[Rudi von Starnberg]

I was just about to quote-reply to it with much adulation then I realised the date on it. :(

[Kinketsu]

Sabreman, on Mar 22 2006, 04:45 PM, said:

Kurosawa I think kept putting out the classics almost to the very end. How old was he when he made Ran? 75?

He also lost it toward the end and started making twee shit like Rhapsody in August and Madadayo, however he had a much better run of justified classics than Carpenter.

[Jon]

what happened to despin?

[dismembo]

jon1, on May 27 2008, 09:09 AM, said:

what happened to despin?

Despin's out...

[Harry]

I watched 'They Live' for the first time last night out on a wim and thought it was terrific. When the main character goes into the bank and starts blasting away with his shotgun it's priceless!

And not to forget the fight scene, awesome stuff.

After watching that bit it made me understand where Trey Parker & Matt Stone got the idea for the "cripple fight" episode of South Park. :ph34r:

[lordcookie]

I'm expecting a lot of people own most of these films already but Optimum Home Entertainment are releasing a box set of his most popular films.

Quote

Optimum Home Entertainment have announced the UK Region 2 DVD release of John Carpenter: The Collection on 6th October 2008 priced at £54.99 RRP. In conjunction with Anchor Bay and Universal Pictures Optimum present this seven-film collection of the director’s most acclaimed work.

Included in the set are the Anchor Bay DVD release of Halloween (see below for details on exactly which release), the Universal Pictures DVD release of The Thing, the recent and forthcoming Optimum DVD releases of The Fog, Escape From New York, They Live and Assault on Precinct 13. Last of all is Prince of Darkness, which appears to be exclusive to the box-set.

Halloween
2.35:1 Anamorphic Widescreen
English DD5.1 Surround
Halloween Unmasked 2000
Trailers, TV Spots and Bios

The Thing
2.35:1 Anamorphic Widescreen
English DD2.0 Stereo and DD5.1 Surround
John Carpenter’s The Thing: Terror Takes Shape Making of Documentary
Feature Commentary with John Carpenter & Kurt Russell
Production Background Archive
Cast Production Photos
Production Art & Storyboards
Location Design
Production Archives
Outtakes
Production Notes
Post Production
Theatrical Trailer
Cast & Filmmakers’ Notes: Kurt Russell, John Carpenter

The Fog - This is the recent 4th August 2008 release from Optimum (which replaced the previous Momentum Pictures edition). Features include:
Anamorphic Widescreen
English DD2.0 Stereo and DD5.1 Surround
Tales From The Mist (30min documentary)
Trailers

Escape From New York - This is the recent 4th August 2008 release from Optimum (which replaced the previous Momentum Pictures edition). Features include:
Anamorphic Widescreen
English DD2.0 Stereo and DD5.1 Surround
Return to Escape from New York (23 mins)
New and exclusive John Carpenter interview (31 mins)
3 x original trailers
Snakes Crime (deleted original intro)
Commentary with John Carpenter and Kurt Russell

They Live - Replacing the old Momentum Pictures edition, Optimum are releasing a stand-alone version of this sci-fi thriller starring Roddy Piper on 22nd September 2008. Features include:
2.35:1 Anamorphic Widescreen
English DD2.0 Stereo and DD5.1 Surround
Making of Featurette
Commentary with John Carpenter and Roddy Piper
John Carpenter Profile
Roddy Piper Profile
Meg Foster Profile
Trailer

Assault on Precinct 13 (Special Edition) - Also released separately on 6th October 2008. Features include:
2.35:1 Anamorphic Widescreen
English Mono
Video Q&A with John Carpenter and star Austin Stoker at the American Cinematheque 2002 (23 mins)
Director’s Commentary
Isolated Music Score
Production History (17 mins)
2 Radio Spots
Trailer

Prince of Darkness
Anamorphic Widescreen
English DD2.0 Stereo

http://www.dvdtimes....contentid=68769

[Stilly]

Crikey I'd love to own that.

[Squirtle]

FishyFish, on Mar 23 2006, 12:53 AM, said:

Let's not forget his musical contributions - Assault on Precinct 13 and Hallowe'en are, as well as being wonderful movies, timeless classics as far as iconic themes go. Every autumn, when the leaves begin to turn, and during the slow build up to the 31st October, it's the time of year when THAT theme comes home.

Escape from New York, The Fog, The Thing, and especially Big Trouble in Little China (go Coup de Villes!) are marvellous too.

I know it's digging up an old quote, but Ennio Morricone did The Thing soundtrack. The story I heard was that he did it as a joke, as a piss take of Carpenter's soundtracks, but Carpenter loved it and made it the soundtrack.

Anyway, why hasn't that boxset got In the Mouth of Madness, his last truely great film? And no Big Trouble!? For shame.

