Better Late Than Never on "Escape From New York"

When the pandemic started I made the decision to go back and watch a good amount of classic movies that I've missed over the years. I have made good headway, but there are a ton of movies considered classics, and I've only made a small dent on my list. I've kept up as best I can, and this weekend it was my turn to pick the movie for date night. One movie I have been circling for quite a long time was "Escape From New York". I have become a big John Carpenter fan since the pandemic, and the "Escape From" movies are some I have missed. Well, that was remedied this weekend by us watching "Escape From New York".

I have to say right off the bat, I loved this movie. Every second of it was exactly what I wanted out of an action movie. "Escape From New York" takes place in the futuristic world of 1997. I love this about older movies as well, seeing what the actors, writers and directors all predicted what the future would be like. It's pretty wonderful. The island of Manhattan has become a prison, and all criminals have inhabited certain areas of it and are living horrific lives. Kurt Russell plays Snake Plissken. Plissken is one of the coolest characters that has ever existed. He's mean, gruff, angry all the time and has a certain set of skills. He is 1981's version of Liam Neeson from "Taken". Plissken needs to save the president who has been kidnapped, and we go along on the ride with him for 90 plus minutes. I can see why Russell was considered such a big star back in the early 80's. He is good looking. He has this rough side to him. He speaks the coolest of anyone I've ever heard on film. He carries himself like the movie star he was/is. I was glued to the screen every second he was on camera, which is the majority of the movie. He was exceptional. I could tell how much he loved this role and this movie. It showed on my tv. There are other actors in this movie that are doing some nice work, Romero comes to mind, but none did what Russell did while he was on screen.

I also love the way Carpenter directs this, and all of his movies, for that matter. He makes action and scary movies, but he lets you live in the world they have created. It's not non-stop action. There's not the constant threat of a jump scare coming at any moment. Carpenter builds the world within the movie. He lets us get to know the characters. We find reasons to root for or against them. He tells a story with his direction. They don't make action movies like that anymore. No one wants to sit and figure stuff out. We just want it fed to us like babies. Carpenter didn't do that. He wanted the viewer to figure things out for themselves, and I appreciate that. He's telling a story, but he lets us figure things out on our own. I miss action movies like that.

All in all, "Escape From New York" is instantly one of my favorite movies. I loved every single second of this movie. I loved the performances, mainly Russell'. I want more directors to take a page from Carpenter's work and build the world and story. I highly recommend this movie if you haven't seen it yet. It is one of the better movies that has been made. 

Ty

Ty is the Pop Culture editor for SeedSing and the other host of the X Millennial Man Podcast.

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Better Late than Never on "They Live"

After a good amount of nudging from a bunch of people, I finally watched "They Live". I have been hearing about this movie for quite some time now, and after listening to an old episode of "Blank Check", and hearing them all say how great of a movie it is, the time felt right. My kids had one final full day of school yesterday, so I rented and watched before picking them up.

This movie more than lived up to the hype that was being built around me for years. This movie rips. It is one of the coolest movies I have ever watched. The fight scene between Roddy Piper and Keith David is one of the best fight scenes I have ever seen. I get why so many people have done their own interpretation of it. It is a master class in fake fighting. Those dudes keep going at each other, but it also shows how tiring and painful something like that could be. To see them both take breaks, get their breath and proceed to go back at it, it was pretty rad.

The story of the movie was pretty ahead of its time as well. To posit a world where hybrid robots/aliens are beginning to take over is genius. This movie had this idea 35 years ago. To use sunglasses as the only way humans could see the hybrids was smart and cost effective. To show the class struggle during Reagan's presidency, what a pile of garbage he was, was near perfect. I mean, John Carpenter and his crew had a great vision and they executed it to perfection.

Roddy Piper wasn't the biggest wrestler back then, but he fit this drifter role so well. Keith David was in "The Thing", another perfect movie, but he was still relatively unknown and he was an excellent sidekick. They were both believable as down on their luck unhoused construction workers. But what got the best was the hybrids and the sunglasses. When Piper starts to get curious and investigate this movie goes from good to great. When he first puts the glasses on he plays stunned so very well. He also plays a guy that people would think was a drunk, but is actually telling the truth. The aftermath of Piper and David's fight, when David's character finally puts on the sunglasses, felt real. He was so opposed to doing anything out of the ordinary, but when he did, he was ready to help the good guys. The rest of the cast is full of Carpenter's people, and they were excellent.

This movie was about class and a possible overthrow of Earth. The way they portrayed the rich was spot on. All the talk of selling out and doing whatever you could to be rich felt real. To see the people trying to overthrow whatever was happening was good. It also seemed like something that would have gone on back then, and could still happen now. But the way it took down Reagan's idea of America was superb. It was the best. Carpenter and his crew did a masterful job of showing why the rich should be the enemy. They showed how ruthless and unforgiving they could be in society. He and his crew called them out and did so the best way possible. Sure, the fight scenes were rad, the effects for 1988 were top notch, the acting was stellar, but what I took away most from this movie was the accurate, and evil portrayal of the so-called upper class.

"They Live" is rad. It is one of the better, older movies I have watched in some time. I was giddy when Piper said his famous line from this movie. If you have not seen the movie yet, stop what you are doing and watch. It is well worth the time. 

Ty

Ty is the Pop Culture editor for SeedSing and the other host of the X Millennial Man Podcast.

Come and support Ty and the podcast on Patreon.

Follow Ty on instagram and twitter.

SeedSing is funded by a group of awesome people. Join them by donating to SeedSing.