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The both make the same groaning sound as they meet their demises.
1. The Thing (1982)
2. Halloween (1978)
3. They Live (1988)
4. Christine (1983)
5. Starman (1984)
6. Escape from New York (1981)
7. Assault on Precinct 13 (1976)
8. The Fog (1980)
9. Big Trouble in Little China (1986)
10. In the Mouth of Madness (1994)
11. Dark Star (1974)
12. Memoirs of an Invisible Man (1992)
13. The Ward (2010)
14. Prince of Darkness (1987)
15. Village of the Damned (1995)
16. Escape from L.A. (1996)
17. Vampires (1998)
18. Ghosts of Mars (2001)
#1 and #2 are absolute all-timers - endlessly rewatchable favorites. After that, from about #3-#8 are several other films I think are awesome and all pretty close in quality. #9 and #10 are still very good, then #11 and #12 are mixed but leaning positive. After that it dips a bit. #13 I enjoyed all the way until the cliche plot twist that really soured it for me, #14 was surprisingly dull, #15 mostly fell flat as well aside from a great lead performance, then #16-#18 are all just kind of mindless, over the top action films with a handful of entertaining aspects but pretty lackluster on the whole. This was a great director to explore, though!
At least Spielberg tried new genres in his career. He didn’t always succeed, but at least he tried them. James Cameron never really moved beyond action and science fiction, except for Titanic.
I was always a fan of John Carpenter, but when I see his films listed, there is only really 6 I enjoy, and have in my collection, agree with your top 2, after that, for me its
1. The Thing
2. Halloween
3. Assault on Precinct 13
4. Escape from New York
5. The Fog
6. Dark Star
Nice. It’s possible I might have even lowballed Assault on Precinct 13 a bit, just out of caution of it being the first time I saw it, but I thought it was totally fantastic. I’m a huge fan of great low-budget films. This one boasted perfect atmosphere, music (still in my head a day later), acting, action, and pacing. Really a must-see for any film fan.
I did a complete Carpenter marathon a few years ago, and my ranking is not too different from yours, @FoxRox. The main difference is probably Prince Of Darkness. I really love that film; it'd sit in the number 3 spot. I'd also move up The Fog.
I recall adding films to the list that Carpenter worked on in a different capacity than as a (sole) director. Eyes Of Laura Mars, The Philadelphia Experiment, H2 and H3, Cigarette Burns, Body Bags, ... Definitely worth checking out if you're a pathological completist like me. ;-)
Nice! Yeah, I know I’m more in the minority when it comes to Prince of Darkness. I tried really hard to get into it, but it just didn’t connect for me. Overall though Carpenter’s about the most consistent horror-based director ever, and I love some of his non-horror too like Assault and Escape from NY, although they have a little bit of horror in the DNA still. I did want to also check out the Elvis movie! Sometime, haha!
Kurst Russell as Elvis... impossible to resist!
“Lucky Grandma” 2019 (Trailer)
My thoughts on it as a I wrote it down, almost as therapy, to put my mind at rest.
While spectacular at times, Ridley Scott’s “Napoleon” relegates itself to a collection of, largely invented, battle scenes. No mention of the Napoleonic Code, or anyhting else non-military that he did. Except shagging of course.
Sure, we have all come to terms with films about European history being spoken entirely in English, but mentioning countries that aren’t yet founded (Belgium, Italy), as if they are, or having continental Europeans talk in miles instead of kilometres is a stretch too far for me.
Look, I don’t mind when some liberties are being taken for the sake of drama, but in this one it is to such an extent, it’s almost insulting.
There is one hilariously stupid scene that serves as a fine metaphor for the entire film: Napoléon has his army shoot canonballs at the Pyramids of Giza (!). This is Ridley Scott making something up to keep things recognisable and simple for his audience, which I think he must presume has never had a single history lesson.
It’s a dangerous thing to oversimplify history, though unfortunately this seems to happen all the time. Mr. Scott apparently thinks we should all shut up and accept his ignorant cooked-up version of the facts.
Maybe there’s a career for him in politics.
Oh yes, before I forget:
The movie follows a character named Frank Born, who has vivid dreams and visions of himself as a secret agent, so his psychiatrist prescribes some time away at a relaxing village in the Swiss Alps, in order to cure his "Bonditis". There, Born finds himself in the middle of a secret international summit and is soon pursuing a coveted microfilm.
The film is as silly as the plot description. As far as spy spoofs and Eurospy film goes, it's certainly not up there with the best, but it's not that bad either. It's available on Youtube for those who want to check it out.
Interesting. Your thoughts confirm my worst fears developed from reading early reviews, and I don't think this movie is for me.
However, "having continental Europeans talk in miles instead of kilometres" is probably correct for the period. While the metric system was invented (or agreed upon) in 1791 and heavily favoured by the First Republic, it took until the mid-1800s (to say the least) to officially adopt kilometers instead of the local version of miles in most parts of Europe. I say local version because a mile is not a mile is not a mile, which includes several lengths of German Meilen, all kinds of leagues (as in 40,000 of those under the sea) and lieues and even the Chinese lǐ, all ranging anywhere between 500 meters and 11.299 km (check the comparison table on Wikipedia). I'd say it's very likely that even the leadership of post-revolutionary France kept talking about miles (lieues communes, equalling 4,452.2 meters apiece) since most of the population, including their soldiers, wouldn't really know what a kilometer was.
