When I was fifteen, I watched John Carpenters 1982 film The Thing. It became one of my all time favorite movies. During the latest episode of Screen Junkies, the panel mentioned his 1988 film They Live; regarded as a 'cult classic', so I decided to check it out.
Maybe it's because I've been seen films which have depicted lower class suppression better, but this movie feels meek in comparison. Was it the first time audiences were subjected to the social commentary of grand conspiracy and subliminal advertising?
Besides about 20 minutes of our protagonist walking around in a bewildered state checking out billboards and cool looking aliens, the movie sucked.
Maybe Sup Forums can grant some insight to why people love this hugely influential movie so much? Maybe I dove in with my expectations too high, but it's hard to avoid when I regard his earlier film to be nearly perfect.
what was with that fucking fight scene in the alley that lasted like 15 minutes?
Levi Bailey
good wrestlers can fight a broom and make it look good
Juan Campbell
Roddy piper was a professional wrestler and when him and Keith David originally practiced it it was only supposed to be for about 40 seconds but off set they rehearsed it and showed it to carpenter who loved it and decided to keep the whole 5 minutes or so of fight in. It's more realistic
Owen Russell
Why wouldn't you entertain the idea of wearing a pair of glasses for a few minutes, when a person who literally went on a killing spree insists that you do?
Jose Roberts
...
Kevin Evans
How about you don't ruin the movie with autistic current event shit thanks my man!
Mason Clark
You have to keep in mind the time it was made. A lot of the reaganomics shit in the movie hit home for the audience. It felt genuine, and honestly the alien part was just window dressing for the main concept.
Plus, Rowdy Roddy Piper just works as an actor for whatever reason in this movie.
Jace Taylor
What was the deal with this shit, it didn't suit his character at all, until I realized there is no character, he's just a biopolar retard. His actions make no sense. Also does Carpenter know how guns work, because our bubblegum chewing protagonist manages to perfectly shoot only the aliens in a mixed crowd of people with a shotgun.
Luis Barnes
>didn't suit his character Yes it did? His character is an all American average joe who experiences injustice through the system by THEM and he gets pissed off when he finds out its all a sham. What part of that was crazy autist
Ian Roberts
if you lived in such a shitty society and suddenly learned most people aren't even human, you'd flip the fuck out too.
don't know why his friend wouldn't just wear the glasses.
Grayson Williams
It's pretty corny.
The Burbs is a better redpill movie.
Julian Williams
>Also does Carpenter know how guns work, because our bubblegum chewing protagonist manages to perfectly shoot only the aliens in a mixed crowd of people with a shotgun.
Do YOU know how guns work? Shotguns don't work like they do in videogames, their spread is pretty tight.
Joshua Williams
(((They))) Live
Matthew Howard
Stay salty loser.
Andrew Roberts
>our bubblegum chewing protagonist But he didn't have any
Easton Gray
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Oliver Fisher
just because he didn't have any doesn't mean he doesn't partake in the activity.
Daniel Hill
Fully choked about 2inches at 15 feet
Mason Scott
This, he's meant to be the working-class everyman in 80s America.
Hell, he's so much of that, that his character doesn't even have a name. The credits just list him as Nada.
Blake Bailey
It represented how hard it is to convince somebody of something completely destroys their worldview
Leo Jenkins
>Maybe Sup Forums can grant some insight to why people love this hugely influential movie so much? Many people look for the same answer, so smaller minds attach themselves to this digestible version. Blacks and whites (lower class ones) waste time fighting each other.
Ryder Smith
Also, that fighting someone is not as easy as movies make it look
Samuel Ortiz
you telling me there's no way he could have just fatally wounded innocent people when he decided to shoot this one?
Kayden Rogers
Well no because the shotgun is largely symbolic.
Before you greentext that, what I mean is the scene is about attacking the system that's the root of the problem, and the people living in it who are just trying to get by aren't the enemy.
Christian Rogers
It's a movie sperg.
Oliver White
Literally meme shit.
