BILL PAXTON - dies aged 61 - R.I.P.

William 'Bill' Paxton, passed away following complications from recent heart surgery on Saturday 25th February. He was just 61 years of age. Born on 17th May 1955 in Fort Worth, Texas to mother Mary Lou Gray and father John Lane Paxton who worked as a businessman, timber wholesaler, museum executive and occasional Actor, the young lad was never far from the spotlight. At age eight he was in the crowd of onlookers and well wishers lining the streets to greet President John F. Kennedy just hours before he was shot and killed on that ill fated day in Dallas on November 22nd 1963. Official photographs taken on the day show a young Bill Paxton being lifted above the heads of the crowd for a better view of the passing cavalcade, which is on display at the Sixth Floor Museum in Dallas. In another twist of fate, Paxton attended Arlington Heights High School, in Fort Worth with Lee Harvey Oswald - the alleged assassin of Kennedy, who was in turn shot and killed by Jack Ruby on 24th November 1963 while in Police custody for the murder of the President.

At age eighteen Paxton moved to Los Angeles and landed a job working for Roger Corman's film production company, New World Pictures, as a set dresser. He landed his big screen debut in a Corman picture - 1975's 'Crazy Mama' in an uncredited role Directed by Jonathan Demme. He later moved to New York where he studied acting under Stella Adler at New York University. From there he landed a bit part in Ivan Reitman's 1981 'Stripes' with Bill Murray, John Candy, Harold Ramis and Warren Oates. From this point on he was never out of work finding small parts on film and television series which kept him busy as a jobbing Actor. He even Directed and Wrote a couple of short films himself - 'Fish Heads' and 'Barnes & Barnes : Love Tap'. His rights of passage included a bunch of B-Grade horror films including 'Night Warning' in 1982, 'Deadly Lessons' and 'Mortuary' both in 1983, and 'Impulse' in 1984.

1984 also gave rise to his first collaboration with Director James Cameron and action hero star Arnold Schwarzenegger in 'Terminator' as a young punk in an early scene as the T-800 Terminator arrives naked in a downtown side street and his first contact with the human race is three knife wielding deadbeats who aren't long for this world. 'Weird Science' followed for John Hughes in 1985 which also starred a young Robert Downey Jnr., and then 'Commando' with Arnie again and then in 1986 in 'Aliens' for Director James Cameron as Private Hudson who uttered those immortal words 'stop yer grinnin' and drop yer linen'! A bunch of television show appearances and films including Katherine Bigelow's 'Near Dark', 'Slipstream' and 'Next of Kin' with Patrick Swayze saw out the '80's.

The new decade launched with 'Brain Dead' in 1990, and the next ten years saw the likes of 'Navy Seals' with Charlie Sheen, 'Predator 2' with Danny Glover, 'One False Move' which reunited him with Writer and Co-Star Billy Bob Thornton, the controversial 'Boxing Helena' with Julian Sands, Western 'Tombstone' with an all star cast that included Kurt Russell as Wyatt Earp with Paxton playing Morgan Earp, and then in 1994 a reuniting with Cameron and Schwarzenegger in 'True Lies'.



The following year saw saw Paxton portray real life astronaut Fred Haise in Ron Howard's critically acclaimed retelling of the 'Apollo 13' mission with Tom Hanks, Kevin Bacon, Gary Sinise and Ed Harris, and the following year saw Jan de Bont's equally acclaimed 'Twister' with Paxton in the lead role as over zealous tornado chaser Bill Harding opposite Helen Hunt. 'Traveller' came next in 1997 followed by another reteaming with James Cameron on his epic 'Titanic', with 'A Simple Plan' for Director Sam Raimi and Co-Star once again Billy Bob Thornton, and 'Mighty Joe Young' with Charlize Theron seeing out the decade in 1998.

