Tony Curtis dead at 85

Actor Tony Curtis, who rose to fame during the 1950s and went on to play widely varying roles in more than 100 movies of equally widely varying genres and quality, died of cardiac arrest at his Las Vegas area home on September 29, 2010. He was 85.

Curtis is perhaps best remembered for his comedic roles, such as his turn as a cross-dressing jazz musician in "Some Like It Hot" and a globe-trotting adventurer in "The Great Race".

\

moreless

Roleplaying Game Update

A couple of weeks ago, I mentioned that I was going to design a little role-playing game just for the heck of it. Well, as soon as I announced that, I found myself with honest-to-God real work that took the place of my just-for-fun project.

But, with the rush jobs behind me, I'm hoping to devote time to the game project again. As mentioned, I'll be posting bits and pieces of it in this message forum, as I type them up. Comments, positive or negative, are invited.

For extra ease of reference, here are links to the posts that have been made so far.

The Highways of Horror

A Roleplaying Game of Phantoms and Fast Cars

Design Notes: The Setting

Design Notes: Basic Game Mechanic/Task Resolution

Design Notes: Character Creation

moreless

What's your basic knowledge of religions?

Every time I've been in the car today, talk radio hosts have been taking about a Pew poll that supposedly shows a startling level of ignorance on the part of Americans when it comes to basic knowledge of religions. Apparently, many Americans don't know what Ramadan is, what religion Mother Theresa was, or what Biblical figure led the Jews out of slavery in Egypt.

I went and took a little online quiz associated with the survey, expecting it to be hard. It turns out to be so basic that I think whoever scores significantly less than I did--and I got 14 out of 15 questions correct, which means I scored better than 97% of the public--should be very ashamed of themselves.

(And I'd even argue that the question I missed is badly done, because there are two equally correct answers among the multiple choices. Take a good look at Question #14 and tell me if you agree.)

Take the quiz by clicking here. There's no registration or any log-ins needed. And be a sport and post your score in the Comment section below. Tell us how many you got right, and where you fall.

moreless

'Thank You for Smoking' is an hilarious satire

Thank You for Smoking (2005)

Starring: Aaron Eckhart, J.K. Simmons, William H. Macy, Cameron Bright, Maria Bello, David Koechner, Sam Elliot, Rob Lowe, Robert Duvall, and Katie Holmes

Director: Jason Reitman

Rating: Eight of Ten Stars

Follow the adventures of Nick Naylor (Eckhart), chief lobbyist for the tobacco industry, as he advocates for the rights of smokers and tobacco companies while serving as a good role model for his son and hanging out with his best friends Polly (Bello) and Bobby (Koechner), lobbyists for the alcohol industry and gun manufacturers respectively. (Together, they make up the MOD [Merchants of Death] Squad.)

"Thank You for Smoking" is a hilarious satire that skewers American business, politics, pop culture, family life... it touches on just about every aspect of life for the American middle- and upper-middle class.

Aaron Eckhart is the single true star of this film, and he is perfect as the lovable rogue Nick Naylor--the Sultan of Spin who could argue that black is white and make it seem sensible. He is supported by a crisp, well-written script, a tightly edited and well-paced film, and a supported by a group of actors who are perfectly cast in their roles. William H. Macy as the obnoxious crusading US Senator is particularly good, but Rob Lowe as a slimey Hollywood producer, Katie Holmes as a sexpot reporter, and Maria Bello and David Koechner as Nick's best friends--his only friends when he hits a rough spot--also turn in excellent and funny performances.

"Thank for Smoking" is a movie that most thinking adults will watch with a constant smile on their face. The exception would be particularly demented anti-smoking Nazis who will almost certainly be upset by the lack of preaching, annoyed that all the characters are likable, and frustrated by the happy ending for Nick and his pals.

moreless

Coming Soon: Nine Days of the Ninja Blogathon

In November, legendary assassins will be lurking in the shadow-filled corners of Cinema Steve and the associated blogs Shades of Gray, Terror Titans, Watching the Detectives, and Movies You Should (Die Before You) See when the Nine Days of the Ninja Blogathon strikes like a throwing star to the forehead!

