Val Kilmer Movie Month Presents: Kilmer Blitz #1

There are just so many Val Kilmer movies to get to, I had to do a Kilmer Blitz. I am planning on seeing all of the Val Kilmer movies I can get my hands on, but it is going to be close to 40 total so here are five to feast on real quick:

The Island of Dr. Moreau (1996)

John Frankenheimer made some good movies and some bad. Unfortunately for Val Kilmer and Marlon Brando, The Island of Dr. Moreau was one of the bad ones. I always loved Ronin; in fact I own it and course Frankenheimer did a lot of others good ones. The Island of Dr. Moreau however, was a terrible movie for two main reasons; the plot and character development were as dry as could be. I don't remember the book, but this movie made no effort to tell the story and no effort to show any character's motivation for what was going on. The one redeeming quality was a great Marlon Brando impersonation by Val Kilmer; it had me rolling.

Raw Score: 452,309
Sharon Movie? No


The Ghost and the Darkness (1996)

I saw this one for the first time only a few months ago. I was surprised to find I had not already had a review of it out there. The Ghost and the Darkness was a fun movie. It is not very often I fear lions, but this movie brought you right into the thick of it. Val Kilmer played the calm and cool man in charge of getting a railway built when others had failed due to the lions eating the workers (minor problem). Kilmer did great, but I have to had it to Michael Douglas again for making another crazy character and this time with a gun; he never ceases to amaze me. I am sure Kilmer and Douglas had a lot of fun together on this one.

Raw Score: 743,432
Sharon Movie? No


The Prince of Egypt (1998)

The Prince of Egypt is the first movie I can only talk about Val Kilmer's voice performance. The Prince of Egypt was an animated film retelling the biblical story of Moses. It had plenty of great colors and was a great movie for people of all ages. I had almost forgotten none computer generated animation. Val Kilmer was the voice of Moses and of God. Kilmer's strong voice was a great pick for this animated film because of his ability to do different voices (although they did not cash in on that) and his singing talent. If you are looking for a fun one with a good message that is safe for the whole family, then The Prince of Egypt has it all.

Raw Score: 712,309
Sharon Movie? Yes


At First Sight (1999)

At First Sight was a touching film based on a true story. Virgil Adamson (Val Kilmer) is a blind man who meets a girl and they fall in love. The girl (Mira Sorvino) wants him to try and get his eye sight back by doing a new medical procedure. At First Sight was a decent romance, but it just lacked something I really can't put my finger on. I liked a lot about it, but I think I will forget it very quickly. Val Kilmer had a powerful and believable performance as a blind man and Mira Sorvino didn't do too bad either. They did a great job together, but there is not much else to say.

Raw Score: 650,392
Sharon Movie? No


Joe the King (1999)

Another movie about a teenager who has a bad family and is having a tough time dealing with all of the terrible things going on in his life. We have all seen this type of film before and it is usually difficult for me to watch, but it was still pretty good. There was not much of anything to really separate this movie form the others of its kind though. I would have liked to have seen more emotion in it or a few more shocking moments possibly. Val Kilmer did a great job as the drug father who basically sets the stage for the main character and his troubled life. Kilmer is the guy you love to hate in this one.

Raw Score: 702,881
Sharon Movie? No

Overall this was a fairly good group of movies for a Kilmer Blitz. I especially liked The Ghost and the Darkness and The Prince of Egypt. The Island of Dr. Moreau is always a movie I will hate apparently. I have given it a couple of tries; both times I thought it was terrible. Val Kilmer did well in all of these, but don't look for a Jim Morrison or a Doc Holliday in any of these movies cause you will not find it.

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Val Kilmer Movie March Presents: Tombstone

Tombstone (1993)

Director: George P. Cosmatos
Writer: Kevin Jarre
Genre: Action/Drama/Romance/Western

The Story

No doubt this true to life classic story is sure to please. Wyatt Earp (Kurt Russell), Morgan Earp (Bill Paxton), and Virgil Earp (Sam Elliot) come to a town named Tombstone in hopes that they can settle down from their more adventurous gun slinging days. When they get there they meet Doc Holliday (Val Kilmer) who seems to be a washed up drunken quick draw poker player, but he still has the quick gun. They want to come clean, but the red cloth wearing cowboys are stirring up trouble in the town and the Earp brothers decide to put their foot down and clean the town up. It ends up being a bigger project than they were hoping for.


Everything Else

The directing of Tombstone will not impress many and the soundtrack seemed overused and unoriginal, but the movie was a lot of fun in spite of that. The story made the movie along with the acting talents. It was an intriguing story even though it is not new. I may have felt differently if I were more up to speed on history, but I just let the movies tell me what I need to know.