2000 brought 'U-571' for Director Jonathan Moscow and Co-Starring Matthew McConaughey, Harvey Keitel, and Jon Bon Jovi, then K2 mountain rescue drama 'Vertical Limit' for Director Martin Campbell, and in 2001 Paxton made his Directorial debut with the well received 'Frailty' in which he also starred alongside Matthew McConaughey again. 2004 saw the live action big screen adaptation of the classic '60's Jerry and Sylvia Anderson series 'Thunderbirds' with Paxton playing Jeff Tracy, the founder of International Rescue. Paxton turned this hand to Directing again in 2005 with historical biographical golf sports film 'The Greatest Game Ever Played' with Shia LaBeouf in the lead role of champion of the modern game Francis Ouimet. The decade played out with Paxton starring in 55 episodes of HBO's television series 'Big Love' with Jeanne Tripplehorn, Chloe Savigny, Bruce Dern and Harry Dean Stanton. The show garnered Paxton several award nominations including Golden Globe and Satellite Awards over successive years.

Action thriller 'Haywire' for Steven Soderbergh came next in 2011 with an ensemble cast and in 2012 the acclaimed three part post American Civil War mini-series 'Hatfields and McCoys' with Paxton starring alongside Kevin Costner. Paxton was again nominated for several awards including a Primetime Emmy and a Screen Actors Guild. 'The Colony' with Laurence Fishburne, '2 Guns' with Denzel Washington and Mark Wahlberg, 'Million Dollar Arm' with Jon Hamm, Doug Liman's Sci-Fi action adventure 'Edge of Tomorrow' with Tom Cruise and Emily Blunt, Dan Gilroy's excellent 'Nightcrawler' with Jake Gyllenhaal, and then 'The Gamechangers', 'Term Life' and 'Mean Dreams' bring us up to date in terms of movie releases. In the meantime, there had also been six episodes on Marvel's television series 'Agents of 'S.H.I.E.L.D.' the acclaimed five part mini-series 'Texas Rising' - the story of how the Texas Rangers were formed, and most recently on seven episodes of Season One of television series 'Training Day' as Detective Frank Rourke following up the the acclaimed 2001 film of the same name about a rookie cop who buddies up with a corrupt partner.

Due for release in April is 'The Circle' a Sci-Fi thriller with Tom Hanks, Emma Watson and John Boyega. All up Paxton had 93 acting credits to his name, seven as Producer, five as Director, and several for his early work as Production Designer, Set Decorator, and Art Director. He was nominated for four Golden Globes, a Primetime Emmy, three Satellite Awards, two SAG Awards and in total accumulated six award wins and another thirteen nominations throughout his career. He was also an early musician, having formed a new wave band in 1982 'Martini Ranch' similar in ilk to 'Devo' - they released one album in 1987 - 'Holy Cow'. He was married to Kelly Rowan for a brief time form 1979 to 1980 and then in 1987 he married Louise Newbury with whom he had two children - James born in 1994, and Lydia born in 1997.

Bill Paxton - laid claim to being killed off by a Terminator, an Alien and and a Predator; starred in some of the most iconic films of the '80's and '90's; he played policemen, storm chasers, an astronaut, alien hunters, historical figures, punks, low-life's and men of questionable conduct and standing. Whatever the role, whatever the genre Paxton was convincing, watchable and the consummate character actor who leaves behind a legacy of great films, memorable characters and quotable one liners. He will be missed!


Bill Paxton - Rest In Peace
1955 - 2017

-Steve, at Odeon Online-

NIGHTCRAWLER - Wednesday 3rd December 2014.

As an Actor, I like Jake Gyllenhaal, and I think he is amassing a fine body of work that takes in 'Donny Darko', 'Source Code', 'Brokeback Mountain', 'Zodiac', last years 'Prisoners' and now 'NIGHTCRAWLER' which I saw last night. This is Directed by first timer Dan Gilroy, who is not new to the world of big screen entertainment having written 'The Bourne Legacy', 'Two for the Money' 'Real Steel' and the Screenplay for this film too amongst others. As a first outing in the Director's chair, Gilroy can be very proud of his achievement putting together a taught, tense thriller that delivers on many levels - not the least of which is in the story itself and more notably the outstanding performance of his star - Jake Gyllenhaal in the lead role. Made for just US$8.5M it has already taken over US$35M at the global Box Office at the time of writing.

