In Contention

Tag: Val Kilmer

  • COMIC-CON: Francis Ford Coppola takes Best in Show

    My Comic-Con coverage came to a close this morning with Francis Ford Coppola’s first appearance here in 19 years, and a glimpse of his latest film, “Twixt.” There’s still the “Cowboys & Aliens” screening tonight, but reviews will be embargoed, so my big send-off is the master himself. And what a send-off it was.

    “Twixt” is film chock-full of genre trappings starring Val Kilmer as Hall Baltimore, a genre writer working on a new premise based on a grisly discovery in a seedy town, where he’s holed up for a book signing. Edgar Allan Poe shows up. In a dream. Like Virgil to Baltimore’s Dante. (And based on an actual dream Coppola had.)

    There are vampires. A seven-sided clock tower tells seven different times. 3D is employed here and there, but not for the whole film. (We wore Edgar Allan Poe masks outfitted with 3D lenses.) Elle Fanning is a pasty living-dead pixie. Bruce Dern is creepy. But let’s get into why this is the best Comic-Con panel I’ve ever seen.

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  • 10/26 OSCARWEB ROUND-UP: Ferrell talks ‘Megamind,’ SAG to simulcast kudocast, Coppola shoots with Kilmer

    • Drew McWeeney talks to “Megamind” star Will Ferrell. [Motion/Captured]

    • This year’s SAG Awards will be simulcast to all time zones at 5pm PST. [Variety]

    • Francis Ford Coppola has “quietly” begun shooting his next film, a thriller with Val Kilmer. [Deadline]

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  • SANTA BARBARA: Directors on directing, Virtuosos, ‘Provinces of Night,’ Bigelow

    Jamie Lee Curtis in Blue SteelThe fest feels incredibly easy-going this year.  More than last.  Maybe that’s because there aren’t as many films I’m interested in seeing.  After “The Secret of Kells” last week and Atom Egoyan’s “Chloe” later this week, nothing really strikes my fancy.

    Yesterday before darting back down the 101 for a Super Bowl party in LA, I caught about an hour or so of the directors panel, “Directors on Directing.”  It was an engaging discussion between Kathryn Bigelow, James Cameron, Lee Daniels, Pete Docter, Todd Phillips and Quentin Tarantino, and absolutely packed house.  Jason Reitman couldn’t make it.

    The most interesting bit that I saw was Tarantino discussing the immersive experience of “Avatar,” how when filming “Kill Bill,” he was very interested in the experience of a movie and making the audience feel participatory in some way.  He said he thinks he failed to do that, though some sequences, namely the House of Blue Leaves sequence, were close, but when he saw “Avatar,” he said, “That’s it.  That’s the ride I was thinking about.”

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  • 9/18 Oscarweb Round-up

    Val Kilmer in Batman Forever• Nathaniel Rogers just can’t seem to get excited about “Appaloosa.” [The Film Experience]

    • Dave Karger, meanwhile, sits down with Ed Harris to talk about the film.  GREAT interview. [Entertainment Weekly]

    • With westerns on the mind, Kyle Rupprecht recounts the best modern entries in the genre. [Moviemaker Magazine]

    • Sasha Stone cherry-picks some of Nancy Kriparos’s wonderful Toronto coverage in case you missed the finer points. [Awards Daily]

    • Is Val Kilmer going to be the next Governor of New Mexico??  I just like how the piece constantly reminds you that he played Batman, both in the headline and through a quote from Bill Richardson.  [The Independent]

    • Sam Adams talks to “Duchess” star Ralph Fiennes. [Los Angeles Times]

    • Patrick Goldstein, meanwhile, talks to director Gary Fielder about how Jim Brown made “The Express” work. [The Big Picture]

    • Want a bleacher seat for the Oscar arrivals? [Oscars.org]

    • Scott Bowles gets Stacey Snider and our old pal Chad Hartigan on the record regarding the “Titanic” reunion set to unfold in “Revolutionary Road.” [USA Today]

    • Kevin Kelly gets a nce sit-down with “Hurt Locker” director Kathryn Bigelow. [Spout Blog]

  • SHORT TAKE: “Kiss Kiss Bang Bang” (***1/2)

    Kiss Kiss Bang BangShane Black’s “Kiss Kiss Bang Bang” is surprisingly fun, excitingly catty and ultimately one of the greatest guilty pleasure film experiences of the year.

    Based in part on Brett Halliday’s novel “Dead Bodies Are Where You Find Them” – about which I must confess I am entirely ignorant and therefore have no basis for commentary – Black’s film serves as a worthy addition to the canon of the American buddy/cop film genre he helped to create with 1987’s “Lethal Weapon.”

    The conglomerate of Walter Hill, Roger Spottiswoode, Larry Gross and the ever genre-immersed Steven E. de Souza really initiated the concept with 1982’s “48 Hours.” Following suit, the trend continued through to the John McTiernans and the Jan De Bonts of the world toward fully crafting the modern American cop actioner. Of course, films like this can find roots in, say, William Friedkin’s “The French Connection” on some level, but in as much as they exist almost as comedies first and foremost, Shane Black has certainly hand a major hand in paving the way, for better or worse.

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