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Author: Thomas Stockel

· by Thomas Stockel · May 18, 2017

Pulp Masterpieces, Part 5: The Rocketeer (1991)

Back in my Sky Captain article, I briefly spoke about the world of the ’30s and its fascination with aviation, how there were barnstormers and record breakers, and how there were pulp heroes that reflected America’s love affair with pilots.…

Movie Review / Movies / Text

· by Thomas Stockel · May 4, 2017

Pulp Masterpieces, Part 4: The Phantom (1996)

Quite often when a genre or medium dies out, it doesn’t die right away… …usually. The pulps didn’t die out overnight; during the 1940s, they slowly lost their popularity, and by the ’50s, pulps were largely a memory. But as…

Movie Review / Movies / Text

· by Thomas Stockel · Apr 19, 2017

Pulp Masterpieces, Part 3: The Maltese Falcon (1941)

There was a pulp magazine published in the ’20s and ’30s called Black Mask. With a name like that, you might be thinking it was a “saucy pulp” delivering racy content, but in reality when it first got started,…

Movie Review / Movies / Text

· by Thomas Stockel · Apr 6, 2017

Pulp Masterpieces, Part 2: Sky Captain and the World of Tomorrow (2004)

During the ’20s and ’30s there was a near worldwide fascination with aviation. In the United States, after the Great War, there was a phenomena known as “barnstorming”, where veteran pilots would tour the country selling rides in their aircraft…

Movie Review / Movies / Text

· by Thomas Stockel · Mar 22, 2017

Pulp Masterpieces, Part 1: The Shadow (1994)

I love the Pulp era. I’m talking about a hardboiled detective looking for a blackbird statue, or a husband/wife team sleuthing it with a precocious dog. I’m talking about a guy taking to the skies with a rocket strapped to…

Text / TV

· by Thomas Stockel · Mar 7, 2017

Chicago (Fill in the Blank), Dick Wolf's next series?

Dick Wolf is a living legend in the entertainment industry as a writer and producer, with a well deserved star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame. He’s responsible for some of the most famous TV shows in history: Law & …

Agonizer / Videos

· by Thomas Stockel · Feb 12, 2017

VIDEO: Dear Netflix: Make these comics into shows (Part 2)

A look at various comic book properties that Tom would like to see made into television series.

Agonizer / Videos

· by Thomas Stockel · Jan 29, 2017

VIDEO: Dear Netflix: Make these comics into shows (Part 1)

A look at various comic properties and how they might make for good source material for new Netflix series.

Movie Review / Movies / Text

· by Thomas Stockel · Jan 4, 2017

Zero Effect (1998): a pre-Sherlockian masterpiece

I was left with the realization that beyond all the “clever” dialogue and manic pace, Sherlock simply is not as good as people think. In fact, Zero Effect did it better in every way.

Movie Recap / Movies / Text

· by Thomas Stockel · Dec 14, 2016

Moon Zero Two (1969): a recap (part 10 of 10)

The movie does take place in 2021; it’s not too late to start making jump suits and boots a thing. And plastic plaid jackets. Can’t forget those.

Movie Recap / Movies / Text

· by Thomas Stockel · Nov 20, 2016

Moon Zero Two (1969): a recap (part 9 of 10)

When we last left Bill and Clementine, Lithuania suffered a major setback in their plot to annex the Moon, but it left the Moon Bug shot to hell. Bill opted to use the “bugdozer” instead, but it only has enough charge for a 150-mile trip, and it’s 200 miles to Farside Five. Fortunately, the bugdozer is built to go over mountains, so it’s time to find a shortcut. The pair head out...

Movie Recap / Movies / Text

· by Thomas Stockel · Oct 31, 2016

Moon Zero Two (1969): a recap (part 8 of 10)

So it turns out that modern firearms can fire in a vacuum; gunpowder contains its own oxidizer, so it doesn’t require an atmosphere. Special thanks to reader Greenhornet for the info, and for not making fun of my ignorance; class is always appreciated. Of course, that means ditching 500 words of guns-not-being-able-to-fire-in-a-vacuum jokes...

Movie Recap / Movies / Text

· by Thomas Stockel · Oct 17, 2016

Moon Zero Two (1969): a recap (part 7 of 10)

Moon Zero Two comes in for a landing outside Farside Five. Oh man, I’m sooooo looking forward to this. I hope Farside Five has lots of strips with dogs, those are the funniest.

Movies / Text

· by Thomas Stockel · Sep 27, 2016

Rey vs. Jaylah: Who's the better heroine?

But while I think there are many commonalities, it's the differences that, to my mind, make Jaylah a far superior character to Rey. So, you may ask, what are these differences? Let's compare, shall we?

Movie Recap / Movies / Text

· by Thomas Stockel · Sep 12, 2016

Moon Zero Two (1969): a recap (part 6 of 10)

When we last left our heroes (and at this point, I’m really stretching the definition of that word; seriously, Bill is a bit of a dick and Kaminski is little more than drunken comic relief, albeit his legal acumen and/or ability to baffle with bullshit has come in handy twice)...

Movie Recap / Movies / Text

· by Thomas Stockel · Aug 19, 2016

Moon Zero Two (1969): a recap (part 5 of 10)

Hello, and welcome back to my Moon Zero Two extended recap. In case you’re new to the Booth, you can catch up by checking out the links to the first four parts here, here, here...