DreamWorks Animation and 20th Century Fox’s Madagascar spinoff The Penguins of Madagascar has released a new trailer featuring the goofy penguins. Set to hit theaters on November 26, 2014, this animated adventure was directed by Simon Smith and Eric Darnell and features the voices of Tom McGrath, Chris Miller, Christopher Knights, Benedict Cumberbatch, Ken Jeong, Annet Mahendru, Peter Stormare, and John Malkovich.
The Plot:
Super spy teams aren’t born…they’re hatched. Discover the secrets of the greatest and most hilarious covert birds in the global espionage biz: Skipper, Kowalski, Rico and Private. These elitists of the elite are joining forces with a chic undercover organization, The North Wind. Led by handsome and husky Agent Classified (we could tell you his name, but then…you know), voiced by Benedict Cumberbatch. Together, they must stop the villainous Dr. Octavius Brine, voiced by John Malkovich, from destroying the world as we know it.
The soundtrack to the dramatic film If I Stay will arrive on August 19, 2014, three days before the film’s theatrical release, and will feature songs by Sonic Youth, Ben Howard, and Beck. The movie’s based on the bestselling book by Gayle Forman, and music is integral to the storyline. “One of the best things about the movie is getting to hear all the great music you don’t get to hear when you read the book,” explained writer/executive producer Forman after seeing the film and hearing the soundtrack. “The way they brought the music to life gives the story a whole new dimension.”
Director R.J. Cutler added, “It was immediately clear to me that If I Stay needed to feature a soundtrack assembled from a wide variety of styles and genres and would meld together to form an emotional, symphonic whole. The songs would reflect Adam’s roots in punk music and his contemporary sensibility, as well as the classical canon that Mia would master to apply to Juilliard. As I would often tell the cast and crew, in the world of If I Stay, music is the air that people breathe.”
If I Stay Soundtrack Track List
1. “Who Needs You” – The Orwells
2. “Until We Get There” – Lucius
3. “I Want What You Have” – Willamette Stone
4. “All of Me” – Tanlines
5. “Promise” – Ben Howard
6. “Never Coming Down” – Willamette Stone
7. “Halo” – Ane Brun & Linnéa Olsson
8. “I Will Be There” – Odessa
9. “Mind” – Willamette Stone
10. “Morning” – Beck
11. “I Never Wanted To Go” (Bonus Track) – Willamette Stone **
12. “Karen Revisited” – Sonic Youth
13. “Today” – Willamette Stone
14. “Heart Like Yours” – Willamette Stone
15. “Heal (If I Stay Version)” – Tom Odell
16. ““Suite No. 1 in G Major for Solo Cello, BWV 1007: Prelude” (Bonus Track) – If I Stay
17. “Cello Concerto in A Minor, Op. 33” (Bonus Track) – If I Stay **
18. “Sonata in B Minor for Solo Cello, Op. 8” (Bonus Track) – Alisa Weilerstein **
** Available on the digital deluxe album
The Plot: Mia Hall (Chloë Grace Moretz) thought the hardest decision she would ever face would be whether to pursue her musical dreams at Juilliard or follow a different path to be with the love of her life, Adam (Jamie Blackley). But what should have been a carefree family drive changes everything in an instant, and now her own life hangs in the balance. Caught between life and death for one revealing day, Mia has only one decision left, which will not only decide her future but her ultimate fate.
Also starring are Mireille Enos and Joshua Leonard as Mia’s parents, Kat and Denny, and Stacy Keach as Gramps. Rounding out the main cast are Jakob Davies as Mia’s little brother, Liana Liberato as her best friend, Gabrielle Rose as Grandma, and Aisha Hinds as Nurse Ramirez.
Katey Sagal in a scene from season six of ‘Sons of Anarchy (Photo by Prashant Gupta/FX)
Sons of Anarchy fans are used to losing key characters as series creator Kurt Sutter isn’t afraid to brutally end the run of fan favorites (I’m still not over the death of Opie). But even as prepared as SoA fans are, what happened at the end of season six of FX’s riveting drama shocked everyone.
