Patti Abbott recently wrote that Tom Cruise is the last movie star. And, Cruise has done his share of action movies, especially the latest Mission Impossible–Dead Reckoning, Part One. But Nick de Semlyen’s focus is on the action heroes from decades ago in The Last Action Heroes.

“The Last Action Heroes opens in May 1990 in Cannes, with Arnold Schwarzenegger and Sylvester Stallone waltzing together, cheered on by a crowd of famous faces. After years of bitter combat—Stallone once threw a bowl of flowers at Schwarzenegger’s head, and the body count in Schwarzenegger’s Commando was increased so the film would “have a bigger dick than Rambo”—the world’s biggest action stars have at last made peace.”

Nick de Semlyen describes the success of Stallone and Schwarzenegger’s carnage-packed movies. Chuck Norris and Jackie Chan brought their own unique styles of action to the screen., Tough guys like Dolph Lundgren and Steven Seagal developed loyal audiences of action movie fans. Jean-Claude Van Damme and Bruce Willis blended humor and action to differentiate their movies from the other action movies.

Nick de Semlyen argues the era of the invincible action hero who used muscle, martial arts, or the perfect weapon to save the day began to fade in the 1990s. “When Jurassic Park trounced Schwarzenegger’s Last Action Hero in 1993, the glory days of these macho men—and the vision of masculinity they celebrated—were officially over.”

I’m a fan of action movies. One of my favorites is Bruce Willis in Die Hard. Do you enjoy action movies? Do you have a favorite action hero? GRADE: A

TABLE OF CONTENTS:

Prologue — 3

1. The Stallion — 11

2. The Tank — 27

3. Tooling up — 42

4. The cowboy and the cannonball — 58

5. Maximalism — 72

6. Knock knock — 88

7. The Alien — 105

8. Foreign policies — 117

9. The Great One — 134

10. Welcome to the party, pal — 147

11. Supercops — 161

12. Funny or die — 174

13. Double impact — 188

14. Planet Arnold — 202

15. Old habits — 218

16. Born again — 232

17. Oil and water — 245

18. The ice age — 260

Epilogue — 277

Acknowledgements — 287

NOTES — 289

INDEX — 319

I’ve been a fan of Andrew Cartmel’s Vinyl Detective series for years (you can read my reviews here, here, here, here, here, and here). The Vinyl Detective hunts down rare and expensive vinyl records and solves crimes along the way. In the new Death in Fine Condition, Cartmel introduces a new character, Cordelia, who loves vintage paperbacks. Cordelia searches for rare paperbacks in charity shops, thrift stores, and jumble sales in suburban London looking for treasure.

And, Cordelia finds it: a complete collection of rare and valuable Sleuth Hounds. But, somebody else owns them. So Cordelia steals them!

Cordelia, The Paperback Sleuth, gives the reader a whole different sensibility as to what a paperback addict will do or say. Of course, a couple of deaths complicate things and Cartmel mixes in some surprises to accelerate the action. If you love paperback books and wacky crime novels, you’ll love Death in Fine Condition! I sure did! Perfect Summer reading! GRADE: A

Christopher McQuarrie directs the seventh installment of the franchise which like many Hollywood movies is presented in two parts to make more money (the new Spider-Man movie is another  example). In the past Mission Impossible movies, Tom Cruise and his team fought terrorists and evil geniuses. This time–and possibly prophetic–the IMF team takes on Artificial Intelligence. “The Entity,” a powerful AI program that has already infested all of the world’s online security systems and can not be stopped–except for the movie’s MacGuffin: a key that can turn the Entity off.

The U.S. government, and all others interested parties in World Domination, believes they can form an alliance with the Entity and control the entire world. But Ethan Hunt (Tom Cruise) vows to use the key to destroy the Entity. It’s always fun when Cruise and his techie teammates–Luther (Ving Rhames) and Benji (Simon Pegg)-use their computer trickery to stay one step ahead. Hunt’s sometime friend, sometime rival from the British secret service, Ilsa (Rebecca Ferguson), who also joins the action, as does a new character, a gorgeous pickpocket named Grace (Hayley Atwell).

As usual, the action moves around the world from Africa to Venice to a ride on the Orient Express. The new Indiana Jones movie features a fight on top of a moving train. But the deadly ballet on the top of the runaway train in Mission: Impossible Dead Reckoning – Part One puts that to shame! Mission: Impossible Dead Reckoning – Part Two is scheduled for June 2024. I’ll be there! GRADE: Incomplete…but trending towards a B+

In his introduction to The Naked and the Deadly, Lawrence Block discusses how he got into writing for men’s adventure magazines (MAMs) and how that led him to the eventual writing career he’s practiced for 65 years.