The acting on all fronts was very good. Bill Paxton seemed a little stand offish and possibly that would be considered a part of his character, but it didn't add much to the movie. Sam Elliot looks like he was born in that cowboy hat. It doesn't matter if he is talking about the Dude in the bowling ally or slinging guns like a crazy man; I'm sold on his talent. Kurt Russell was even likable in this one and he did an excellent job as Wyatt Earp. Val Kilmer absolutely took charge in Tombstone. His performance as Doc Holliday is one of his best performances so far, second to his portrayal of Jim Morrison of course. The rest of the acting was good too though. I don't want to leave anyone out, but here are a few of the names in there with good performances: Michael Biehn, Charlton Heston, Jason Preistley, Billy Zane, and even the old school chubby Billy Bob Thornton.


Val Kilmer

Does everyone understand why I chose to have a Val Kilmer movie month now. After his performance in The Doors and Thunderheart he is back to something completely different again as the drunken, fast gun, witty Doc Holliday. His performance is incredible and certainly one I would have liked to have seen earlier. Believe it or not I had not seen Tombstone until just the other day. Val Kilmer was even able to get his signature coin flipping right in the beginning of the movie. Another stunning performance by Val Kilmer.


The Real Deal

I liked Tombstone a lot and the fact that it was a true story makes it that much better. I would have liked to see a little more edginess involved and the soundtrack could definitely have used some work, but the performances by all the actors was quite good. There is blood and language, but besides that there is not a lot of things keeping some younger eyes from viewing.

The Short Version

Raw Score: 801,929
Sharon Movie? No

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You May Have Seen It Coming

I started this month off with great ambition to be able to get through all of the Val Kilmer movies I wanted to review. Then Emma was born two and a half weeks early and I lost a lot of time I thought I would have. I am still watching the movies of course and still pumping out the reviews, but I was hitting almost every Val Kilmer movie I could get my hands on in chronological order. This means I will not be able to get all of the Val Kilmer reviews in by the end of March.

With that said, I will have a slightly different theme for the month of April. I will call it Spring Cleaning. I will try to get to the rest of the Kilmer films I wanted to review in March and also incorporate some short film reviews and some reviews and posts I was just wanting to do, but did not really get around to yet. Putting on a themed month has proven to really consume my time. With Kilmer having around 40 movies to review, it was a daunting task. So, it may require there be a Kilmer Blitz or two and also I will have to possibly skip a few here and there I did not care much for anyway (i.e. Batman Forever).

So I hope you all will enjoy some more Val Kilmer reviews and will keep coming back for more Dave's Movie Reviews posts. Thank you all for your continued support and encouragement as it is very much appreciated.

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Review Blitz #6

Silk (2007)

It was different, but failed to keep me interested. It is so soft like silk that it forgets to truly get any kind of character development and story off the ground. Michael Pitt proves capable and has a bright future probably, but I am still unsure why they even mentioned Keira Knightley on the cover; oh wait, now I remember. The point is she had very little screen time in addition to the lack of intensity of her few delivered lines. Silk is a great movie if you want to fall asleep during a film and not worry about missing a thing.

Raw Score: 583,394
Sharon Movie? No



Martian Child (2007)

I like John Cusack, but I still like him better in the edgy comedies and darker movies like High Fidelity and 1408. I liked Martian Child, but there is not a lot of uniqueness to it that I was sort of expecting. Still a touching story that is worth a watch; just don't look for the edgy comedy Cusack is sometimes known for. This is the tame and collected Cusack; possibly being cast in a movie along side his sister helped with that.

Raw Score: 745,393
Sharon Movie? No



Feast of Love (2007)

This movie just made me mad from the start. There is no character development and there is no point to the movie. I didn't care about any character accept Morgan Freeman's, but he was simply the voice of reason for all of the other messed up people. He is really good at that, but there is your one and only redeeming quality of this film. Feast of Love would have you believe it is not possible to fall in love, get married, and live happily ever after. Unless you happen to be Morgan Freeman, but even he seemed a little unhappy. Not only that, but it had way too much sex for it to be a romantic comedy. Pass this one at all costs.

Raw Score: 320,231
Sharon Movie? No



Death at a Funeral (2007)

The director of What About Bob?, Bowfinger, The Score, and The Stepford Wives brings us an offbeat comedy delivering the lighthearted belly busters I was craving. Frank Oz did a good job with Bowfinger, but it was not the original and edgy comedy that I was looking for; sorry Steve Martin, but you are just annoying sometimes. What about Bob? was one of those movies I always liked though. Death at a Funeral takes a completely different edge and had me laughing the whole time. It is cheesy, sure, but if you are in the right mood then it will surely make you laugh and it is something different to enjoy which is always refreshing.

