Rating: Summary: Costner Hits A Home Run Review: After Kevin Costner had a huge hit with the romantic comedy Bull Durham which was about a minor league baseball team, people though he was foolish to follow it up with another baseball movie. They couldn't have been more wrong as Field Of Dreams was a smash hit and the finest role of his career. Mr. Costner is Ray Kinsella, a Iowa corn farmer struggling to get by. He keeps hearing voices that say "if you build, he will come". He figures out through a vision that it is a baseball field that is to be built. Everyone except his wife Annie (Amy Madigan) thinks he nuts. After the field is built, players start coming out the field to play on it. Shoeless Joe Jackson (Ray Liotta) is one of them. No one but Ray and his family can see them. He has another vision that leads him James Earl Jones, a reclusive writer from the 60's, living in Boston. Along the way back, they pick up a young ball player. The player then turns out to be a doctor (Burt Lancaster) who saves Ray's daughter from choking. The film is a real fantasy and has an oddball plot, but all the actors give likable performances. The film, despite its plot revolving around Baseball, is not a sports movie. Baseball is used as an allegory for life. On the field, players who have had checkered pasts or left life with situations unsettled have a chance at redemption. One of the most touching scenes is where Ray has a catch with his father on the field. His father had past away and they never had a chance to resolve their differences, but on the field, everything is okay. His father is younger and doesn't know Ray is his son. He is just another ballplayer who has come to the field. Field Of Dreams is one of the most original movies to come out in the past twenty years and is a real American classic.
Rating: Summary: A truly great movie Review: It's hard to describe in words the deep meaning and the true greatness of "Field of Dreams." Ray (Kevin Costner) is a farmer who keeps hearing an inner voice say such things to him as "if you build it, he will come" and "go the distance." Ray soon finds out that all these inner voices have something to do with an old Chicago White Sox team that featured many great players such as "Shoeless" Joe Jackson. Ray soon understands these voices and cuts a lot of his corn crop in order to build a baseball field so "Shoeless" Joe Jackson can come back and play baseball along with other great baseball legends, and even maybe somebody even more special from Ray's life. However, after he builds the field, Ray and his family have to worry about bankruptcy due to the loss of most of their corn crop. Ray soon understands even more about not only baseball, but of the glory days of the past."Field of Dreams" is a one of a kind movie about baseball, reminiscing, and enjoying life for the better things of it instead of the obvious. Whether you like baseball or not, if you like movies that have a lot of meaning to them, I definitely recommend getting "Field of Dreams." It features a great performance from Kevin Costner, Ray Liotta, James Earl Jones, and everybody else that was in the movie. "Field of Dreams" is definitely one of the best movies ever made.
Rating: Summary: My all-time favorite movie Review: The quintessential baseball movie... Anyone longing for the days when it was still "A game" will love this one. Costner goes above and beyond in his role as a baseball fan. This is a must for baseball purists, and for anyone that has ever tossed a ball with his Dad in the backyard. James Earl Jones' "They will come" speech is a classic. I can't say enough about this movie... A MUST SEE!
Rating: Summary: Benign adaptation. Review: Kinsella's novel, "Shoeless Joe," was archetypal in its quest theme, welding Ray's odyssey with that of America's favorite literary hero, Holden Caulfield, as well as with the favorite sport of an idealized past. In the novel, the game is elevated to theological status, and Kinsella's prose rises to evangelical fervor in praise of the redemptive powers of the game. By comparison, the film is tepid, prosaic, and forced. It's one thing to IMAGINE the heroes of yesteryear walking out of a cornfield to resume their sport, but quite another to see this event documented by a camera. Far more successful is the film adaptation of Bernard Malamud's "The Natural," because the scriptwriters revise the novel's complexities of story, symbolism, and language into terms that are purely cinematic.
Rating: Summary: It's my favorite and here's why Review: I don't remember the first time I saw this movie or exactly how many times I have seen it since or when I truly fell in love with it, but I know that I recommend it to everyone I know. As a baseball fan, it is hard to watch this movie without some thought of the heros of the past. The main baseball character is Shoeless Joe Jackson(Ray Liotta, mentioned also is the black sox scandal, and throughout the movie there are other references to famous ballplayers. When you watch this movie, you also begin to realize that the field itself is a character of it's own. You get to see where the idea came from, how it was lovingly constructed and then how it becomes so important to the plotline. The field itself is magnificient surrounded by the fields of corn stalks. There are even a few scenes in the movie where you may think that the sky is painted because it is too beautiful to be true. It presents the perfectly safe place for the events of the movie to unfold. This story is about baseball, but also about family. It begins with a monologue from Ray Kinsella(Kevin Costner) who introduces us through a scrapbook to his family life up to the point that the story begins. We follow this farmer through an amazing journey where he receives messages from a "voice" that he has to decipher and then follow. And in the end Ray and the audience puts their meanings together. This adds a sort of mysticism to the story, where although it is truly a work of fiction, you will want to believe it could be true. Another superb performance is turned in by James Earl Jones who is playing Terrance Mann a writer from the 60's. The speech that he makes during the movie is truly powerful and very memorable. Without giving away the whole movie, I just want to say that if you have any interest in baseball, or just remember playing catch with your father, please get this movie. You won't be sorry.