[buster_broon]

Goose, on Mar 22 2006, 11:38 PM, said:

Did anyone see Cigarette Burns? Was it any good?

i quite enjoyed it and it was certainly a highlight of the masters of horror season 1

even the episode he did for season 2 'pro life' was pretty good and another highlight of Masters of horror

to me he is my favourite director and at least a handful of his movies being in my all time top 10 and like you i absolutely adore Big Trouble in little China

i personlly think it went wrong when he start the bigger budget stuff, he is great with meagre budgets, but he doesnt really know how to spend the big bucks and make it look good

After Escape from LA it just really went downhill

just skimmed through this thread, so i've probably missed it, but They live is just as watchable now as it ever was

[buster_broon]

Amazon have it listed at £41

lets hope the Christmas bargain bins are heavy with these as i wouldnt mind owning it - but at maybe a price point of £20

[FishyFish]

Quick heads up that, on Mastermind next week, one of the contenders' specialist subjects is The Films of John Carpenter.

Lets all see if we can beat them!

Quote

QUIZ SHOW: Mastermind
On: BBC 2 North (102)
Date: Friday 12th September 2008
Time: 20:00 to 20:30 (30 minutes long)

John Humphrys puts the questions to four more contenders. Tonight's subjects are Billy the Kid, The Great Western Railway, the short stories of Saki and the films of John Carpenter.
(Stereo, Widescreen, Subtitles)
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Excerpt taken from DigiGuide - the world's best TV guide available from http://www.getdigigu...com/?p=1&r=8627

Copyright © GipsyMedia Limited.

[Space Reporter Ulala]

Bring it on, Humphrys. 20pts and no passes. Uh-huh.

[CarloOos]

Motherfuckers, I already bought the last special edition of Assault on Precinct 13 only to find out it was borderline barebones! As great as Carpenters' commentaries are though, I don't really think it's worth a double dip.

How about a Region 2 release of In the Mouth of Madness, you fucks?! Carpenters' long been my favourite director, and having given it some serious thought I've decided that besides The Thing it's his best film - gripping, disturbing, well structured, geniously meta-fictional and shamefully overlooked. It's also the best Lovecraft-inspired film by some margin.

Frankly, on the CV of any other genre filmmaker In the Mouth of Madness would be their best work by some margin.

[Redsquirrel]

ah john carpenter. you brought a film into my life that i will never forget - Halloween.

most of your films are shite, but i will let you off because halloween is such a great film.

[chalkitdown]

Redsquirrel, on Sep 7 2008, 12:55 AM, said:

ah john carpenter, most of your films are shite

:(

[Redsquirrel]

chalkitdown, on Sep 7 2008, 01:06 AM, said:

:(

Really what has he done thats so great?

The fog was okay. Big trouble in little china was great at the time, but a recent watch just didnt hold up for me. The thing was decent. Assault on Precinct 13 - to be honest i can not remember if i have seen this.

Im sure escape from LA is good, but ive not seen that.

Most of his other films have been dissapointing from general opinions.

[chalkitdown]

You've say he's not very good, then you list a bunch of very well renowed films of his that you haven't seen. I don't know what to say to be honest.

To call The Thing merely 'decent', is a shootable offence, though.

[Redsquirrel]

well it was decent. the films i mentioned i understand they are good, hense why i listed them as good films.

stuff like ghosts on mars was just dissapointing though.

[lordcookie]

Redsquirrel, on Sep 7 2008, 01:13 AM, said:

Most of his other films have been dissapointing from general opinions.

I don't think that is the case. He hasn't made a good film in 13 years but in those 13 years he has only made four feature films. Before then his hit rate (creatively rather than commercially) is pretty amazing. From his feature debut Dark Star right up until In the Mouth of Madness he hardly put a foot wrong and attempted quite a few different genres along the way. I'd say 12 good-to-great films and 4 duds is a pretty good rate of success.

Interestingly you say Halloween is his best film but for me it is one of the films that has dated most badly. Not necessarily down to any fault in the film but the fact that the template has been copied so many times that it now feels quite staid. The Thing on the otherhand just feels as tense and claustrophobic as it did when I first watched it as a kid.

In some quarters I think his achievements have been belittled. He's just a genre film-maker (so was Hitchcock by all accounts but that never seems to be a negative with him) but few directors were/are able to create such a sense of atmosphere in his films. So far we have seen three remakes of his films (soon to be a fourth if Escape from NY ever happens) and they have all been absolutely terrible. Studios see that he made cheap thrillers aimed at a young demographic and think it is easy money and simple to replicate but it isn't.

[CrispinG]

I don't rate him, either. I still think the original Halloween is formulaic and conservative following The Texas Chainsaw Massacre and even his own Assault On Precinct 13, which after 32 years is still the best of his movies I've seen, followed by The Thing. The Fog is one of the most boring films I've ever watched half of and turned off to see what was on Animal Planet.

Everything he's done in the last 10 years is shit. And he looks about a hundred years old.