Raw Score: 781,239
Sharon Movie? Yes


King of California (2007)

King of California did not get much hype or fuss, but is a great off-beat whacky comedy for sure. Who doesn't like to see a crazy Michael Douglas roaming the streets and talking about buried treasure. This is almost like if his character in Falling Down had been happy instead of mad. This crazy quest to find treasure buried in California is a lot of fun even if it doesn't strike everyone's fancy. Check it out for some mild humor and entertainment. I enjoyed it thoroughly.

Raw Score: 771,231
Sharon Movie? Yes

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Val Kilmer Movie March Presents: True Romance

True Romance (1993)

Director: Tony Scott
Writer: Quentin Tarantino
Genre: Crime/Drama/Romance/Thriller

The Story

It is Calrence's (Christian Slater) birthday. His boss decides to get him a call girl for his birthday without his knowledge, but the call girl Alabama Whitman (Patricia Arquette) ends up falling for Clarence almost immediately. Clarence decides he needs to get Alabama's stuff from her pimp, but when he goes to get it he causes a stir and ends up with dead bodies and a suitcase full of cocaine. Now he has to figure out what to do about the cocaine and the people looking for him and the cocaine. Clarence decides to try and sell the cocaine to a Hollywood producer for a great deal just so he can get out fast. The deal is more difficult for Clarence to pull off than he had originally imagined.


Everything Else

The directing of True Romance was unique in a lot of ways, but did not really take flight the same way that Top Gun did. Although the directing was solid as most Tony Scott films are, it lacked the intensity of other Scott films like Days of Thunder or Crimson Tide. I fell in love with True Romance for its scripting and story; thank you Quentin Tarantino. Tarantino sold this script to get enough money to make Reservoir Dogs and the rest is history as they say.


True Romance does not have the edge of a typical Tarantino film because of Tony Scott, but that does not hinder the excellent story much. Also, it allowed for plenty of stars to be included in True Romance; but then again I seem to recall some decent names in Reservoir Dogs. Ah well, the point is they got paid a lot more for True Romance. That says a lot about how the actors thought about Tarantino's talent.


Back to True Romance, Slater did an excellent job. Slater has a real talent, but for some reason I have never really liked his acting style. We may visit his talent a couple more times in some later Val Kilmer movies. Speaking of Kilmer, I did not even realize he was in True Romance the first time around. That might have been due to his out of focus 15 second part in the film. He apparently shot his part in just two days. The rest of the actors did quite well. You have Dennis Hopper, Tom Sizemore, James Gandolfini, Christopher Walken, Bronson Pinchot (suspect in my opinion), Samuel L. Jackson for about 5 seconds, Brad Pitt, Gary Oldman, Michael Rapaport, Patricia Arquette, and blah blah blah. Honestly it seemed odd that all of these stars were in this movie and only some of them like Pinchot got big roles. Maybe they could not afford the big names for much play time. It really worked though. However, look at Pinchot's face below; I think this says it all. I just don't buy it.


Val Kilmer

To be honest, there is really not a lot to say about Kilmer's performance in True Romance. We can say that he did well as Elvis, but he was in the movie for less than a minute. Kilmer originally wanted to play the role of Clarence, but agreed to do just the small role of Elvis. This was the second Tony Scott film that Val Kilmer appeared in. Possibly Val Kilmer was concentrating on more important roles such as his amazing role in Tombstone as Doc Holliday.


The Real Deal

I still like True Romance after the third viewing. I find the soundtrack a little bit annoying at times and still wish Quentin Tarantino had had the money to make this film on his own, but I will have to live with it the way it is. True Romance is a great movie if you are looking to see a large ensemble of great actors all together in a movie. There is a lot of sex, blood, and language, so keep that in mind if you are thinking of making this a family rental (it isn't).


The Short Version

Raw Score: 812,293
Sharon Movie? No

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Val Kilmer Movie March Presents: The Real McCoy

The Real McCoy (1993)

Director: Russell Mulcahy
Writer: Desmond Lowden (novel) (elements) and William Davies (screenplay)
Genre: Drama/Action/Crime/Thriller

The Story

Karen McCoy (Kim Basinger) is a crook who is well known as the best of the best, but she bit off a little more than she could chew with the last bank robbery job. She is caught and sent to prison and loses custody of her child. When she gets out, she has to deal with not being able to get a job and trying to stay clean. The problem is her former boss still wants her to rob a bank. To black mail her, he kidnaps her kid and helps her with the robbery when she reluctantly agrees to help in return for her child.

