ROBERT DOWNEY JR WITH VAL KILMER IN 'KISS KISS BANG BANG'

<p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgTj5QgmC1f71xgyKkF0lcZiIl1qKi7hBW0KNvl06PgXD04-mamsq10Y2JMAxEkIlLb03I86x2sTX8rRudWdE3dK3izMCVcxAKxGR-92jvJ5VQ-io-r7G6iTdXlkjE6aEBHIHvBJmtQ9FcB9bJLG_ioQmt87uiG_u7OS2vMqdc5lHctsHNS0u3tfGwocmjX/s2394/Screen%20Shot%202025-04-04%20at%2011.12.14%20PM.jpeg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1196" data-original-width="2394" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgTj5QgmC1f71xgyKkF0lcZiIl1qKi7hBW0KNvl06PgXD04-mamsq10Y2JMAxEkIlLb03I86x2sTX8rRudWdE3dK3izMCVcxAKxGR-92jvJ5VQ-io-r7G6iTdXlkjE6aEBHIHvBJmtQ9FcB9bJLG_ioQmt87uiG_u7OS2vMqdc5lHctsHNS0u3tfGwocmjX/s16000/Screen%20Shot%202025-04-04%20at%2011.12.14%20PM.jpeg"></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><u>Michelle Monaghan in KISS KISS BANG BANG Year: 2005 Rating: ****</u></td></tr></tbody></table><p>Famous for writing the original LETHAL WEAPON, thus receiving story credit for the entire hit-and-miss franchise, Shane Black energetically attempts to trade mainstream action for a Quentin Tarantino style wheelhouse of humorously neurotic criminals who still do violent, desperate, horrible things... </p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p>And instead of outright ripping off the PULP FICTION auteur, Black goes back even further, basing the adapted KISS KISS BANG BANG on his love of Pulp Fiction itself: detective novels that inspired everything in the 1940's/1950's Noir lexicon, making this a mile-a-minute Neo Noir that runs itself ragged before the first fifteen minutes...</p><p><span></span></p>

ariel winter, buddy, comedy, crime, dark comedy, genre tarantino, gumshoe, michelle monaghan, neo noir, robert downey jr., shane black, shannyn sossamon, stephanie pearson, val kilmer, zeroes

ROBERT DOWNEY JR WITH VAL KILMER IN 'KISS KISS BANG BANG'

Michelle Monaghan in KISS KISS BANG BANG Year: 2005 Rating: **** Famous for writing the original LETHAL WEAPON, thus receiving story credit ...

VAL KILMER, JOANNE WHALLEY AND WARWICK DAVIS IN 'WILLOW'

<p></p><p></p><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh4hwG_MuPaN2tmGuZWNpk4oyYor_NY6zcb6c4MlTh2ImtwU1f3dyeDdls4rIUJb-ry3Y-po5jeUfUReMkI6QkjmyEUXyF7S3vRxjJZhEp2qUdioNTcjtJVS_gWoJ-4Bm_W5mq0oNFqsZO9NuI2WXUPnolMcu0sdDBysET_8HoltOhyphenhyphen4tHqDXjIQlT3j4ti/s1878/Screen%20Shot%202025-04-06%20at%208.39.17%20PM.jpeg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1152" data-original-width="1878" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh4hwG_MuPaN2tmGuZWNpk4oyYor_NY6zcb6c4MlTh2ImtwU1f3dyeDdls4rIUJb-ry3Y-po5jeUfUReMkI6QkjmyEUXyF7S3vRxjJZhEp2qUdioNTcjtJVS_gWoJ-4Bm_W5mq0oNFqsZO9NuI2WXUPnolMcu0sdDBysET_8HoltOhyphenhyphen4tHqDXjIQlT3j4ti/s16000/Screen%20Shot%202025-04-06%20at%208.39.17%20PM.jpeg"></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><u>Title: WILLOW Year: 1988 Rating: ***</u></td></tr></tbody></table><p>There's a point in the George Lucas production WILLOW directed by Ron Howard, a cross between STAR WARS and THE LORD OF THE RINGS, when Val Kilmer's ragged heart-of-gold scoundrel Madmartigan is battling an antagonist at the back of a horse-drawn carriage, and Lucas's RAIDERS OF THE LOST ARK also comes to mind...<br><br>Overall paced more like a rugged Western than Magical Fantasy, Ron Howard seems more at home with fast-paced action than thrusting the viewer into another world where, like in STAR WARS, an important someone has to be rescued by a naive farmer... in this case the titular WILLOW played by former Ewok Warwick Davis, who goes on the initial foot journey to protect an infant that will overthrow a vicious sorcerer-queen... <br></p><p></p><p><span></span></p>