Even those who saw the death of Tara (Maggie Siff) as inevitable couldn’t have predicted her violent end at the hands of Gemma (Katey Sagal). And as we head into the seventh – and final – season of the show, Sagal talked about working on that pivotal, game-changing scene as well as where Gemma’s relationship with Jax stands and what it feels like to be on the set, knowing this is the end of the road for SAMCRO.
Katey Sagal Sons of Anarchy Interview
Things really can’t get any crazier for Gemma, can they?
Katey Sagal: “No, not much. I say that…you’ll have to watch. It’s pretty crazy, though. It’s pretty crazy.”
What’s the relationship between Gemma and Jax this season? There’s a giant secret, and Gemma clearly loves Jax very much. How is that relationship?
Katey Sagal: “And loved Tara very much, I will say that. What happened at the end of season six was not premeditated and it was not something that I think she felt very justified at the end of the day and sort of where her motivation was. I was kind of the end of a perfect storm in what she believed was the ultimate betrayal of her family and her son. It takes place two weeks later and what she does to kind of compartmentalize that is that she, once again, does what she believes is best for her family.
I don’t want to tell you exactly what happens or what she sets in motion. How she deals with it, once again she feels like she’s coming from a higher purpose by holding the lie. She feels like she probably does nobody any good by telling the truth.”
What was it like for you to actually shoot that scene at the end of season six?
Katey Sagal: “Well we knew…Charlie, Maggie and I all knew that that was going to happen at the end of the season. We didn’t know how it was going to happen, and I wasn’t sure that I was going to be the one to do it. So, the actual filkming of it was very choreographed. It was a dummy and it was fake blood, and it was the fork in a fake head so it was technical. But it was extremely emotional for all of us.
The actual most emotional part of that situation was the scene following when Charlie found her – when Jax finds Tara. We were all watching at the monitor. The actual killing was, as anything like that, they tend to be really technical and the emotionality comes after the fact of that. You know, when Gemma sort of slid down the wall next to her and the realization of what had happened, those were the moments that were tough. They were tough.”
Are you at least personally satisfied that she seems to have some genuine remorse and wasn’t just cold about what she did?
Katey Sagal: “Oh yeah. You know, she’s a big-hearted gal. She’s in this violent world. She has enormous love and loyalty for that family of hers, and she loved Tara. So, yes, and we do see geniune remorse. My questions over the hiatus were, ‘How does she now react to her grandchildren?’ Because as me, personally, I think I’d have to put a bullet in my head. I don’t even know how she can do that. But, you know, she’s able to do what’s best for the kids. Is it best for the kids for the grandmother to be gone now too and they don’t have a mother? I don’t know. So, but yes I am satisfied that she has geniune remorse. She’s unable to verbalize that to anybody except maybe Juice. Juice is the only one that knows kind of what’s going on, so kind of her remorse sort of leaks out in a vulnerability that you see in her.”
Can you talk about her relationship with Juice and how that’s going to change?
Katey Sagal: “Well, he saved her ass and she’s all about loyalty and a reward for it so you’ll see them very much aligned from the beginning. You know, they both have big secrets and they’re both helping each other. She loves him like…Jax is her primary but I always look at Juice as her second son. He’s the other youngest member and he’s the most vulnerable of them.”
Are the lines drawn now in the family with Clay and Tara gone now? Is there a real division in the family?
Katey Sagal: “I think she’s very aligned with her son. I think more so. I think that she has enormous empathy for what he’s going through. It’s just so much duality. At the same time that she’s remorseful about the act of killing Tara, she’s grieving the loss of Tara. She loved Tara. She completely empathizes with Jax’s insanity over the act and you’ll see more and more how that plays out.”
If there’s so many secrets, how much truth comes out this season?