Rating: Summary: field of dreams Review: It's a great movie K C plays the part well It's a "Dream" I wish I could fulfill!!!
Rating: Summary: Greatest Movie Ever Review: I met W. P. Kinsella, the author of "Shoeless Joe," at a book-signing in Dallas.Since "Field of Dreams" is my favorite film, I naturally asked him if others were as deeply affected by it as I was. He said that he still gets a couple of calls every week from viewers who fell under the spell of the film. His favorite was a call from a man in Houston who told Kinsella, "I saw your damn movie, then drove a couple of thousand miles to Seattle to visit my dad and tell him I love him. I damned near lost my job. I hope you're happy, Kinsella." Well, that's the kind of movie this is. It tells each of us a little about ourselves and makes us better individuals just for having watched it. Kevin Costner and James Earl Jones give unforgettable performances. Why Jones has never won an Academy Award is beyond me. The final scene is so moving and so uplifting, it is hard to imagine anyone not moved by it. Do yourself a favor. Buy the DVD and get ready to watch this film over and over again.
Rating: Summary: Listen to your inner voice. Review: Most of the time we're told that God moves in mysterious ways. There is a grand plan but it is too complex for any one person to understand. Well, that has never sat comfortably with me and it is this feeling that "Field of Dreams" addresses. We watch spellbound as one act on the part of an Iowa Farmer, brings about positive changes in a great many lives. What at first seems a crazy act, blossoms into a miracle, as the full scope of the plan becomes apparent. This movie speaks to many parts of the human heart but the common theme is redemption. Most of us have regrets, some big, some small. But all we can usually do is dream about the world of "what if". When Ray Kinsella, (Costner), starts to hear voices, "what if" starts to become very real indeed. Psychiatrists would not hesitate to diagnose a farmer, who hears voices and then plows his corn crop under to build a baseball diamond, as schizoid. But Ray has more faith than most doctors, and his wife, Anni, supports him all the way. Despite the financial problems of the farm, Ray listens to the voice and takes off on a road trip. He aims to find Terrence Mann, (James Earl Jones), a famous writer from the 60's who has dropped out of the public eye. Interestingly, the voice never told him to do this. It tends to be very general about things, saying "If you build it, he will come" or "Go the distance". But Ray becomes adept at reading the signs and interpreting the specifics.
As he travels across the country, Ray picks up partners. And in the end he manages to participate in several transformation which are much more remarkable than a cornfield turning into a ballpark. A burned-out writer gets an injection of passion. A small town doctor gets to play out a lost opportunity. A disgraced ball player is able to pick up the bat one more time. Ray is finally able to forgive and apologize to his father, and his family farm gets a new lease on life. It's true that "Field of Dreams" is a feel good film with a happy ending but it's more than the standard Hollywood treacle. Powerful themes are woven amongst some very real characters. Themes like faith, trust, perseverance, selflessness and hope. Of course it also says a lot about baseball, which is not surprising given that Kevin Costner is the star. You walk away from this movie believing in miracles and suspecting that God may know what he's doing after all, at least when he's not busy playing ball down in Iowa.
Rating: Summary: there is nathing better Review: this is the best of Kevin Costner. Do not matter how many times I see it is never to much. you will fall in love with it
Rating: Summary: The best baseball movie ever made Review: Troubled farmer Ray Kinsella(Kevin Costner..who has never been better) keeps hearing voices telling him, of all things, to build a baseball field in his back yard! Far-fetched? sure, but few movies combine fantasy and emotion as well as this one. The voices and visions continue until Kinsella takes a field trip to team up with a well known author(wonderfully portrayed by James Earl Jones) the skepticism resides and the two take a magical journey that will change their lives forever. I will tell no more, it would be a sin. Grown men be warned however, if any movie is sure to bring a tear to your eye, it's this one.
|