Pulp Librarian
@PulpLibrarian • 171,396 subscribers
Old books, movies and music. Keeping Twitter busy since 2014.
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The Master (1984). Lee Van Cleef is a ninja master in this short-lived NBC TV show, returning to America to find his daughter. Tim Van Patten (later to direct The Sopranos) is his hot-headed apprentice. Bill Conti did the exciting theme music. Pitched as a rival to the A-Team, the dynamic ninja duo drive around in a van helping strangers in distress, having exciting fights and generally doing all the usual master/apprentice tropes. Only 13 episodes were made and maybe that was enough.
Pulp Librarian68,008 次观看 • 1 天前
Capricorn One is still one of the most entertaining conspiracy thrillers of the 1970s, with a great set up and a really strong hook: the faking of a crewed mission to Mars. It's sometimes a bit overlooked, maybe because it's a slow build up, but the payoff is worth it with some brilliant action sequences: Telly Savalas and Elliott Gould in a crop sprayer dodging helicopters, Gould driving at breakneck speed without breaks through traffic. It tapped into a lot of existing conspiracy theories and a general post-Watergate mood of distrust in institutions, and writer and director Peter Hyams delivers a strong thriller as a result. The two novelisations, by Ron Goulart and Ken Follett (writing as Bernard L. Ross) are really good reads. Hyams later sci-fi work also doesn't get all the credit it deserves. Outland (1981) is a solid 'space Western' that feels claustrophobic and tense throughout. 2010: The Year We Make Contact is also really good ("Piece of pie!"). Watching all three movies together makes for a fun (but long) evening! Capricorn One had its US release delayed until mid-1978 to avoid clashing with Superman. Audiences really liked it and the Jerry Goldsmith score, realistic NASA props and some great set pieces make it really work quite well.
Pulp Librarian56,346 次观看 • 2 天前
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Zardoz (1974). In a future Earth made up of immortals and savages, an assassin of the wastelands (Sean Connery) brings the gift of death to the bored, corrupt Eternals, having learnt the truth about them in an abandoned library. Which sounds fine, except John Boorman has other ideas. Many other ideas. And all of them will be put into this film. Some of them in a big floating stone head yelling "The gun is good! The penis is evil!" The Eternals live in The Vortex, which is a large country house. They have lose their sex drive and the need to sleep. Some - The Apathetics - are catatonic, until they lick Connery's sweat and go wild. Oh, and they have psychic powers. And they like going topless. To be honest there's little point in explaining the Zardoz plot: it's a bit confused. At one point Connery wears a wedding dress to escape Renegade Eternals. Later he fights a baboon. He also hits people with flour. And has an erection in a laboratory. It's very of its time: a fin de siècle film for 1960s idealism. You should watch it once.
Pulp Librarian49,629 次观看 • 5 天前
The Big Sleep (1978). Philip Marlowe is in 1970's London for no apparent reason, and he's got a case of blackmail to deal with. Fair play to Death Wish director Michael Winner, he did get an all-star cast together: Robert Mitchum, James Stewart, Joan Collins, John Mills, Edward Fox and Oliver Reed. And he didn't take too many liberties with the plot - apart from the location. But this is a bit of a Cinzano advert movie: nice suits, expensive cars, stately homes, everyone's horny and rich, or wants to be rich. Marlowe isn't really Marlowe and London isn't pre-war Los Angeles. Everyone is obviously having fun, but it's not really noir.
Pulp Librarian35,671 次观看 • 4 天前
Christopher Lee sings! If you haven't seen The Return of Captain Invincible (1983) then you should, not least for the musical numbers. Alan Arkin is the retired 1940s superhero with a booze problem, living in Australia and keeping out of sight. Christopher Lee is his arch-nemesis Mr. Midnight, who realises the Captain's fatal weakness is booze. Can Captain Invincible master his forgotten superpowers to save the world, or will the demon drink be his Kryptonite? Richard O'Brien and Richard Hartley contributed a number of songs, including Name Your Poison, to give it a slight Rocky Horror vibe. The budget is low, the comedy is madcap and in-between it does touch on some interesting themes about heroes and celebrity. The film tanked at the box office, not helped by a legal dispute over whether it counted as an Australian film and was entitled to tax breaks. It has found a new audience over the years and is now seen as a bit of an Aussie gem: a diamond in the rough.
Pulp Librarian255,881 次观看 • 1 个月前
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Battletruck (1982). A Kiwi take on Mad Max, even if the lead actors are all American. Michael Beck battles James Wainwright after the Oil Wars leave the world in desperation. Shot on the Central Otago plains of New Zealand it's all action, lots of carnage and the aforementioned battletruck smashes everything in its path. John Ratzenberger's in it too!
Pulp Librarian237,764 次观看 • 1 个月前
Babylon Zoo: Spaceman (1996). Originally used for a Levi's jeans ad in 1995 after a rare demo version was played on a Manchester radio station - that's how we rolled in the '90s! This was the only real hit for the Wolverhampton indie rockers when it was released the following year. Top 10 across all of Europe, No 1 in the UK, France and Germany, and then they faded away...
Pulp Librarian329,055 次观看 • 2 个月前
Young Einstein (1988). Warner Bros. hoped Yahoo Serious's comedy, about a Tasmanian apple farmer who splits the atom, invents rock and roll and falls in love with Marie Curie, would be the next Crocodile Dundee. Despite heavy publicity, it wasn't quite to be the case. But for a while Yahoo Serious was everywhere, even hosting his own MTV show and appearing on the cover on TIME magazine. He is still considered a pioneer for independent Australian movie making. He made a couple of fun follow up movies: Reckless Kelly (1993) and Mr. Accident (2000). I don't know if he has any other projects in the pipeline, but you never know (although latest media reports suggests he has hit some hard times).
Pulp Librarian230,117 次观看 • 1 个月前
Jodie Foster: Je T'attends Depuis La Nuit Des Temps (1977). Jodie Foster had a brief teenage pop career in France. Having studied at Lycée Français de Los Angeles she was fluent in French and following Bugsy Malone everyone knew she could sing. So in 1977 she released a couple of French singles, one for the movie Moi, Fleur Bleue and this one with it's unique video montage.
Pulp Librarian339,919 次观看 • 3 个月前