Rating: 
Summary: "I figured it'd be something like this."
Review: John Carpenter's They Live is a delightful blend of satire, biting social and political commentary, and simplistic b-movie thrills. In other words it's the 80s version of a 60s Roger Corman movie. To bad it falls apart in the last reel. Still the first hour and fifteen minutes of this underrated movie is priceless, with Carpenter's nihilist viewpoint and love of rugged individualism almost seamlessly married. Highly recommended.
Rating: 
Summary: They Live
Review: One of my favorite movies. Roddy Piper stars as a drifter who finds a pair of special glasses that let you tell humans and aliens apart when you put them on and also helps you see sublimenal messages posted on magazines, money, billboards, etc. One of John Carpenter's best movies. Note: I'm only saying a little bit because the action scenes are great and the whole movie is so greatly crafted.
Rating:
Summary: Good Concept Runs out of Steam before Completion
Review: The concept behind this movie--that space aliens in disguise run this planet & enslave working class humans--may be harder to swallow than Marx's class-war scenarios, but I enjoy the way it unfolds throughout the first part of the movie. The genius of taking a social situation and explaining it with a bizarre conspiracy fires the dynamo of this movie's appeal. I dare you to look at politics today & tell me grotesque extra-terrestrials in disguise don't run the nation! We're living the sequel: THEY LIVE 2, How Space Aliens Stole Election 2K!This movie is set in the great Reagan/Bush Era worker displacement & recession. The Wise Republican Presidents had lowered taxes, increased government size, increased government spending (duh!), and grossly increased the national debt (DUHHH!!!) While this created great contentment among the upper crust, it also produced lots of unemployed & displaced workers, ready to do anything for a buck. Our hero wants to work, but can only get day labor, off the books. He lives at a homeless encampment & notices a brutal raid by the LAPD on a small church with an ensuing dragnet through the homeless encampment. He follows clues and comes to see the world through new lenses, lenses that reveal a stark contrast between appearance and underlying reality. Once the blinding dazzle of consumer society has been blocked, the hero can better see the how the media controls the populace. I found this metaphor brilliant--appealing to both mind and heart. Without it, the movie would have lost a star. The first part of the flick is innovative and original. I like the way the underlying premise is slowly revealed. But once the secret is out of the bag, the movie deteriorates rapidly. My son, age 12 when he first watched it with me, kept saying "Dad, why doesn't he do ______?" Sure enough, a few seconds later, the hero would do exactly that! Although the basic premise and some of the underlying metaphors deserve 6 stars, the predictability, and gradual erosion of creativity throughout the movie knocks it down to a four star flick. There are good reasons why this movie never won any awards at Cannes. But it's still fun to watch at least once, and then maybe again with your kids. If you're a 12-year-old boy, it's probably fun to watch every weekend until you're 13. This movie does have one of the most memorable bad lines of any movie in it, one nearly worth the price of purchase: "I'm here to chew gum and kick ass ... and I'm all out of bubblegum!" (If you enjoyed this review, please read my others here at Amazon. Click to them through the "read more about me" link at the beginning of this review. Thanks!)
Rating: 
Summary: Could have been so much better
Review: I hated giving this movie only 3 stars, but lets be honest it's not for everyone. The story drags, I think I could have done better special effects, the 30 minute fist fight is enough to make anyone comatose, and the acting is some of the worst you will ever see. BUT, the concept was great. It has a powerful political message. I'm embarrassed to admit it, but I do like this movie. If you liked Fahrenheit 451, 1984, or THX1138, you might be able to stomach this one.
Rating:
Summary: Sci-fi with a twist!!
Review: I think that John Carpenter was trying to portray more than aliens taking over in this movie. It seems to me that most of the aliens in this movie are conservative Republicans, which makes me wonder the true intent of this movie. It was released during Reagan's presidency and it could be a response to the Reagan era. It is a very funny movie, no matter what the meaning of it is. Roddy Piper is hilarious as a drifter who comes into LA looking for work and makes a very interesting discovery. He finds that when he wears a pair of sunglasses that he finds that many of the people that we see are actually aliens and that people are being brainwashed by hidden messages in billboards and magazines. The message of the movie is very strong and it is enjoyable action.
Rating:
Summary: The truth at last!
Review: Why are there so few movies devoted to the reality of life beneath the fascade that is laid out for us? They Live is one of the few to attempt to shake us out the daze. We must continue to seek the manuals that tear us away from the thoughtless mind control that suspiciously rules our world. Our world is definitely not as they pretend it is and the greatest commercial artforms are those that help us find our true foundation. They Live is in a class by itself.
Rating:
Summary: They Live
Review: Great fun and action. A must see!
Rating:
Summary: An Fine Action-Adventure/Thriller.
Review: John Carpenter is one of my favorite director, most of his films are very entertaining or always impressive with every movie, he has made. He makes a dumb plot, looks good in almost every movie, he has directed. This is not his best film as a director, but it has moments. One of the best thing in the film is Roddy Piper gives a standout performance as Nada, a drifter, who`s comes to L.A. to searching for a job, then he find a job. The same job, where he was working, Nada meet Frank, played by Keith David(he was in the 1982 remake of The Thing, also directed by Carpenter) he told him to come along, where he stay with poor people and a place to rest. Once he get there, Nada see some frequency news going on, always come back at times in television and he knows, there are something unusual going on at a house nearby. After a small band of cops are beating these people for nothing, what it seems, then the next day. He goes to the house nearby, the only thing, he find a unopen box, was hidden in the hall, he takes the box and runs to a alley, he open the box, he was surprise were only a bunch of sunglasses!.He takes one of them, hide the rest a garbage can. Once he put these sunglasses, Nada see a whole different place bizarre look of L.A. in black and white, then he notice the difference with the civilians are mixed with aliens population amongst them!. The film has a good plot, some fun action scenes and one great unforgettable line from Piper``I come here to chew bubble gum and kick ass but am all out of bubble gum.`` or Of course, a classic and very funny fistfight scene about Piper tells David to put the glasses on, David refuses to it on. The film has a flew flaws, the movie is a bit cheap looking at times, especially thier funny looking awful alien make-up. Carpenter gives the cheap alien look with a fine sense of humour. It has great payoff at the end, which one of the best highlights of the film, it was hilarious and amusing moment in the near of the movie. Extremely well directed by Carpenter. Grade:A-. Panavision.
Rating:
Summary: Roddy can act.. and what a fight seen!
Review: Carpenter does a great job with this film. It really makes you think about how it was back in the 80's. People just trying to scrap up any money they could while coorporate America is falling apart! Businesses going out of business left and right and people losing jobs by the second. But wait... there are aliens in our mist. It would seem that an alien species in taking over our planet and we can't see them without special glasses. Let me tell you that Roddy Piper does a very good job acting in this. He had no experience in any feature film before (Unless you call WWF REALLY acting! ) And that fight seen with Keith David is worth the price of the DVD alone. If there is any problem it is that there are no extras on this DVD. Sound are picture quality are decent but the best you find on anything that is out there. This movie is a cult-classic so buy it... you won't be disappointed!
Rating:
Summary: A Fairly Standard Sci-fi Effort, but.....
Review: The film has one of the best choreographed - and quite lengthy - fight scenes between stars Roddy Piper and Keith David. The guys really pulled no punches, and, obviously may have connected a couple. Movie: 3. Fight: 5
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