Katey Sagal: “We’ll see some. I can’t imagine that you’ll see every secret over the last season years tied up. I don’t think it will be that at all. Kurt has said he wanted this season to feel just like any other season. But we’re just sort of at the end of the journey of the story he’s going to tell about these particular people. That doesn’t mean that the lives of these particular people is necessarily completely over and everything is tied up. But I’m sure you’ll get some answers to some questions. I’m sure it will be very satisfying.”
Can you talk about this being the end of the journey and what it’s like to be on the set knowing this is the final season?
Katey Sagal: “We’re all sort of in denial about it, I would say. Every once in a while, like at the end of episode two, one of our long-time directors it was his last one. The crew gathered and we all said good-bye. He started crying and Charlie and I started welling up. You know, we have those moments where we just realize, first of all, how grateful we all are for having had the experience because it’s so rare. It’s such a group of people that everybody just brings it. Everybody shows up for it.
I guess that speaks to the casting at the beginning of it, that you have this group of committed people – and the writing. The writing requires us all to bring it. So, that’s rare. That’s just rare in a television show. It’s rare in anything. The vibe on set is so sweet this year. You know, we’ve had some complaining moments over our years. You know, it’s hard, our show. We’re in leather, it’s 100 degrees, we’re on concrete, it’s tough. It’s physically tough. But, you know, everybody’s bringing their smiles this time. I think it’s because we all just know that this has been absolutely a fantastic experience.”
Has it been the most rewarding experience for you?
Katey Sagal: “In so many ways. You know, I don’t know that I’ll get another character to play so interesting and complex for such a long period of time. I hope I will. I’ve been involved in a couple of experiences, this will be my second, that was somewhat groundbreaking. When I was on Married with Children it was something that hadn’t been done before. It was something that people said won’t succeed. It was something that was against all odds on a network that wasn’t even there.
This too came in with all kinds of cards against it. This was a world that had never been shown except as a cartoon. This was a world that a lot of people were just not sure, and [John] Landgraf really went out and said yes and put his stuff on the line, too. So, that’s so rewarding in itself when something creatively changes people’s minds, and that’s what I think this show did. I think it kind of opened the landscape for a lot of cable shows you see on now. Certainly, The Shield started all that and this kind of expanded on it.”
It being the end of Sons of Anarchy‘s run, will you need to take time before you look for something new? Will you just see how things fall?
Katey Sagal: “It’s interesting you say that because I’m just now starting to talk to people about what’s next and, ‘Should we pitch this? Do you want to be in this show?’ But there’s part of that’s like, ‘Whoa, whoa, whoa! Just wait a minute. Let me get the blonde out of my hair.’ But I’m sure a couple of months down… It’s just like on hiatus, you’re able to sort of put her to bed for a bit.”
The Bastard Executioner maybe?
Katey Sagal: “Possibly, we’ll see. We’re talking about what that would be. That’s still… It’s just going to be done so far away from our family. We don’t know yet how we’re going to do it – we’re all going to go, if I’ll be in it – all those things will happen maybe.”
Will you have a song in this season’s Sons of Anarchy?
Katey Sagal: “There will be song. We don’t know what it is yet.”
We’re just a few weeks away from the premiere of the final season of Sons of Anarchy and FX has delivered a season seven trailer that promises Jax (Charlie Hunnam) will be out for revenge. His plans for the club no longer matter since Tara’s been taken away from him, and this final season trailer shows more bloodshed is in SAMCRO’s immediate future.
Sons of Anarchy season seven debuts on September 9, 2014 at 10pm ET/PT with a special expanded episode.
Charlie Hunnam as Jackson ‘Jax’ Teller in ‘Sons of Anarchy’ (Photo Credit: James Minchin/FX)
Claire Randall (Caitriona Balfe) and Jamie Fraser (Sam Heughan) in ‘Outlander’ (Photo Courtesy of Starz)Starring: Sam Heughan and Caitriona Balfe [full cast list under the ‘Cast’ tab]
The Synopsis, Season 1: The Outlander series spans the genres of romance, science fiction, history, and adventure in one epic tale. It follows the story of Claire Randall, a married combat nurse from 1945, who is mysteriously swept back in time to 1743. Upon her arrival, she is immediately thrown into an unknown world where her life is threatened. But when she is forced to marry Jamie Fraser, a chivalrous and romantic young Scottish warrior, a passionate relationship is ignited. Now, Claire’s heart is torn between two vastly different men in two irreconcilable lives.