The story centres around Louis Bloom (Jake Gyllenhaal) who when we are introduced to him is stealing scrap metal for on selling to a merchant. In the process we see him overcome a Security Guard and rob him of his expensive looking wrist watch. He asks the scrap metal merchant for a job but is told they don't hire 'thieves' even though the merchant buys his (stolen) wares. He later steals a very expensive road racing bicycle which he moves on at a pawn shop, and this is how Lou Bloom makes his money - living day to day hand to mouth in a very modest apartment on the outskirts of LA. We know nothing of his back story, and it's not important. We can assume however, that he is a loner cobbling together a very meagre existence.

One evening while driving home on the freeway he pulls over at the scene of a horrific car accident, where two Police Officers are frantically pulling a woman out of wrecked blazing car. This accident is being filmed by two hungry news hounds - one of which is Joe Loder (Bill Paxton) capturing footage of the car wreck and its aftermath from every angle. The next morning this scene of devastation is being blurted out in graphic detail on the early morning TV news, and so a plan is hatched by Lou Bloom that this is a world too in which he could excel and start-up with minimal investment. And so, using the funds from the pawn shop and store credits from the sale of the road bike - he secures a camcorder and a Police Scanner and is in business!

That night tuning into the Police frequencies he gets the early heads up on motor vehicle accidents, crime scenes, shootings, stabbings, fires, murders, attacks and drug busts and quickly races off to be amongst the first at the scene to capture as much of the death, destruction, blood and violence as he can for the local TV channels who are hungry for such 'exclusive' footage. After initially stumbling through his video capture efforts he becomes more savvy and astute and gets to the scene either before or at the same time as his competitor Joe Loder who has been 'night crawling' for 14 years and is a veteran - telling Lou in passing that 'if it bleeds, it leads'!

Having some early success he begins selling his nightly video footage to a local TV channel, and forging a working relationship with morning news Director Nina Romina (Rene Russo), who pay him on the spot for worthy footage. He wants to take the relationship much further he tells her over a Mexican dinner one evening that will leave you cold as his diatribe spews forth, but she is having none of it! As the story progresses Lou gets more adept at searching out the more newsworthy incidents, and so his success grows. He buys a new fast car, invests in new camera equipment, Police Scanners, GPS and has already taken on an Assistant, Rick (Riz Ahmed) a young almost homeless guy desperate for money who accepts a wage of $30 a night cash oblivious to the dangers involved - much to his chagrin later on.

Lou has big plans for his fledgling business given the success he is garnering and his sometimes unscrupulous tactics at securing his footage. He is not afraid to manipulate crime scenes or the scene of an accident to accentuate the drama and spectacle for the viewers - for he knows that this gains viewers, improves the ratings, makes him more bankable and more powerful with the TV channels. Lou is very well spoken, chooses his words wisely, is confident, brash and not backward and coming forward. He is also cold, calculating, creepy and slightly unhinged and he goes through his personal and new found business life with an icy determination, a steely resolve and an almost win at all costs commitment - which we see in all its glory as his big news story comes to a very graphic conclusion.

The story is fast paced and Gyllenhaal as our anti-hero delivers what could be described as a career defining performance. He shed 20lbs in weight for this role and despite his gaunt, drawn and wiry physical presence he more than balances this with his disturbing thought processes, wide piercing eyes, articulate dexterity and acutely serious but slightly comedic persona that in many lines of well written dialogue is edgy, sinister and disturbing.

With our ever increasing insatiable appetite for true crime, murder, mishaps, mayhem, incidents, accidents, violence and death delivered almost instantly to our TV screens and across the Internet, this film delivers an insight told chillingly and thrillingly about those who curb that appetite and quench our thirst for more telling headlines and graphic images above the feel good news stories that increasingly fade into the background, and occupy less column inches and screen time. One of the films of the year!

