Assault On Precinct 13 (1976)

4.5 / 5 Jan '10
Tagline: L.A.'s deadliest street gang just declared war on the cops.
Directed by: John Carpenter
Written by: John Carpenter
Actors include: Austin Stoker, Darwin Joston, Laurie Zimmer
Genre: Thriller, Crime
Length: 91 minutes
Banned: Nope

Review:
Now this is one heck of an action packed and bullet filled thriller. It's hard to believe that this was only John Carpenter's second major film yet he made a perfect soundtrack and an exciting movie to boot. We meet up with an older man and his daughter Kathy (who played Inga in Little House on the Prairie) as they are out and about. When Kathy goes to get ice cream she is brutally gunned down along with the ice cream man by a rough gang (tough area). The older man goes out and chases down the thug's car and takes out one of them. This seems to provide the ammunition for a huge gang retaliation on a closed down Police station precinct 13. There are still a few roaming about but they are in no state to prepare for a multi-gang violent attack (super violent). The remaining Officers and staff are forced to work together with death row inmates on their way to a transfer to try to survive against the gangs. It's exciting, bloody as heck and super gripping, it really has something for everyone (providing that everyone likes violence) and I'd definitely recommend it. This was remade in 2005 with bigger name actors but I haven't been moved to watch it, why would I when this was so awesome?
 
Availability:  On DVD & Blu-Ray

Escape From New York (1981)

4 / 5 Apr '10
Tagline: The world's greatest leader is a hostage in the most dangerous place on Earth. Now only the deadliest man alive can save him.
Directed by: John Carpenter
Written by: John Carpenter, Nick Castle
Actors include: Kurt Russell, Ernest Borgnine, Lee Van Cleef
Genre: Action, Science Fiction
Length: 99 minutes
Banned: Nope

Review:
This was a rather entertaining dystopic flick that takes place in the future: 1997. Well luckily for us 1997 looked nothing like this film, here they have New York City as a maximum security prison full of thugs. When Airforce One is taken over, the current president (the very British Donald Pleasance) escapes in his pod (just like the Simpsons of course) lands in New York City. One of the biggest thugs The Duke (Isaac Hayes) takes the President hostage and offers them a finger of his in order to get attention and have their demands met. Kurt Russell plays the eye patched hero Snake who is also kind of a bad guy but they make an offer for him to safely return the President. It has some exciting chase sequences and some really impressive shots of New York and some colorful characters and a cast of impressive actors too. This isn't my favorite from John Carpenter and I actually expected it to be a little more thrilling than it was. Still it was quite enjoyable and a fair bit of fun, definitely has classic moments and is quite iconic.

Availability:  On DVD & Blu-Ray