All the revealing posts about these secretive Magicians of Death will be indexed in in this space. It would be extra Ninjalicious, however, if the masked marauders showed up not just on my blogs but also in other places on the web.

If you would like to participate in the Nine Days of the Ninja Blogathon, all you have to do is send me a link to a ninja-centric post you make between November 1 - November 9, 2010, and I will link to it from the index post here. If you let me know of your intention to participate ahead of time, I will post a link to the blog where the post will appear. (The same is true if you help promote Nine Days of the Ninja by putting the logo and the top of the post along with a link to this post.)

And have no fear. While Ninjas may be lurking everywhere, there is no proof that they killed David Carradine to protect their hidden ways. Screw your courage to the sticking post, and join me in shedding light upon the Ancient Ninja Secrets!

moreless

Gloria Stuart dead at 100

Actress Gloria Stuart, a leading lady in Hollywood in the 1930s who found modern-day fame playing a shipwreck survivor in 1997 movie "Titanic," has died, age 100.

Her daughter, Sylvia Thompson, told the Los Angeles Times that Stuart died Sunday night in her home in Los Angeles. She was diagnosed with breast cancer some five years ago, but had survived the disease.

Lovers of classic movies know Stuart primarily from her roles in "The Old Dark House" and "The Invisible Man".

moreless

When cave men and fire monsters attack!

Fire Monsters Against the Son of Hercules (1962)
Starring: Reg Lewis, Margaret Lee, and Nello Pazzafin
Director: Guido Malatesta
Rating: Four of Ten Stars

During the Ice Age, a peaceful tribe of hunter-gatherers are attacked by and threatened with genocide at the hands of a civilization of evil cave-dwellers, led hy their horny chief (Pazzafin) and his hard-on for the beautiful Moah (Lee). Will Maxus (Lewis), wandering hero and science wiz, be able to save them... and perhaps invent the shirt?

"Fire Monsters Against the Son of Hercules" is quite the misleading title. First off, there are no "fire monsters" in the movie (there are two-three monsters, but none of them have anything to do with fire... heck, the only reason one even menaces anyone is because stupid savages attack it!). Second, how can a film be about a "Son of Hercules" when it is set thousands of years before there ever was a Greece or a Hercules? (Of course, in its original inception, the film wasn't about a "Son of Hercules". That whole bit, along with the jaunty theme song, was added when the film was packaged for broadcast on American television. But, still, there are no fire monsters anywhere in this film.)

The general plotline here is that of just about every other Italian muscle-man/low-fantasy film from the 1950s and 1960s: The good people are menaced by the bad people--particularly the good people's women!--and they seem doomed for cetain until Maciste/Hercules/Ursus/Samson/Atlas/the-hero-of-many-names-and-few-shirts shows up to to flex his pecs, hurl some boulders and save the day. The film even offers not just one but TWO very lame dance numbers, with the extra one perhaps making up for the lack of an evil queen to seduce and trick the hero into captivity. (Every other standard of this sub-genre is present in the flick, however.)

Overall, the film is a relatively dull affair, although I did find the hero (named Maxus in the "Sons of Hercules edit, but Maciste in other versions) to be refreshingly intelligent when compared to some of the other "Sons" (not to mention Hercules himself) and the caveman trappings to be a nice change of pace. I also found the death scene of a couple of minor characters to be oddly moving... although I may just have been in a sappy mood when I watched this flick.

If you're a hardcore fan of Italian fantasy flicks, "Fire Monsters Against the Son of Hercules" might be just the fun bit of nonsense you're looking for. Others might find it a nice addition to a Bad Movie Night line-up... there are countless moments where even the dullest wit will be able to fire off a joke or two ala the robots from "Mystery Science Theater 3000". Everyone else can probably find better things to waste their time on.

(BTW, I do want to warn you about the theme song. It usually takes me about two days to purge it from my head and stop humming it whenever I watch a movie that opens with it.)

moreless