criminals running around the sewers eating people and others trying to make some form of living by doing what would be considered a normal job, such as Cabbie. This falls into the Action genre with some social commentary but really it is about the fight scenes and the chase scenes and the desperation of Snake trying to get the president. There is also another story with the problem being there is a threat to the whole world safety based on what the president has in his brief case. 

I really enjoy this film with Kurt Russell totally over acting in the role of Snake and really playing the bad-ass. The score and direction from Carpenter paint a really dark and scary future and there is very little light in the story, I would say this is a 4 star recommend if you enjoy anything that Carpenter has done in the past.

Christine (1983)

Film of 2012 #61


Stephen King's Christine brought to Life by the master of Horror that is John Carpenter, however this happened I am very happy to have seen the outcome. The story follows Arnie Cunningham played by Keith Gordon, who is bullied. He has nothing other than a friend who is on the football team Dennis played by John Stockwell. That is until passing a garden they see Christine for Sale, she is a beat up, broken down, junker that Arnie falls in love with and decides to restore so he has a cool car. However there is something supernatural about Christine and things start to happen.

I have read this book and it is better than the film but then this is usually the case when books are made into films. However this film still holds up to me, the story follows Arnie to begin with and then as things start to happen you switch to Dennis and the Girl that Arnie hooks up with played by a very Young Alexandra Paul as they try to figure out what is happening and what they can do to sort the situation.

This is a fun horror film with some good effects, some great music and an interesting story I really like the film a and would say that if you like Carpenters early works or the the writings of Stephen King then it is worth a look, it is 4 stars for me.

The Thing (2011)

So what did I want from a remake/sequel/prequel to the 1982 John Carpenter's The Thing, which I reviewed here, nothing I did not want the 1982 film touched at all but as I said in my review of the 2011 trailer here, I was not looking forward to it. The biggest issue i have is the fact that we know how it has to end as it has to tie in with the original start. The biggest thing they could not resist that the original could not do was using CGI at least it was done fairly well still not a patch on the effects of the original.

Now trying to be honest I have to say that I enjoyed this film from the stand alone point of view, they do not remake the film but there a certain scenes that they have to make decisions about and they cannot just do what they want, I think that a film in the universe of The Thing with no tie to the original film would have been interesting. A big issue I have is that there are enough questions about the motivation of the creature from the first film and this film just raises some more regarding what where and why and really the tension and enjoyment of the film do not need these concerns to make them a  good tense film.

So the cast were fine it was good to see Mary Elizabeth Winstead in the lead role and the supporting cast were good as well. I liked the differences between it and the original, it took it's own way and had the check points that all prequels have to indulge in but overall it was a solid film and one that i would recommend whatever you think of it the 1982 film is still there. This is a solid 3 star film for me.

The Thing (1982)

The 1982 classic from the master of suspense John Carpenter, a film that I have seen several times and will watch many times again, I have listened to fan commentary's and dissections of this film and there is nothing that will make me dislike the film. It is a remake of the 1951 film  The Thing From Another World, so it goes to show that remade films can be better than the original, that however is not an excuse to go around remaking them all though. With the soon to be released prequel, the trailer which I reviewed here I decided to re-watch the film for the first time in a while on Bluray.

One of the things that this film is famous for is the effects back in 1982 they were all practical and I was worried that watching it on Bluray might destroy the memory of effects that are truly believable and fantastic. But from the Dog to the spider head they all hold up as well on Bluray as they ever did on VHS or DVD.

This is a classic of the horror genre and a must see for all fans of the genre and all movie fans in general I give this a solid 5 stars and say that everybody should give this a go at least once if you have a love of film.

The Thing (2011) Trailer

So the 1982 classic from John Carpenter is getting a somethingm from what I understand it is a prequel and is based in the Norwegian camp, so anyway we know how this will end up. Why on earth do we have to have a sequel to the classic, why not have an original idea to the original film (I know Carpernter's is a remake) but why not just leave the original and steal the idea and create a stand alone story that has nothing to do with the Thing but uses the same basic idea. The problem is that the film is tied to what is shown in the original also it is a group in the Antartic how different a film can it be without changing some of the rules.

Anywy the trailer does look good and I will probably see the film at the cinema as the original this is a prequal to is one of my all time favourite films. You have Mary Elizabeth Winsted invited to the antartic to investigate what the Norwegians have found and the creature comes through, I do wonder if they will actually finish where the John carpenter film starts with the helicopter, that would be fun to see.

So overall another film that is not needed at all but I will go and see it at the cinema.

UK Release date - 21st October 2011.