Post
by Mairosu » 09 Oct 2006, 21:22
Nedavno pisah nesto o Joci, evo copy/paste...na engleskom je jeziku inace.
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DARK STAR (1974.) ... a silly little sci-fi yarn about a crew of "planet destroyers" (spacemen whose mission is demolishing dead worlds) who run into trouble when one of the nukes they carry develops a mind of their own. Shot on tiny budget, this Strangelovian space comedy is still somewhat funny, and worth catching for hardcore fans. **1/2 / ****
Novelty casting : Dan O'Bannon, the man who gave us Alien, is one of the lead roles.
ASSAULT ON PRECINCT 13 (1976.) ... a police station in LA is besieged by suddenly rampant street gangs who are out for blood. The fact that a notorious criminal is happening to have a stopover right there en route to a prison destination only complicates matters. Still one of the best B movies out there, Assault retains all of its punch 30 years after, and the "vanilla twist" scene is still somewhat shocking. Essentially a remake of Rio Bravo, though as Carpenter notes, "it turned out more like Night of the Living Dead". Awesome title theme. *** / ****
Novelty casting : JC is a big time western buff, which he only confirms by casting Henry Brandon - the evil indian chief Scar from The Searchers - as one of the police officers.
HALLOWEEN (1978.) ... a deranged killer returns to his birthplace to finish off an old job. In light of recent Halloween discussions, I shouldn't write too much about this, but I have to say that I hold this as the cornerstone slasher movie and a horror landmark. And yes, it aged badly - but purely because EVERYBODY saw it - and copied it. ***1/2 / ****.
Novelty casting : way to resurrect Donald Pleasance's career, JC.
SOMEONE'S WATCHING ME ! (1978., TV) ... TV thriller relatively similar to When a Stranger Calls. Passes time good, very rare to hunt down. **1/2 / ****
Novelty casting : Nothing I recall right off the bat, and I can't be bothered to IMDB about.
ELVIS (1979., TV) ... an Elvis Presley biopic starring Kurt Russell, also the first feature to pair up JC and Kurt. Saw it only once, long time ago on TV. Still looking for a copy to fill my shelf. NA.
Novelty casting : again, noone I recall right away.
THE FOG (1980.) ... old school ghost story about an ancient curse catching up with the denizens of a small coastal town. Effectively creepy and interesting for its duration...anecdote : all the graphic gore shots were added after the movie was in the can. Story goes that about 10 days before The Fog opened Carpenter and producer Debra Hill went to the movies, and after he came out, JC said "well, after this, I don't think we can release the Fog just like that !". The movie he saw ? David Cronenberg's Scanners. I only have three teeth *** / ****
Novelty casting : world's most famous shower victim Janet Leigh (Psycho, duh) has a sizable role here.
ESCAPE FROM NEW YORK (1981.) ... in the near future, NYC has been turned into a prison without guards, only big walls around it. When the president crash lands within the city limits, only Snake Plissken (Kurt Russell), a former soldier turned convict, can rescue him. Dark (almost NO sunshine in the whole of film), tense, and with an extremely downbeat ending, this is one of cult 80s entries. ***1/2 / ****
Novelty casting : plenty. There's spaghetti antihero Lee van Cleef as the man who coaxes (well, blackmails) Snake into accepting the mission. Then there's Isaac Hayes as the main villain. And again, there's Donald Pleasance, playing president of the US of A...while sporting a british accent. Not to mention that Harry Dean Stanton is the world's most recognizable "oh, him ?!" guy.
THE THING (1982.) ... a group of Antarctic explorers are besieged by an alien parasite within their isolated research station. Tense, paranoid, claustrophobic, and very downbeat, coupled with still phenomenal looking creature effects by Rob Bottin, this is IMO the high point of JC's career. Often regarded as the remake of Howard Hawks' classic The Thing from Another World, JC's The Thing is actually just another attempt at filming the John W. Campbell Jr's story called "Who Goes There ?". And, actually, The Thing is a more accurate port of the original story. **** / ****
Novelty casting : Wilford Brimley ? In a horror film ?
CHRISTINE (1983.) ... a '58 Plymouth Fury possesses a teenager, tinkering with his personality and taking over his life. I never liked this film, and it never improved for me. Still, it has enough moments, and a good soundtrack. ** / ****
Novelty casting : Harry Dean's the man.
STARMAN (1984.) ... an alien who crash-lands in the USA takes form of a widow's late husband, in order to convince her to drive him to his meeting point so he can escape the hunting party. Subtle, warm, and again with a great score, this is easily Carpenter's most underrated film. *** / ****
Novelty casting : none to my knowledge
BIG TROUBLE IN LITTLE CHINA (1986.) ... old school comic adventure about a cocky trucker fighting the ancient forces of evil in San Francisco's chinatown. Great fun from start to finish - not to be missed. ***1/2 / ****
Novelty casting : long before she became a cougar sexpot in Sex in the City, Kim Catrall acted in movies like these. And one of the main villains, the "thunder" guy, served as the Hong Kong police force martial arts instructor. How badass is that ?
