50 New Pulp Movies

Recently Derrick Ferguson announced that he was doing a list of 50 New Pulp movies.  The end result can be found here

When he announced it, it for shits and giggles I thought I'd try and see how well I'd go at predicting what would be on his list.

So here is my list the ones in red weren't on Derrick's list.

50 New Pulp Movies

1. Remo Williams: The Adventure Begins

2. The Adventures of Buckaroo Banzai Across the 8th Dimension

3. Sahara

4. Indiana Jones Quartet

5. The Rocketeer

6. Sky Captain

7. Hudson Hawk

8. Our Man Flint/In like Flint

9. High Road to China

10. Darkman

11. The Life Aquatic with Steve Zizzou

12. Lara Croft: Tomb Raider

13. The Fifth Element

14. The Phantom

15. Romancing the Stone

16. Jake Speed

17. Dark Avenger

18. Dark Knight trilogy

19. King Kong 2005

20. Kong Skull Island

21. The Mummy Trilogy

22. The Goonies

23. Cutthroat Island

24. Sunset

25. Shoot em up

26. Captain America: The First Avenger

27. Atlantis the Lost Empire

28. The Punisher 2004

29. Big Trouble in Little China

30. National Treasure

31. Cast a Deadly Spell

32. The Black Mask

33. Legend of the Fist: The Return of Chen Zhen

34. Brotherhood of the Wolf

35. The Black Samurai

36. The Black Scorpion

37. Billy Jack

38. Congo

39. Machete

40. The Man with the Iron Fists

41. Second Hand Lions

42. The Specialist

43. The Transporter

44. Cleopatra Jones

45. Coffy

46. Foxy Brown

47. Black Belt Jones

48. The Equaliser

49. The A Team

50. The President's Man

So with only 14 out of 50, I'm a poor prophet of Derrick's choices but it just shows the wide range of New Pulp movies out there (that is movies from after the 1950s in the pulp style)

What I bought October 2016

Okay this is a new thing I'm going to do here.  My local comic shop Secret Identity Comics gets their delivery monthly rather than weekly,  so after I make my monthly pick up I'll blog about what I bought and other purchases during the month.  Some items will have a quick capsule review others especially longer items will just be mentioned with a possible review down the track.

ARROW: THE DARK ARCHER DC

I'm a huge fan of the Arrow which has been aired here in Australia on Fox 8 express from the States.  This has been an issue in the past when the show was on Free to Air and season 2 took sooooooo long to air.  (let's not get me started on Agent Carter) .

I'll admit that the seasons have had a few missteps - the focus on a magical enemy in Season 4 being one but overall I love the show.  It's gritty and street level, it deviates from the source material but I can live with that.    I have been collecting the various tie-ins, four volumes of Comics and a novelisation. (I'm yet to read Arrow Vengeance but I was a little disappointed to see it was a novelisation of season two as I was hoping for an original story.

The comics are interesting, they started as digital comics and they expand the world of the TV series, letting us know more about other characters behind the scenes of the episodes.

The Dark Archer is a really interesting idea John Barrowman, who plays Malcolm Merlyn The Dark Archer, and his novelist sister writing a story that expands on the background of that character.  The story jumps between the present (just after season 3) and events in 1985.

We discover that Malcolm's real name isn't actually Malcolm Merlyn but rather Arthur King (and we are left to wonder if this another pseudonym).  We learn more about Malcolm and his history and we get a rather good action adventure story with young Arthur hunting down a mystical artefact and the consequences of that coming back to haunt him.  These flash backs mimic the show but are tied into the present day story more effectively that the TV show does in some cases.

This is a solid story firmly set in the world of Arrow.

JAMES BOND #10 Eidolon part 4 Dynamite

So we are over halfway through Bond investigating Eidolon and this issue finally brings things to a head.  We discover that SPECTRE had planted sleeper agents in various agencies around the world.  Bond gets some very good action pieces as M and Moneypenny.  I'm enjoying this series and look forward to the next issue.


Peepland #1 Hard Case Comics imprint of  Titan Comics

Christ Faust and Gary Phillips co-wrote this 80s noir story set in the peepshows of New York's Times Square.  Oh man this is what I wanted to read - a gritty sexy story that would sit beside Control Freak, Money Shot and "The Foot Job".  This first issue sets everything up for a great ride in the rest of this miniseries.


VIGLANTE SOUTHLAND 1 of 6

Gary Phillips' second entry in this list.  When I heard that Vigilante was getting a new series and that Adrian Chase was appearing in Arrow season 5, I wondered if as part of Rebirth they were bringing back Adrian Chase.

The solicitations soon dispelled that notion and that we would be reading about a new Vigilante (which makes him the eighth person to use the name in DC)

I love Vigilante,  I have nearly all 50 issues of the 80s series, and the other attempts at reviving the character after that.  I found this issue a bit of a challenge to read and I suspect that rereading will reward me with things that I missed the first time.  There's a jump in time that took me off guard in the start of the issue which took me out of the story and perhaps coloured the rest of my reading of this issue.  I'm on board for the rest of the miniseries but I was left feeling that things hadn't been set up enough in this issue.  I like the characters and the LA setting is a refreshing change for comics  especially an LA away from the glamour strips we normally see.

Last but not least

THE STORY OF THE PHANTOM novel by Lee Falk published by Hermes Press
Back in the 70s Avon books published 15 Phantom novels.  Over the years I've looked unsuccessfully for these books so I was super excited that Hermes Press is reprinting these books.
I'm really looking forward to reading this.

The Phantom 1996 starring Billy Zane, Kristy Swanson, Treat Williams & Catherine Zeta-Jones

There are certain movies that pulp fans will mention in any discussion as being underrated and should have done better, The Rocketeer, Sky Captain, John Carter, and The Phantom.

 

The 1996 movie was filmed in Thailand and in Australia (some of it was filmed in Brisbane City Hall) and there is a lot to like, the 1930s setting is pretty good, I really like the Phantom outfit that Billy Zane wore with what looked like tribal markings that looked like a skull on his chest.  Kristy Swanson makes a feisty Diana Palmer and Catherine Zeta-Jones is great as Sala, the leader of the Sky Pirates in her first movie role.  Treat Williams' Xander Drax is wonderfully over the top.

 

The action moves from the Bengalla jungle to New York to a rousing finale in The Devil's Triangle base of the Singh brotherhood. 

 

As a fan of the comics, I thought the supernatural aspects - Kit being visited by the ghost of his father and the three mystical powerful skulls - were a mistake.  Also there were some interesting story choices, during the New York section The Phantom discovers that the jade skull is in the New York Museum and has been there since Jimmy Wells 12th birthday, Jimmy looks about 30 so it's been there for at least 18 years.  The Phantom and Diana rush there and are met by Drax and his men who have decided to acquire the skull at the same time.  Drax therefore obviously knew that it was there and would have been smarter to acquire it quietly through the Museum board.

 

But aside from those things I love this movie, nearly everyone is perfectly cast Hero and Devil look incredible.   There is a scene where one of Drax's henchmen tells the Singh Brotherhood he has killed The Phantom, the response is laughter and  that everyone there had killed The Phantom.

 

Well worth watching.