Everything Else

Russell Mulcahy did not deliver on the directing with The Real McCoy. Unfortunately there were a lot of lines and conversations that simply felt awkward and poorly directed. Also, the character development lacked in many respects. This did not hinder the acting by Kim Basinger and Val Kilmer though. Both did quite well even if Val Kilmer's character, J.T. Baker seemed very stupid and had an almost obnoxious southern accent.

The movie flowed well and had plenty of action to keep things interesting, but failed to deliver anything more substantial than cheap thrills. The plot seemed to dry up after a while and character motivations were muddy at best. Often you find yourself simply giving them the benefit of the doubt just so that the rest of the movie does not get too frustrating. The Real McCoy makes you work for your satisfaction. The movie was entertaining, but is nothing that is worth more thought or effort than one late night viewing while dosing off from time to time.

Val Kilmer

Val Kilmer successfully made a unique character with J.T Baker and made it a lot easier to realize he had talent capable of being used in different ways. J.T. Baker was an interesting character even if he was annoying most of the time and seemed to be dumber than a ton of bricks. It was unfortunate how J.T. Baker was supposed to look so dumb for the sake of boosting Karen McCoy. I would have liked to see the movie with a more prominent and intelligent J.T. Baker. Val Kilmer made his mark again though, and delivered some of the most interesting lines.

The Real Deal

I liked The Real McCoy because of its heist feel, but without that one aspect it could have been a disaster. Language and violence are a little high in this one, but they do not distract from the rest of the movie. I would recommend The Real McCoy to anyone looking for a quick and easy early 90s lala movie. If you are looking for solid food, then you are looking in the wrong place with The Real McCoy. I am a sucker for heist movies so if you are not then this one could actually be quite painful to watch.

The Short Version

Raw Score: 623,102
Sharon Movie? No

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Val Kilmer Movie March Presents: Thunderheart

Thunderheart (1992)

Director: Michael Apted
Writer: John Fusco
Genre: Crime/Mystery/Thriller

The Story

Ray Levoi (Val Kilmer) an FBI agent that is recruited for work on an indian reservation because of his American Indian decent. The agency feels his nationality will help restore peace in the reservation. When Ray gets to the reservation he partners with Frank Coutelle (Sam Sheperd) another FBI agent that has been assigned to work at the reservation for quite some time. Ray has to quickly learn how the people of the reservation work and adjust to their culture. Ray and Frank are supposed to be finding the murderer of one of the residents of the reservation, but the plot thickens as Walter Crow Horse (Graham Greene), the local authority, begins to sway Ray's opinion about the true motivations of everyone involved in the murder and investigation.


Everything Else

The directing by Michael Apted is solid even if not all too interesting at the same time. He does well with the character development and dialogue between the characters, but there is nothing to make Thunderheart truly memorable. Thunderheart was nevertheless an entertaining film with enough meat in the plot to hold my interest.


The acting appears soft in Thunderheart, but does the job with room to spare. If only each character had been a little more edgy and had some more development, Thunderheart could have excelled in this area. Unfortunately, Thunderheart again presents itself as average.

Thunderheart looks good from a visual standpoint and because of its location was able to use a large area for the setting. Vast landscapes often fill the screen and make the town seem all the more small and helpless. The movie portrays the harsh conditions of life on the reservation and the harm caused by the lack of attention and help from the government.

Val Kilmer

Val Kilmer was great as Ray Levoi and it would be difficult for most to recognize him after his performance in The Doors (amazing transition from Morrison to Levoi). He was simply brilliant as Jim Morrison, but played the part of Ray Levoi with confidence that is rarely seen from an actor. Thunderheart rounded off Val Kilmer's career by showing that he had talent, range, and composure. Interesting trivia for Thunderheart is Val Kilmer plays a character who is 1/4 Sioux Indian and is in real life 1/4 Cherokee Indian. It also seems there are a lot of Indians involved with the last two Kilmer flicks; weird.


The Real Deal

Thunderheart ended up being a difficult movie to find. Not only was it not available at any blockbuster in my area, but it also had a very long wait on my queue. One of those long waits where you question whether they actually have a copy of the disc or not. I finally broke down and downloaded the film and it was well worth it. I enjoyed it in spite of its lack for anything overly brilliant and exciting. I can recommend it to anyone looking for some light entertainment and fun. It ranks low on the sex, drugs, and violence scale, but there is still some blood for future reference.


