recent views: ghosts on mars! and pythons!

[mr. henry]

my local video renter has a 5 movies for 5 days for 5 bucks, so i caught up on some B-titles...

Ghosts of Mars - 2001 (R). (DVD). Co-written and directed by John Carpenter. When visiting a martian mining outpost to pick up a prisoner (Ice Cube), the cops find the colony deserted. Natasha Henstridge, the "Species" chick, attempts to lead her team and the Cubester to safety while a long-dormant alien force encourages self-mutilation, face painting, and killin'. This Carpenter flick is more like "Escape from L.A." than "The Thing,"  which means there are: sets that look like sets, a few good decapitations, marginal performances, and "A-Team"-type body-launching explosions. Pam Grier fans beware, she dies early on. Basically, Carpenter and over 50 stuntmen have brought B-grade sci-fi into the new millenium. ONLY RECOMMENDED for B-grade sci-fi fans.

Python - 2000 (R). (DVD) Directed by Richard Clabaugh. An unbelievably huge and fake-looking CGI snake terrorizes a tiny town. Advertised as "this year's 'Lake Placid,'" this flick can't decide if it's campy humor or action movie and it winds up being neither. The acting is also pretty bad all around although the assembled cast is pretty amazing in it's B-ness. There's: Robert "Freddy" Englund, Wil Wheaton of "Stand By Me" and "Star Trek: The Next Generation," Dana Barron of "National Lampoon's Vacation,"  William "Johnny" Zabka of "The Karate Kid," John "Isaac" Franklin(!) of "Children of the Corn," Jenny McCarthy, and more. NOT RECOMMENDED

-mr. henry

[systemcr4sh]

I want to see ghosts of mars but my friends won't let me rent it hehe, so i'll have to wait until they're not around.

As for PYTHON i own the dvd, and I've watched it one and a half times (hehe) and I don't like it, but I don't regret buying the dvd for under 10$. it was entertaining to say the least.

[Andrew]

This movie had some promise, but it threw it all away pretty early on.  And, just to make things worse, it ends with that stupid little twist "lock and load" bit.  Arrggghhh!  And the idea of alien souls taking over colonists is so neat to start with.

"Python" boasts one of the few "random acts of violence against a meadow" scenes that can be found in a movie.  The quality is such that I kept looking for Nu Image in the credits.

[mr. henry]

regarding "ghosts of mars," I knew Pam Grier was too good to be true...i just knew she'd be the stereotypical black-person-dies-first character...what a waste of her talent...she should have been the star!!!...and for this i don't forgive carpenter...

i also have to say that i did kind of "enjoy" both flicks...i was in the right mood for something goofy...these definitely delivered the "goofy"...and i did like seeing the "all-star" cast in "Python."

-mr. henry

[Scott]

Well, I liked GHOST OF MARS and Pam Grier helped make this film fun and cool,  I think they didn't want to have Pam Grier as the star of this film because it would become a PAM GRIER film causing filmgoers to not appreciate the concept of Ghost or spirits on the planet of Mars which was the main idea. Don't misunderstand I like Pam Grier and would like to see her make it big, but not in this particular film. I really enjoyed this film in the same way I liked JASON X. Both were great stuff.

[Mofo Rising]

I though GHOST OF MARS was enjoyable enough as a stupid little genre film.

The question I have is what was with all the flashbacks?  The entire story is told by Henstridge's character reciting her story to some judges.  There are also numerous flashbacks by other characters during Henstridges over-arching one.  At one point we go back into another flashback during one of these secondary flashbacks, making the depth three deep!  It must have been a style choice by Carpenter, but for what reason?

[J.R.]

I thought Ghosts Of Mars was cool, but it needed better action. Carpenter's weakpoint has always been action. The climax is a nuclear explosion that is somehow made boring.

[Neville]

About the flasbacks, I read in an interview with Carpenter that they first edited the whole thing chronologically, but it didn't work very well, hence the new structure.

About the film, I don't like it even after the obligatory DVD revision. I am a diehard Carpenter fan, but I have to surrend to the evidence: the man looks tired. Watching GOM it is hard to believe the same person who made "Escape from NY"  or "The fog" would overlook the political and supernatural possibilities of the story.

Recently I read the man has decided to retire, at least for a while, and I have to say that it looks like a good decision to me. Maybe he'll come back with new ideas after a while. I have learnt (the source is not very reliable) that Universal has offered him to make "The thing 2". If this ends up being true, well, it could be a hell of a comeback. We'll see.

[Chadzilla]

I liked it, as weak as it was, it had just enough of the Carpenter touch for me to like it.

[Conrad]

I like it!  I have to say it's not a great JC film, but even a run-of-the-mill JC film is better than a lot of the dross out there.  And it is more a remake of "Assault on Precinct 13" than anything else.  From the DVD commentary, JC says that Natasha Henstridge took over at very short notice when the original actress dropped out - but doesn't say who she was.  Anyone have any idea?

THE THING 2?!?!?!  Wow.  The Thing is one of my all-time favourites - I'd have reservations about a sequel BUT I did love the Dark Horse comics sequels with MacReady's further adventures.  Perhaps JC will come back fresher after a rest.

[Neville]

The original actress for Natasha Henstridge's role was Courtney Love. Officially, she left the movie after a few weeks of shooting when she injured herself while training, though I remember having read some rumours about her behaving unprofessionally in the set.