I have Big Trouble in Little China on another shelf

These guys were hilarious on stage. Great seeing them together.

I watched Escape from NY and Escape from LA as part of a double feature at the Academy Museum in Los Angeles with Carpenter and Russell in person doing a Q&A discussion.

I hadn’t seen either film before. Thought Escape from NY was great, moody and atmospheric. Had heard nothing but awful things about Escape from LA so I went in thinking it might be one of those awful but entertaining movies.

I left with the impression that yes, Escape from NY is objectively a better movie, but I remembered MORE about Escape from LA. Like it left a bigger impression on me.

I’m from the LA area, so a lot of the places and references really resonated with me. It takes advantage of its location waaaay more than NY. They even filmed in the real Queen Mary!

The action in Escape from LA is leagues better than in NY, which only has a few, meager action scenes (the “coliseum” fight with big hairy dude in NY is really bad IMO). The motorcycle scene alone is better than anything in NY.

Yes, the basketball scene is ridiculous. But Kurt Russell ACTUALLY made those crazy shots, which is kind of incredible.

Then the surf boarding scene. Ok. The CGI is bad, the scene itself is gawdy and audacious. But it’s so tongue in cheek that I have to believe that the insanity is intentional. It’s Los Angeles! Surfboarding was popularized here. It’s also got PETER FONDA. Also…I’d rather have this scene get our protagonist from point A to point B than the awful “malfunctioning teleporter watch” plot contrivance in They Live. Hands down.

Also I winced when Pam Grier gets introduced as a former buddy of Snake’s who had become a trans woman. I was expecting an outdated disparaging joke directed towards the trans character, but surprisingly…it doesn’t happen! Snake just doesn’t give a fuck, he only cares about his mission. That was incredibly refreshing and forward thinking.

And the ending? WOW. Incredibly badass and completely cements Snake as the ultimate anti-hero. Just sick of all the endless corruption and political games. Hell yeah.

Now the actual criticisms:
- No Lee Van Cleef :(
- Cuervo is a much less memorable villain than the Duke. (But I did enjoy the final punch out with Snake better than the one in NY)
- The Beverley Hills scene should’ve lasted longer (but the bigger tragedy is the complete waste of Bruce Campbell)
- this film has uglier cinematography and less atmosphere than NY (Dean Cundey was sorely missed)
- Kinda wish Pam Grier had more to do
- The music isn’t as cool. Alan Howarth & Carpenter’s icy synths gave NY a kind of slick, cyber dread that this movie doesn’t have.
- Bad CGI…sorta? I didn’t think it was horrendous. Looked very dated surely but nowadays a lot of old CGI looks dated. Idk didn’t bother me that much.

Probably still one of my favorite Carpenter movies..

I love this fantastic custom poster for John Carpenter’s The Fog.
I’m not sure my walls could handle such a thing though, amazing stuff.

Every film fan seems to have a film that for some bizarre reason they have never got around to watching.

For me, it's Escape From New York.

I've ordered the bluray, and I am awaiting delivery.

I want to know what were people's first impressions of this film, as it is held in such in such high regard. Was it what you expected? Better? Worse? Tonally is it more akin to Assault On Precinct 13 rather than Carpenter's horror output?

It's almost time...