The Short Version

Raw Score: 701,294
Sharon Movie? No

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Val Kilmer Movie March Presents: The Doors

The Doors (1991)

Director: Oliver Stone
Writer: Oliver Stone and Randall Jahnson
Genre: Drama/History/Music

The Story

The Doors is about the short lived rock sensation The Doors in the 1960s. Jim Morrison (Val Kilmer) was the singer and the person who pushed to start the band shortly after dropping out of film school. Jim Morrison and the rest of the band rose in popularity and then quickly fell. The movie focuses mainly on Jim Morrison and his tumultuous rise and decent from film school to stardom to his ultimate death at the age of 27.


Everything Else

The Doors represents part of the peak of Oliver Stone's career. Starting in 1986 with Platoon, then continuing with The Doors, JFK, and Natural Born Killers. The Doors has elements unique to Stone's earlier work and much more edgy in fact than his later offerings. Val Kilmer later appeared in Alexander also directed by Oliver Stone. The Doors seems similar in many ways to Natural Born Killers which is still my favorite of Stone's films (JFK being a close second). The Doors takes the edginess and combines it with sincere retelling of the history of The Doors and Jim Morrison.


The acting was superb in The Doors mainly from Val Kilmer. Val Kilmer is obviously the main attraction as he plays the part of Jim Morrison. The other acting in The Doors was good, but was completely overshadowed by Kilmer's excellent performance. The scripting seems sincere and believable with very little reason for complaint. It almost seemed like the rest of the band followed Jim Morrison too easily, but this gave the movie a more original and less cliche feel to it. This may actually be how the band interacted within their circle even.

The film looks good from a picture quality standpoint and has plenty of trippy moments that mimic Morrison's drug abuse. Similarities to Born on the Fourth of July can also be recognized within The Doors. The directing and acting duo between Stone and Cruise and Stone and Kilmer both seem to work with spectacular results and provides a film that flows gracefully.


Val Kilmer

This was the first movie that really caught people's attention as far as Val Kilmer goes. He would hardly be recognized because he truly became Jim Morrison. In fact, Val Kilmer sounded so much like Jim Morrison that the real band members of The Doors had a hard time distinguishing between Jim Morrison's voice and Val Kilmer's. That says a lot for his vocal talent and attention to detail. Not only did he sound like him, but he looked like him and did a tremendous job of using similar mannerisms. This was truly the breakout performance for Val Kilmer and proved he was a remarkable actor with amazing talent; the undeniable turning point for Val Kilmer's career.


The Real Deal

I did not see The Doors until I finally decided to do Val Kilmer movie month, but I wish now that I had seen it earlier. I am a big fan of Oliver Stone ever since seeing Natural Born Killers and Val Kilmer is certainly one of my favorite actors. It is almost odd I had not seen The Doors until now. I would recommend it to anyone who is able to get past the sex (may I reemphasize this one), drug abuse, and language and is looking for a great history piece about a band and its main driving force.


The Short Version

Raw Score: 841,002
Sharon Movie? No

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The Darjeeling Limited

The Darjeeling Limited (2007)

Director: Wes Anderson
Writer: Wes Anderson, Roman Coppola, and Jason Schwartzman
Genre: Comedy/Drama

The Story

The Darjeeling Limited is about three brothers who have not spoken in some time. Francis (Owen Wilson) makes great effort to get the other two together and convinces them to go on a trip with him on the Darjeeling Limited (a train). The three brothers have to learn how to live together again without killing each other. The story follows their path along the trip to see their mother and bond. Wes Anderson creates another excellent film with its own unique style sure to be loved by his fans. This is arguably his best film yet.


Everything Else

The directing was superb in The Darjeeling Limited. Wes Anderson knew what he wanted when he set out to make this film and it shows. Every detail seems to have been paid close attention to. The film looks great from a cinematography stand point. There are plenty of rich colors filling the screen while perfect camera angles are taken throughout.


The parts with slow motion were beautiful. I think I could have watched the entire movie in slow motion with the perfectly balanced soundtrack. The soundtrack filled my ears with the appropriate tunes to keep me hooked to every movement on the screen. The dialogue was much to be expected in a Wes Anderson film with its quirky lines and witty comedy. Each one of his films seems like an instant classic. I am sure Jason Schwartzman and Roman Coppola had a lot to do with the scripting as well though.


The acting was tremendous on all accounts. Adrien Brody was magnificent and displaying a new range of ability. Owen Wilson actually showed a glimmer of sincerity. I like the guy, but he always seems to play the same part. Maybe this was a turn toward better days for Wilson. Jason Schwartzman always catches me off guard with his ability. I never really like his characters, but he does a great job. I wish there had been more of Bill Murray; he is the man.


