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This surprised me...

posted 5 months ago by [deleted]
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Carpenter has been known to be highly critical of the film industry. In a 1978 interview with The Hollywood Reporter, Carpenter openly spoke negatively of films by Steven Spielberg, George Lucas, Francis Ford Coppola, and Robert Altman, calling Altman "not a good filmmaker" and "slightly masturbatory", and Spielberg a "pretentious" filmmaker and a "studio shill more concerned with making money than making good movies." Carpenter has stated that horror films in recent years have mostly bored him, but has singled out praise towards It Follows, Let The Right One In, and the work of Jordan Peele.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Carpenter

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[–] [deleted] 5 months ago

Video source, John Carpenter on the set of Halloween 1978 talking about his contemporaries;
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hi9-4aguPzk

He likes American Graffiti and Jaws... doesn't care for Close Encounters of the Third Kind. Doesn't care for Altman's work at all.

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[–] [deleted] 5 months ago

I almost completely agree with him, though 'pretentious' is never a word I would use to describe Spielberg.

I think CEot3K is a bit of a mess, but that 1970s science fiction vibe is so strong in that movie I forgive its flaws.

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[–] [deleted] 5 months ago

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[–] DoctorThirteen (14033) 5 months ago

'The saddest part about Close Encounters is that role was made with Steve McQueen in mind and we never got to see him play it.'

That's interesting. I didn't know that.

Carpenter is easily my favourite horror director, and certainly makes my all-time top three film directors ever.

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[–] [deleted] 5 months ago

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[–] DoctorThirteen (14033) 5 months ago

Very interesting. Thanks!

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[–] MartyDeniro (4171) 5 months ago

Yet he took the exec producer credit money for the latest awful Halloween retread.

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[–] DoctorThirteen (14033) 5 months ago

Interesting. I can completely see why It Follows would appeal to Carpenter.

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[–] MyPhoneAccount (239) 5 months ago

Yeah it’s basically 90 minutes of Carpenter worship, with the camera framing, synth score, and ambiguous open ending. I love that movie. It immediately made me think of Carpenter

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[–] [deleted] 5 months ago

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[–] DoctorThirteen (14033) 5 months ago

'Its pretty amazing how much he has impacted cinema and continues to do so.'

A huge influence, absolutely no doubt.

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[–] [deleted] 5 months ago

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[–] DoctorThirteen (14033) 5 months ago

'Then theres the music.. sheesh. Some of the best scores from the 70s and 80s are Carpenter.'

I've got a couple of his Lost Themes CDs. Really great stuff, some of it written especially for the albums and some of it originally conceived for movies but never finally used.

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[–] DoctorThirteen (14033) 5 months ago

Absolutely.

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[–] Tam87 (1207) 5 months ago

His opinion doesn't mean much anymore if he thinks Jordan Peele is a good filmmaker.

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[–] MyPhoneAccount (239) 5 months ago

Too wacist?

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[–] Tam87 (1207) 5 months ago

Too shit.

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[–] [deleted] 5 months ago

I don't really understand the racial stuff in Peele's movies, but I think he's a competent director.

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[–] Tam87 (1207) 5 months ago

He's like every other hack filmmaker around today ie take older films and plagiarize their tone, look and style and pass it off as your own "unique vision".

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[–] [deleted] 5 months ago

It's possible. I've only seen Get Out and Us. Which older films did those plagiarize?

(And yes, Get Out is, essentially, a Twilight Zone episode, I get that)

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[–] e3e34ifj (1912) 5 months ago

He doesn't plagarize anyone any more than any director with their own style does. I think Us felt slightly Kubrickian or Cravenesque at times but it felt more original than a lot of A24 stuff. Nope was Peele's style in full force and it definitely felt like his own movie, besides the Spielbergian ending which he has gone on record saying was fully intentional and inspired by the ending of Jaws.

In comparison to a lot of A24 horror films, which are all seemingly a blend of The Shining and Polanski, Peele definitely feels like a free thinker.

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[–] e3e34ifj (1912) 5 months ago

I've read and watched a lot of interviews with Carpenter and he has very particular taste, even today.

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