Season 2 Synopsis:Outlander is the story of a married combat nurse Claire Randall (Caitriona Balfe) from 1945 who gets transported back into the year 1743, and is forced to marry Jamie Fraser (Sam Heughan), a young Scottish warrior. Season two of Outlander begins as Claire and Jamie arrive in France, hell-bent on infiltrating the Jacobite rebellion led by Prince Charles Stuart, and stopping the battle of Culloden. With the help of his cousin Jared (Robert Cavanah), a local wine merchant, Jamie and Claire are thrown into the lavish world of French society, where intrigue and parties are abundant, but political gain proves far less fruitful. Altering the course of history presents challenges that begin to weigh on the very fabric of their relationship. However, armed with the knowledge of what lies ahead, Claire and Jamie must race to prevent a doomed Highland uprising, and the extinction of Scottish life as they know it.
[tabs style=”default” title=”‘Outlander’ Resources”] [tab title=”Cast”]
Caitriona Balfe – ‘Claire Randall’
Sam Heughan – ‘Jamie Fraser’
Tobias Menzies – ‘Frank Randall/Black Jack Randall’
Graham McTavish – ‘Dougal MacKenzie’
Gary Lewis – ‘Colum MacKenzie’
Lotte Verbeek – ‘Geillis Duncan’
Duncan Lacroix – ‘Murtagh Fraser’
Grant O’Rourke – ‘Rupert MacKenzie’
Stephen Walters – ‘Angus Mhor’
Bill Paterson – ‘Ned Gowan’
Finn Den Hertog – ‘Willie’
Laura Donnelly – ‘Jenny Fraser Murray’
Steven Cree – ‘Ian Murray’
Nell Hudson – ‘Laoghaire MacKenzie’
Annette Badland – ‘Mrs. Fitzgibbons’
James Fleet – ‘Reverend Dr. Reginald Wakefield’
Tracey Wilkinson – ‘Mrs. Graham’
Kathryn Howden – ‘Mrs. Baird’
Liam Carney – ‘Old Alec’
Aislin McGuckin – ‘Letitia MacKenzie’
Roderick Gilkison – ‘Hamish MacKenzie’
Simon Callow – ‘Duke of Sandringham’
Tim McInnerny – ‘Father Bain’
Prentis Hancock – ‘Uncle Lamb’
Alexandre Aja has made a name for himself in horror with the French movie High Tension and American films The Hills Have Eyes, Mirrors and Piranha 3D. His latest movie is Horns starring Daniel Radcliffe and Juno Temple, and based on the novel by Joe Hill. Radcliffe plays Ig Perrish, a man accused of his girlfriend (Juno Temple)’s murder, who not only sprouts horns but gains the power to hear people’s darkest confessions. It’s a dark film and definitely not Harry Potter.
Aja seemed genuinely excited to see me again. We had met for interviews for Hill, Mirrors and Piranha, the latter two at previous Comic-Cons. I’d already gotten to see Horns at the Toronto International Film Festival so I had really specific questions. Aja is next developing a Starz TV series based on the film Scanners, so as Franchise Fred I had some specific questions about that too. Horns is out this Halloween, October 31.
The love story between Stephen Hawking and Jane Wilde comes to life on the big screen in Focus Features’ The Theory of Everything, heading to theaters during this upcoming awards season. Directed by Oscar winner James Marsh (Man on Wire), The Theory of Everything starring Eddie Redmayne as Hawking and Felicity Jones as Wilde will have its world premiere at the Toronto International Film Festival on September 7th. The film will begin its theatrical run in select theaters on November 7, 2014.
The cast also includes Charlie Cox, Emily Watson, Simon McBurney, and David Thewlis.