The Real Deal

Excellent story, scripting, directing, and acting made The Darjeeling Limited a remarkable film not to be forgotten. There are a few scenes of violence and sex, but the main distraction is the language as you would expect. Aside from that, it was a light hearted and easy to watch film. Through and through this is a Wes Anderson film from the short film Hotel Chevalier on the front to the plain, goofy credits in the end. The only thing I wanted in the end was more of it (in a good way). I will come back to Hotel Chevalier in a later review.


The Short Version

Raw Score: 875,009
Sharon Movie? No

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Happy Birthday David Cronenberg:Eastern Promises

Today David Cronenberg turns 65 and I had actually planned on posting a few reviews of David Cronenberg movies, but did not get around to it with everything else going on. Here is the review of Eastern Promises directed by David Cronenberg:



Eastern Promises (2007)

Director: David Cronenberg
Writer: Steven Knight
Genre: Crime/Drama/Mystery/Thriller

The Story

Viggo Mortensen is Nickolai, a newcomer to one of London's largest crime families. He calls himself the driver, but he also takes care of anything else that needs to be done. Naomi Watts is a midwife that cares for a young woman's (who passed away in child birth) baby that has some incriminating evidence against the crime family. As Anna (Naomi Watts), gets closer to finding out the truth and trying to care for the baby, Nickolai urges her to stay away as the family is dangerous and she has no idea what she is getting herself into.


Everything Else

This may by the strongest directing that I have seen from David Cronenberg, but he has certainly had a lot of great films in the past. Eastern Promises almost feels more mature than his earlier efforts though. This time there is not the crazy amount of gore or the graphic sex, but simply a calm and collected crime thriller. The twists and turns will keep you going even if they are not that surprising, but this movie flows with such grace that it begs for attention while presenting itself in such a quite way.

I saw this one a while back, but wanted to save it for Cronenberg's birthday since everyone had already seen and reviewed Eastern Promises anyway. I wanted to include Spider (which I got only about half way through) and possibly one of his earlier horror gore killfests which I have come to love so much in the past. There is a stark contrast between Cronenberg's earlier work and this latest effort, but most of them are great in between. For some reason I was not a fan of A History of Violence, but I might have to go back and give it another try after seeing Eastern Promises.

The acting in Eastern promises was incredible on all fronts. Naomi Watts looked like she belonged in her surroundings and Viggo was simply brilliant. Viggo has come a long ways from Witness with Harrison Ford in 1985 and has gone on to be a truly remarkable actor. Armin Mueller-Stahl is also a great actor that seems to fit his surroundings quite well in this one. He is no Marlon Brando in Eastern Promises, but he was a powerful part of a crime family in his own respect.


I loved the way the film looked in Eastern Promises. David Cronenberg still seems to stick with the video quality of some older movies that really gives the picture a great edge to it and makes it unique. Eastern Promises is not only good looking, but delivered excellent character development and story rounding it out to be a must see movie.


The Real Deal

I would have liked to review this movie beside some other Cronenberg films just to show his amazing ability to provide great films in a wide range of genres, but we will have to live with just this one for now. I would say Eastern Promises is an excellent film that everyone should get around to seeing if they have not already. It kept me hooked throughout its entirety and could be considered Cronenberg's best film to date.


The Short Version

Raw Score: 884,398
Sharon Movie? No

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The Reason For My Lack of Posts The Past Couple of Days

For all you devoted readers of Dave's Movie Reviews; sorry about the delay in posts the past couple of days. Trust me though, I have good reason. My wife was due with our first baby on March 29, but she came a little early. Emma Rose was born on March 12th on her grandfather's birthday!

Emma weighed 7lbs. 1oz. and was 21.5 inches long. Mommy and baby are happy and healthy and we all made it back home safely.


So what does this mean for Dave's Movie Reviews you ask? Well, this morning I watched Thunderheart with Emma and she slept right through it. I think we will be able to continue with the reviews and Val Kilmer month, but there may not be quite as many posts just yet as we continue to adjust to our new life as a family.

Thanks for all of your support and continued involvement at Dave's Movie Reviews! I hope to have some more posts up soon.