So I guess it is historically correct to have them using miles. One just doesn't know what actual distance they are talking about. And I hope your therapy works :-).
I had never heard of that film and only looked at the first seconds for now. But the hilarious part for me is that Gerd Baltus is playing the main character. Gerd Baltus was one of those actors that were omnipresent, though mostly in supporting roles, in 1960s' and 1970s' German(-language) movies and even more on TV, and a very familiar face.
I only saw YOLT for the first time later in the 70s, or even the 80s. But my reaction to the first shot of Connery after having been "transformed" into a "Japanese" was the same that I encountered with other viewers, including my wife and my sister-in-law: "Wow - he now looks exactly like Gerd Baltus!"
And no, it wasn't the other way around. Bonditis came out in the German-speaking part of Switzerland only about six weeks after YOLT, hardly enough time to model its main character after Bond-san.
Well mate, you’ve got me there ;)
Still though, the rest of my thoughts still stand. Napoléon’s story has a lot of potential but this thing just didn’t cut it for me. Thanks for the reply btw :)
@Torgeirtrap added ‘Bonditis’ to my watchlist!
In my opinion, Scott is mostly a visual storyteller. Look at Alien and Blade Runner, or even 1492 and Gladiator. These films play with pictures and sound almost as much as, if not more than, with dialogue and scripted content. Napoleon is no doubt a very good-looking film (which I'm also not in a hurry to see anytime soon); in fact, I hope that it brings some of the visual charm of The Duellists. The story as such, however, seems to put a lot of people off, and curiously enough, I'm not surprised. Scott made Prometheus, another awesome-looking film with a paper-thin story. The man makes beautiful films, but he's not a narrator the way Spielberg and Nolan are.
The problem with Napoleon though, is that it is presented as if it’s all true events, and that’s what I wasn’t too happy about.
For instance, 1492 begins and ends with Columbus recollecting his own memories, putting the events in the hands of an unreliable narrator from the get-go.
Napoleon presents itself as if they are telling the actual facts and it’s clearly all made up. That just rubs me the wrong way.
Haha, now that you mention it, there might be a slight resemblance between Gerd Baltus and YOLT Connery. I don't think I've seen Baltus in anything else (my knowledge of German language cinema and TV is very limited), but he has a familiar looking face even so.
Really enjoyed it. They made Godzilla mad, angry, ragefull and totally overpowered. Glorious.
The human characters were also well written and enjoyable, all around, a great time.
Made the 'Godzilla x Kong' trailer they previewed before the film look like total ass.
I absolutely loved it for all of the reasons many have mentioned. I hope this gets a physical media release
With that said, no film is perfect; the midsection is a bit flabby and could have been tightened a bit. Also, while most of the effects shots are outstanding, Godzilla and the destruction he causes have a sense of mass lacking in many comparable films, there are a couple of shots that are painfully bad; they have a dated , video game quality. Possibly they can be tweaked for a Blu ray/ 4K release.
You and I both! Once I see it available to stream or rent, I'm jumping at the opportunity. It wasn't even on my radar whatsoever until a week or so after it hit theaters. Now everyone seems to be talking about it.
As I’ve stated in other posts, I had long thought that Toho had given up on actively promoting these films outside of Japan; the profit really being in DVD licensing to meet the demands of a small (but rabid) fanbase. In the US, for example, I don’t remember seeing any print or TV ads for the film. However, it did have two things going for it:
- An early December release date meant that there was a lack of other “big” films opening at the same time. As a result, several outlets reviewed the film that may not have under normal conditions (i.e., The Washington Post, The New York Times, etc..). That created a ton of good “word of mouth” for the film. In addition, the lack of competition for theater screens allowed Toho to expand the film’s reach beyond the planned limited 10-day release. For example, SHIN GODZILLA, Toho’s last film in this series was released in the US in October 2016 for 10 days only, and then only on 500 screens.
- While traditional ads were lacking, Toho has done a good job in recent years of publicizing Godzilla related things through Fathom Event screenings, "Godzilla Day" celebrations and short YouTube spots. Plus, for we Godzilla fans, seeing a Toho film on the large screen is such a rare event, that we just had to see it. It also helped, that it is a really good film, and the advanced notices following its November 2023 release in Japan were very positive.
As for streaming and an eventual DVD/Blu-Ray release, that may take some time. Although, I don’t know all of the ends and outs of Toho’s agreement with WB/Legendary, it is a safe bet that they will not do anything that will draw attention away from the lead up to the April 2024 release of Godzilla x Kong: The New Empire. As a result, I'm thinking early summer. I hope I'm wrong.*For those wishing a quick review of the Godzilla films, the website Alternative Ending is a good place to start. They did something like this (even better IMO) for the Bond films back in 2012. https://www.alternateending.com/daikaiju-eiga
I saw The Comfort of Strangers in the last year or two for the first time and loved it as well. I've been on a Walken kick of late, he's amazing in everything. His works with director Abel Ferrara usually get a really, really incredible performance out of him.
The Unseen 4/6 , horror from danish town Solvang CA.....not great but okay I guess
Bach as reporter
("wrong arm of the law"......reminds me of Michael Chan who was kicked out of HK police cuz they found out he was triad member :D