Short Review: One of the best westerns made.


Kurt Russell, Val Kilmer, Sam Elliott, Bill Paxton, Michael Biehn, Powers Boothe, Charlton Heston, Stephen Lang, Thomas Haden Church, Dana Delany, Michael Rooker and Billy Bob Thornton - All of them and you toss in Robert Mitchum doing the narration for good measure? This is how you cast your Western.


This is a film that others in Hollywood movies should emulate. Directors George P. Cosmatos and Kurt Russell explore the familiar tale of the shoot-out at the OK Corral . Following his famed stewardship of Dodge City, Wyatt Earp (Kurt Russell), retires to Tombstone, Arizona where he hopes to live a quiet existence with his brothers and their friend Doc Holiday (Val Kilmer).

Earp's idyllic dreams are ruined by the Cowboys, a band of outlaws, who threaten the small town. The Earp Brothers, along with Holiday, face down the brutal outlaws. The conflict leads to the final shoot-out that made all of the men legends.

While the cast is impressive, it is Val Kilmer who makes the movie. His turn as Doc Holiday is one of the great performances in the genre and one of the best film performances of the 1990's. His sly, fatalistic Holiday is reason enough to see the film.

Doc Holiday is presented as an ominous gunslinger who has the capacity to bring quick death to anyone. His ever present danger is undercut by terminal illness. He is racked with tuberculosis and is physically fading. The duality of a dying man who is forced to summon the skills of his healthier days is fascinating to watch.

Kevin Jarre’s script is perfectly paced and full of so many brilliant lines I can’t decide where to begin my praise. The dialog in this script puts most screenwriters to shame. Characters should always have heightened speech. The best way to elevate your characters is through the words that flow from their lips. Jarre offers his characters great lines that perfectly match their personalities. Not once does the elevated language feel imposed. Another example of this use of grand language is Pirates of The Caribbean series (written by Ted Elliot and Terry Rossio.)

Jarre’s wise use of language meshed with Kurt Russell’s confident performance give credence to the fear that Wyatt Earp puts into those around him even though he doesn’t use his gun until the midpoint of the film.




Children, that is how you write dialog.

This is how you make a movie.


Cautions: Obviously, since this deals with the shoot-out at the OK Corral, there is violence. In comparison to what you see on TV these days, the violence is not out of hand.


Worldview: Men are fallen and their hunger knows no bounds. This hunger for power, sex, wealth drive many to commit atrocities. These horrors can happen on large and small scales. The immediate threat the Cowboys pose to the peace of Tombstone is an interesting moral problem that replicates the one found in war zones. When is it acceptable for a man to pull the trigger? To kill another man?

The sixth commandment states "You shalt not murder". Murdering is different than killing. Murder assumes no moral right is promoted by the act. Murder is wasteful and hateful. One is permitted to kill as the need arises however. But where does that moment come?


Self-defense is one of the central human rights. The ability to be free is centered on this concept. Wyatt Earp tries to shirk the concerns over the Cowboys, up to the point where violence is visited upon his family.

Wyatt refuses the role of Sheriff only to have his brother Morgan take up the position. Morgan is the calm soul, the thoughtful brother who says at one point "God made all this and He remembered to make a little speck like me." He is not the one to confront the evil of the world alone. That is Wyatt's calling. Wyatt's hesitation to stand up to evil costs both him and Morgan dearly.

I find questions about where these important lines are drawn to be fascinating. I also find that they cause a boatload of arguments as well. I would say that it proves the potency of this film that a simple Western can prompt such thoughts in the first place.



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Labels: Bill Paxton, Billy Bob Thornton, Charlton Heston, film, Kurt Russell, Michael Biehn, movie review, Powers Boothe, Sam Elliott, Stephen Lang, Thomas Haden Church, Val Kilmer, western

At first glance this doesn't seem like much other than Nicholas Cage overacting. I'm hesitant to dismiss it however. Werner Herzog when he's not wasting the world's time making his ham-fisted documentaries is capable of brilliance. It has been a while since he's shown it, but one never knows.

This said, Cage strikes me as a miscast from the word go. We'll see.






Screenwriter: William M. Finkelstein
Director: Werner Herzog (The Grizzly Man)
Actors: Nicholas Cage (Lord of War), Val Kilmer (Top Secret), Eva Mendes (We Own the Night), Jennifer Coolidge (Best of Show), Fairuza Balk (Things to Do in Denver When You're Dead) and Brad Dourif (Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers)

Labels: Eva Mendes, film, Jennifer Coolidge, movie trailer, Nicholas Cage, Val Kilmer, Werner Herzog

Short Review: This film left me more disappointed than Clay Aitkin’s girlfriend on prom night.


