tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8785859730868628316.post2789180932822061698..comments2024-02-10T01:22:29.316-08:00Comments on Hugo Stiglitz Makes Movies: John Carpenter: Escape from New YorkKevin J. Olsonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17275402809912728035noreply@blogger.comBlogger11125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8785859730868628316.post-35928080609451232332013-03-14T04:51:04.943-07:002013-03-14T04:51:04.943-07:00Those early Carpenter movies are still my favorite...Those early Carpenter movies are still my favoritesVanessa Morganhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/02953359344425030388noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8785859730868628316.post-77131468716295751542013-03-13T23:06:26.296-07:002013-03-13T23:06:26.296-07:00Dan: Yeah, it's entertaining...I don't thi...Dan: Yeah, it's entertaining...I don't think I want people to not think that the film isn't that. It's just a lot less than what I remember it being. <br /><br />Carson: Yeah, there are some striking setpieces in the film. As I mentioned in the essay, the symbolism behind the walled-up Statue of Liberty and a lot of the cyberpunk imagery is quite impressive. Not a terrible way to spend an evening, by any means. If you haven't seen other Carpenter films from this era, though, I would recommend you start with those. Kevin J. Olsonhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/17275402809912728035noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8785859730868628316.post-86533921563950323622013-03-13T23:01:30.175-07:002013-03-13T23:01:30.175-07:00I think what they're getting at with their &qu...I think what they're getting at with their "road movie" comment is that the film kind of goes from setpiece to setpice, introducing Snake to an array of eccentric characters along his journey. So in that sense, I think it is a bit of a road movie. But it's an extremely compressed one. <br /><br />I think we're far apart in terms of script. There was nothing -- outside of that fantastic opening between Snake and Hauk -- that really engaged me all that much; it just felt like your basic post-apocalyptic fodder. Carpenter does some nice things with certain setpieces, but some just fall flat (the wrestling match comes to mind). Yeah, the Duke has some good lines...but he's just so out of nowhere; it may be the only time where Carpenter's lack of backstory (which is such an asset in films like <i>Assault on Precinct 13</i> and <i>The Thing</i>) doesn't work for him. I kind of wanted to know a little bit more about the Duke. Instead, he just feels like a flat villain. <br /><br />The look that Maggie and Snake share is an interesting moment to me because I didn't feel like it had any weight to it. Like a lot of <i>Escape from New York</i>, the scene just kind of happens. They exchange the glance, and it works because of what's not said, but I also think it's way too abrupt. Again, like I state in my essay, it's probably the only time where Carpenter's propensity for condensed narrative timelines comes back to bite him. Here, he needed a bit more time to flesh out the characters and make Brain and Maggie's death resonate a little more. <br /><br />It's average Carpenter, in my opinion, and that's almost all due to Russell's performance. I think we're just too far apart on this one, J.D. Hey, it was bound to happen sooner or later! Hehe. <br /><br />Thanks for the thoughtful defense, though. I appreciate the comment. I know you're not alone in praise of the film and that my view is in the minority. Kevin J. Olsonhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/17275402809912728035noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8785859730868628316.post-5165962275353307722013-03-13T22:46:20.828-07:002013-03-13T22:46:20.828-07:00Oof..Escape from L.A.. I can see what you mean the...Oof..<i>Escape from L.A.</i>. I can see what you mean there. It seems that the one thing we're all in agreement on is Russell's performance being the standout here. And yeah, I may be more forgiving once I get into the <i>Village of the Damned</i> and <i>Memoirs of an Invisible Man</i> era of Carpenter films. But being sandwiched between <i>The Fog</i> and <i>The Thing</i> and just three years after his masterpiece, kind of accentuates the flaws. Thanks for the comment, Tim. Kevin J. Olsonhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/17275402809912728035noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8785859730868628316.post-62808934346791016182013-03-13T22:39:30.504-07:002013-03-13T22:39:30.504-07:00Ivan, that's a great story about seeing the mo...Ivan, that's a great story about seeing the movie in the theater. I agree with you that Snake is a great, great character. I hadn't seen this since high school, and even though I didn't the film as entertaining this time around, the one thing that did still hold up was just how cool Snake Plissken is. <br /><br />Thanks for the comment, Ivan!Kevin J. Olsonhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/17275402809912728035noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8785859730868628316.post-68870673255704343192013-03-13T12:23:59.594-07:002013-03-13T12:23:59.594-07:00Sorry for the lack of response. I will reply to th...Sorry for the lack of response. I will reply to these comments later tonight. Just wanted y'all to know that I wasn't ignoring you!Kevin J. Olsonhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/17275402809912728035noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8785859730868628316.post-41359783379951145702013-03-13T10:45:16.789-07:002013-03-13T10:45:16.789-07:00I need to watch this. I remember catching a few sc...I need to watch this. I remember catching a few scenes once and finding the visuals (lots of anamorphic lensing, smoke effects, and dirty colors if I remember correctly) beautiful. Carson Lundhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/10164962777812861110noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8785859730868628316.post-22262260647181469052013-03-13T06:53:38.239-07:002013-03-13T06:53:38.239-07:00Good review Kevin. It's a bunch of 80's ch...Good review Kevin. It's a bunch of 80's cheese and fun. Not as awesome as I once remember, but still pretty entertaining none the less. Dan O.http://www.dtmmr.comnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8785859730868628316.post-14885306477770692082013-03-12T09:29:49.889-07:002013-03-12T09:29:49.889-07:00I don't agree with those critics who claim tha...I don't agree with those critics who claim that EFNY is a road movie (?!). If anything, it's a classic race-against-time genre workout with a great anti-hero to root for in Snake Plissken. For me, this film still holds up as one of Carpenter's very best. I disagree that this film is merely a collection of a impressive set-pieces. I think that the connecting tissue between them is pretty solid. Carpenter never loses track of Snake's mission with the set pieces running just the right length before we move on to the next scene. I also think that Carpenter maintains an excellent balancing act of detailed set-design and atmospheric world stuff and story, character, etc.<br /><br />The script is actually quite good as well with tons of memorable lines, most of them courtesy of Snake, but also some great lines from the Duke ("I heard you were dead.") and the Cabbie (pretty much everything he says). You also get one of the all-time great tough woman characters with Maggie. She seems very much Snake's equal and I love the moment where the of them share a look, just before she takes on the Duke in his speeding car. She knows that she will die but she has nothing to live for now that Brain is dead and maybe taking out the Duke in the process will be some kind of payback. Snake understands this and it's all conveyed in a silent look of respect between the two of them. Great stuff. That is one of the reasons why this film is so good, IMO.Anonymoushttps://www.blogger.com/profile/08164105442273577128noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8785859730868628316.post-30803446644092298302013-03-11T10:30:20.239-07:002013-03-11T10:30:20.239-07:00It probably helped me a lot that I saw Escape from...It probably helped me a lot that I saw <i>Escape from L.A.</i> before I ever saw this one, and when that's your standard for comparison, this movie seems like a small miracle.<br /><br />I'd be inclined to put it in the top half of Carpenter's '80s films for Russell's performance alone, though you're right about the director being more interested in the setpieces than the characters. And I tend to think that "a film where the parts are more impressive than the whole" becomes the defining description of everything he'd make after <i>The Thing</i>. Still, enough of those parts are enjoyable for me to wave it on through.Timhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/09491952893581644049noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8785859730868628316.post-11532818203860608392013-03-11T09:15:51.265-07:002013-03-11T09:15:51.265-07:00KJO: I have always loved the character of Snake, a...KJO: I have always loved the character of Snake, and the idea of a fascist-dystopia USA, but the film itself has always disappointed me. <br />Much for many of the reasons you point out, but more specifically because when I first saw it, the action in the theater was more impressive: Some friends and I caught the 10pm show at the old Loew's Metropolitan Quad in Downtown Brooklyn (waaaaaay before gentrification), where beefy and mean security guards patrolled to keep the kids in line (didn't matter; two fights broke out), someone set fire to a newspaper for some reason, and the lights in the back were never lowered. The theater had a sense of menace that the movie couldn't compete with. Coupled with the fact that we were disgusted that the flick's sense of NYC geography was FUBAR, my friends and I couldn't get behind EFNY completely. But man, that Snake was the coolest mofo around!<br />Thanks,<br />IvanIvanhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/16443946766217092846noreply@blogger.com