Carter Phillips
You've only watched The Thing and They Live? You need to check out:
Halloween Escape from New York Christine Assault on Precinct 13 Big Trouble in Little China The Fog Starman Prince of Darkness In the Mouth of Madness Dark Star
Angel Rogers
Literally a meme post. You should stay off this board until you've learned how to come up with proper critiques of a film.
Luis Allen
no one cares about that
Owen Robinson
Carpenter is probably my favorite director but and I love all his films but I honestly thought assault on precinct 13 was boring. It just didn't feel like there was much at stake during the siege
Jackson Hughes
I have never understood why people love Escape From New York so much. Yes I've seen it before you ask, I've seen it like 8 times because of various reasons.
It has amazing performances from most of the actors, but aside from that it's just kinda dull and meandering.
Kayden Edwards
I think you got this board confused with reddit. Faggot.
Zachary Cook
Movies that juggle complex metaphors should still be entertaining to people who cannot comprehend those things and still retain some semblance of reasonable behavior from a protagonist.
Ryan Clark
Nah he's right though. Nothing about this movie is a "meme" stop being autistic my man. Cheers!
Ethan Baker
You're the one who has this board confused with r****t.
Dylan Adams
>r****t. Nice meme, memeboy.
Jonathan Young
List 10 better films in the same genre.
Ryan Foster
>not getting carpenter comedy most of his flicks have that kind of humor. It's the best part
Landon Sullivan
I'm still not even sure what the genre of Escape is.
Angel Peterson
>not mentioning escape from la You some kind of fag?
Matthew Turner
>not mentioning escape from la
Yeah maybe there's a reason for that.
Lucas Gomez
I love both films. They have very slow paces but the characters keep things entertaining. My least favorite classic Carpenter film is Dark Star. The third act is great but the first two acts meander way too much. Although I watched the theatrical cut and I've heard Carpenter was told to pad the film with 15 minutes of extra footage to make it feature length. Sometime I need to watch the director's cut, it's a lot shorter and I would imagine is a lot less meandering.
Wyatt Brooks
It's one of those all-around bad 80s flicks that people like only because they saw them as a kid.
Noah Ramirez
>Yeah maybe there's a reason for that. It's a shit reason. People act like it isn't self aware when it is.
Kevin Gutierrez
Not that user but I feel the same way. Most people call it an action movie but there's barely any action in it. If someone forced me to label it I would say it's a character driven dystopia movie.
Ian Price
I feel bad for people who can't appreciate escape from la. As a sequel it's good but as a parody it's young frankenstein tier
Eli Martin
Exactly. Remember the scene where snake chases Steve buscemi on a fucking surfboard?
Liam Green
kek
Benjamin Garcia
this
Leo Torres
Is this satire
Brayden Barnes
>Halloween Fucking classic, literally 10/10, I honestly love it
>Escape from New York Okay, 6/10
>Christine Have yet to see
>Assault on Precinct 13 I feel like I've seen it, but I can't remember
>Big Trouble in Little China Not a fan at all, 2/10
>The Fog Not a fan either, 2/10
>Starman Have yet to see
>Prince of Darkness Absolute shit, 1/10
>In the Mouth of Madness Great fun, Sam Neill and Jurgen Prochnow are great, 8/10
>Dark Star Hated it, 1/10
Jayden Russell
>all-around bad Consider suicide. It's a fucking great film. >one of Carpenter's best synth scores >great locations and sets >good practical effects >every actor delivers a good performance >Snake Plissken >President Pleasence
Alexander Smith
You do realize the movie is literally political right? That it's about Reagan?
Juan Harris
thats what cool people say you idiot
Leo Campbell
Are you OP?
Jordan Flores
Nope
William Jenkins
>Prince of Darkness >Absolute shit, 1/10 your opinion about literally anything is likely to be wrong.
this one sequence is more terrifying than pretty much anything.
Joseph Wright
> A lot of the reaganomics shit in the movie hit home for the audience.
No it didn't. The movie barely made any money and it was a critical flop on release. The 1980s was great for the majority of people, including the working class. Compare that to the 1970s.