Overall, this should have been a great film. You have a great cast (Robert De Niro, Tom Sizemore, Val Kilmer, Jon Voiht, Dennis Haysbert and William Fichtner) along with Michael Mann writing and directing. What could possibly go wrong?

Al Pacino.

I liken his performance in this film to a child who ruins a beautiful family portrait by sticking out his tongue. Where everyone else is cemented in reality and subtlety, Pacino is a bellowing cartoon.

Other than Glen Garry Glen Ross, what has he done the past couple decades that hasn’t been overblown and goofy? He is stuck in Scarface mode. Watch the film and tell me you don’t expect him to scream out “Say hello to my little friend!” It’s a shame to see a single element in a film trash the whole piece.

The story is thought out and carefully executed. This is an interesting character piece and most of the actors take advantage of the opportunities Mann’s script provides. While some weak points do exist, the story is overall rather sturdy and advances some wonderful scenes.

There is one thing about this film that is simply brilliant – the sound. This has to be one of the best sounding films made in recent memory. The gunfights are stunning to hear. The rumbling echoes of the rifles off buildings are a joy to hear. Finally, a sound designer who actually wants the film to sound like real life.

Looking at the piece as a whole, it is worth seeing if you’ve missed it. This stands even though Pacino screams in every scene. I kept waiting for one of the other characters near to him to flinch and respond “Hey, you don’t have to yell, I’m standing right here!”


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Labels: Al Pacino, Robert De Niro, Tom Sizemore, Val Kilmer

What the heck is with the soundtrack on this one? What is that Earth Music (or whatever it is) playing over an ad for a Western? Why not just play a polka?

Fantastic film but this trailer does a terrible job selling it. The film's best features, the dialog and Val Kilmer and Kurt Russell performances aren't really displayed well. What we do get is a spoiler on Morgan Earp's fate and a series of dizzying snippets.

Labels: Bill Paxton, Charlton Heston, film, Kurt Russell, movie trailer, Sam Elliott, Val Kilmer

Short Review: Apparently, the writer decided to replace the punctuation in his script with curse words.


Watching this film is like going out for a night on the town with a friend of mine. You have fun and intelligent conversation for about the first hour and then he gets one too many drinks in him and he starts fights, swears too much and eventually moons the cops. This movie begins wonderfully. Yes, it is littered with foul language, crude references and violence…that breeze you just heard was all of my Christian readers running away from this review. This is a foul movie in many respects but the first act of the film is still a great watch. It is tightly written, expertly crafted and needless cursing aside, fun.

Penned and directed by veteran screenwriter Shane Black (Lethal Weapon, The Last Boyscout) this movie is bristling with marvelous dialog and ingenious narration. Yeah, narration, the bane of my existence - the Cheese Whiz and Spam sandwich in the screenwriting buffet. Black’s use of narration is wonderful and funny. Black has a cynical sense of humor and knows how to throw out insults. As one who appreciates cynicism, along with clever insults, I have always had a soft spot for Black’s work.

The film revolves around Harry Lockhart (Robert Downey Jr.), a former failing criminal turn soon to be failing film actor. Lockhart gets mingled in a murder mystery with hardened Hollywood private investigator Gay Perry (Val Kilmer.) The piece is an exercise in the hollow joys of cynicism. Everyone is bitter, disturbed and sarcastic to the extreme. Every scene drips with contempt for Hollywood, the entertainment industry and those who exist around its fringes. This is the film’s strongest point but it is also its undoing.

The film is a great watch for about forty minutes Again, I return to the idea that this film is a little like sharing a park bench with a belligerent drunk. They may be humorous for a little while but eventually it just wears on you and its just sad. The film keeps going on you just want it to end already. The cynicism is great to open with, but it just doesn’t let up and eventually overtakes the piece. This is particularly evident in the final act where Black’s story loses steam sputters along for the final half-hour. The film ends with a limping plot that becomes more crude than clever.

Overall, while I love many parts of the film for my own film geek reasons, I think the normal person will not find this experience one they will want to repeat. As a movie, it goes stale and why would you want to sit through that?

