Escape From New York [Blu-ray] [2018]

Classic Kurt Russell. Filmed mostly in St. Louis. The majority of buildings it was filmed in or around have since been revitalized and are thriving businesses again. The scene with the fight in the boxing ring was filmed in the lobby of Union Station which was once one of the busiest train stations in America. Although abandoned at the time, it has since been rehabbed around 2000 and is now a very, very nice hotel and a tourist attraction. The main lobby is now the hotel lobby. You can imagine the boxing ring sitting there while checking in. Pretty cool. The final scenes were filmed on the Chain of Rocks bridge. It was part of the original Route 66. The bridge is also a tourist attraction open to pedestrians and bicycles from both sides. From the bridge you get great views of the St. Louis skyline and the Mississippi River. On the Missouri side is a brand new park!

So, at first this movie made me feel old. I love John Carpenter and had seen most of his films (including the sequel to this and my step-father simply told me the plot of this film while we watched that,) but I had not yet seen this all the way through.So, here's the plot, around a year before I'm born (I'm 40) crime is getting really out of hand in America. By the time I'm in Kindergarten (the future when this was made,) crime is out of control and they turn New York into a giant, walled off prison unit for the whole country. This film's narrative opens in the far future (my freshman year of high school) where Kurt Russell is the only person that can save the president of the United States (Dr. Loomis from the original Halloween pictures,) from the Prison of New York City and also deliver to him a valuable recording that could end an ongoing war for the United States.As always, Carpenter and Hill had incredible attention to detail adding stuff you'll never forget like the voice speaker during the opening scene telling criminals they can simply elect to be immediately murdered and cremated and their cremains will be transferred to family and etc...4k Blu-ray is really a format where little things like this stand out in a home theater setting and you catch everything that John snuck in there.This is my third John Carpenter 4k disc (I also own The Thing and They Live) and I cherish it like I do the Blue Underground Italian discs. I met him one time at a convention, and it was a good time. He kept teasing Nick Castle trying to get a rise out of him. He definitely commanded a presence like he could run the show effectively FOR SURE. That must be why he's so successful.That impressed me and I always remembered it. It was nothing he said specifically but just him in general, he set the tone subtly with his presence and you know this guy runs the show, lol. I'm the boss at work, so I respect things like that. It was the first time I got to meet a hero and they were exactly what I hoped they'd be in my wildest dreams.Great movie, great film maker, buy this damn thing and watch it already! Watch Kurt Russel kick ass and know that I'm sitting in a dimly lit room experiencing sex ed during this same time period! 1997 forever! Carpenter forever! Russell forever! Pleasance forever! Also, the dude that played the angel Gabriel in Disney's One Magic Christmas is in this movie. You're welcome. If you watch it every year, you'd be trying to figure out like hell who that guy is. I know I was until I remembered during the second act!

Awesome movie, fast shipping

I'll keep this short since this movie is roughly 30 years old and anything that there is to be said about it has been said already. This new release was barebones, I knew that going in, so I'm not going to take away a star for that because I just want the movie to look and sound as good as possible right now. I know that there will be a re-release at some point in the near future - either for the 30'th anniversary or for a "first look" at the upcoming remake. I'm sure this is going to happen. I'll worry about that when it happens, and decide what to do with this release when the time comes (if I decide that I *need* to have the extras on Blu-ray). Anyway...The transfer is great. Easily the best this film has ever looked outside of the theater. This release wasn't a DNR nightmare and lacks the edge enhancement and contrast boost mess that took place in the UK release. The picture here is nice (it looks a little dark, but it seems natural) - probably the best it will ever look on Blu-ray. The audio was amazing as well. Amazing DTS-HD MA track! There was only one line that was difficult to hear due to the sound effects/music, but it was like that on the DVD too - so whatever - I guess that's just how it is (for anyone interested, it's whatever Brain says after he says something about redskins).A DVD was included with this release, which was unnecessary but infinitely better than a 'digital copy.' The DVD is a flipper disc that features the widescreen version on one side, and the pan-and-scan version (EWWWW) version on the other side. Now, I know what you're thinking. Is this the same disc as the 2000 DVD release (since that was a flipper disc, too)? That's what I thought at first, but I distinctly remember that disc not having a 5.1 audio track (it only had 2.0). This one has a 5.1 track. So, is it the 2003 Special Edition DVD version, but instead of it being on a regular disc, it's on a flipper disc? This one is missing the Carpenter/Russell commentary track! I don't know what MGM did, but it's like they merged the two releases or something. The picture quality on the DVD wasn't bad, and the 5.1 track was nice, so I'm *guessing* that it was the 2003 version, stripped of the commentary, and pressed on a flipper disc. Why would they do this? I have no idea. If anyone knows what exactly went on with the DVD, since it is clearly SOME kind of mixture of the two discs, feel free to comment me on it!All in all, if you just want the best looking/sounding version of 'Escape from New York' that you could possibly buy right now, this is it. If you're worried about special features, maybe you could hold off for a year or two and see if the product gets re-released (I'm betting it will be since this one is barebones and the anniversary AND remake are coming up). I didn't want to wait, so I scooped this up. I care more about outstanding picture quality than special features, so this was a good buy for me, especially with the included DVD for those times where I'll want to get my Snake Plissken on and I'm not near my only Blu-ray player (or if I want to let somebody borrow the DVD).