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Val Kilmer Movie March Presents: Kill Me Again

Kill Me Again (1989)

Director: John Dahl
Writer: John Dahl
Genre: Thriller/Crime/Drama

The Story

Kill Me Again starts off with two people robbing the mob by killing one of them and stealing their brief case. It turns out that the brief case has a lot more money than they thought (close to $9ook). This means they are on the run for sure since the mob is not going to let $900k just walk away from them. The two thieves with the money Vince (Michael Madsen) and Fay (Joanne Whalley-Kilmer) are not on the same page; Vince wants to lay low so the mob doesn't find them and Fay wants to go crazy in Vegas (stupid girl). Fay knocks out the unsuspecting Vince and takes the money. Then she decides to get Jack Andrews (Val Kilmer), a private investigator, to make it look like she has been killed and give her a false identity. The problem is that Vince and the mob are both after the money.


Everything Else

The directing of Kill Me Again was a good first effort by John Dahl, but failed to get off the ground. John Dahl is not on my good list after he made Joy Ride in 2001 so it did not surprise me to find out that this was his first film. It makes sense because the movie has elements in it that are similarly illogical to those of Joy Ride. Things happen that just don't make sense and the way that they are directed and shot do not help them look better. For an example, in Joy Ride at one point the two main characters are running in a corn field trying to get away from a Big Rig. There were so many things wrong with that scene that on first viewing I wanted to just walk out of the movie (somehow I stuck with it though). Kill Me Again should be considered a warning for future viewers of John Dahl films. John Dahl is not horrible, but he certainly is not good.

The scripting was sub par in Kill Me Again. Some proof is below.

I think this video says it all.

The acting was possibly the only thing holding the poor scripting and story together, but the acting did not standout as all too wonderful either. Maybe I am being harsh on this movie since it must be very hard to make a good movie, but I have seen so many that were actually great that it is hard to let a movie like Kill Me Again get much praise.


Val Kilmer

Val Kilmer did well and yet again proved that he has tremendous range in his acting ability. He was a singer, a genius, a fighter pilot, a swordsman, and now a private investigator. He made quite believable performances out of all of them, but still hadn't had his breakout role in The Doors. Kill Me Again was just another stop on the journey through Val Kilmer movies.


The Real Deal

I enjoyed Kill Me Again because it was entertaining; much like Joy Ride was. They are very close to goodbad movies, but just a little short of a movie like Ghost Rider. They are bad enough to laugh at, but will not make you roll out of your chair laughing. There was some violence and language in Kill Me Again, but they could be overlooked because the movie was not very intense. Check out Kill Me Again only if you want to see another Kilmer character and a role that had him acting along side Joanne Whalley-Kilmer.

The Short Version

Raw Score: 534,293
Sharon Movie? No

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Val Kilmer Movie March Presents: Willow

Willow (1988)

Director: Ron Howard
Writer: George Lucas (story) and Bob Dolman (screenplay)
Genre: Fantasy/Adventure/Action/Comedy

The Story

Willow Ufgood (Warwick Davis) is a dwarf who finds a baby on a raft (or clump of grass that floats) in the river. This baby is special and needs to be protected to hopefully one day overthrow the tyrant Queen Bavmorda. All Willow knows is the baby is not a dwarf so he does not want to have anything to do with it, but when the village finds out about the baby they send him on a quest to get it to parents of its kind. Early on his journey, he finds Madmartigan (Val Kilmer), a great swordsman, imprisoned in a small cage waiting to die. Willow lets him go so he can take care of the baby, but later the baby is taken from Madmartigan by the brownies (very little blue screened people). Now it is Willow's job to save the baby and the world with the help of Madmartigan. A story you would almost expect from Lucas, but did not play out as well as most George Lucas stories.


Everything Else

Ron Howard's directing of Willow was competent, but will not amaze anyone (or at least not me). Everything flows quite well even if it is a little dry and overused at times. The character interactions are a little off though. People do not seem to interact in a realistic way, but you can tell this is a direct result of the screenplay by Bob Dolman. Dolman had not done any movies before this one, only TV shows. It all makes sense now that I know. Ron Howard must like Dolman since he used him again with Far and Away with Tom Cruise and Nicole Kidman. Ron Howard kept the movie together in spite of the character relationship problems. Ron Howard is a very good director, but dare I say he did not prove his talent until Apollo 13 or A Beautiful Mind. Then he has Cinderella Man and The DaVinci Code. Let's just say that Willow seems like an experiment with the fantasy world for Ron Howard.


Willow looks great from a picture standpoint. The landscapes were excellent and often reminded me of Lord of the Rings (huge compliment) and Willow was made back in 1988. It had not even broken into the 90s and looked great for the most part. One of the less stellar parts of the presentation of the film were the brownies. They were very little blue screened people. They should have just left them out of the movie as they were annoying, cliche, and just plain sloppy looking. I guess that shows how far we have come in between Willow and LOTR. Another problematic scene was the two headed monster. I have to hand it to the special effects and animatronics teams for putting together the two headed monster, but it did not look good. I would still take this over some of the bad CG stuff out there, but this looked bad. The clunky movements and weird blue screen glow completely ruined it for me, but I would classify it as classic monster effects. Strangely, they could have left the monster out entirely and I don't think it would have hurt the film in any way.

