Amazon.com Essentials:
While most movie buffs are likely to call Halloween the best
movie from John Carpenter, others--die-hard romantics and anyone who
cried while watching E.T.--might vote
in favor of the director's 1984 hit Starman. It's easily
Carpenter's warmest and most beguiling film, and the only one that
ever earned an Oscar nomination. That honor went specifically to Best
Actor nominee Jeff Bridges for his performance as an alien visitor to
Earth who is knocked off course and must take an interstate road trip
to rendezvous with a mothership from his home planet. To complete this
journey he assumes the physical form of the dead husband of a
Wisconsin widow (Karen Allen) who responds first with fear, then
sympathy, and finally love. Carpenter's graceful strategy is to switch
the focus of this E.T.-like film from science fiction to a
gentle road-movie love story, made believable by the memorable
performances of Bridges and Allen. It's a bit heavy-handed with
tenacious government agents who view the Starman as an alien threat
(don't they always?), but Carpenter handles the action with
intelligent flair, sensitivity, and lighthearted humor. If you're not
choked up during the final scene, well, you just might not be
human. --Jeff Shannon
Amazon.com Essentials:
While most movie buffs are likely to call Halloween the best
movie from John Carpenter, others--die-hard romantics and anyone who
cried while watching E.T.--might vote
in favor of the director's 1984 hit Starman. It's easily
Carpenter's warmest and most beguiling film, and the only one that
ever earned an Oscar nomination. That honor went specifically to Best
Actor nominee Jeff Bridges for his performance as an alien visitor to
Earth who is knocked off course and must take an interstate road trip
to rendezvous with a mothership from his home planet. To complete this
journey he assumes the physical form of the dead husband of a
Wisconsin widow (Karen Allen) who responds first with fear, then
sympathy, and finally love. Carpenter's graceful strategy is to switch
the focus of this E.T.-like film from science fiction to a
gentle road-movie love story, made believable by the memorable
performances of Bridges and Allen. It's a bit heavy-handed with
tenacious government agents who view the Starman as an alien threat
(don't they always?), but Carpenter handles the action with
intelligent flair, sensitivity, and lighthearted humor. If you're not
choked up during the final scene, well, you just might not be
human. --Jeff Shannon
