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.

My Bloody Valentine 3D (2009)

Film of 2012 #63


The First of the 3D horror spectaculars that came out at the start of the new Digital 3D revolotion and was part of the catalyst for all of the horror films that followed in the vain of Final Destination. I did not see this in 3D at the theartre and watched it as I had been meaning to and I do enjoy a good slasher film. This is a remake of a 1981 film and is a common idea behind a slasher film with the main protaganist returning 10 years after the slaughter of 22 people in a local mine by Harry Warden. The main character is Tom Hanniger played by Jensen Ackles, his old flame is Sarah Plamer played by Jaimi King and her husband Axel Plamer played by Kerr Smith who is also the local sheriff. 

This film is slightly different from your typical 80's and 90's slasher as the targets of the slashings are not your typical teen victims, they were teenagers at the time of the original attacks and when the film is set they are in their late twenties so that is the first small twist. It is funny as the characters still behave like they are teenagers, the difference being a couple have kids and are married but they react like teenagers. The film in itself tries to throw red herrings at you but you realise they are pointing so firmly in one direction that it has to be wrong and you then know exactly who is the killer. 

The 3D effects, as they normally are in horror films of this ilk are obvious and easy to see when the 3D is off and I think that this falls into the fun with a few drinks and friends category. I like what the film tried to do with the story twists and the idea but I think they got to carried away with the idea of the 3D and forgot the rest of it. This is a 2 star avoid unless you are a fan of the horror/Slasher genre then it is a film that is enjoyable enough within this genre.