R.I.P. Tim Curry

Last week Tim Curry passed away. This one was almost as big a bummer to me as Dolly Parton's passing. Tim Curry left more of an impact on me than I realized.

After he passed I went and checked out all of his work online just to refresh my memory. He was in a ton of movies that I watched over and over again. The movie that I have gone back to time and again is "The Rocky Horror Picture Show". Dr Frankenfurter left an indelible mark on me. "Rocky Horror" was the first time I saw a musical and loved it. The music is second to none in that movie, but it was Dr Frankenfurter that I put most of my attention towards. That performance was truly unique and one of a kind. Every time I watch that movie I find something new that reminds me of how wonderful a performance Curry gave in that movie. That is probably his most iconic character he has ever played.

Pennywise from the original "It" has also stayed with me for other reasons. I used to adore clowns. They were my jam as a kid. When I was younger I even went as a clown for Halloween one year. Then my brothers showed me "It" and it changed me, for the worse. I have a fear of clowns to this day because of that movie. There are only a few that I can tolerate, Krusty is probably it to be honest with you. but Curry's performance here as Pennywise put a permanent fear in me too. He was so creepy and so scary. I still get spooked out whenever I see red balloons floating in the air. I cannot hear the phrase, "we all float down here" without picturing Curry as Pennywise.

But it didn't stop with those two characters. The "Scary Movie" franchise used to be a funny enough spoof series of movies. I enjoyed the first one, so of course I saw the second one in theaters. Tim Curry gives a hilarious performance here. Sure, Chris Elliot and David Cross do the brunt of the comedy, but it is Curry's straight man that makes me laugh harder with each rewatch. There is a scene where Cross and Elliot are going back and forth, ribbing one another, and Curry is there smiling and trying his hardest not to laugh. It is small, but I still think about it to this day. More recently,

RD had me watch the movie "Legend" for one of our Patreon shows. While the movie didn't do much for me, Curry played the Devil and he crushed it. When he was on screen in this movie I could not take my eyes off of him. He was scary and mean and loud and did some really solid work as the villain. "Legend" was kind of dull, but when Curry showed up, the movie sprang to life.

I can remember seeing the movie "Congo" in theaters as a kid. When I went to see it back then, I only remembered a lady saying, "this movie is so startling, I cannot even eat my Twizzlers". My friends and I dined on that quote for years. But I rewatched it during the lockdowns during the pandemic, and while it is not good, Curry is decent. He always brought the heat whenever he was cast in a movie. Even something that should have been great, like "Congo", but it doesn't live up to the hype, Curry makes his time on screen worth watching.

I will never, ever forget my first time seeing "Clue". That movie rules. I actually think it is kind of underrated. The fact that they took a board game and turned it into one of the best movies to come out in the 90's is a feat all its own. And Curry gives us yet another great performance as the butler. He is funny and sarcastic. He is great at being the straight man in these heavily comedic movies. He just nailed it in this movie, like he usually does.

A few other movies come to mind when thinking of Tim Curry. He's exceptional in "The Hunt for Red October". He lent his iconic voice to tons of cartoons and kids shows. He is the absolute best part of "Home Alone 2". I thought he was excellent, again playing a butler-esque character. My wife has been a fan of his ever since she saw him in "Muppets Treasure Island". She has always been a muppets fan, and I bet if I asked her, she would probably rank his performance in a muppets movie right up there with Michael Caine and Charles Grodin.

As he got older he stopped acting and got pretty sick. He was wheelchair bound not too long after he got sick, but he still went out there and gave interviews. He was an icon that kept going as long as he could. I watched an interview of his from a few years back where he talked about death and his feelings towards it. He was in his wheelchair and it was a very profound and enlightening interview. I was moved when I saw it.

It stinks that Dolly Parton and Tim Curry both passed just mere hours between one another. I hope wherever they are right now they are hanging out and having a laugh together. And wherever Tim Curry is right now, I hope he is singing some tunes from "Muppets Treasure Island" or "Rocky Horror". Rest In Peace. 

Ty

Ty is the Pop Culture editor for SeedSing and the other host of the X Millennial Man Podcast.

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Taron Egerton is the Next Great Movie Star

Taron Egerton is worth making out to the cinemaplex

My wife and I took our kids to see the movie "Sing" this past weekend. I'm not going to review the movie because I only saw half of it, my one year old was throwing a fit, so I had to walk around the hallways of the theater with her after the first 40 minutes of the movie. But, from what I did see, the movie looked cute, it seemed fun and the voice acting and singing was really decent. Reese Witherspoon was good, Tori Kelly was exceptional, Seth Mcfarlane was very good, Scarlett Johansson was good and Matthew Mccounaghy was pretty funny.

