New Pulp TV Series

So after the top 50 New Pulp Movies list a couple posts back, I decided to do a New Pulp TV series list.  I've put them in alphabetical order (more so I don't double up) and not to play favourites.

1.      Adventure Inc

2.      Agent Carter

3.      Agent X

4.      Airwolf

5.      Arrow

6.      Bugs

7.      Burn Notice

8.      Daredevil

9.      Darkwing Duck

10.   Human Target

11.   Intelligence

12.   Jack of All Trades

13.   Jonny Quest

14.   Kim Possible

15.   Knight Rider/Team Knight Rider/Knight Rider 2008

16.   Legend

17.   Leverage

18.   MacGyver/MacGyver 2016

19.   Miss Fisher’s Murder Mysteries

20.   Now and Again

21.   Nowhere Man

22.   Person of Interest

23.   Queen of Swords

24.   Relic Hunter

25.   Sable

26.   Sam Fox Extreme Adventures

27.   Soldier of Fortune Inc/ Special Ops Force

28.   Stingray

29.   Street Hawk

30.   Tales of the Golden Monkey

31.   Terra Nova

32.   The A-Team

33.   The Adventures of Briscoe County Jnr

34.   The Cape

35.   The Deep

36.   The Equalizer

37.   The  Finder

38.   The Green Hornet

39.   The Librarians

40.   The Mummy: The Animated Series

41.   The Persuaders

42.   The Player

43.   The Pretender

44.   The Punisher

45.   The Sentinel

46.   Transporter: The Series

47.   Vengeance Unlimited

48.   Veritas: The Quest

49.   Veronica Mars

50.   Young Indiana Jones Chronicles

Death Wish (2017) Trailer

So this came out the other day much to my surprise.  I had heard rumblings that a Death Wish remake was in the cards but I hadn't heard anything for some time and I presumed that it was stuck in some type of development hell.

If I'm reading it right this is a remake of the 1974 film and not a reinterpretation of Brian Garfield's 1972 novel.

One of the obvious changes from both sources is the action is moved to Chicago but that's not too big a deviation as the main character Paul Kersey (in the movies) and Paul Benjamin (in the books) moves to Chicago at the end of both.  The novel's sequel Death Sentence by Brian Garfield was set in Chicago.  (The odd numbered movies are set in New York and the even numbered in Los Angeles, the 2007 Kevin Bacon movie Death Sentence (Based on the novel) was set in Columbia, South Carolina)

The film seems to create a visual call back to Unbreakable (as Willis' David Dunn wears his rain poncho with the hood up in the same way as Dr Paul Kersey wears the hood up on his hoodie)  and I've seen it pointed out the visual similarity of Paul Kersey to Denzel Washington's Robert  McCall in The Equalizer 2014.

The script was written by Joe Carnahan who wrote and directed Smoking Aces and The A Team, and has written the script for the Uncharted movie.

I'm intrigued by this movie and I look forward to seeing it.

This is the End: Modesty Blaise (novels)

I'm sure that I've mentioned my love for Modesty Blaise.  The character started as a comic strip in 1963 and by 1966 there was a plan to make a movie.  Peter O'Donnell wrote the screenplay which the movie makers then rewrote and reportedly only one line ended up in the final product,  However, O'Donnell also wrote the novelisation and he used his script as the basis for that.  SO O'Donnell adapted his first comic strip into a movie script which he then adapted into a novel. Phew! Now the 1966 movie was less than successful (and less than faithful*)  and most people wouldn't be aware that the novel started out as a novelisation.

 

*I mean they made it a musical, dress Monica Vitti as a near perfect recreation of the comic strip and then go "nope not doing that" and have her run around as a blonde.

Given that the movie didn't gain a sequel and O'Donnell wrote another ten novels and two short story collections, I'd suggest that maybe they should have went with his script.

So I still need to read all the comic strips but I recently read all the novels.  Some like Modesty Blaise and Cobra Trap for the first time.

The books are really good I love all the recurring characters - Stephen Collins and his eventual wife Diana, Doctor Giles Pennyfeather.

The novels give us a more detailed look at the world of Modesty and Willie, more than we can in the strips.

I heartily recommend reading the books and the comic strips (perhaps best to miss the 1966 movie and the 1982 TV pilot both available on youtube)  The 2004 direct to DVD movie My Name is Modesty is okay but really get the DVD for the special features interviews with Peter O'Donnell, Quentin Tarantino and an overview of the comics.

Now O'Donnell supposedly has in his will that Tarantino is the only one who can make a movie. Tarantino has said he will quit making movies after 10 films and he has made 8 already - one of those last two had better be a Modesty Blaise movie.