Hmmm, I'm surprised that "Apartment Zero" came off as a recommedation from Yours Truly, cuz I seem to recall being about where you are with it. Maybe it was one of those "If you're sick to death of Koepp's bloated blockbusters, you may want to check out this." Or maybe it's just whatever happened to my head...
In a related note Cronenbergian note, I cannot find my dvd of "eXistenZ" anywhere, and my dvds are all kept secorely in one walk-in closet. I wouldn't be surprised if it actually ran - or should I say skittered - away...
Ha, really? I've had it in my memory banks for years that Zero was a film you liked a great deal. I'm sure I'm wrong. Maybe I should get a little refresher course on your lost gems of the 80's before I inadvertently find myself watching something really problematic.
Papa Cronenberg called his little baby home. "Come to me, my children."
It's probably advised to chain down all your Cronenberg DVDs at night. If there's anything in your house that's going to become animated during the night and start doing screwy, scary things, it's the stuff with Cronenberg's name signed to it.
I'm glad you liked Assault on Precinct 13. For a while there in the late '70s/early '80s (not that I actually remember this, not being alive for much of it, but I remember retrospectively), there seemed to be quite a few directors adept at the taut gritty action films that Carpenter's Precinct 13 exemplifies, with Carpenter being one of the best. Walter Hill would be the other big one, with Ridley Scott and Wes Craven in the mix as well (though they veered more towards horror than action). But they've all kinda fell off the map of late, with the exception of Scott (and I think Anthony Lane was right in his review of Black Hawk Down, that if you compare much of Scott's later work to his earlier work in Alien or The Duellists that we've actually seen a director get less mature as he's gotten older, not more). Carpenter is an especially sad case. He never was a particularly great director, but he was a superb technician. His work in Assault on Precinct 13, Halloween, The Thing, even Escape from New York and Big Trouble in Little
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we've actually seen a director get less mature as he's gotten older, not more
I don't always agree with Anthony Lane (although I always love reading him), but that is spot on.
I think part of the reason John Carpenter's recent flailing is so much tougher to watch is the seeming lack of self-awareness to it all, marked most notably by his continued insistence to attach his name to the title of his films (John Carpenter's Vampires, John Carpenter's Ghosts of Mars). Then there's the sheen of desperation over something like John Carpetner's Escape From L.A..
I need to watch some more of the older Walter Hill (and maybe rewatch Southern Comfort--it's been a long time and it seems to turn up on our HD channels with some regularity). I must admit to relegating him to an afterthought after suffering through Last Man Standing years ago
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In regards to Walter Hill and John Carpenter getting consistent work, I partly think it's because of Hollywood's lack of interest in their workmanlike directorial virtues, but I suspect that's not entirely it. Both of them are in their 60s by now, so I doubt they would want to be working as consistently as perhaps they once did. Also, I suspect they're probably a tad unwilling to jump through the hoops a studio might require when choosing who'll shepherd Final Destination 5 to its slot in the multiplex (or, more likely, its slot in the straight-to-DVD market). Finally, I suspect you're right that they have an established enough name that they're priced beyond the studio hacks, but not enough of a cache to shepherd projects single-handedly like some of their most illustrious generational compatriots (Scorsese, Spielberg, Allen, even perhaps Terrence Malick). Several other directors of Hill and Carpenter's generation have seemingly fallen into this "tweener" state, William Friedkin comes to mind, or maybe even Bob Rafelson (and
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In a related note Cronenbergian note, I cannot find my dvd of "eXistenZ" anywhere, and my dvds are all kept secorely in one walk-in closet. I wouldn't be surprised if it actually ran - or should I say skittered - away...
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Papa Cronenberg called his little baby home. "Come to me, my children."
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I don't always agree with Anthony Lane (although I always love reading him), but that is spot on.
I think part of the reason John Carpenter's recent flailing is so much tougher to watch is the seeming lack of self-awareness to it all, marked most notably by his continued insistence to attach his name to the title of his films (John Carpenter's Vampires, John Carpenter's Ghosts of Mars). Then there's the sheen of desperation over something like John Carpetner's Escape From L.A..
I need to watch some more of the older Walter Hill (and maybe rewatch Southern Comfort--it's been a long time and it seems to turn up on our HD channels with some regularity). I must admit to relegating him to an afterthought after suffering through Last Man Standing years ago ( ... )
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