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Escape from New York (1981)
Escape from New York (1981)
1981 | Action, Sci-Fi
8.2 (20 Ratings)
Movie Favorite

"Escape From New York, because that’s the one that made me want to make movies. It was a fantasy world. It was like, “What? There’s a wall around New York? It’s a prison? You can do that? You can just make stuff like that up?” That’s a lot of freedom; I thought that was very freeing. I was twelve when I saw that, twelve or thirteen. And I saw that [John Carpenter] wrote it, directed it, and did the music, and I was just like, “This guy’s doing everything. You can do that?” It just felt like, it was so renegade. It was independently done, and it made me want to start making movies, and I started making movies from that point on. It was just very inspiring. I knew I had a lot of interest, and that made me… That was movie that just really marked my life."

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FIRESTARTER (2022)
FIRESTARTER (2022)
2022 | Action, Horror
3
4.4 (5 Ratings)
Movie Rating
I have a soft spot for the original Firestarter. It's not perfect by any means but it possesses a certain brand of charm. This new version from Blumhouse sucks all of that charm out and then some. The annoying thing is, it's not the worst thing I've ever sat through, but I genuinely don't think I've ever been so fucking bored watching a movie in my life. Every fibre of the finished product is just bland and forgettable, to the point that I had mostly purged it from my mind with minimal effort by the time I got home from the cinema. Kudos to Ryan Kiera Armstrong for doing the best she can with what she was given, and the soundtrack from John and Cody Carpenter, and Daniel A. Davies goes pretty hard, but it's not enough to save this flaming pile of miserable wank.
  
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Michael Packner (32 KP) rated Strangers: Prey at Night (2018) in Movies

Jun 15, 2019 (Updated Jun 21, 2019)  
Strangers: Prey at Night (2018)
Strangers: Prey at Night (2018)
2018 | Horror
The tone is surprisingly similar to the original given the change in director. (9 more)
The continued use of music as another character.
Turning the Strangers' truck into a 4th villain.
80s music.
The beautiful sets and cinematography.
The epic pool scene.
The evolution of the Strangers as characters while still respecting their mystery.
The 20 minute or so climax from the pool scene up until right before the final scene.
Damian Maffei's imposing performance as Man in the Mask, especially in his 3 big scenes.
Emma Bellomy's psychotic evolution of the Dollface killer.
The cut scenes we'll never get to see that should've been left in. (5 more)
The weak cop out ending.
Kinsey as a character.
The film's choice for a victor in the game of deadly cat and mouse.
The criminal underuse of Pinup Girl, although I know the unfortunate reason.
The runtime was way too short.
This film is truly a unique film, as while it is a polar opposite of the original Strangers, it is also awesomely familiar. Even with some of the glaring mistakes, I still give this film 5 ☆ because it takes it's own path and stands on its own in the franchise and doesn't try to mimic the first one, which could've been disastrous. Plus, I waited 10 freaking years for this film, and damnit I had a BLAST! While the original pays homage to 70s horror and the Hitchcock style as well as early Carpenter, Prey at Night chooses to pay straight homage to 80s slasher films and 80s Carpenter, and does a fantastic job. The film's 20 or so minute climax is more than worth the wait and contains the greatest pool scene in horror film history. The first film is dark and foreboding while the sequel is balls to the wall slasher fun. I can't wait to see what's in store next for my favorite horror franchise. ??
  
Wonderland: Alice in Poetry
Wonderland: Alice in Poetry
Michaela Morgan | 2016 | Fiction & Poetry
7
7.0 (2 Ratings)
Book Rating
Can anybody truly say,
Had you never come our way,
Alice, where we'd be today?

If you love Alice and Wonderland then this is the book for you. Some poems you will know, such as the iconic 'The Walrus and the Carpenter' but there are also some new pieces, inspired by the classic tale, waiting to be discovered.

This collections comprises of 53 poems which was much larger than I was expecting. Obviously, OBVIOUSLY a lot of these are penned by Lewis Carroll: it would be sacrilegious otherwise. However, I was impressed by the inclusion of modern poets in order to appeal to the younger reader: even Facebook gets a mention!

The illustrations by Sir John Tenniel are perfect and I loved the italic additions throughout the book which educate the reader as to the inspiration behind the verses.


An anthology of fantasy; this collection is perfect for our busy lives when we need a quick five minutes of escapism.
  
Assault on Precinct 13 (1976)
Assault on Precinct 13 (1976)
1976 | Action, Crime, Thriller
'Why would someone shoot at a police station?' John Carpenter's exemplary action exploitation movie is set in mid-70s Los Angeles but is basically a mash-up of a western and a zombie movie. Two convicts, a secretary and a highway patrol officer find themselves besieged in a soon-to-be-derelict police precinct by hordes of psychopathic street gang members.

One of those examples of a virtually perfect movie: an incredibly economical script with immaculate storytelling is brought to the screen with immensely charismatic performances by the three leads (you watch it now and it's genuinely baffling that none of them had more substantial movie careers). Also a fascinating mixture of old-style and new Hollywood - scenes pastiching the style of Howard Hawks movies sit alongside genuinely provocative moments like the ice cream scene. Overall, though, just a tremendously enjoyable action film, and exhibit A for the case that John Carpenter did his career backwards.