Tag: Tom Cruise

RIP Tim Curry: Our Favorite Performances From The Longtime Character Actor

Curry had enormous range, appeared in blockbusters and indies, and was familiar to audiences from at least three generations.

With all the media attention on the death of country singer Dolly Parton, the shocking floods in Nepal and President Trump’s ongoing spat with Canada, you might have missed another sad bit of news, the death of longtime character actor Tim Curry.

Curry was a presence in every movie he appeared in and was instantly recognizable by his cartoonish, made-for-Hollywood smile.

Here I’ve written about some of his roles. They may not be his subjective best work or even his most memorable, but they were my personal favorites:

Herkermer Homolka, Congo (1995): Curry, in a role that almost seems like a proto-Borat, is first introduced as a benefactor who wants to help fund Dr. Peter Elliot’s effort to bring his study subject, a gorilla named Amy, to the place where she was born in war-torn Congo. It isn’t long before Curry’s Homolka encounters liquidity problems and he’s exposed by Ernie Hudson’s Captain Monroe Kelly as a man obsessed with legends of the Lost City of Zinj. The jungle-swallowed city is said to contain vast riches in the form of diamonds and a mine unlike any other in the world, Curry’s Homolka reminds the other characters loudly and often. He believes it’s close to where Elliot is taking Amy.

Curry gets one of the funniest scenes in the movie when Delroy Lindo’s Congolese warlord, amid a tense negotiation over bribe money, gets angry, turns to Curry and shouts “Stop eating my sesame cake!” An animated GIF is worth a thousand words:

Curry’s character is bumbling, single-minded, oblivious to danger, and an absolute pleasure to watch in a film that was a major spectacle even if the script didn’t quite hold up its end against a great cast and outstanding special effects.

Darkness, Legend (1985): It’s surprising how few people seem to have heard of or seen Legend considering it stars Tom Cruise and Mia Sara, with Curry as the villain and Ridley Scott – still basking in the triumphs of Alien and Bladerunner – in the director’s chair.

Legend was an oddball by the standards of the time, with dream-like, almost hallucinogenic cinematography and an ambient score by German electronic music pioneers Tangerine Dream. There were very few stabs at live-action fantasy epics at the time because of the cost, difficulty and questions over whether audiences would respond, which wouldn’t be definitively answered until 2001 with Peter Jackson’s Lord of the Rings.

Here we get classic Curry as the villain, albeit in heavy makeup with prosthetic horns, fangs and head ridges worthy of a Klingon:

It’s still an epic if limited performance, and if you’ve never seen this one, you owe it to yourself to check out one of the weirdest films of the 80s.

Mr. Hector, Home Alone 2 (1992): For the sequel to the beloved McCaulay Culkin movie about a kid accidentally left at home during a family vacation, Curry’s character took on the duties of Joe Pesci and Daniel Stern, the adults who were repeatedly foiled and humiliated by Culkin’s character, Kevin, the first time around.

In the sequel, which also features a certain future president in a cameo, Curry plays the suspicious concierge at The Plaza Hotel in New York City, where Kevin is once again alone after being forgotten for a second time by his family. I don’t recall exactly how the script writers engineered a second bout of parental amnesia, but kids didn’t mind. I know because I was one of them, and I ate this crap up.

Here we have Curry at his most Curry-ness. I mean, just look at that smile:

Curry’s performance turned a rote repeat plot into a genuine adventure as he grows increasingly suspicious of Kevin. As the movie progresses he takes desperate measures to catch the slippery kid and prove he’s been living it up in the hotel by forging his father’s signature and using his credit cards. This was, after all, the early 90s when identity theft wasn’t even on most people’s radar. Credit card companies definitely wouldn’t call you to confirm if you just ordered a dozen pizzas to a hotel room in a city you don’t live in.

Curry did an impressive volume of voice work over the years, much more than most people realize, and while he provided voices to some of my favorite after-school cartoons as a kid, the most memorable was in Gargoyles, the ahead-of-its time Disney animated series about gargoyles turned into stone statues during the dark ages, then reanimated in modern-day New York City where they’re forced to learn quickly and adapt to new dangers.

He appeared as IT in the 1990 TV adaptation of Stephen King’s novel, a one-off character in the pilot to the cult science fiction series Lexx, had a role in the abominable Charlie’s Angels reboot of 2000, and is perhaps best known for The Rocky Horror Picture Show, which I confess I have not seen. He also had memorable roles in The Hunt for Red October, Clue and Scary Movie 2.