The final piece of narration in the film should sum up whether you think this film is for you or not:



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Labels: film, movie review, Robert Downey Jr, Shane Black, Val Kilmer

Screenwriter: Ric Roman Waugh (In the Shadows)
Director: Ric Roman Waugh
Actors: Val Kilmer (Spartan), Stephen Dorff (Blade), Sam Shepard (Thunderheart), Harold Perrineau (The Edge), and Anne Archer (Clear and Present Danger)

Labels: Anne Archer, film, Harold Perrineau, movie trailer, Sam Shepard, Stephen Dorff, Val Kilmer

This movie runs at one hundred jokes per minute. This film may have more sight gags than any other film ever made. Val Kilmer heads up this film by Jim Abrahams and the Zucker Brothers (Airplane!) If you like the humor of The Naked Gun, you will love this piece. Note, this is loaded with lowbrow humor - sex jokes abound. If you're sensitive about offensive jokes, this is not a movie for you.


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Labels: comedy, movie review, Val Kilmer, Zucker Brothers

Short Review: By the looks of it, they didn't find any minds before making this film.


This is so abundantly stupid, so fully juvenile, that it is almost beyond reviewing. A pronouncement that this film stinks is as shocking as a warning to people that the sun is real toasty..

Cast with the who’s who or who’s not who anymore, this movie is like a career obituary. Wondering what ever became of Christian Slater or Val Kilmer? This film answers your query: Not much.

I’m shocked they were able to cast this heap in the first place. I cannot imagine any actor read this script and thought to themselves “Yeah, this is going to advance the ol’ career.” Val Kilmer would have been better served doing hemorrhoid cream ads during the Super Bowl than being connected with this swamp of stupid. Like Charles Bronson making the Deathwish films, Kilmer has gone from making bad movies to simply making calls for help.

Let’s try to force our way into the inane story about a bunch of investigators stranded on an island that serves as a training ground investigators in order to hunt a fake killer only to find their fake killer is actually real. Beyond this tenth-grade creative writing plotline, we are left to behold some truly pathetic dialog and characters that are less developed than Michael Jackson’s forearms. When a character is killed it literally means nothing. There is nothing for the audience to connect to which instills a moment’s discomfort with losing anyone on screen. The grandest death in the piece elicits the same response as watching someone throwing away a used Styrofoam cup. Actually, that’s not entirely true. One can surmise that the cup had a purpose at one point and probably gave the consumer a moment of satisfaction. There, it proven: This film has less worth than a used, chewed up Styrofoam cup.

The film isn’t a complete loss. You do get to see Christian Slater get killed. I’ve always been a huge supporter of his death scenes. He should get killed on-screen more often. Usually when someone tells me he’s in a film, reflexively I hurriedly ask, “Does he get killed?”

Skip this stinker, its not worth a moment of your consideration.


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Labels: Christian Slater, film, movie review, serial killer, Val Kilmer

Short Review: This movie doesn’t waste your time. It ties it up, stuffs it into the trunk of its car and drives it to the outskirts of town and tortures it.


Here is a movie written and directed by David Mamet, easily one of the most important American playwrights of the 20th Century. It is cast with a collection of some of the best real actors working (Ed O’Neill (Married with Children) I have always considered to be highly underrated) There’s an experienced and talented crew working behind the scenes. But yet this film is a aimless waste. What happened?

They forgot to tell the bad guy to show up.

I have affection for Mamet’s dialog. He is one of the best dialog writers to put pen to paper. I give him a pass for his notorious vulgarity the same way I forgive Jimi Hendrix his goofy lyrics for the sake of his guitar playing. The problem is that while Mamet is a genius with dialog, he is a doofus when it comes to plot. Mamet’s contemporary in the American theater, Sam Shepard, has the same problem with his films. There must be something in the transition from working on the stage to the screen. In the theater you can get away with prattling on without a linear progression (its not advisable, but you can do it.) In film, you must stick to the story.

The first act is solid enough and introduces the characters and situation to a degree where I was willing to go along. By the end of the second act I knew we were in trouble. The story started drifting, trying to find itself. The longer the story went on the more it meandered out of control. In the end, Mamet had to give up, kill everyone, and hope we didn’t notice his story didn’t lead us anywhere. The third act was easily one of the worst of the year given the talent of its writer. This film proves one thing. You can have plot twists without having a plot.

You must have a distinct antagonist to have a story. It doesn’t have to be a human. It can be an institution or a social movement, but in the end, you must have a bad guy. If not, there isn't any conflict. A void of conflict means you will have a meandering and meaningless story. There is a rule some screenwriters have when they work. They write their endings first. I agree with this for the most part. When you work on a story you need to make certain you know your ending before you begin. Who are the players in the end? What is happening and why? What are you saying with your ending? If you don’t answer these questions before you begin your audience will be forced to ask them when you’re done – and that’s not their job.


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Labels: Davd Mamet, Ed O’Neill, film, movie review, Val Kilmer