action, adventure, eighties, fantasy, gavan o'herlihy, george lucas, jean marsh, joanne whalley, pat roach, rick overton, ron howard, val kilmer

VAL KILMER, JOANNE WHALLEY AND WARWICK DAVIS IN 'WILLOW'

Title: WILLOW Year: 1988 Rating: *** There's a point in the George Lucas production WILLOW directed by Ron Howard, a cross between STAR ...

VAL KILMER PLAYS JIM MORRISON IN OLIVER STONE'S 'THE DOORS'

<p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEijvKDjLXfUM9_9fsqGIt1sqYcpXW8OKOrxdHLeYA1fejE17S8rln5T0zQBpVbVr9Cmyl3dBNrN1AaYcjNlp64Y-mkpLMHYHfq-ZkF2SH7S5K3F7uEFqeuAd27mlFbFzFqBmrfrni0wLz3fK4ok-jlyNA-D2hnR0t4FiRgJ_U0pVH8tkGtONT11DAcduGun/s1386/Screen%20Shot%202025-04-06%20at%2010.19.44%20PM.jpeg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="812" data-original-width="1386" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEijvKDjLXfUM9_9fsqGIt1sqYcpXW8OKOrxdHLeYA1fejE17S8rln5T0zQBpVbVr9Cmyl3dBNrN1AaYcjNlp64Y-mkpLMHYHfq-ZkF2SH7S5K3F7uEFqeuAd27mlFbFzFqBmrfrni0wLz3fK4ok-jlyNA-D2hnR0t4FiRgJ_U0pVH8tkGtONT11DAcduGun/s16000/Screen%20Shot%202025-04-06%20at%2010.19.44%20PM.jpeg"></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><u>CineGraphx image of Val Kilmer in Oliver Stone's THE DOORS Year: 1991 Rating: ***</u></td></tr></tbody></table><p>At one point in Oliver Stone's THE DOORS, Jim Morrison is told by one of several female admirers that he's better than the band itself, and that everyone only cares about him... that HE ALONE is The Doors... which is basically how Stone's movie winds up, far too quickly shifting away from an involving biopic about how four guys met in Venice, California and started a band, wrote great songs and played (from nightclubs to auditoriums) before screaming audiences...<br></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p>So the first act harbors the best scenes, with Kilmer's brooding Morrison meeting founding member keyboardist Kyle MacLachlan as Ray Manzerek, a kind of uptight Felix to Jim's grungy Oscar... as Stone's PLATOON tough-guy Kevin Dillon plays drummer John Densmore as the band's Doubting Thomas, while Jim's real life favorite Robby Krieger's portrayed by Frank Whaley like he's never taken a single drug in his life...</p><p><span></span></p>

biopic, counter-culture, crispin glover, frank whaley, kathleen quinlan, kevin dillon, kyle maclachlan, meg ryan, michael madsen, music, nineties, oliver stone, olivia barash, sam whipple, val kilmer

VAL KILMER PLAYS JIM MORRISON IN OLIVER STONE'S 'THE DOORS'

CineGraphx image of Val Kilmer in Oliver Stone's THE DOORS Year: 1991 Rating: *** At one point in Oliver Stone's THE DOORS, Jim Morr...

