A sidenote about Carpenter as a director.

[J. Dean]

I'll be honest, when I watch a John Carpenter movie, I generally do not think of particularly great acting. Oftentimes the characters come across as a bit caricatured or over the top. Then again, if you're watching a Carpenter movie, it's generally not for Oscar nominations.

However, with that being said, I think Carpenter does a very good job with the character directing in CHRISTINE. The characters feel a bit more fleshed out and better portrayed. To be frank, with maybe the exception of The Thing, Carpenter does his best job ever of developing characters and fleshing them out in his directing. It's pleasing to say that this is not a typical thing for Carpenter to do, and it makes the movie version of Christine all the more enjoyable.

 

[doowopgirl]

Carpenter does what he does and he does it well. It is a wise person who knows what they do well and sticks to it. Just enjoy.

 

[GNTLGNT]

...I agree, if you do it well-don't screw it up by trying to change just for the sake of it.....

 

[mal]

I thought 'Blowout' was nice as well, in terms of characterizations.

 

[grin willard]

I thought 'Blowout' was nice as well, in terms of characterizations.

Hey mal, 'Blowout' (1981) was a Brian De Palma film, a remake of Michelangelo Antonioni's 'Blowup' (1966). If that's what you're talking about. It's a great film, probably Travolta's best dramatic work, for whoever hasn't seen it. Good as it is, I prefer 'Blowup'.

 

[mal]

Hey mal, 'Blowout' (1981) was a Brian De Palma film, a remake of Michelangelo Antonioni's 'Blowup' (1966). If that's what you're talking about. It's a great film, probably Travolta's best dramatic work, for whoever hasn't seen it. Good as it is, I prefer 'Blowup'.

Thanks grin! I sit corrected. Looking back used to be more precise, now it's a mixed up blur with everything happening either 4 weeks or 4 years ago!

 

[grin willard]

Thanks grin! I sit corrected. Looking back used to be more precise, now it's a mixed up blur with everything happening either 4 weeks or 4 years ago!

I do it constantly! So many different instances. For example, there's an English actress named Pamela Franklin from 'Haunting of Hell House' who I was sure guest starred on the old Battlestar Galactica. A decade or so later, I find out it's an American actress named Judith Chapman, who's roughly the same age. I'd have sworn it was the same person. They're friggin' dopplegangers! Franklin apparently married money & retired young. Looking back, I see she was markedly the better actress. However, both were equally hot.

Daily Doppel: Pamela Franklin | Judith Chapman

 

[grin willard]

I thought 'Blowout' was nice as well, in terms of characterizations.

Oh, let me add, De Palma is of course a more serious artist, but I tend to enjoy both men's lesser films more than their blockbusters. Halloween, I can largely do without. Halloween 3?! I cannot do without. De Palma's 'The Untouchables', I see no reason to sit thru ever again in my lifetime. Invite me over to see De Palma's 'Body Double' ? Wild horses, a zombie apocalypse and a Three Stooges marathon couldn't keep me away.

De Palma re-creates Hitchcock's long kiss from Vertigo.

 

[J. Dean]

Oh, let me add, De Palma is of course a more serious artist, but I tend to enjoy both men's lesser films more than their blockbusters. Halloween, I can largely do without. Halloween 3?! I cannot do without. De Palma's 'The Untouchables', I see no reason to sit thru ever again in my lifetime. Invite me over to see De Palma's 'Body Double' ? Wild horses, a zombie apocalypse and a Three Stooges marathon couldn't keep me away.

De Palma re-creates Hitchcock's long kiss from Vertigo.

View attachment 27219

The thing is that Carpenter never intended for Halloween to be a series about Michael Myers. He only begrudgingly produced the second movie in the installment because the studios demanded it (although if I recall correctly he did not direct it). His original idea was to have a different Halloween-themed movie in each installment. That might have worked on television in a Twilight Zone-esque structure, but on the silver screen it's a bit harder to pull that off.