The Plot:
This is the extraordinary story of one of the world’s greatest living minds, the renowned astrophysicist Stephen Hawking, who falls deeply in love with fellow Cambridge student Jane Wilde. Once a healthy, active young man, Hawking received an earth-shattering diagnosis at 21 years of age. With Jane fighting tirelessly by his side, Stephen embarks on his most ambitious scientific work, studying the very thing he now has precious little of – time. Together, they defy impossible odds, breaking new ground in medicine and science, and achieving more than they could ever have dreamed.
Will Arnett and Megan Fox star in ‘Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles’ (Photo Courtesy of Paramount Pictures)
The Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles return to the big screen in a big-budget action film starring Megan Fox as reporter April O’Neil and Will Arnett as wise-cracking cameraman Vernon Fenwick. Directed by Jonathan Liebesman (Battle Los Angeles, Wrath of the Titans) and produced by Michael Bay, this TMNT film finds the heroes in a half shell fighting Shredder and his Foot Clan goons in order to save New York City.
Together at the 2014 San Diego Comic-Con, Arnett and Fox discussed what TMNT fans can expect from the new film and they talked about the continuing appeal of the Turtles.
Will Arnett and Megan Fox Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles Interview
What do you think is going to feel most familiar about this TMNT movie to long-time fans?
Megan Fox: “There is so much. I don’t feel like it strayed very much at all.”
Will Arnett: “One of the great things, I think a real testament actually was today. Megan and I saw the movie a while ago. We’ve seen various incarnations of it before even the effects were done. I felt like what one of the great things was seeing it so incomplete and still liking it, and still buying into it, thinking, ‘Wow, this is a really fun movie and a lot of the stuff that’s going to be cool and make it fun isn’t even done yet.’ But now that the movie is done and seeing it, and seeing it in [Hall H], watching Kevin Eastman watch that who created it and talking to him backstage, and then talking to him backstage after it played, and how excited he was… He created it and I know he doesn’t own it, the fans don’t own it, whatever.
Nobody owns it, okay? But to see him excited about that in a real way, that was a great moment for me. That kind of made me feel like, ‘Okay, we did something okay.’ You know, if he was in tears and ran out of here with mascara streaming down his face – I don’t know if he wears mascara – that’s not my providence. But, you know.”
Megan, I’ve heard you speak very specifically about Lord of the Rings during these interviews. Did you have equally intimate knowledge of April O’Neil?
Megan Fox: “Well, I think it’s hard to have…”
Will Arnett: “Wait, you talk about Lord of the Rings?”
Megan Fox: “Yeah, man. Are you being sarcastic, because I don’t remember if I talked to you about it?”
Will Arnett: “No, we didn’t talk about this.”
Megan Fox: “Okay, yeah, I get down with Lord of the Rings. My movie room is full of memorabilia.”
Will Arnett: “Whoa. Sh*t.”
Megan Fox: [Laughing] “Those were novels, those were Tolkien novels, so I don’t think you can really have the same sort of knowledge about the Turtles that you can about Lord of the Rings, because there is just so much more of it. I mean, he created a language. There is just so much more there. I definitely am familiar with [April and the Turtles], but I am not one of those people… I will say that I sort of fall into that nerd elitist, like overly critical, judgmental, group when it comes to Lord of the Rings. And I’m like, ‘The Ents should have been scary. Why did they do them like that?,’ or whatever, because I knew so much about it as a kid. But I’ve never been judgmental of Turtles for some reason. I just love them every way that I’ve seen them and every way that they have come.”
What is the appeal of Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles?
Will Arnett: “There’s something captivating. You know, one of the questions we had today in the panel in Hall H was, ‘Why won’t the property die?’ Literally, the guy asked why won’t it die. And it’s not a bad question because you have to say, ‘Why hasn’t it gone away?’ So many things are in vogue and then they fall out, but for some reason, Turtles keeps coming back. I think that there is something about them. There is this sort of intangible thing about these characters. They’re such distinctive characters and yet together they kind of form a unit. They’re brothers, which is great and everyone loves that aspect of it.”
