Blog Announcement: Director Retrospective series continues with a look at the films of John Carpenter
A few months back I put a poll on this blog asking you all which filmmaker I should cover for my next retrospective. In overwhelming fashion, John Carpenter beat out the competition. I'm pretty excited about this one, so thanks for choosing a fun director for me to cover. Look for the first entry, Dark Star, to go up soon. I hope you all will follow along.
Looking forward to it!
ReplyDeleteThanks, Ivan. Glad to know someone will be reading this! Hehe.
DeleteFlott innlegg. Ser frem til det!
ReplyDeletesnekker fredrikstad
Carpenter was the first retrospective I did, and I kind of regret it because I wasn't nearly gifted enough a film watcher, much less writer, that I didn't do him the justice he deserved. In fact, it's still on my to-do list to utterly revise my opinion of Prince of Darkness, which I dismissed at the time but confirmed as my favorite of his on a recent rewatch. Looking forward to seeing what you write.
ReplyDeleteAh, Prince of Darkness. That is still one of Carpenter's that I have yet to see. I'm really excited people voted for him in the blog poll because there are few like that one (and Christine) that I haven't seen. Also, there is that mid '90s period (Memoirs of an Invisible Man, Village of the Damned, et al) that is much maligned, but I'm really excited to revisit it and see if its as bad as critics say (and I remember it being). Also, I'm really excited to champion his Vampires and Ghosts of Mars; I haven't seen those since they came out, but I remember loving them, not quite getting all the hate (or maybe it was just ambivalence) that they received at the time.
DeleteGlad you'll be following along, Jake!
This is going to be wildly exciting to read. Can't wait for your thoughts on Ghosts of Mars, because I definitely have not been exposed to very many pro- arguments for that one.
ReplyDeleteThanks for checking in, Tim! As I've said to others, I'm glad to know that some of you will be following along. And don't worry, I'm ready to fight for Ghosts of Mars. Of course, it's been over 10 years since I've seen it. But when I worked at a video store, that sucker stayed up for months under my slot for Employee Picks.
DeleteMan, I'm really excited for this. Carpenter, and to some extent Cronenberg were the first directors that showed me an individual style unto themselves, and thus that that was a 'real thing' in cinema. At 12 I didn't understand 'auteur' but I liked enough Carpenter movies that I would go to the video story and have to reference those big pre-imdb phonebook type things to get filmography information. While my interest in him and his films has waned over the years I still count several of his films highly, specifically for there wonderful mix of classic Hollywood style filmmaking (highly technical and organized shot vs. shot) and b-movie tropes. CHRISTINE is still one of my favorite Horror films ever made.
ReplyDeleteI've been away for a while, and sadly missed the giallo fest due to a hectic work schedule, but it's great to see you're still producing some of the most enjoyable stuff on the net. And with an apparent recommittal to blogging! Great stuff.
Thanks, Jamie! I appreciate your kind words. Glad you'll be following along. Don't get too excited, though, about some kind of re-commitment to blogging. These retrospectives are about the only thing that interest me about blogging right now. I'm finding more and more that I have neither the time or the interest in trying to document my every viewing of a new film. It's easy for me during the summer because I don't have to work, but during the school year -- with grading and all that good stuff -- I just have no use for writing about newer movies. I'll get to something, and it will be months after its initial release, and a million other people better suited to write about new movies will have already seen it and written about it. I'm okay with that, and I think it's a natural progression for this blog -- to move away from the new stuff and focus primarily on these retrospectives and my summer and Halloween horror series'. I'll sneak in some thoughts on newer films here and there, but I'm finding I enjoy it less and less when I feel like I have to write about new movies.
DeleteAnyway, sorry for the ramblin'. I'll have the first post up in a week or so. Thanks for checking in, Jamie!
Even though I don't remember who I voted for (don't get old, kids, your memory is the first thing to go) I'm REALLY excited about your Carpenter series. My first thought was the same as Tim's, that I'd love to hear your thoughts on Ghosts of Mars. The entire project is gonna be a blast!
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