Columbus Day

Reading the cover of Columbus Day i thought i was in for a tense heist film. Wrong. This is Val Kilmer after a heist in a park on and off the phone with an annoying child in tow. Marg Helgenberger of CSI fame is completely sidelined and wasted in a small role. The little action there is is badly shot and amateurish. Val Kilmer does what he can with the role he is given but even he cannot save this film. At 1 hour 26 minutes this film is short but to me felt like an eternity. You take your chance with low budget B movies like these, and you can uncover some gems. This however is not one of them.

Originally written and directed by charles burmeister. Some interesting drama over a second, remixed version of the film. Scenes added in later by one of the producers. Val Kilmer spends most of the film walking around a pond, calling people from a pay phone. And his own cell phone. From the flash backs, it looks like a heist went bad. He asks a little kid to help him, which would be pretty weird now. Although the kid seems lonely, and wants to talk to someone. Anyone. Co-stars Wilmer Valderrama from That 70s Show. It's a caper, but we're never sure what's about to happen. It's good, if you have the patience to just go with it. And there really are swan boats you can rent at Echo Park!

After seeing the horrendous 'Conspiracy' I had almost lost faith in kilmer all together. However this movie is a return to form. The little black kid he talks to in the park is a great character and really helps Val along with his own demons.

For a low budget flick it works well and the acting is superb, especially the kid, top little actor, I expect to see more from this dude.

The plot all be it simple is effective and pretty much the entire movie transpires in echo park. The romance sub-plot works well and didn't feel like it was just thrown in their and overall was a good movie with some tense parts throughout and a great ending.

I recommend it to Val Kilmers fans and anyone else for that matter.

By no means a Hollywood blockbuster but taking into account a tiny budget, linear setting and some good acting...

I give it 8/10 Well worth a look.

I'm with llanderson - I really signed up today on IMDb just to leave a comment on this movie. I was surprised to someone else had the same thought, and within 24 hours of me.

I'm a Val Kilmer fan - I saw this in RedBox and was surprised I hadn't seen it, and expected something along the lines of Spartan or Heat, or even that movie where he's like 1/32nd Indian and he's an FBI agent out on some reservation. He literally walks around in a park the ENTIRE movie, makes a gazillion phone calls to three cute actresses you recognize but probably don't know their names and Fez from that 70's show. Fez tells him at one point that his colleagues buddy probably has his nuts in a vice somewhere and is giving him up, so you really expect to see some hardcore torture or gruesome action coming up, but instead Val pays some guy feeding pigeons to take care of the unusually short kid who's been following him around all day. That really is it.

No offense, this movie has lots of problems mostly with the writing. I don't know what exactly happens except that Val Kilmer's character walks around Echo Park in Los Angeles, California with a briefcase. He befriends, Antoine, an African American boy, off from school for the holiday. Val's character makes constant phone calls to his ex-wife Alice (played by Marg Helgenberger); his adult daughter in Florida; Wilmer Valderamma's character; and his girlfriend. I only saw this movie because a favorite actor of mine, Michael Muhney, plays Detective Daniels in the film. It's a small supporting part. The setting of the park in Los Angeles is quite lovely to look at on screen. The film was shot entirely on location in Los Angeles, California and probably on a low budget. I wonder how bad the other screenplays were. While I believe the strongest aspect of the film is the Antoine friendship with Val's character. I still don't know what happened at the end.