Megan Fox: “They’re outcasts and they’re also heroes.”
Will Arnett: “Yeah, and because they’re so different and so distinct, and they compliment each other, it is sort of like the ultimate example of teamwork, if you will. There’s something great about that that I think people respond to apart from just the good versus evil.”
That’s the Marvel template you’ve just described.
Will Arnett: [Laughing] “Make no mistake: I’m a genius. Everybody quote me on that.”
In the original Turtles, April has a special kinship with Raphael. Is there something similar to that in the movie?
Megan Fox: “When we were filming there was a connection with Raphael, because they sort of – I’ve always been on this thing that the Turtles are based off the four Greek temperaments, and Raphael is a choleric temperament and that is sort of how we were playing April. So, there was this bond but also this opposition, like a brother and sister fighting, that we had. However, what took over the movie and what you’re going to see a lot of, is there is a bond with Mikey. There’s a bond with Mikey.”
Will Arnett: “Yeah, there’s a definite bond with Mikey. You guys had a thing. I think if anything Vern, maybe he and Raph rubbed each other the wrong way. That’s mainly because Alan [Ritchson] drove me nuts. [Laughing] No, I love him.”
What do the other three Turtles represent in the Greek temperaments?
Megan Fox: “There’s choleric. There’s phlegmatic, which I’d say is Donatello. There’s sanguine, which would be Mikey, and there is melancholic, which is Leonardo. This is what I’m saying. I haven’t had that confirmed by Eastman, but that is my theory.”
Will Arnett: “Let’s get him in here!”
Megan Fox: “Yeah. You can take a test and find out who you are, actually.”
It easier to work with actors playing Turtles than working in the abstract sense with Transformers?
Megan Fox: “Definitely. There are people like Shia [LaBeouf] who can get real vulnerable and intimate talking to a stick with a tennis ball on the top, but it’s hard. It’s so much easier when someone is sitting here and can ad-lib with you and improv with you, and push you, and pull away. You react just because someone else is reacting with you. So, it’s a lot easier and so much better.”
Will, who would win: Batman or Ninja Turtles?
Will Arnett: [In his lower, raspy Batman Lego Movie voice] “Bat-Turtles.”
Brad Paisley and Carrie Underwood return to host “The 48th Annual CMA Awards” on ABC (Photo Credit: Bob D’Amico / ABC)
The unstoppable team of Brad Paisley and Carrie Underwood will once again host the CMA Awards. The 48th Annual CMA Awards will take place in Nashville on November 5, 2014 and will air on ABC at 8pm ET/PT with Paisley and Underwood guiding the show along for the seventh consecutive year.
“Carrie and Brad are unmatched as a hosting team,” stated Sarah Trahern, CMA Chief Executive Officer, announcing Underwood and Paisley’s return. “They have impeccable comic timing, industry credibility, critical acclaim, and a natural rapport that makes them popular with our live audience and the viewers at home. We are delighted to have them presiding over ‘Country Music’s Biggest Night.’”
“Brad and Carrie are more than hosts, they are an important part of the CMA Awards brand,” said CMA Awards Executive Producer Robert Deaton. “They bring so much to the table beyond what you see on stage during the broadcast. They are gifted creative collaborators, who routinely raise the bar and set the standard for live television hosting.”
Five-time CMA Awards winner said she’s happy to be back. “Over time there’s been an evolution of who we are as hosts of the show – what fits, what’s comfortable, what’s real, and we love being a part of the creative team,” said Underwood. “We feel the responsibility of what this night means to our music community, to our fellow artists, and to the viewers at home.”
Nominees for this year’s CMA Awards will be announced in September.
