REVIEW: Big Trouble in Little China [1986]

“What does that mean: ‘China is here’?” Box office returns aside, John Carpenter made the correct choice deciding to helm supernatural comedy adventure Big Trouble in Little China rather than supernatural comedy adventure The Golden Child back in the mid-80s. While both had similar twenty-five million dollar budgets, it’s hard to believe watching today that the former made back only eleven as the latter rose to almost eighty. This is what happens when your star is a bankable commodity like Eddie Murphy as opposed to an up-and-comer in Kurt Russell.…

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REVIEW: The Ward [2010]

“Why am I here?” Considering Michael and Shawn Rasmussen wrote The Ward, I think it is a little misleading to preempt the title with its director’s name. To say it is John Carpenter’s The Ward makes audiences believe they’ve been transported to the heyday of his B-movie magnificence of the 70s and 80s. Back then this auteur was a maestro of genre-fare, reinventing the horror with Halloween and adding his own personal flair to actioners such as Escape from New York. Recently, however, one can’t say he’s been as iconic…

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