Even Carpenter liked it, or so I hear.
He said he signed on to the project for purposes of quality check. He signed the contract, they gave him a quality check.
He actually said that. Of course he's not going to slag the new film, he didn't even have anything bad to say about The Fog remake, and that invited even more hate then Halloween 07 did.
Carpenter can't direct his way out of a paper bag these days and now he's forced to direct mediocre scripts by the guy who posts as Moriarty at Ain't It Cool News for an awful horror anthology show for Showtime.
So during the 80's he was pretty much invincible, but even though he hasn't made a great film since, his recent film output wasn't that terrible. Ghosts of Mars was fun and properly ridiculous, In the Mouth of Madness is one of the best Lovecraft-esque film ever made (still not a high bar to pass), Vampire$ was the last good film about vampires, and call me nuts, but I prefer Escape from LA to its predecessor.
I'm pretty sure Carpenter just stopped giving a shit a long time ago. Hell, two of his last three films are remakes of his own movies (Escape from LA/NY, Ghosts of Mars/Assault of Precinct 13). If that ain't a gigantic red flag of a director not caring about innovating any more, just remember that he's authorized remakes of his signature films, even though at least one or two of them HAD to look sketchy even on paper. Maybe now him doing a low commitment cable show makes a little more sense now.
Fuck you haters. I've not seen both the workprint and the real release, and I love both. Go enjoy your Bridges of Madison County shitfests for all I fucking care.
and what's wrong with The Bridges of Madison County? Every real man loves Clint Eastwood and will speak no ill of any of his films, even if its a tender and heartfelt love story or it involves him as a geriatric astronaut.