Stephen M. Taylor, Rhys, Coiro, Brendan Fraser, Jeffrey Dean Morgan, Bill Paxton, Christopher MacDonald, Joe Egender, Trevor Donovan, and Jeremy Davies star in ‘Texas Rising’ (Photo by Prashant Gupta / HISTORY>Copyright 2015)
It’s in the Urban Dictionary. Pax·ton·nat·ed. It’s “when a movie or television show includes or has been permeated by the actor Bill Paxton.” Some actors just make the films they appear in better, no matter how bad the film might be as a whole or how small the role. Bill Paxton is one of those actors. He’s not an A-list star, but he has a loyal following that knows the value of casting him in anything. At WonderCon, there was a panel for the Tom Cruise vehicle Edge of Tomorrow. With no Tom Cruise in sight, the 4,000 plus people in the arena seemed uninterested — until Bill Paxton walked on stage. The arena exploded in applause. That’s what it means to Paxtonate something. Here’s a list of the 10 best Paxtonated films, but honestly, he’s just damn good in everything he does and is always memorable even when the films aren’t.
1. Severen in Near Dark (1987)
It was a tough call picking the most Paxtonated film of all and it’s a photo finish between Near Dark and Aliens but I give the edge to Near Dark because Severen is such a wildly entertaining character. Kathryn Bigelow’s modern vampire tale casts Paxton as one of a “family” of vampires that includes Lance Henriksen and Jenette Goldstein (who co-starred with Paxton in Aliens) as the parental figures. Paxton plays his vamp as if he were the big man on campus. He struts across the screen, all hopped up on his immortality and invincibility. You just can’t take your eyes off him. He’s hilarious and terrifying all at once and has the best lines in the film. The bar scene alone is worth the price of admission.
Best Lines: [about to bite a victim on the neck] “I hate ‘em when they ain’t been shaved.”
[Enjoying the last drops of blood from a victim] “It’s finger lickin’ good.”
“Howdy. I’m gonna separate your head from your shoulders. Hope you don’t mind none.”
“It ain’t what’s goin’ on, son. It’s what’s comin’ off. Your face. Clean off.”
2. Pvt. Hudson in Aliens (1986)
Sigourney Weaver may be the star and Ripley the character that saves the world again but Paxton – as he always seems to do – simply steals the show. You can’t walk away from this film without quoting him and he’s easily the most memorable character. He starts as a character we laugh at. Remember him asking Jenette Goldstein’s Vasquez, “Have you ever been mistaken for a man?” And then her quick put down, “No, have you?” But Paxton’s charisma soon wins us over and his Hudson proves to be a touchstone for the audience as he reflects our fears in the face of an all out alien assault.
Best Line: “That’s it, man. Game over, man. Game over, what the f-ck are we supposed to now, huh, what are we gonna do?”
Plus this one added into the special edition: “I’m ready, man, check it out. I am the ultimate badass! State of the badass art! You do NOT wanna f-ck with me.”
3. Chet in Weird Science (1985)
This almost topped the list because it’s the role that got everyone’s attention. He plays your worst nightmare of a big brother to Ilan Mitchell-Smith in John Hughes’ teen comedy Weird Science. He’s everything you hate in an older sibling: obnoxious, bullying, mean. He also delivers such eloquently memorable lines as: “How about a nice greasy pork sandwich served in a dirty ashtray?” and “Boy, I wouldn’t give a squirt of piss for your ass right now.” Chet gets his comeuppance in the end and Paxton has proven more memorable than Kelly LeBrock.
Best Lines: “It doesn’t take a genius to figure that out monkey dick.”
“You two donkey-dicks couldn’t get laid in a morgue.”
4. Hank in A Simple Plan (1998)
A Simple Plan offers a change of pace for both Paxton and director Sam Raimi. For Raimi, it was a serious drama (Raimi’s best known for his Evil Dead films), and for Paxton it was a dramatic starring role. It was also a more subdued role than Paxton is usually tapped for. He plays a small-town businessman who, along with two friends, discovers a crashed plane and $4 million in cash. While his buddies (Billy Bob Thornton being one) revel in their good fortune, Paxton’s Hank provides a contrary voice, suggesting that taking the money is the wrong thing to do. This is one of Paxton’s finest, most understated performances.
