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What are your favorite John Carpenter movies? My Top 5 *kind of*
Q: What are your favorite John Carpenter movies?
Even though his later work doesn't compete with his earlier work, there is NO denying John Carpenter has brought us some of the MOST memorable and KICK ASS movie moments.
My Top 5
1) "Big Trouble in Little China"
Kurt Russell as the immortal Jack Burton, a long haul trucker caught up in mystery and mayhem in San Francisco's China Town. This Kung Fu action comedy is a FUN roller coaster ride of a movie, with plenty of laughs and action. It boasts SO much quotable dialogue, too many to list.
"This is going to take cracker jack timing, Wang." "Total concentration, are you ready, Jack."?
"I was BORN ready!"
2) "They Live"
This movie draws from one of my favorite movies as a kid "The Love War" *starring Lloyd Bridges* in which aliens living among us, disguised as humans, can only be detected by "special" glasses. This great action yarn bespeaks of the dangers of complacency and rampant consumerism, plus it has Rowdy Roddy Piper, and one of cinema's best fight scenes.
"I have come here to chew bubblegum and to KICK ASS, and I'm ALL out of bubblegum."
3) "The Thing" This movie got lost in the wake of "E.T.", which is a shame! It is a great remake of
"The Thing From Another World", wherein a crew at an Antarctic research station battle an alien * and each other!* It's gritty, visceral, and spooky, with superb makeup FX by Rob Bottin.
Kurt Russell leads a great cast, with a memorable John Carpenter soundtrack.
After a scene you have to see to believe:
"You gotta to be f***ing kidding me!"
4) "Escape From New York" Kurt Russell, yet again, as one of cinema's BADDEST Icons
Snake Plissken. Another great action yarn *set in the year 1997!* where Manhattan Island has become a walled in prison and inside Manhattan the MOB rules *led by The Duke*. Snake is a mercenary sent into Manhattan to rescue the President after Air Force One goes down inside. Stand out cast and another great JC soundtrack.
"Snake Plissken?, I thought you were dead!"
5) "Dark Star" This early JC *student* film, concerns a crew aboard the interstellar craft "Dark Star"
their mission is to blow up unstable planets in star systems pegged for future colonizations.
The beach ball alien is classic, and the scene where they try to have a phenomenological discussion with bomb #20, stuck in the bomb bay set to go off in less than 15 minutes is a hoot!
"You can't explode in the bomb bay, because it's foolish! You'll kill us all, there's no reason for it!"
"I am programmed to detonate in 9 minutes, detonation will occur at the programmed time."
I am Cheating here *like potato chips hard to list only 5...feel free to expand your list!*
*Honorable Mentions or my list cont.*
6) "Starman"
7) "Memoirs of an Invisible Man" I might be the only guy who LOVES this movie, I LOVE JC's take
on H.F. Saint's book *recommended read btw!*
8) "Assault on Precinct 13"
9) "Christine"
10) "Halloween" I know I'll probably get a lot of flak for putting it so far down on the list, but HEY!
share your LIST with me!
Even though his later work doesn't compete with his earlier work, there is NO denying John Carpenter has brought us some of the MOST memorable and KICK ASS movie moments.
My Top 5
1) "Big Trouble in Little China"
Kurt Russell as the immortal Jack Burton, a long haul trucker caught up in mystery and mayhem in San Francisco's China Town. This Kung Fu action comedy is a FUN roller coaster ride of a movie, with plenty of laughs and action. It boasts SO much quotable dialogue, too many to list.
"This is going to take cracker jack timing, Wang." "Total concentration, are you ready, Jack."?
"I was BORN ready!"
2) "They Live"
This movie draws from one of my favorite movies as a kid "The Love War" *starring Lloyd Bridges* in which aliens living among us, disguised as humans, can only be detected by "special" glasses. This great action yarn bespeaks of the dangers of complacency and rampant consumerism, plus it has Rowdy Roddy Piper, and one of cinema's best fight scenes.
"I have come here to chew bubblegum and to KICK ASS, and I'm ALL out of bubblegum."
3) "The Thing" This movie got lost in the wake of "E.T.", which is a shame! It is a great remake of
"The Thing From Another World", wherein a crew at an Antarctic research station battle an alien * and each other!* It's gritty, visceral, and spooky, with superb makeup FX by Rob Bottin.
Kurt Russell leads a great cast, with a memorable John Carpenter soundtrack.
After a scene you have to see to believe:
"You gotta to be f***ing kidding me!"
4) "Escape From New York" Kurt Russell, yet again, as one of cinema's BADDEST Icons
Snake Plissken. Another great action yarn *set in the year 1997!* where Manhattan Island has become a walled in prison and inside Manhattan the MOB rules *led by The Duke*. Snake is a mercenary sent into Manhattan to rescue the President after Air Force One goes down inside. Stand out cast and another great JC soundtrack.
"Snake Plissken?, I thought you were dead!"
5) "Dark Star" This early JC *student* film, concerns a crew aboard the interstellar craft "Dark Star"
their mission is to blow up unstable planets in star systems pegged for future colonizations.
The beach ball alien is classic, and the scene where they try to have a phenomenological discussion with bomb #20, stuck in the bomb bay set to go off in less than 15 minutes is a hoot!
"You can't explode in the bomb bay, because it's foolish! You'll kill us all, there's no reason for it!"
