I know what Elon Musk’s favorite book is. LOTS. That’s easy.
I can’t say the same when it comes to movies. Your guess is as good as mine. I sure hope Elon is not paying someone to watch it. Yeah, Diablo 4, I’m looking at you.
Tombstone on Mars
When Val Kilmer’s name is mentioned, people think about “Top Gun,” or “Batman Forever,” or “Doors” without blinking and deeper thinking. If you’re asking me, Doc Holliday is the closest you can get to the perfect movie character. I’m talking about “Tombstone.”
Oh boy, Kilmer was in his prime. Who would have thought that right after the epic “Heat,” he would become a prisoner of his creative demons on “The Island of Dr. Moreau?” People are still asking questions about whether or not Val got an Oscar for his role in Tombstone. That’s how brilliant his version of Doc Holliday was.
De mortuis nil nisi bonum. Hey, wait, that’s not English! Yup, you just let me know that you haven’t watched this clip and the “word-fight” before the actual gunfight at the O.K. Corral between Doc Holliday and Johnny Ringo – in Latin of all languages wanted dead or alive.
That’s why I’m going to fly over Val Kilmer’s “Red Planet” as an SF and space exploration fan rather than a movie critic. This movie was all about Mars before Elon made it to be the thing. It got so many futuristic elements and themes right. For example, the “AMEE” (Autonomous Mapping Exploration and Evasion) or your not-so-friendly military robot.
Val delivered when it came to acting, more or less. But that’s not the point.
Mr. Musk, Here’s Your Next SpaceX Task
If you have seen at least one of Kilmer’s movies, then you shouldn’t skip his documentary “Val.”
It’s ineffably painful, in the new documentary “Val,” to see Val Kilmer, an actor still in his prime, enduring the effects of throat cancer.
Painful and rewarding at the same time, if I may add. That’s why I think it’s not too much to ask for Elon to do something about it. I honestly don’t know what the situation with the mapping of Mars is. Meaning, if all red mountain and whatnot names are already taken. How about a future city on Mars in memory of this movie legend? Welcome to the city of Val, I’m sure you’ll have lots of fun.
Did you know? People are still making posters and T-shirts with Kilmer’s iconic quotes from “Tombstone.”
