The Bad Penny (beta)

It was only a month ago that Fireball Ministry co-founder and guitar virtuoso Emily Burton graciously set aside some of her busy schedule to talk about her and all the current developments that are making her beam at the status of her influential, 27-year-old stoner rock band. (Read all about her successful litigation here.)

When we checked in with her for part two of our conversation, she was in much better spirits and game for talking about some of her movies of all time. For those who don’t live in the loop, musicians have extraordinarily long stretches between †venues, affording them some time to cozy up in a band, rewrite and rewrite and rewrite once again the band’s set list. Burton prefers the latter.

For those of you who hungry for hangover-movie picks, here is Burton’s secret caché that she opened up just for The Bad Penny:

Weird Science: “It’s my comfort movie … and I’m not ashamed to say it. I do like movies with an interesting, strong female lead, and I don’t consider Weird Science to be [one of them]. I know there’s some problems in it, but I don’t consider it to be the misogynist. And I love the fashion in the movie … ’80s fashion is my favorite.”

Jackie Brown: Every time I would get on an airplane, I’d watch Jackie Brown. It’s my favorite Tarantino movie, I think. You could make an album out the dialogue; it’s very rhythmic. I love Tarantino, but sometimes the violence gets to me, and I can’t watch the violence. But who can turn down watching Pam Grier? The strong female lead, all that drives the movie and the characters.

Halloween: The vast majority of horror movies now have the main (female) star, playing the lead role – and not in the way that it was in the ’80s, with allusions to rape and disempowerment. Halloween is interesting to me because that movie was one of the first slashers that did have a very strong female lead.

Aliens: I love John Carpenter, but if I had to choose between Alien and Aliens, I’m gonna say Aliens, just because it’s, like, on steroids. Plus Ripley is even more souped-up leading the charge.

John Carpenter vs. David Lynch: Is it possible? to even choose. My favorite Carpenter films, in order … I mean, I love Big Trouble in Little China, but I’d probably put The Thing higher, maybe, because it’s just a masterpiece. Then I love They Live – plus Halloween. I have great respect for directors and filmmakers who can make an awesome movie with no money.

Faster, Pussycat! Kill! Kill!: People would look at Russ Meyer as a[a purveyor of sexual] exploitation. To me, that movie … like, you’ve got three of the most badass chicks rolling around, like, living their life, right? They’re, like, ‘We’re strippers, and we make money, and then we can, go off and do our own thing. Have fun, and have a good time.'”

For much more on Ripple, check out our recent conversation with co-founder and CEO Todd Severin.

Pick up Ripple’s recent vinyl reissue of Fireball Ministry’s Second Great Awakening here.

For more on Fireball Ministry, visit FireballMinistry.com.

This entry was posted on 07/25/2026 at 6:55 am and is filed under Favorite Films, Features, Interviews, Videos with tags Emily Burton, Fireball Ministry, Halloween, Jackie Brown, John Carpenter, psych metal, Ripple Music, Russ Meyer, stoner metal, Weird Science. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.