I’ve read a more than couple dozen of Lawrence Block’s books over the years, from Evan Tanner to Matthew Scudder to Chip Harrison to Keller to Bernie Rhodenbarr. I’ve always considered Block a consummate professional and a craftsman. But the stories in The Naked and the Deadly are examples of a young writer learning how to tell a story. You’ll see gradual improvement in the quality of the stories as you go from the Fifties to the Sixties. Eventually, Block abandoned the MAMs market and concentrated on crime fiction where he achieved success.

If you want to experience a sample of the early writings of an excellent writer, check out The Naked and the Deadly. Are you a Lawrence Block fan? GRADE: B

TABLE OF CONTENTS:

• Tricks of the Trade by Wyatt Doyle and Robert Deis — 9
• Introduction by Lawrence Block — 17
• “Queen of the Clipper Ships” from REAL MEN April 1958 — 24
• “The Greatest Ship Disaster in American History” from REAL MEN April 1958 — 37
• “She Doesn’t Want You!” from REAL MEN June 1958 — 45
• “Pleasure Cruise for 137 Corpses” from REAL MEN November 1958 — 53
• “They Called Him ‘King of Pain’” from ALL MAN September 1961 — 61
• “Killers All Around Me” from ALL MAN September 1961 — 71
• “The Naked and the Deadly” from MAN’S MAGAZINE October 1962 — 81
• “Just Window Shopping” from MAN’S MAGAZINE December 1962 — 153
• “Stag Party Girl” from MAN’S MAGAZINE February 1963 — 159
• “Twin Call Girls” from MAN’S MAGAZINE August 1963 — 228
• “Great Istanbul Gold Grab” from FOR MEN ONLY March 1967 — 294
• “Bring On the Girls” from STAG July 1968 — 368

My youngest sister Paula and her husband from Florida came to visit us so Diane and I decided to celebrate Paula’s recent retirement (she was an Elementary School teacher for decades) and Diane’s Birthday. One of our favorite restaurants is the swanky Russell’s Steaks and More. Paula and Steve had never been to Russell’s so it was an extra special treat for them!

This was the first collection of Robert Silverberg’s short stories to be published. I bought this ACE Double in 1962 and loved it. The stories were written early in Silverberg’s career, from 1954-1957. “Slaves of the Star Giants” is pure pulp as you can tell from the over-the-top title.  Lloyd Harkins finds himself mysteriously transported to a far future when civilization has collapsed. Mutated, primitive humans live underground in isolation. Ancient robots (check out the EMSH cover above) left over from the Time of Cities still roam the jungles randomly. Can a man from the Past save the Future?

From time to time, ACE would feature a Double devoted to one writer. On one side, the book would include a short novel–in this case it’s The Seed of Earth first published in Galaxy in 1962. “It’s a story of a group of individuals, selected randomly by a government-sponsored lottery, who are forced to leave Earth and establish a colony on a distant world. Once there, four of the colonists are abducted by the planet’s native inhabitants, and must put aside their differences and work together in order to survive.”

ACE Doubles in this format introduced a writer both through short stories and short novels they’d written. I had read several of Silverberg’s novels and stories before this one, but it remains one of my favorites–partly because of the cover artwork. Are you a fan of Robert Silverberg’s work? GRADE: B (for both the short stories and the short novel)

TABLE OF CONTENTS:

Slaves of the Star Giants • novella — 5
The Songs of Summer • short story — 48
Hopper • novelette — 66
Blaze of Glory • short story — 87
Warm Man • short story — 102

Last week, Netflix released five of the ten episodes of The Lincoln Lawyer, Season 2. The next five episodes will be released on August 3. I enjoyed The Lincoln Lawyer Season 1 (you can read my review here). The first season dealt with Mickey Haller’s (Manuel Garcia-Rulfo) return to law after a lengthy absence and addiction to prescription painkillers. Haller is a clever lawyer, but his past continues to complicate his life.

As usual, Haller juggles several law cases at the same time. The big case is a murder trial where Haller is defending a chef, Lisa Trammel (Lana Parrilla), who owns her own restaurant who is accused of murdering a real estate developer. The events in The Lincoln Lawyer, Season 2 are based on Michael Connelly’s fourth Mickey Haller novel, The Fifth Witness (2011). Haller’s first ex-wife, Maggie (Neve Campbell), presents both opportunities and problems. The problems center around their teen-age daughter, Lisa.

And then there’s my favorite character, Lorna (Becki Newton), Mickey’s second ex-wife. Lorna is now running Mickey’s new office and pursuing her own law school degree. Lorna’s relationship with her fiancé Cisco (Angus Sampson), the firm’s investigator and former biker, becomes complicated as their wedding approaches. Cisco’s past now produces more problems.