VAL KILMER, GABRIEL JARRET & WILLIAM ATHERTON IN 'REAL GENIUS'

<p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhhfQDyV6ofG7T912smviE853CDRHdwmC4qDavvzFUqbMjZQGlS_v3A4NvYzzM3R3852d2jIIXY6u5rwSIimK_b3m0XMh1an4r4nff405z6JmTjJyaVdSfrr-xHnBT3d1cf_EgAgh8OpKDV9hbzLybQxza8U5zfgmXJ12NRFNJR4SLp2-iL3OKa1uSlRsvn/s2000/Screen%20Shot%202025-04-04%20at%206.02.01%20PM.jpeg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1108" data-original-width="2000" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhhfQDyV6ofG7T912smviE853CDRHdwmC4qDavvzFUqbMjZQGlS_v3A4NvYzzM3R3852d2jIIXY6u5rwSIimK_b3m0XMh1an4r4nff405z6JmTjJyaVdSfrr-xHnBT3d1cf_EgAgh8OpKDV9hbzLybQxza8U5zfgmXJ12NRFNJR4SLp2-iL3OKa1uSlRsvn/s16000/Screen%20Shot%202025-04-04%20at%206.02.01%20PM.jpeg"></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><u>Val Kilmer in REAL GENIUS Year: 1985 Rating: ****</u></td></tr></tbody></table><p>In two consecutive years, William Atherton played a smug antagonist against underdog scientific protagonists... in GHOSTBUSTERS he wanted to shut down the titular agency and in REAL GENIUS he's a television science-broadcaster using his high-tech university's two most brilliant students to create a laser that the military ultimately wants to...</p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p>Well whatever's going on in the cold-war subplot doesn't make much sense, so the third-act revenge-scheme against Atherton is basically when GENIUS loses the audience (like the TRADING PLACES Wall Street sting)...  </p><span></span>

cold war, college, comedy, deborah foreman, ed lauter, eighties, gabe jarret, robert prescot, science-fiction, val kilmer, william atherton

VAL KILMER, GABRIEL JARRET & WILLIAM ATHERTON IN 'REAL GENIUS'

Val Kilmer in REAL GENIUS Year: 1985 Rating: **** In two consecutive years, William Atherton played a smug antagonist against underdog scien...

VAL KILMER, JOANNE WHALLEY & MICHAEL MADSEN 'KILL ME AGAIN'

<p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjEEfi9CCaNneN5Q4hSzb8enR8T-nTA1G62_gjPEiCdllk_cco-qI9TNJtLrFS55VSpfDQtfPPIY9vEYbjuePaOHhI9DLDTsvaudnUYCUplKYwcmhMDqAIbF0__MMRZgVXFJBGfMJW4w8ZCHJO43rSOA_tSIgRTH7pXUfC1TJfXepxw9j8oh4T9jGId0JiP/s1368/Screen%20Shot%202025-04-04%20at%207.51.15%20PM.jpeg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="718" data-original-width="1368" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjEEfi9CCaNneN5Q4hSzb8enR8T-nTA1G62_gjPEiCdllk_cco-qI9TNJtLrFS55VSpfDQtfPPIY9vEYbjuePaOHhI9DLDTsvaudnUYCUplKYwcmhMDqAIbF0__MMRZgVXFJBGfMJW4w8ZCHJO43rSOA_tSIgRTH7pXUfC1TJfXepxw9j8oh4T9jGId0JiP/s16000/Screen%20Shot%202025-04-04%20at%207.51.15%20PM.jpeg"></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><u>Val Kilmer in KILL ME AGAIN Year: 1989 Rating: **1/2</u></td></tr></tbody></table><p>A perpetually sexy/sultry stare with pursed full lips in a steamy Reno-set 1980's Neo Noir fits both femme fatale Joanne Whalley and her then-husband Val Kilmer... as a crookedly gorgeous dame who just stole her crazy boyfriend's stolen cash, and the kind of private investigator that usually narrates with a world-weary monotone... <br></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p>But crime melodrama director John Dahl leaves the simple story more to close-up visuals than too much pulpy wordplay... Whalley's Fay Forrester actually gets the idea to hire Kilmer's Jack Andrews to pretend killing her by reading a tabloid magazine headline... all so that psychopathic Madsen's Marty will no longer dog her rural, scorching desert, cheap-motel-hopping, bag-of-cash trail...</p><p><span></span></p>

eighties, joanne whalley, jon gries, joseph carberry, michael greene, michael madsen, neo noir, romance, val kilmer

VAL KILMER, JOANNE WHALLEY & MICHAEL MADSEN 'KILL ME AGAIN'

Val Kilmer in KILL ME AGAIN Year: 1989 Rating: **1/2 A perpetually sexy/sultry stare with pursed full lips in a steamy Reno-set 1980's N...