"I am programmed to detonate in 9 minutes, detonation will occur at the programmed time."
I am Cheating here *like potato chips hard to list only 5...feel free to expand your list!*
*Honorable Mentions or my list cont.*
6) "Starman"
7) "Memoirs of an Invisible Man" I might be the only guy who LOVES this movie, I LOVE JC's take
on H.F. Saint's book *recommended read btw!*
8) "Assault on Precinct 13"
9) "Christine"
10) "Halloween" I know I'll probably get a lot of flak for putting it so far down on the list, but HEY!
share your LIST with me!
Tags: assault on precinct 13, big trouble in little china, carpenter, christine, dark star, escape from new york, halloween, john, memoirs of an invisible man, starman
Replies to This Discussion
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Permalink Reply by Mikey B. on -
1 - The Thing
2 - Escape from New York
3 - Starman
4 - Big Trouble in Little China
5 - Halloween
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Permalink Reply by Gojira Boy on -
Hey thanks for sharing Mikey! I knew others would have "Halloween" in their top 5!
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Permalink Reply by The Eyeball Kid on
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1. Halloween - It's no accident that every horror film of the past 30 years has tried to rip this off. It took a simple idea and executed perfectly. Not a single shot is wasted. It's still one of the greatest horror films of all time.
2. The Thing - The film's isolated Antarctic setting combined with the paranoia of who can be trusted makes for some brilliant tension. It also deserves credit for its amazing creature effects. The benchmark of great remakes.
3. Dark Star - I should probably accept that there will never be a great adaptation of my favorite book, The Hitchhiker's Guide To The Galaxy, but discovering this film helped to fill the void. I can confidently say that this is the only feature film which climaxes with an astronaut arguing Cartesian philosophy with a bomb.* Let there be light.
4. Starman - Two words: Jeff Bridges. Watching his alien learn the customs and behaviors of humans makes for the greatest performance of his stellar career (get it?).
5. They Live - An interesting satire about social classes. It too closely resembles an Alex Jones rant or "9/11 truth" doc for my liking, but I still credit Carpenter for its well-executed actions sequences and overall premise.
* - There might've been some philosophical debates with the bomb from Red vs Blue. I honestly don't remember.
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Permalink Reply by Gojira Boy on
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Hey T.E.K., thanks for sharing!
1) "Halloween" was brilliantly executed, great editing too!
*Amazing what one can do with a William Shatner mask turned inside out!*
2) "The Thing" Great tension building suspense..had every one taut as a wire on the edge of their seats
till JC "got em" with great jolts! *you know which scenes I mean!*
3) "Dark Star" Great movie! Have you read the book? Alan Dean Foster's novelization is a fun read!
4) "Starman" Love Bridges in this * I get it stellar!* the ONLY reason this did not make my top 5
*it was number 3!* until I bought this recently on Blu-ray * great transfer the movie looks
AWESOME* Bridges and Allen are exceptional, but the way the government is so one
dimensionally portrayed as butchers out of alien autopsy *they won't wait till he's dead
to carve him up*, seemed a little silly plus the transformation effects are really dated!
don't get me wrong, I DO still LOVE this film!
* It has one of the best scores in a JC film not composed by JC! *
5) "They Live" I thought it smacked of Romero's social satire on consumerism a la "Dawn of the Dead"
Politics aside.. the movie is still a Hoot!
Again Thanks for sharing!
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Permalink Reply by Gojira Boy on
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Hey I.K. thanks for sharing. I get it... Snake Plissken ROCKS!
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Permalink Reply by Doctor Lightning on -
my top 5:
1) The Thing
2) They live
3) Halloween
4) Assault on Precinct 13
5) Dark Star/Escape from NY
way up there in liking: Big Trouble in Little China, Starman, Cigarette Burns (episode on Masters of Horror)
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Permalink Reply by Gojira Boy on
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Hey Dr. Lightning,
1) The Thing < check
2) They Live < check
3) Halloween < check
4) Assault on Precict 13 < check
5) Dark Star / Escape from NY << Double check
*I'll have to track down Cigarette Burns... didn't he do something called Body Bags, too?
Thanks for sharing!
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Permalink Reply by Steffen on -
1) Halloween
2) The Thing
3) Escape From New York
4) In the Mouth of Madness
5) Prince of Darkness
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Permalink Reply by Gojira Boy on
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Hey Steffen,
1) Halloween - understandable
2) The Thing - even MORE understandable!
3) Escape from NY - SNAKE!
4) In the Mouth of Madness - I REALLY like Sam Neill in Memoirs of an Invisible Man,
I'll have to check his pursuit of Sutter Cane again!
5) Prince of Darkness - Alice! That ending was CREEPY!
Thanks for sharing ,Steffen!
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Permalink Reply by Gerald Harvey Peckinpah on -
1.The Thing
2.Assault on Precinct 13
3.Escape From New York
4.Big Trouble In Little China
5.Halloween
Honorable mentions for; They Live, Starman & The Fog.
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Permalink Reply by Gojira Boy on
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Hey Gerald,
It's funny how this is shaking down! The results are pretty similar, slight variances in ranking, but not too dis-
similar. I'm curious if we can get more replys, build a consensus, Also curious if someone will slip in an unexpected like "The Ghosts of Mars"!
* whatcha think of that "Assault" remake?* *two words-- Head shots!*
Thanks for sharing Gerald!
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