Curry seemed to have no ego about his work, taking on embarrassing roles with relish and lending his voice to innumerable children’s TV classics. He was one of the last of the old breed of character actors, an inimitable talent, and he’ll be sorely missed.

PA Pols Push Declaw Ban, Online Series Features Bodega Cat ‘Interviews,’ Plus: ‘The Last Cat’ Of The Skies, The Iconic F-14 Tomcat

Bodega cats are the stars of a popular online series and could soon become legal in New York, where they’ve helped keep delis and small groceries rodent-free for as long as such places have existed.

Although it’s way too early to celebrate, Pennsylvania could become the fourth state to outlaw cruel declawing procedures after two lawmakers there introduced a new bill.

The Pennsylvania declawing ban proposal closely mirrors laws already passed in New York, Maryland and Massachusetts, and would outlaw the procedure except in cases where it’s medically necessary. (Although extremely rare, sometimes cats suffer from cancer of the nail bed and other maladies that necessitate surgery, but that’s a far cry from the elective declawing currently legal in 47 states.)

The state’s Veterinary Medical Association, the usual villain in these situations, is opposed to the ban. State veterinary medical associations argue that outlawing the procedure — which amputates a cat’s toes up to the first knuckle — would limit options for veterinarians and caretakers.

The veterinary medical associations, which contrary to their names do not represent all or even most veterinarians, also claim that declaw bans lead to more surrenders, but that claim has been repeatedly debunked by statistics from states and municipalities where bans have passed. In each of those cases, surrenders actually decreased, which is not a surprise to those who understand declawing, rather than “solving” any behavioral issues, actually causes cats to lash out even more because of the suffering they endure from the mutilation.

Here in New York, the Veterinary Medical Association successfully prevented declawing bans from making it out of committee for years, despite organizations like the Humane Society, SPCA, Alley Cat Allies and others wholeheartedly opposing elective declawing. Each state VMA buys influence with campaign donations, and relies on the lawmakers they support to kill declawing bans. Let’s hope Pennsylvania’s Veterinary Medical Association proves less adept at derailing that state’s bill.

The Last Cat of the Skies: The Iconic F-14 Tomcat

When I was a kid, the two Dream Machines that adorned posters on my wall were the Lamborghini Countach and the F-14 Tomcat. The Countach remains a car without equal with its inimitable, angular design that still manages to look futuristic more than half a century since the first models rolled out of the factory.

The twin-engine Tomcat is kind of like the Countach of fighter jets with its variable wing geometry, prominently angular air intakes and unique silhouette that makes it easy to distinguish even from the ground.

A Tomcat from the Nimitz-class aircraft carrier USS Theodore Roosevelt (CVN 71) during a combat flight over the Persian Gulf in 2005. Credit: U.S. Air Force photo by Tech. Sgt. Rob Tabor

Grumman’s air superiority fighter was immortalized in pop culture when Tom Cruise’s ace fighter pilot, Maverick, flew the aircraft in 1986’s Top Gun, and the Tomcat enjoyed a nostalgic encore in 2022’s excellent Top Gun: Maverick, displaying its staying power in a film that also heavily featured newer aircraft like the F-18 Super Hornet and the sixth generation prototype “Darkstar,” based on Lockheed Martin’s secretive SR-72.

The F-14 is the last of Grumman’s “cat” aircraft, after the Wildcat and Hellcat, and while it no longer fills a role in the US military, it remains a potent weapon for other countries half a century since its first flight. You can read all about the Tomcat in The Aviationist’s new feature here.

The Tomcat’s variable wings were a technological marvel when the aircraft was first released. The wings are swept forward for takeoff and landing, and typically swept backward during high speed, high altitude flight, allowing the fighter to maneuver in ways other aircraft could not. The wings can also shift to an asymmetrical configuration, allowing for unique capabilities in flight.

New York’s deli cats get their say

Bodega cats, longtime fixtures of New York’s answer to grocery stores, are enjoying a moment thanks to a major push to finally legalize their presence, and popular social media accounts featuring photographs of the beloved mousers keeping watch over their stores and snoozing in snack aisles.

A bodega cat in New York takes a siesta from his usual napping, eating and rodent-hunting duties. Credit: Wikimedia Commons

Now the New York Times has a feature on the popular TikTok series Shop Cats, which features “interviews” with the neighborhood felines.

Like Buddy, they seem to have an odd fascination with Mao Zedong, and their answers don’t make much sense, but that’s part of their charm. Check it out here.

Header image of a bodega cat courtesy of Pexels