    

-Steve, at Odeon Online-

EDGE OF TOMORROW - Tuesday 10th June 2014.

I checked out the latest Tom Cruise actioner last night at my local multiplex - 'EDGE OF TOMORROW' with a few movie buddies - and I liked this Doug Liman Directed offering - a lot!

Based on Hiroshi Sakurazaka's novel 'All You Need Is Kill', this film charts the story of an invaded Europe following an alien attack, in which the said aliens have taken up residence and are marauding across Europe advancing on the UK leaving death, destruction and devastation in their wake. Set in the not too distant future Tom Cruise plays Major William Cage - a stationed US military PR guru working with the UK based 'United Defence Force' in London - headed up by Brendan Gleeson's General Brigham. We learn early on that Cage is a graduated desk jockey great with words and spin, but no good with a gun out in the field when the going gets tough. He is cowardly, weak and weaselly and when 'ordered' to go into battle by Brigham does everything he can to worm his way out of it. This duly gets him drugged and demoted down to the rank of Private and he awakes at Heathrow Airport - now the forward base for the allied United Defence Force push into Europe to conquer (or so they believe) the advancing aliens. What follows is a lot of kicking, screaming and gnashing of teeth as Cage meets his fellow grunts and cannon fodder for a quick PT session and kit-out before the advance the next morning. Scarred shitless and wearing his newly developed exo-suit with rapid fire technology that he cannot grasp, he is next flying high above Normandy Beach ready to descend into battle. He lands in the thick of it and is clueless what to do whilst his fellow foot soldiers die in immense numbers and horribly all around him. It is only a question of time before an attack by a fast moving multi-tentacled ferocious alien (called 'Mimics) takes Cage out but not before a few rounds have killed the beast causing it to land on top of Cage and bleed black acid blood all over him - dissolving his face and head in an instant - and so Cage is dead!

This 'blood on blood' encounter though gives Cage the ability to distort time and he awakes again back at the Heathrow Airport forward base yesterday when he was first dumped there in his new found position as Privateer. Now, you'll be thinking 'Groundhog Day' and you could be forgiven for that because there are similarities here with reliving every day until you can effect meaningful and purposeful change. And so it is with this film! Cage goes through the same routine every day, gets killed and reawakens yesterday to go through it again, and again and again countless times. The difference though is that every time he gets killed in battle he learns and experiences different things that allow him to avoid situations and advance with new found knowledge, in an attempt to ultimately thwart the Mimics.

It is unclear how many times Cage dies - but it would be in the hundreds and as we progress he knows what to expect, it becomes mundane, boring and predictable and at times he welcomes it because it allows him to 'reset' and start again stronger, wiser, more confident in success. This is what moves the story along aided and abetted by his trainer Rita Vrataski (played with conviction by Emily Blunt) who herself has been in the same position as Cage and can therefore relate to what he is going through every day - but she is now clean as a result of a blood transfusion to save her life - and she is national hero thanks to a win against the Mimics in the battle of Verdun which she spearheaded.

Cruise gives a strong, solid and convincing performance here that would rank as one of his best in a long while; Doug Liman handles the action astutely and the sweeping vistas of Normandy Beach, Heathrow Airport and central Paris with a toppled Eifel Tower are rendered very well. The story line moves along at a good pace, there are moments of humour, the Mimics are well realised and a little different to your everyday intergalactic insectoid interloper, the close quarter battle scenes are big and impressive enough, and Bill Paxton and our own Noah Taylor ably support the cast.

In the final analysis, Cage's multi-repeated deaths and his learnings as a result serve to save the day in the climatic central Paris face off set in the depths of a flooded La Louvre underground car park. There is a little twist at the end which you'll have to see for yourself, but it did leave me with a question for Mr. Liman . . . will it for you too?
I saw this in 3D which serves to sharpen and define the imagery on screen, but 2D will easily suffice. See it on the big screen - it's worth it!

-Steve, at Odeon Online-