Audiences in the 80s couldn't appreciate an 80s aesthetic, and the film only really got popular again in the early 00s.
Everyone knows that the Aliens are Jews.
Camden Perry
Straight-up: the movie promotes communism.
Juan Harris
just like point and shoot, lmaoz
Luis Gomez
>their spread is pretty tight.
Depends on the loading and the choke, m8.
Ryan Nguyen
>current event meaning 2016 not the 80s Huh. Imagine that
Charles Brown
I don't like it too much either. Great sets, cool atmosphere, good performances all around (especially Borgnine). But the fight choreography is godawful and yeah, I agree it meanders a lot.
Matthew Lewis
Must suck being such a fucking faggot. Do me a favor and eat a bullet. Cheers bud!
Aaron Carter
>Straight-up: the movie promotes communism.
National Socialism!
Nada is a representative of the Aryan Volk that has been treated like shit by the Jewish industrialists. Once he becomes aware that his overlords are an alien race that don't have his best interests at heart, and that there are compliant cattle (goyim) that betray their race for material gain, he strikes out with force.
Hitler did exactly the same thing in the Munich Putsch.
Say it isn't so.
Austin Green
No it doesn't. The movie promotes the fact that the political establishment is a bunch of crooked fucks who don't care about the American people. When Carpenter made the movie he obviously had capitalism and Ronald Reagan in mind but it never promotes communism and it never mentions Reagan so you can project your own political views onto it.
Aaron Cooper
Cry more. I'm glad knowing you two were shaking as you typed these replies.
Logan Turner
What a fucking loser lmao
Evan Rodriguez
You're actually this mad someone doesn't like a film? That's sad, man.
Landon Morales
Nah just how you imply shit to act like you "won" an argument. That's what's really sad. Loser
Xavier Garcia
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Lucas Harris
>Trump is literally reagenomica >but we're not allowed to mention facts because it hurts your fee-fees Fuck off, Tumblr.
Aaron Richardson
The face you had to reply at all shows how mad you are about a faceless user's opinions on a movie. Grow a pair, friend.
William Moore
>>Big Trouble in Little China >Not a fan at all, 2/10 I'm not sure how is it possible to be a human being and dislike Big Trouble in Little China.
Levi Bennett
Why are you replying
Elijah Morales
>literally the same issue 30 years later >waaaah waaah no current issues Kill yourself.
Ryder Myers
Never been to tumblr autist. Quit with the boogeyman shit
The irony is strong, unlike your reading comprehension.
Parker Gonzalez
Six of one, half a dozen of the other.
Julian James
>I'm not sure how is it possible to be a human being that's the problem, he's clearly one of those fucks from They Live
Bentley Jenkins
We could be pets, we could be food, but all we really are is livestock.
Gabriel Sullivan
Because he's clearly an autistic contrarian
Luke Richardson
Your a bluepilled loser, replace the aliens with Hillary Clinton and the Liberals and the movie is 99% accurate
Parker Reyes
>being retarded >randomly lumping Hillary in with liberals >missing the entire point of the film Shocking.
Jayden Fisher
It's just kind of dry to me. I liked They Live way more. I think I'm more a fan of Carpenter's horror movies.
Evan Fisher
Stay mad, user, those tears give me life
Liam Ross
"Dry" is the last word I'd use to describe BTiLC, it's a comedy with urban fantasy/horror/action elements.
Nicholas Baker
Nobody is mad. Quit embrassasing yourself
Brandon Scott
So cringy. Who talks like this?
Henry Adams
*sniff* Pure ideology
Luke King
...
Asher Martinez
>it never mentions Reagan Sorry what
Gabriel Parker
Ever shot a shotgun sperg? He probably had a choke on it.
Levi Roberts
...
Ethan Hughes
The president in They Live is never named and we never see what his human form looks like. Obviously Carpenter had Reagan in mind but you can pretty easily ignore that.
Evan Williams
Yep, those future broadcasts were unsettling af especially how they kept changing slightly throughout the movie and then that ending reveal.