Am I wrong to think that Val Kilmer is one of the more underrated, or underappreciated actors from the ’80s and ‘90s? Maybe those aren’t the exact words to use, but I just don’t feel like he gets enough love. Hopefully, that will change once people get a chance to see his new documentary, Val. Did you even know that such a film was coming out? I didn’t until just the other day, and now that I’ve seen the trailer, I can’t get the guy off my mind.

The documentary, which comes out in theaters on July 23rd and will be available to Amazon Prime subscribers on August 6th, includes home video footage collected by Kilmer over the past 40 years or so. It follows him from childhood into his early days of acting, and brings us up to the current day, showing Val’s battle with throat cancer, and the toll that has taken on him.

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I’ve got to admit that the trailer got me right in the feels – I was surprisingly emotional about it. Right off the bat, I’m reminded of how much of a stud Val was back in the day. I smiled and reminisced about some of his early roles, and then next thing you know, the smile turns to sadness, thinking about what he’s going through right now. The trailer did its job perfectly though – I am hooked, and can’t wait to see the rest of the film.

You may not realize, or you may have forgotten, that for about 10 years or so (1984-1995), Val Kilmer was a busy man, and he was in some great movies. Sure, he might have had some forgettable movies later on, but he also played some unforgettable characters, like Iceman, Jim Morrison, Batman, and Doc Holliday. Personally, I will always contend that one of his best roles was his very first one, as Nick Rivers in the hilarious satire Top Secret. I can still quote a bunch of lines from that movie, nearly 40 years later.

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