I’ve watched the first five episodes and can’t wait until Netflix drops the next five episodes. GRADE: A

“On March 10, 1977…Roman Polanski brought Samatha Bailey to his friend Jack Nicholson’s house in the Hollywood Hills. He urged her into the Jacuzzi, encouraged her to strip, gave her a Quaalude, followed her to where she sat on a couch, penetrated her, shifted his position, penetrated her anally, ejaculated. All of these details piled up, but I was left with a simple fact: anal rape of a thirteen-year-old.” (p. 3)

Claire Dederer explores a question that has been raised on this blog occasionally–most incisively by Deb–how can you enjoy a novel, painting, movie, or sculpture when you know the artist is a monster? Dederer starts with Roman Polanski and moves on to Woody Allen, Michael Jackson, the anti-LGBTQ+ stance of J. K. Rowling, and other Big Name artists.

Dederer brings up Doris Lessing–who abandoned two of her children–and Joni Mitchell who sings about her child on Blue. The various mis-deeds of Raymond Carver and Miles Davis concludes Dederer’s study.

Artists are not saints. Dederer wonders if she’s a monster because she loves some of the movies, novels, paintings, and music created by people who have done some Bad Things.

In her brilliant comment on Michael Dirda’s article “predicting” writers who would stay relevant, Deb pretty much nails the crux of this dilemma:

“As for Saul Bellow and Philip Roth, it will be interesting to see how future critical opinion addresses ongoing accusations of misogyny, sexism and racism in their work.
Years ago, I remember posting something to the effect that now humanities majors were so often women rather than men, male authors who had been utter pigs toward women in their personal lives (regardless of their perceived liberal political outlooks) would not fare well in posterity. No one want to read the books of a man who almost stabbed his wife to death (Mailer) or was serially unfaithful (Bellow) or who served his wife with a petty itemized list of reimbursements he expected from her, including the down payment for her car (Roth). Women don’t want to waste their time reading books written by men like that.
I may have been on to something.”

What do you think? GRADE: A

TABLE OF CONTENTS:

• Prologue: The Child Rapist: Roman Polanski — 3
• Roll Call: Woody Allen — 14
• The Stain: Michael Jackson — 40
• The Fan: J. K. Rowling — 51
• The Critic: Clare Dederer — 61
• The Genius: Pablo Picasso, Ernest Hemingway — 81
• The Anti-Semite, the Racist, and the Problem of Time: Richard Wagner, Virginia Woolf, Willa Cather — 112
• The Anti-Monster: Vladimir Nabokov — 134
• The Silencer and the Silenced: Carl Andre, Ana Medieta — 151
• Am I a Monster? — 160
• Abandoning Mothers: Doris Lessing, Joni Mitchell — 175
• Lady Lazarus: Valerie Solana’s, Sylvia Plath – 210
• Drunks: Raymond Carver — 225
• The Beloveds: Miles Davis — 243
• Acknowledgments — 259
• Notes — 261

Matthew Hughes frequently channels Jack Vance and writes stories and novels that capture the style and substance of Vance’s classic Dying Earth series. Hughes’s latest novel, The Ghost-Wrangler, deals with some dark issues that cloud the far, far future.

Galabras Nachecko is a necromancer who controls two spirits who serve to deliver him information that he can sell like “Where did I lose my wallet?” or “Is my husband seeing another woman?” But, it’s Nachecko’s ability to discover secrets that leads him into the orbit of the ruling Duke Simisson whose treacherous seneschal demands Nachecko capture the ghost of an executed land pirate…or else! While Nachecko successfully captures the ghost, the secrets he learns sends him on a dangerous mission as an unlikely secret agent to learn even more secrets.

Nachecko’s adventures are perfect Summer Reading for those who enjoy the exploits of mad wizards, demons, and powerful rulers who complicate the life of a necromancer. GRADE: B

Disney+ series based on STAR WARS and MARVEL have mixed reviews. Of course, The Mandalorian was a big hit. I really liked Loki. And WandaVision. I didn’t get excited about Moon Knight.

Secret Invasion is a six-episode series starring Samuel L. Jackson as Nick Fury. Fury has been working with the Skrulls–an alien race of shapeshifters–but one of the Skrulls has decided to take over the Earth. Part spy thriller, part conspiracy drama, Secret Invasion spends too much time in dark alleys in Moscow and abandoned nuclear sites in Russia.

It’s hard to believe a bearded and aging Nick Fury can handle this massive threat. Kingsley Ben-Adir plays the scary Skrull, Gravik. Gravik has no problem killing people and blowing stuff up.

Olivia Colman is my favorite character. She plays an high-ranking MI6 agent and a friend of Nick Fury, but has her own agenda in protecting the UK’s national security interests. I would dump Jackson and let Olivia Colman run the whole operation. So far, Secret Invasion is a dud. GRADE: C