Sometimes things look different when you slow them down.

The acting in Willow was good. There was likely a lot of smoothing out of the script along the way because lines I found to be terrible were actually delivered in a way that worked quite well. Warwick Davis has been in everything from Star Wars to Ray and has proven to be a good actor even if his true potential is not often used (i.e. Leprechaun). Joanne Whalley did well as Sorsha, but there was nothing too spectacular about her performance. An interesting fact is that Joanne Whalley and ex-husband Val Kilmer met on the set of Willow. They got married, had two children (Mercedes and Jack), and then in 1996 were divorced. Later, Joanne Whalley was in Played which also starred ex-husband Val Kilmer. They were also the duo in Kill Me Again (we will get to that later), but she has proven herself since as a powerful actress that is often overlooked.


Val Kilmer

That brings us right up to Val Kilmer then doesn't it. Val Kilmer did a great job as usual, but this movie had not found how great of an actor he was yet (The Doors would later prove that). Kilmer did well with the fantasy film Willow, but more serious lead roles prove more indicative of Kilmer's acting talent. Thus, Kilmer only got a few things out of Willow: he met Joanne Whalley (and married her), he played a large role in a Ron Howard film, and he proved his ability to play yet another completely different role in a film. At this point it was unlikely that many people had even noticed Val Kilmer, but soon they would know him.


The Real Deal

Willow was an enjoyable film even though it was not what I would call a great movie. It was entertaining even with its few annoying elements (brownies and bad special effects). Willow is a film that most people that enjoy fantasy movies will enjoy, but should not be held up to great movies like Star Wars or LOTR. Willow is a family fantasy movie that is good clean fun for everyone.

The Short Version

Raw Score: 651,389
Sharon Movie? Yes

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Margot at the Wedding

Margot at the Wedding (2007)

Director: Noah Baumbach
Writer: Noah Baumbach
Genre: Comedy/Drama

The Story

Margot at the Wedding is a film by Noah Baumbach who also made The Squid and the Whale and helped write The Life Aquatic with Steve Zissou. Margot at the Wedding follows Margot (Nicole Kidman) and her son Claude as they venture to her sister's (Jennifer Jason Leigh) wedding. Pauline is getting married to Malcolm (Jack Black), which Margot knows little or nothing about. When Margot gets there she immediately does not like Malcolm and has not even talked to Pauline in such a long time that everyone feels and acts awkward toward each other. Also, Margot is cheating on her husband with Dick Koosman (Ciarán Hinds) who happens to live near by Pauline. Such a mess that you never know what is going to happen.


Everything Else

The directing was good for Margot at the Wedding, but the story and scripting did not live up to The Squid and the Whale. This is the only other movie that I really have to compare it to as the style is so unique. Unique is usually a good thing and in this case was, but it also was darker than I would have liked. Each character is quirky in their own way, but none of them are likable really. The characters seem real and completely unreal at the same time. This is what made The Squid and the Whale so good too.


Nicole Kidman did a great job as usual and plays a character easy to hate from the start. Margot is obnoxious and that’s the point. Jack Black almost seems like himself. He is quirky and funny, but sort of in a pathetic way. Every character is disgusting which is the best and worst part of the film. You are not supposed to like the characters, but it's hard to even care about any of them. This is also what makes Margot at the Wedding so unique and interesting.

Along with the quirky characters, there is the scripting that reminded me of The Squid and the Whale or even Wes Anderson scripting. They both worked on Life Aquatic together so possibly this is where it came from. I love how harsh and direct the dialogue is. Sometimes a character will say something and you will wonder if they really said it.

The scripting and interesting characters were not helped by the poor lighting and rough camera work. This helped make it more real feeling, but also made the mood drag the entire time. Also it was hard to see things a lot of the time. Once was similar in this way, but it had the music to make up for it. Margot at the Wedding is likely to leave you wanting more at the end.


The Real Deal

I enjoyed Margot at the Wedding, but it is still in The Squid and the Whale’s shadow. It is unfortunate with the cast, this movie did not live up to its full potential, but it was definitely good. I am glad that I picked this one up. It is definitely not for everyone due to the language, sexual references, and just plain oddness. If you are looking for something out of the norm, then this is a safe bet.


The Short Version

Raw Score: 803,283
Sharon Movie? No

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