MARLON BRANDO & VAL KILMER RUIN 'THE ISLAND OF DR. MOREAU'

<p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiZcpkoBSsUNliEi-EKOlUGI5kMxQSZdYCRnnU5XByWA3e_K_Gj7YSOQalshkw41o-6CJ8iQpu5jK3RCGpCbg-UJYY8RyQjkdS6YsMnKnbUAIvmZr7ND2IKcRNuDMxCtw0N66-tVh46AcTtt7h2pnh1bsy96uxXEsr2AA9NhbB1yN7700q2uflPUbuJwIfE/s1869/Screen%20Shot%202024-11-02%20at%2010.20.55%20AM%202.jpeg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="974" data-original-width="1869" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiZcpkoBSsUNliEi-EKOlUGI5kMxQSZdYCRnnU5XByWA3e_K_Gj7YSOQalshkw41o-6CJ8iQpu5jK3RCGpCbg-UJYY8RyQjkdS6YsMnKnbUAIvmZr7ND2IKcRNuDMxCtw0N66-tVh46AcTtt7h2pnh1bsy96uxXEsr2AA9NhbB1yN7700q2uflPUbuJwIfE/s16000/Screen%20Shot%202024-11-02%20at%2010.20.55%20AM%202.jpeg"></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><u>Val Kilmer in THE ISLAND OF DR. MOREAU Year: 1996 Rating: **</u></td></tr></tbody></table><p>As the story goes, original director and screenwriter Richard Stanley was fired from THE ISLAND OF DR. MOREAU, replaced by veteran John Frankenheimer who, prone to making action movies, seems confused whether it's an aggressive PLANET OF THE APES creature-uprising prequel or the quirky sci-fi/horror that the quirky Richard Stanley probably intended...<br><br>What's really strange is that big-budget superstar Bruce Willis was going to star in <i>that</i> original arthouse horror... replaced with offbeat British actor David Thewlis, seeming more like he'd be Stanley's choice over Frankenheimer's, who would have been able to do a high-octane Bruce Willis flick with his aged-eyes closed... meanwhile the more ambiguous Thewlis allowed the strange story to unfold before his vulnerable eyes as opposed to Willis (or Rob Morrow even), who would probably seem far above and beyond the situation... Thewis is there for the audience <i>and</i> the story... <br></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><span></span>

creature, horror, john frankenheimer, marlon brando, nineties, science-fiction, val kilmer

MARLON BRANDO & VAL KILMER RUIN 'THE ISLAND OF DR. MOREAU'

Val Kilmer in THE ISLAND OF DR. MOREAU Year: 1996 Rating: ** As the story goes, original director and screenwriter Richard Stanley was fired...

TOM CRUISE RETURNS FOR THE POPULAR 'TOP GUN: MAVERICK"

<p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiciyXZqCJUAWS6a3tOpSJa1pCMv-Qar0jf5WuZhvbyM6UxMf8To1l4Fr6UP7maWIK6GKcNBV-xZIayYkO30rdmr9DKXkvbDK6ZNusHdrbaIWVM-DgLA7bSjWJYIrrfyj2CdNBjm4vMnnIZquz56jWHtg3USqSNGLDdlCEdiBZo8-Y8erPF0t6e73YCgQ/s960/top-gun-maverick-poster-crop.jpeg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="445" data-original-width="960" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiciyXZqCJUAWS6a3tOpSJa1pCMv-Qar0jf5WuZhvbyM6UxMf8To1l4Fr6UP7maWIK6GKcNBV-xZIayYkO30rdmr9DKXkvbDK6ZNusHdrbaIWVM-DgLA7bSjWJYIrrfyj2CdNBjm4vMnnIZquz56jWHtg3USqSNGLDdlCEdiBZo8-Y8erPF0t6e73YCgQ/s16000/top-gun-maverick-poster-crop.jpeg"></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><u>Title: TOP GUN: MAVERICK Year: 2022 Rating: **</u></td></tr></tbody></table><p>Before deliberately channeling the STAR WARS Death Star trench run, TOP GUN: MAVERICK mirrors THE RIGHT STUFF with a breaking-the-barrier sequence that even features Ed Harris, playing the first of two uptight authority-figures, frowning and scowling at anything our returning/rebellious hero does... </p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p>The thing is, Tom Cruise's MAVERICK really doesn't break many rules, sent back to the familiar TOP GUN headquarters to train a group of youngsters for the Lucas-inspired mission: a single plane (flanked by guardians) needs to strategically drop a bomb into a perfectly tight space to blow-up an entire villainous compound...<br></p><p></p><p><span></span></p>

