It’s movie trivia Wednesday.

Big Trouble in Little China by John Carpenter and staring Kurt Russell.

John Carpenter is a vastly underrated cinema graphic genius. George Lucas is a drooling, knuckle dragging idiot in comparison. The real difference between the two is that Lucas was willing to sell out his artistic integrity and do anything, I mean anything to get the money for his over wrought, over produced steaming pile of Star Wars. I mean, can you imagine what it would have been like if Hollywood had had an artistic bone in their corporate body and hired Carpenter to direct and Russell to play Han Solo? The style! The direction! The special effects! The artistic possibilities that can be imagined are enough to make one’s head explode. What a feast for the senses it would have been. There would have been no need to “remaster” anything. 37 years later we would still be filling the theaters.

I will grant you that not all of Carpenter’s efforts were top notch. Halloween comes to mind. But among his classics, Escape From New York (with Adrienne Barbeau), Starman and the Thing, Big Trouble stands tall. If you don’t agree with me, it’s okay. You have every right to be an ignorant, uneducated slob with no appreciation of the higher arts. I won’t hold it against you. On the other hand, if you've ever seen the movie, you know what I’m talkin’ about.

Here are a few of my favorite Jack Burton Quotes:

“When some wild-eyed, eight-foot-tall maniac grabs your neck, taps the back of your favorite head up against the barroom wall, and he looks you crooked in the eye and asks you if ya paid your dues. You just stare that big sucker right back in the eye, and you remember what ol’ Jack Burton always says at a time like that: “Have ya paid your dues, Jack? Yes sir, the check’s in the mail.”

“It’s all in the reflexes”

Jack: "Can I ask you a serious question?"

Gracie Law (Kim Cattrall): "Absolutely not."

Jack: "Well then would you ever consider just jumpin' right into...."

Gracie: "Sure, but never with a person in your condition."

Jack: "Let's talk about my condition. Just what's wrong with it?"

Gracie: "You should try standing down wind where I am."

(Wouldn’t that have been a great exchange between Han and Leah? Much better than, “scruffy nurf herder”).

And my favorite comes at the end of the movie and I will have to pull from memory because IMDb are a bunch of idiots.

Jack: (talking with Wang) “We really shook the pillars of Hell, didn't we Wang?”

Wang: “No horse shit, Jack”

Here’s a thought for today:

Wouldn’t it be great if, when we get to Heaven and stand before our Lord we could say, “We really shook the pillars of Hell didn't we?” And Jesus, looking us right back in the eye would say, “Yes we did.”