Best Line: “You work for the American Dream. You don’t steal it.”
5. Dad Mieks in Frailty (2001)
This film gets double the Paxtonation as Paxton both stars in and directs the film. It’s a strange, creepy tale about a man who claims God has given him the ability to see demons and it’s his duty to kill them. Daddy Mieks makes it a family affair as he tries to train his sons to kill the demons as well. Paxton has not really pursued directing, but I wouldn’t mind seeing more films Paxtonated from behind the camera.
Best Lines: “Only demons should fear me. You’re not a demon are you? The angel said you were. I can’t believe that. I won’t. You’re my son, and I love you more than my own life. You know what’s funny about all this Fenton? I’m afraid of you.”
“You can’t make things like that up, son. Killing people is wrong, destroying demons is good. Don’t worry, God will send you your own list when you’re older.”
6. Dale “Hurricane” Dixon in One False Move (1992)
Paxton’s role in One False Move parallels that in Aliens in the sense that his character initially comes off as a bit dim or comical but through the course of the film he changes. One False Move is dramatically richer than Aliens and Paxton kicks up his game to meet the challenges. The gritty crime tale involves a pair of LA cops who follow their suspects to a small town in Arkansas where they enlist the help of the local chief of police, Dixon. This might be Paxton’s most complex performance.
Best Line: “Lila, even if I wanted to, I can’t help you. I don’t have the legal authority.”
7. Zachary Cody in The Last Supper (1995)
Paxton is the catalyst in this film. A group of five liberal-minded friends are unhinged when one of the group brings home a stranger for dinner. Paxton is Zach, the stranger who gave one of the friends a ride home and then inexplicably attacks him. It takes someone like Paxton to create a character that can drive someone to murder. He’s also perfect for a film as darkly comic as this one.
Best Lines:
Zachary Cody: “Liberals, never taking a stand you’d be willing to…”
Luke: “To die for?”
Zachary Cody: “Nah. Boy, dying is easy. There is nothing heroic about dying. But if you can take a stand for something you’d be willing to kill for, that is something, something special.”
8. Bill Harding in Twister (1996)
Paxton brings immense likability to his role of a storm chaser whose marriage is as unpredictable as the tornadoes he and his wife chase. This is bright and cheery, family-friendly Paxtonation. Not as fun as his edgier roles but nice to see him toplining a Hollywood picture and pulling in solid numbers at the box office.
Best Line: “It’s the Fujita scale. It measures a tornado’s intensity by how much it eats.”
9. Earl in 2 Guns (2013)
Dumb movie. The ridiculous plot – based on a violent comic — involves stolen money, double-crosses, and murder. But it’s a dumb movie made watchable by Paxton’s corrupt CIA enforcer Earl who simply does not give up. This is one of his over-the-top, chew up the scenery roles, and he seems to relish it as much as the audience does.
Best Lines: [holding guns on DEA commander] “Your man Bobby Trench stole 43 million of our dollars. We’d like it back. Because it’s our money. Because it’s a blatant act of disrespect. And because it’s our money.”
“You ever play Russian roulette? Thing is, most people put the gun to the temple. Well, that’s just stupid. You blow a man’s head off ‘fore he’s had a chance to tell you what you wanna know.”
10. Morgan Earp in Tombstone (1993)
A Paxtonated Western! Most of Paxton’s roles are contemporary but here he plays one of the famous Earp brothers involved in the notorious shootout at the O.K. Corral. Top to bottom this film had a great cast. Kurt Russell as Wyatt Earp, Val Kilmer as Doc Holliday, Sam Elliott as Virgil Earp, and Michael Biehn as Johnny Ringo. And the shootout is perfectly executed.
Best Line: “Look at all the stars. You look up and you think, “God made all this and He remembered to make a little speck like me. It’s kind of flattering, really.”
* * * * *
Bonus Paxtonation: As John Garrett in TV’s Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. (2014), he totally Paxtonated the show and brought it back to life. Just like Agent Phil Colson.