PRINCE OF DARKNESS (1987.) ... a dreary horror about some ancient secrets lurking about in the cellar of some church. Reuses half of the cast from Big Trouble, but doesn't drum up enough than ordinary gloomyness for the whole of it. Many people love it, though. ** / ****
Novelty casting : look out for Alice Cooper as the ad hoc street mob leader. And, there's Donald Pleasance yet again.
THEY LIVE (1988.) ... a pair of blue collar workers discover an alien conspiracy to brainwash humans and overtake their society. Starts off very promising and tackles interesting concept, then steers left at the first obstacle and transforms into a run of the mill actioner. Normally I'd give it ** and a half, but it gets three on strength of that epic Roddy Piper - Keith David streetfight and Roddy's historic "I came here to chew bubblegum" line. *** / ****
Novelty casting : Roddy Piper, for chrissakes !! But in all honesty, his performance is a very credible one.
MEMOIRS OF AN INVISIBLE MAN (1992.) ... after a four year hiatus, JC delivers this okay comedy about a guy who is suddenly forced to worry about his invisibility. Enjoyable, with enough good moments, but that's about it...probably the most overlooked JC film. **1/2 / ****
Novelty casting : personally, I think Chevy Chase in a JC movie is novel enough.
BODY BAGS (1993., TV) ... three-piece horror antology directed by JC (2/3) and Tobe Hooper. Has its good moments, has its bad moments, but overall not that bad as those projects go. **1/2 / ****
Novelty casting : Wes Craven. Sam Raimi. Sheena Easton. Greg Nicotero. Debbie Harry. Twiggy. Mark Hamill. Charles Napier. And JC and Hooper himself in the prologue/epilogue bit. Take your pick.
IN THE MOUTH OF MADNESS (1995.) ... a private eye is hired to discover the whereabouts of an elusive bestselling horror writer. He finds him, but he finds a lot of other nasty stuff too. Easily JC's best horror entry since The Thing, and probably 2nd best after that too (right behind Big Trouble). The problem : first 2/3rds are very strong, but the last third is a minor disappointment. It still has enough gas to hit home though. *** / ****
Novelty casting : Charlton Heston, of all people, appears as a concerned publisher. Prepubescent Hayden Christensen also cameos, which makes JC the only director aside from George Lucas to handle both parts of the Skywalker family.
VILLAGE OF THE DAMNED (1995.) ... rather watchable remake of the 50s sci fi classic, which was in turn inspired by the book "midwich cuckoos" if I'm not too much mistaken. For those who missed the original, it's about a batch of "überkids" who are all conceived on one day during a citywide blackout, and who attempt to rule the world in the near future. Chris Reeve's last film he completed while standing up straight. **1/2 / ****
Novelty casting : Mark Hamill must've left quite an impression on JC, for he's here again.
ESCAPE FROM LA (1996.) ... Snake's back, and this time he's solving issues on the west coast. Passable timewaster, but wholly unneccessary if you look it from the bigger perspective. ** / ****
Novelty casting : Bruce Campbell features here in one of his odder roles, and that's telling you something. And if that's not enough, there's Pam Grier and Peter Fonda, too !
VAMPIRES (1998.) ... a horror-western about vampire hunters being hunted by the chief vampire somewhere in the american southwest. Critics hated it - I LOVED it. Great atmosphere, music, and action set pieces are tops, too. Solid fun throughout. *** / ****
Novelty casting : Oscar winner Maximilian Schell is dragged out of the forgotten files to play one of the lead roles here.
GHOSTS OF MARS (2001.) ... many folks hate this neat little timewaster about something sinister happening at the Martian colonies in not-so-distant future. Surprisingly, almost everyone at horrortalk.com loves it, and I'm one of them too. Not as good as Vampires IMO, but still solid overall and throughout. Essentially, a remake of Assault at Precinct 13. **1/2 / ****
Novelty casting : Whole damn cast is novel here. Natasha Henstridge at her hottest in the lead role. Ice Cube, Jason Statham and Pam Grier supporting her. A heavy metal soundtrack with folks from Anthrax running the show. Shit, how can you bore yourself with this mixture ?
MASTERS OF HORROR : CIGARETTE BURNS (2005., TV) ... apparently, people hated Ghosts so bad JC was out of work for four years. Enter Mick Garris and his MoH project, and JC delivers again, with his probably best piece of work since In the Mouth... An intriguing story about a guy tracking down a very rare print of a movie which seems to bring extreme misfortune to everyone who even attempts to retrieve it. Very entertaining, and universally regarded as one of the better MoH entries during its first season. *** / ****
Novelty casting : Udo Kier is entertaining as hell, and he's often "that guy" you can't remember from somewhere.
A i bio je odličan stručnjak za muziku... 
