Field of Dreams

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source: Field of Dreams

I had seen that this movie had 7,7 on IMDb, so I decided to buy it on DVD - a big mistake. It is actually hard to say what I do not like about this movie, but one thing must be my missing enthusiasm and love for baseball. I am not a bit interested in baseball, and that might be a problem when watching this movie. I love some sport like football (the European kind), but I do not get baseball, it is maybe very un-European. If you have the passion for baseball it might be a good movie, but if you are an European like me, then you may have a problem with this movie. There are also other things that I do not find interesting. The plot is not very interesting, a man builds a baseball field because God says so. It is a very odd plot. My €10 were not spent good, but at least I did not pay full price. The movie only deserves 4/10 because it is boring from the first minute even though the actors do an acceptable job.

...because it is so chock-full of all-American clichés and bad writing that it is nearly unwatchable. Now, I have nothing against American films or people for that matter (there are many of both categories that I love), but Field of Dreams takes patriotism too far and carves out cheesy clichés after another to cheaply appeal to its people: baseball legends, heroes, the American dream, Kevin Costner, faith, the all-American dad, tearjerking moments -- such peachy writing it makes me ill. 'Nearly unwatchable' is a strong word and perhaps unjustly applied to this film because, in truth, I have sat through it at least twice and cried one of the times. So it is fair to say that I tripped over its emotional devices and fell into the sentimental trap at the end. But this aside, is it a good film? No, not really. Kevin Costner is too static in his role as Ray Kinsella, the corny dialogue makes itself heard throughout the story and to non-Americans, the inherent clichés are borderline cringeworthy. Field of Dreams is a pretty moronic stinking film, which I suspect is why Bush likes it so much. The only way that I can watch it is if I completely shut out all American stereotypes and just view it as a straightforward sports story - but this is nearly impossible, especially since it's supposedly very historically inaccurate. It gets a passable grade - mediocre. 5/10

No wonder it's a hit: this slick, simplistic fantasy is nothing less than the perfect bedtime story for George Bush's kinder, gentler nation. Ex-college radical turned man-of-the-soil Kevin Costner hears a voice in the wilderness telling him to build a baseball diamond in his Iowa cornfield, where the ghosts of baseball legend (invisible to Costner's jaded neighbors) come to play, all because the guy never played catch with his dad. The film is built entirely on surface gloss and wide-eyed, thirty-something wonderment, offering a sanitized version of small town America, baseball lore, and filial devotion, all of it dripping with enough conservative virtue and honey-coated sentiment to make even Frank Capra blush. Costner's farmer has even been compared elsewhere in print to the biblical Noah, who at least was generous enough not to charge admission to the Ark the way Costner (with true 1980s entrepreneurial spirit) does to his magical baseball diamond in order to save the family farm. All the New Age pop karma in the world can't disguise the problematic writing and shallow characters, and the entire cast wanders through the film in a state of hypnotic bliss.

It is truly a rare movie indeed to which I would give a 10. But this is one of my all-time favorites. This is a movie about themes like reconciliation, destiny, redemption, idealism, disappointment, the difficulty of relationships, especially that of the father-son relationship. In this movie, the baseball field is where all such issues achieve resolution. This is such a gentle movie, full of such sincerity, and moving emotions. Although it is by no means an upbeat movie, it is nevertheless ultimately a very optimistic and positive movie. As some reviewers have noticed, some suspension of disbelief is required. A movie with no guns, violence, gangsters, no gratuitous sex, just down-to-earth good people, and a good message. What a gem. P.S. Interestingly, there really was a Moonlight Graham. See his baseball career stats here: http://www.baseball-reference.com/g/grahamo01.shtml. Some of the details of his life are altered in the movie; cf. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Moonlight_Graham.

I have now seen this film around 12 times in two months and i can safely say this is one of my all time favourite pictures!It has everything1 excellent acting from Costner,Earl Jones and the great late Burt Lancaster in one of his last film roles which is definably one of his finest.Ray Liotta also was amazing for one of his first roles as Shoeless Joe Jackson which i felt could not of gone to anyone else but Liotta.The storyline is dazzling as well as the acting and the dialogue.This movie is an incredible and a times comical experience.Every actor in this film should feel more than proud they were in this amazing feel good movie which has never deserved a bad review. This for me is definitely a 10 out of 10 picture which i might watch again tonight actually even though i only saw it yesterday.

Possible spoiler I did not like Field of Dreams for a clear-cut reason: Nothing happened in the movie. It was saccharine sweet without substance, and the empty ghost players at the end, so what? I am a big baseball fan, but Kevin Costner's forte is not baseball movies, witness also For Love of the Game. Let's have a real baseball movie with a good story, like The Natural for fiction, or for nonfiction sentimentality, just watch The Pride of the Yankees or The Jackie Robinson Story. Field of Dreams is nothing but a big bore. For Shoeless Joe, check out Eight Men Out, which captures his soul, not his shell.

A classic combination of sport, family, fantasy, faith, reconciliation, and redemption, all set in the heartland combine to put this film at #1 on the all-time list for me. I know, I know,...what about Gone with the Wind, Citizen Kane, The Godfather? You're telling us that Field of Dreams ranks higher? I saw Field of Dreams on Father's Day following its release, having no clue how the issue of father-son relationships would be addressed in the film. By the time the closing credits were rolling, this film had left a lasting impression because I could identify with so many of the themes in the film. The acting is fine/adequate, and as a whole this film may not compare to the "greats" I've previously mentioned. But it delivered in a powerful way with things I can relate to and treasure. I'd appreciate any comments and strongly recommend it to those who haven't seen it. Thank you.

Continuing my plan to watch every Kevin Costner movie in order, I come to 1989's Field Of Dreams. Plot In A Paragraph: Ray Kinsella (KC) an Iowa corn farmer, starts hearing voices, he interprets them as a request to build a baseball diamond in his crop field. Is this heaven?? I don't like baseball, never have had even the slightest interest in the game, so why do I cry like a baby every time I watch Field Of Dreams?? I will admit from the off, I am bias. I love this movie. It is not just one of my favourite KC movies, it's not just my favourite movie of 1989 (and in a year that featured Last Crusade, Lethal Weapon 2, Batman, Back To The Future 2, Dead Poets Society and the classic Weekend At Bernie's, you know how high that praise is) one of my favourite movies of the 1980's, it's one of my favourite movies in general. KC, Amy Madigan, Ray Liotta, James Earl Jones and Burt Lancaster are all perfect. Everything about this movie is perfect, not just the casting, the performances, the screenplay, the directing, the atmosphere and the score all knock it out of the park (yes pun intended again) I will deliberately avoid talking about the movies ending (so I don't ruin it for those who have not seen it) but I cried like a baby when I seen it in 1990, and I have cried every time I have watched it since, and I watch it a couple of times a year. It doesn't matter if I sit and watch it all, or catch the last twenty minutes on TV, I will be in floods of tears. If I'm not already crying, the way KC's voice breaks, will do it!! EVERY TIME. I read somewhere that the best motion pictures find meaning in not aspects of the story but rather in the underlying emotional core and heart that defines the story. Field Of Dreams is a perfect example of that saying. It's no surprise that Field Of Dreams is still entertaining and touching people regularly today (it plays regularly on TV in the UK) more than 25 years after its release. A timeless classic. 10/10 for this reviewer.