2022, action, adventure, ed harris, jennifer connelly, jon hamm, miles teller, military, mission, new, sequel, tom cruise, val kilmer

TOM CRUISE RETURNS FOR THE POPULAR 'TOP GUN: MAVERICK"

Title: TOP GUN: MAVERICK Year: 2022 Rating: ** Before deliberately channeling the STAR WARS Death Star trench run, TOP GUN: MAVERICK mirror...

VAL KILMER & LUCY GUTTERIDGE SEND UP SPIES IN 'TOP SECRET!'

<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjBdVsQPgnAEpW1jefT67viN6o7J2qnKkdH0wzxUxe0Mx1jjC-4ifhaZ4v2SqHAXhyH3VugZGF5XRPrBXgQuV18cJz4AOeAjuQzPseuiK8JUBHiFCy4smHUz45naHtwHe-PQ4fqjMvAraZI/s2014/Screen+Shot+2021-07-28+at+6.36.55+AM.jpeg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1273" data-original-width="2014" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjBdVsQPgnAEpW1jefT67viN6o7J2qnKkdH0wzxUxe0Mx1jjC-4ifhaZ4v2SqHAXhyH3VugZGF5XRPrBXgQuV18cJz4AOeAjuQzPseuiK8JUBHiFCy4smHUz45naHtwHe-PQ4fqjMvAraZI/s16000/Screen+Shot+2021-07-28+at+6.36.55+AM.jpeg"></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><u>Val Kilmer as Nick Rivers in TOP SECRET! Directors: Jim Abrahams, David & Jerry Zucker Year: 1984 Rating: ***1/2</u></td></tr></tbody></table><p>Nonstop humor with a real plot is called funny... without a plot, silly... and the creators of the extremely funny AIRPLANE! deliberately set out to make a fast-paced, extremely silly satire covering a bagful of genres...</p><p></p><p>Particularly WW2 spy thrillers with Elvis Musicals thrown in... in the form of Val Kilmer as Nick Rivers, a somehow contemporary Rock N' Roller booked to play a Nazi German concert that sort of comes and goes... </p><p></p><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiAxeBKIEb2EmOzy6jPW5HHo_kZWWyIqCzQCX_q-UcJfAJTR60M4byCqiO9EFml658ah5Ak7nUh1lkuqAc5HQS0Jv7ingh9MNNVb0xF7VIasWjgzygV8URA5vQDW1guXG5TA9p6kNLzs0dx/s2048/Screen+Shot+2021-07-28+at+6.38.45+AM.jpeg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1185" data-original-width="2048" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiAxeBKIEb2EmOzy6jPW5HHo_kZWWyIqCzQCX_q-UcJfAJTR60M4byCqiO9EFml658ah5Ak7nUh1lkuqAc5HQS0Jv7ingh9MNNVb0xF7VIasWjgzygV8URA5vQDW1guXG5TA9p6kNLzs0dx/s16000/Screen+Shot+2021-07-28+at+6.38.45+AM.jpeg"></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><u>Lucy Gutteridge as Hillary Flammond in TOP SECRET!</u></td></tr></tbody></table><p>Meanwhile the actual attempt at a primary plot involves ingenue Lucy Gutteridge's scientist father needing rescue by the help of a goofy band of French Resistance fighters, only around to finish off a busy, somewhat exhausting story that the jokes leading up served an almost constant bulwark for... </p><p></p><p>They're mostly action-based visual gags since this <i>is</i> an action/adventure, albeit more like Mel Brooks (parodying movie-making itself) than Abrahams, Zucker & Zucker's previous (POLICE SQUAD) and future work (the NAKED GUN franchise, in which Omar Sharif foreshadows OJ Simpson's accident-prone Wile E. Coyote type)...</p><p></p><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhipQS3VpBg3p7RQ7zX8kvGQghOmhAlA0a3nrdQlaHFAqm5bA5_Z3syMR__L5_u_-WnoxJgUQlQlgxJ3xrDHYsw2RFNuIZsaq77fhEabFoDtCeXjpXQv0aeAdl3g5TnHaAUSwqJhG5LAEd3/s2048/Screen+Shot+2021-07-28+at+6.50.28+AM.jpeg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1187" data-original-width="2048" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhipQS3VpBg3p7RQ7zX8kvGQghOmhAlA0a3nrdQlaHFAqm5bA5_Z3syMR__L5_u_-WnoxJgUQlQlgxJ3xrDHYsw2RFNuIZsaq77fhEabFoDtCeXjpXQv0aeAdl3g5TnHaAUSwqJhG5LAEd3/s16000/Screen+Shot+2021-07-28+at+6.50.28+AM.jpeg"></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><u>Cows through binoculars from TOP SECRET!</u><br></td></tr></tbody></table><p>Perhaps the writing/directing trio worked too hard to accomplish a multi-satire that's gained a pretty decent cult following despite (and because of) the disappointing opening-weekend... Or those who tire of the AIRPLANE! accolades while pushing the dark-horse notion that this one's a lot better, funnier... </p><p></p><p>Overall TOP SECRET! is yet another "underrated failure because it wasn't treated fairly" that <i>does</i> deserve more recognition... including Val Kilmer's naturally appealing comic timing sustained in REAL GENIUS... but perhaps more for the entertainingly energetic ambition than end result. </p><p><span></span></p>

