Val Kilmer

LOOK FOR FULL REVIEWS IN TOMORROW'S MOVIES TODAY SECTION Derailed Married Clive Owen has a fling with Jennifer Aniston, with far-ranging consequences for all those surrounding him. R. Kiss Kiss, Bang Bang Writer-director Shane Black, missing-in-action since 1996's The Long Kiss Goodnight, returns with this murder-mystery starring Robert Downey Jr. and Val Kilmer. R. Pride & Prejudice Keira Knightley stars in yet another version of Jane Austen's novel about five 19th-century sisters enduring the vagaries of the English upper class and the price of being women therein.

The trailer for the Dan Deacon-scored, Francis Ford Coppola movie "Twixt" has premiered. Michael Sragow has the trailer over at Gets Reel . Coppola first heard Deacon on National Public Radio last year, and said in an interview he was drawn to Deacon's unconventional aesthetic. "I was fascinated with his intelligence, and also with his sense of adventure," he said. But it was Deacon's background in composition - he was trained at State University of New York at Purchase - that inspired Coppola to tap the musician to score his new movie, which stars Val Kilmer and Elle Fanning.

For anyone who's seen a rock 'n' roll movie other than the parody "This Is Spinal Tap," it's an automatic reaction: Even before actor Val Kilmer opens his mouth to sing as Jim Morrison, you cringe.It has nothing to do with Kilmer, who's actually quite good. Though some filmmakers might argue otherwise, Hollywood has never handled rock with the proper care. On big screens and small, we've grown used to seeing shameless fawning and embarrassing inaccuracies -- and a slew of bad Elvis and Beatle imitators.

So much of "Thunderheart" is so good and its intentions are so noble that it pains me to reach the ultimate judgment that the movie is a mess.But it is a mess, good intentions be damned. A large, sprawling murder mystery set on the decaying Lakota Sioux reservation at Pine Ridge, South Dakota, in the late '70s, it seems to get more and more incoherent as it proceeds; its second half is not nearly as engaging as its first. It's all set-up and no delivery. Val Kilmer plays a young, fast-track FBI agent who is vaguely embarrassed about his all but ignored quarter-Indian heritage.

Actor Leonardo DiCaprio's declaration "I'm the king of the world!" in Titanic has been voted the cheesiest line in movie history, according to a survey of 2,000 British moviegoers, reports the BBC. Patrick Swayze's line in Dirty Dancing - "Nobody puts Baby in the corner" - came in second. "Is it still raining? I hadn't noticed," uttered by Andie MacDowell at the end of Four Weddings and a Funeral, was third. Fourth place belongs to Demi Moore in Ghost. "I love you," Swayze says, to which Moore replies: "Ditto."

"Beethoven" is the big dog movie, in which Charles Grodin, Mr. Fussy, does battle with the title creature, a 200-pound St. Bernard. Cute, anyone? Rated PG."Thunderheart" puts Val Kilmer on an Indian reservation as an FBI agent in search of a killer, set against the militancy of an A.I.M.-like group called A.R.M. Graham Greene of "Dances With Wolves" also stars. Rated R."Where Angels Fear To Tread" is a consummately produced version of the E.M. Forester novel about an imperious British family which tries to enforce its code of behavior on some unruly Italian relatives, and the chaos and tragedy that follows.

All summer, pundits have been trying to drive a wedge between "critics" and "audiences." Audiences go to the movies to have a good time. Critics go to furrow their brows and think esoteric thoughts. As A.O. Scott said from the bully pulpit of The New York Times, "We take entertainment very seriously, which is to say that we don't go to the movies for fun." That line should be as shocking to critics as it is damning to readers. How can you "take entertainment very seriously" and not go to the movies "for fun"?

Last year, a movie called "Air Bud" spotlighted Buddy, a golden retriever with a mean hoop shot. Unfortunately, that Buddy died of cancer. But if Batman can go from Michael Keaton to Val Kilmer to George Clooney, then why not "Air Bud: Golden Receiver," in which a quartet of adorable goldens sub for the original star?This time, Buddy (mostly played by Rush and Zach) and his boy, Josh (Kevin Zegers), tackle a new sport: football. Josh has a natural arm, and Buddy is -- well, they don't call 'em retrievers for nothing.

Francis Ford Coppola must be listening to Baltimore electronic music at his California vineyard. The Academy Award-winning filmmaker of the "Godfather" movies tapped local musician Dan Deacon to score his upcoming movie, "Twixt Now and Sunrise," which stars Val Kilmer and Elle Fanning. Deacon, who was classically trained at the State University of New York at Purchase, is now better known for founding the artists' collective Wham City in Baltimore and making hyperkinetic dance music.