The person that struck me the most in the movie was Taron Egerton. He played Johnny, the English gorilla, and he was dynamite. I did not know that he could sing like that, but man does that dude have some pipes. This got me thinking, and I realized that everything I have seen Taron Egerton in, I have really enjoyed the movie, but more importantly, his performances in these movies. That is what I will be writing about today, the awesomeness that is Taron Egerton.

Taron Egerton is a young actor, 27, so hopefully we get a lot more from him, which I'm sure we will, but his short list of performances is pretty incredible. As I have already said, from what I saw in "Sing", he was the standout. He played the teenage gorilla that did not want to be a criminal, but rather a performer, really well. I bought his voice acting. I believed that he wanted to leave his life of crime behind and become a singer and a stage performer. He was really good. His cover over of the excellent Sam Smith song, "Stay With Me", was really, really good. Even when his character hit the wrong notes on the piano, Egerton's singing was on point. He was great.

So, this performance got me thinking about some of the other movies I have seen him in, and how much I liked those performances. He played the titular Eddie in last year's "Eddie and the Eagle". This movie looked like schmaltzy garbage when I saw the preview, but it was on cable a month or so ago and I watched the last half of it, and Egerton was great. He played this odd kid that wanted to be an Olympic skier. He was really excellent as Eddie. Hugh Jackman was listed as the star, or first billed, in the movie, but it was really Egerton, playing the lead role, that was the star of the movie. He took this sweet story of a kid trying to make it in a sport that he had no business being involved with and he made it believable. Yes, the movie has cliché scenes of making it, then not making it, a coach believing, then not believing, all the typical stuff in a movie like this, but Egerton played it with no fluff or schmaltz, and I loved that. He made this movie not only watchable, but very enjoyable. I would have never seen it had Egerton not been in it, and if it was not on cable, but I'm glad I watched the last half because it was pretty good.

Another movie that I recently saw, and have talked about on the podcast before, "Legend", gives us a very good performance from Egerton. It is a smaller role, but it is very memorable. "Legend" is an okay movie. Tom Hardy plays twin gangsters in 1960's London, and the movie is ripe with gangster clichés, but Hardy's performance and Egerton's small performance make this movie. Hardy plays the brothers, one of which is a suave and sleek go getter and the other is a gay, ass kicking, mean son of a bitch. Hardy is great at these dual roles. Egerton plays one of the ass kicking brothers friends/boyfriends in this movie. He is the one person that the ass kicking brother actually listens to and takes his words to heart. Egerton is really good in this role, which is pretty different from anything he has done so far. He is very flamboyant, but he is a tough guy too. He laughs and joins in anytime the ass kicking brother beats the hell out of someone for taking money, not paying debts or anything that sets the brother off. There is a great scene near the end where you can see legitimate worry on Egerton's face because he realizes that he loves this man, but he cannot do anything for him, because he is mentally unstable, and he realizes that he fed into his mental illness by joining in on everything that he wanted him to do. It is heartbreaking, and Egerton pulls it off. Like I said, "Legend" isn't great, but it isn't bad either and that is due to Hardy and Egerton's performances. The fact that he can trade acting blows with Tom Hardy should speak volumes to his acting prowess.

The movie that introduced me to the greatness that is Taron Egerton was "Kingsman: The Secret Service". I have written about this movie on the site already, but I didn't point out enough how awesome Egerton is in the movie. He is incredible. He is the star. He is hardcore in "Kingsman". He plays a punk turned spy so incredibly. His transformation that happens during "Kingsman" is so great. He becomes the spy that Colin Firth wanted him to become. He is so badass in the movie. The one scene where he punches the glass door so he and all the other recruits can survive a surprise test is super cool. The final fight scene between Egerton, the woman with blades as legs and Samuel L Jackson is one of the most incredible things I have seen in a movie in a long time. If you want to see a primo Egerton performance, watch "Kingsman". That is the cream of the crop, and the best thing he has done so far. There is a sequel coming out for "Kingsman", and I cannot wait to see it, mainly to see how great Taron Egerton is in it.

He has done a few other things that I have not seen yet, but I'm sure he is great in those as he has been great in everything I have seen him in. He has a few other things he is working on right now as well. I think that we need to start looking at Taron Egerton as a guy that is on the verge of stardom. He has been great in all the movies and television he has been in so far, and I only see him trending upward. This dude is a great actor, and I just wanted to point that out today. Taron Egerton is going to be a star.

Ty

Ty is the Pop Culture editor for SeedSing and the other host of the X Millennial Man Podcast. He likes great movies and great football. Listen to his thoughts about the year in football on the latest X Millennial Man Podcast. Follow Ty on instagram and twitter.

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