action, adventure, amar sharif, eighties, escape, ian mcneice, lucy gutteridge, musical, peter cushing, satire, spy, val kilmer, warren clarke, world war II

VAL KILMER & LUCY GUTTERIDGE SEND UP SPIES IN 'TOP SECRET!'

Val Kilmer as Nick Rivers in TOP SECRET! Directors: Jim Abrahams, David & Jerry Zucker Year: 1984 Rating: ***1/2 Nonstop humor with a re...

MICHAEL FASSBENDER IS AN AGENT ON ICE IN THE SNOWMAN

<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody> <tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg9SuDywtkaE88Dad6KcquJHTQUrts3biz7LwC5DeNYKHqSj2OTiPf4G22WrwcxLj0EX-3SpevIYwNy8uRlRK1CL5JO6udUvTCU5AxsvAYxOEFJwxuv-uTYdG75R1-n1Q-AXwyXodEiz6Mv/s1600/Screen-Shot-2017-03-30-at-09.09.32-750x350.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="299" data-original-width="485" height="246" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg9SuDywtkaE88Dad6KcquJHTQUrts3biz7LwC5DeNYKHqSj2OTiPf4G22WrwcxLj0EX-3SpevIYwNy8uRlRK1CL5JO6udUvTCU5AxsvAYxOEFJwxuv-uTYdG75R1-n1Q-AXwyXodEiz6Mv/s400/Screen-Shot-2017-03-30-at-09.09.32-750x350.jpg" width="400"></a></td></tr> <tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><u>Year Released: 2017</u></td></tr> </tbody></table> You know the tune, that Video killed the radio star... And Cable television is strangling Theatrical Releases, and if they keep turning out the likes of BLADE RUNNER 2049 and  SUBURBICON, we're all gonna save tons of money on soda and popcorn...<br> <br> <table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody> <tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhfMljS9qafHPpssIfZ2ikoc-ryykoLSf8JS0fEi1S_hqdYHl3HYLXpTKmBM59dLY5-tZCw9z8W-KuuY5LnsgeZdLwp0gxafYY9QJBWqnXNEC3B48aLMPiU48kAZfVK6UcZjxq9HYwVR7J_/s1600/the-snowman-movie-2017-20007302.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="376" data-original-width="142" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhfMljS9qafHPpssIfZ2ikoc-ryykoLSf8JS0fEi1S_hqdYHl3HYLXpTKmBM59dLY5-tZCw9z8W-KuuY5LnsgeZdLwp0gxafYY9QJBWqnXNEC3B48aLMPiU48kAZfVK6UcZjxq9HYwVR7J_/s400/the-snowman-movie-2017-20007302.jpg" width="150"></a></td></tr> <tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><u>SnowScore: 1/2</u></td></tr> </tbody></table> This SNOWMAN is promoted as a sort of horror/thriller hybrid involving a serial killer that leaves his signature snowman doodle after each death, and there's a real/actual, eerie looking snowman too, and none have anything to do with the story at hand, which is almost completely absent through the long, ponderous two hours of an investigating Michael Fassbender standing around, breathing visible sighs in the freezing snow, or shivering indoors, either conversing with his pretty-plain partner about... a lot of first and last names and/or clues leading nowhere — that don't seem like clues at all...<br> <br> The one character with potential is a wan and sickly looking Val Kilmer — speaking in what sounds like someone else's voice — as a sort of rogue, Bogart-like Noir detective of some kind, and he doesn't last long. We're left with a dull Fassbender waiting for the next boring and — to try making up for it — grotesquely violent murder scene in a picture literally as cold as and even more unenlightening and pointless than the Tom Hardy serial killer on ice, CHILD 44. And because of these kind of alternative avant-garde flicks being more of a letdown than a typical fly-by-night blockbuster, it's really the best choice to stay at home: Because nothing's worse than being stuck in an indie purgatory while avoiding big budget crapola, which feels like ditching school in a library. Thus THE SNOWMAN is truly one of the worst experiences had in a theater.  There's just no reason for this kind of torture!<br>

