Last movie watched...

[Professor Bear]

Norma Rae - pretty good pro-communism movie from Liberal Hollywood™.  I mean, it's not actually about communism, it's about the importance of working class solidarity and how the ruling classes divide the working classes based on any and every possible subtext ranging from race to religion, to income inequality, to employment hierarchies, and even examines the complicity of law enforcement, so maybe give this a watch and think about it the next time you start going on a rant about Leave voters or whoever.  Was Sally Field always a fox?  I feel that this is something I should have been aware of before now.

Antarctica - the story of the fallout from an ill-fated expedition to the South Pole as experienced by its victims, who are doggies, it's also part of a wave of Japanese cinema that challenged the utilitarian nature of their society, and alongside Hachiko Monogatari, Antarctica examines this through the medium of dog.
Nah, I'm only kidding, this is a film about dogs, there's no politics in it.  Anyway, after being left behind by capitalist adventurers in a desolate wasteland to fend for themselves because their lives mean nothing and they're just slaves, a troupe of sled dogs slowly starve to death until they finally smash their chains and escape into the marketplace of ideas where all but two of them die.  This is a dead doggy movie is what I am saying.  It is one of those movies that Harrison Ford will one day show to particularly cunning or adaptive replicants in order to judge if they're human or not by seeing if they cry at the end, and if they don't, he shoots them in the head, right there on the spot.  Statistically speaking, they might actually be human, but it's better to shoot them anyway - you don't want the kind of psycho who doesn't cry at the end of Antarctica walking around in the world.  You know why Dekard was so grizzled in that movie?  He'd watched Antarctica so many times.  This is a good movie and I liked it.  Even Vangelis' stupid disco music couldn't ruin it.
It also occurred to me that this is the plot of The Martian, which I will now consider a product of cultural appropriation on top of all its other problems.

[Rately]

The Thing is our household's favourite.

Followed by...

Halloween
Prince of Darkness/ Mouth of Madness (depending on mood)

Halloween has aged terribly, whereas The Thing has matured well.

The Thing is just an amazing bit of movie-making. Still regret i have never seen it in a cinema. And, as you say, it is one of those ageless movies that will continually be rediscovered, and heaped with more praise as the years pass us. The music, the incredible performances by everyone in the cast and the fact that you are just constantly terrified watching, knowing that literally anyone could turn out to be the creature.

[Colin YNWA]

Yeah The Thing makes and interesting comparison with Escape from New York released only a year ish apart and as said The Thing remains absolutely timeless and a brilliant piece of film making where as, as I've said behind plated glass - Escape from New York has aged terribly.

Maybe cold snowy places and the kit you wear just doesn't change were as we all know future gang stuff flips in and out of fashion like nobody's business.

[Jim_Campbell]

The Thing is just an amazing bit of movie-making. Still regret i have never seen it in a cinema.

My local Cineworld showed it a few years back as part of their "Classic Movies Wednesday" programme. It's basically perfect — there's not a single frame I wish had been done differently.

[JOE SOAP]

Norma Rae

... should be watched as a double-bill with Blue Collar.

[repoman]

1.  The Thing
2.  Big Trouble in Little China
3.  Prince of Darkness
4.  They Live
5.  Vampires

I recently rewatched all of the Halloween films and it turns out I hate all of them.

[JamesC]

The Thing is great and I have a soft spot for Vampires. Escape and Precinct are both excellent and I still think Halloween holds up.
Some of the others though...
Big Trouble is overlong and bloated.
Prince of Darkness is just boring.
They Live is overlong, boring and has the least charismatic lead I've ever seen.

[SmallBlueThing(Reborn)]

Carpenter is by far my favourite film director- knocking Romero into second place purely by virtue of still being with us, somehow, and I admire his tenacity. I'd say The Thing is his magnum opus, without doubt, and that The Fog and Halloween are almost impossible to remove from positions #2 and #3.

After that, it becomes far more subjective. My own favourites are Prince of Darkness, In the Mouth of Madness, Cigarette Burns (his Masters of Horror mini-movie) and The Ward. But your mileage may vary. Despite it being largely hated, I have a lot of time for Ghosts of Mars too. And Vampires, despite James Woods presence making it an uncomfortable watch.

SBT

[wedgeski]

I'll watch the aforementioned The Thing, Halloween, The Fog, and Big Trouble at *any* time, no matter what mood I'm in. They're foundational to my movie-watching landscape. The others I can take or leave.

[repoman]

Big Trouble is overlong and bloated.

[JamesC]

Big Trouble is overlong and bloated.

Sorry, it just bores the tits off me.

[JamesC]

I do think Carpenter is an interesting creator and there's always lots to like, even in the films which I think don't really work.
They Live, in particular, is so close to being an excellently weird action thriller, it just has this really long, quite dour first act with an actor who just can't bring enough to the performance. Then te finale doesn't quite hit the spot in terms of action.
It's a great idea though and I'd love to see a remake (hopefully a bit tighter). To be honest, I think the material is a bit out of Carpenter's wheelhouse. Verehoven would have been a good shout for it.

[von Boom]

I'm always shocked to hear someone doesn't like Big Trouble, but the fact is I'm in the minority. Carpenter's films in the 80s were pure gold to me. Prince of Darkness will be watched yet again very shortly. It is one of the creepiest films I can think of. Not overtly scary really, but the tension and sense of impending doom is palpable.

[pictsy]

Big Trouble in Little China is in my incomplete list of top 10 favourite films (I have difficulty picking a favourite).  I loved it the first time I saw and every time since.  I had a crappy recorded-off-TV copy and loved it to bits.

In general I like Carpenter's films with only a small amount that I actively dislike (the most sacrilegious of which is Halloween).  Despite my comments on Escape from NY, I still like it.  Escape from LA is garbage.  The weirdest thing is that I legitimately, and without any sense of irony*, enjoy Ghosts of Mars.  It is a bad film.  I'm not even sure that the concept is really that good.  Yet it thoroughly entertains me.

*Except the way the main villain makes noises.  That always cracks me up and I love doing an impression of his non-threatening nonsense.

[Apestrife]

I really love Big Trouble in Little China. One of the finest movies there is to enjoy in the company of friends. On my top 3 of his together with Escape from New York and The thing.

Also really like Assault on Precinct 13, Halloween, Prince of Darkness (such a weird film), They live, Mouth of madness and Cigarette burns.

There's also one I'd do well not mentioning: over the top dumb fun and quite the joy to watch with friends late at night over a beer or two.

The only Carpenter films I haven't seen are Vampires and Elvis. Vampires any good?