My top three John Carpenter movies

So, I was listening to the Film Sack guys and they were talking aboutJohn Carpenter and his career. Given I have seen many of his movies, what were my favorite films from his long career? So, I compiled them and gave my reasons why below. Here's the kicker, he hasn't done as many films as we were led to believer. However, here are my top three.

3 Halloween: The movie has some pacing issues, but overall the first movie is still very scary. I would be scared to death of the first two movies when I was a kid. The first one still holds up. And the directing is fairly solid. Watch this movie when you don't want to think about those remakes from Rob Zombie.  Using a William Shatner mask as the Killer mask was funny and cool at the same time. 

2 The Thing  : This was a creepy movie back in the day but has held up even better now. I think every show does a “sealed off and trapped” episode where some isn't who they say they are. This grew in popularity here in this movie. I still get scared when that Thing eats that doctors hands and he bleeds out. What about that dog scene in the cage? Kurt Russell plays the main character fairly straight and he doesn't ham it up like most of his JC team-ups. I don't think even JC kept up who was the thing and who wasn't in certain scenes. Overall, just a great little “Never Trust Anyone” movie. I know realized that the Hateful Eight is similar in this fashion.

1 Big Trouble in Little China  : Minus the hairstyles, this movie feels more like a mid-90s movie than a mid-80s movie. I have seen this movie so many times that I have probably lost count. I love this movie so much. It has a lot of snark and silly lines that it seems everyone was in on the joke. I love that Jack Burton thinks he is the hero, but it is other guy that is the tough shit. Burton is the silly sidekick, but doesn't know it. There are a few issues here and there. (The prologue was an afterthought literally and serves nothing in the movie. Kim Cattrall wasn't that good) However, I loved every minute they're under the warehouse. I think this movie influenced everything from Mortal Kombat to Tekken while just being a fun kung-fu movie. I also love how easy the main villain dies. What about that floating head?

“It's all in the reflexes.”