2017, crime, michael fassbender, mystery, new, thriller, val kilmer

MICHAEL FASSBENDER IS AN AGENT ON ICE IN THE SNOWMAN

Year Released: 2017 You know the tune, that Video killed the radio star... And Cable television is strangling Theatrical Releases, and i...

NEUROTIC REACTION TO KISS KISS BANG BANG

<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody> <tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi85Eerys5nRE7jQes36uXOhPxhsRU8BwulAMlnoNbeepJMCu2nqIGpx6mHu4KrehIOzXL4SmEg-RzU2_1UymlRXwynAN-IqgpWRjTXwhXLnIS0bYdIOJpyEbvUlGFvgx8Q6MrdF9ldSL8/s1600/0.jpg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi85Eerys5nRE7jQes36uXOhPxhsRU8BwulAMlnoNbeepJMCu2nqIGpx6mHu4KrehIOzXL4SmEg-RzU2_1UymlRXwynAN-IqgpWRjTXwhXLnIS0bYdIOJpyEbvUlGFvgx8Q6MrdF9ldSL8/s16000/0.jpg"></a></td></tr> <tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><u>Review of KISS KISS BANG BANG with the eclectic team-up of Robert Downey Jr. and Val Kilmer</u></td></tr> </tbody></table> So basically, this is to the Audrey Hepburn/Cary Grant movie CHARADE what... or rather, this is to Hitchcock what... or wait, no, this is to Tarantino what CHARADE was to Hitchcock after he'd done his two horror flicks and was fledging around with awkward genres before what should have been his genre-founding send-off/return to form in FRENZY...<br>

action, genre tarantino, michael beck, michelle monaghan, quentin tarantino, quirky, robert downey jr., shane black, team-up, val kilmer

NEUROTIC REACTION TO KISS KISS BANG BANG

Review of KISS KISS BANG BANG with the eclectic team-up of Robert Downey Jr. and Val Kilmer So basically, this is to the Audrey Hepburn/...

UNPOPULAR TAKES ON BELOVED 'SCARFACE' & 'TRUE ROMANCE'

<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody> <tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhm3Y_krZqybAeofEPVx4yQVXerWcN4VrkKyPdwxh8js6bNN6IXS5zVIJECnOZCya2RKpriKSkn4E9Jw-Q6Vzt46Vr-5_RUh4TEecxRPl5JutaEniJm_rOh8wu6dXuEF46SjE6ECpqdcRw/s1600/0.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="209" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhm3Y_krZqybAeofEPVx4yQVXerWcN4VrkKyPdwxh8js6bNN6IXS5zVIJECnOZCya2RKpriKSkn4E9Jw-Q6Vzt46Vr-5_RUh4TEecxRPl5JutaEniJm_rOh8wu6dXuEF46SjE6ECpqdcRw/s400/0.jpg" width="400"></a></td></tr> <tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><u>Firing away at a so-called Masterpiece Year: 1983</u></td></tr> </tbody></table> <u>SCARFACE</u> has… or had, since this post has been edited for a long time… returned to the theaters, mang. The one starring Al Pacino, written by Oliver Stone and directed by Brian De Palma...<br> <br> And now can be viewed in all its glory, and flaws… As for the latter, and with the legacy of what’s considered a “timeless classic” supposedly on par with the THE GODFATHER, who knew there were so many downsides? During one important scene, bordering the first and second act, when Al Pacino’s Tony Montana, a Cuban refugee who climbs from poverty and starts making loads of cash in the cocaine business, visits his mother, he offers money to her and Tony’s little sister. Mama refuses, saying the cash is dirty. At this point, not only does the dough seem clean as a whistle, and a damn nice gift, but we hardly experience Tony’s initial climb from the slums to a car dealership where a forty thousand dollar Porsche is an easy purchase…<br>

al pacino, christian slater, eighties, nineties, oliver stone, quentin tarantino, tony scott, val kilmer

UNPOPULAR TAKES ON BELOVED 'SCARFACE' & 'TRUE ROMANCE'

Firing away at a so-called Masterpiece Year: 1983 SCARFACE has… or had, since this post has been edited for a long time… returned to th...

PLANES

<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody> <tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhTMBK2FuShuck6zudxt8F2twQJBQi2i4jQPTtntzAwxg9X5JwC1WH9BkLYOWo4irY9HkVQ2pE09-TOkEp-NjksXjutqlQQsDNRjl5xTHNAC4ILmdVF1Q1v4dh0vUenjEcYszXpkq3v5E32/s1600/planes-disney.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="348" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhTMBK2FuShuck6zudxt8F2twQJBQi2i4jQPTtntzAwxg9X5JwC1WH9BkLYOWo4irY9HkVQ2pE09-TOkEp-NjksXjutqlQQsDNRjl5xTHNAC4ILmdVF1Q1v4dh0vUenjEcYszXpkq3v5E32/s640/planes-disney.jpg" width="640" /></a></td></tr> <tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">year: 2013 voices: Dane Cook, Stacy Keach, John Cleese, Teri Hatcher, Anthony Edwards, Val Kilmer rating: **</td></tr> </tbody></table> In the world of underdog characters, a little crop-dusting plane named Dusty Crophopper stands, or rather, flies alone. Unlike other put-upon heroes, he is, right off the bat, utterly intrepid and gracefully confident and knows exactly what must be done. First he's gotta qualify against really fast jet planes and then compete in an around-the-world race. Sound easy? <br /> <br /> The way Disney tells this basic story, there are few problems for our little flying engine that could – expect he's afraid of heights, and one plane will do anything in the Tortoise/Hare dirty trick fashion to make him lose everything. After all, the longshot Dusty has taken all the media from his competitors including a Spanish romantic, a British snob, two sexy females and that one cocky villain. But it's really nothing stressful, no worries... he has his future all mapped out.<br /> <br /> The problem with PLANES, other than seeming like a bland straight-to-DVD semi-sequel to CARS, is the downtime between each leg of the race. Dusty and his two closest friends (a gas station truck and an old war jet serving as a tattered mentor) talk up a tedious storm during overlong pockets of downtime, making those high-flying scenes the only thing to look forward to… And while the colorfully rip-roaring aerial shots are pretty darn cool, especially in 3D, the action can  be easily matched by playing PLANES THE VIDEO GAME in the cozy confides of home.

2013, anthony edwards, computer animated, disney, stacy keach, val kilmer

PLANES

year: 2013 voices: Dane Cook, Stacy Keach, John Cleese, Teri Hatcher, Anthony Edwards, Val Kilmer rating: ** In the world of underdog ch...