Kevin Costner

Movie Picks

These are just some of my personal picks. If you disagree, well that's what the forum messageboard it for!

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Dances With Wolves (1990) Everyone thought Costner was crazy when it became known that his directorial debut was going to be a three hour Western where the "Indians" were the good guys and spoke in their own language (so the audience would have to cope with reading subtitles <shock horror>). However the movie, in which we see a portrayal of Native Americans devoid of the bias of white man's history (and film-making), went on to garner seven Oscars® including Best Picture and Director. It's simply one of those movies where everything works. From the incredible cinematography (the buffalo hunt in particular) to John Barry's emotional score. Costner took a cinema cliche, stood it on it's head, and opened peoples eyes to the wrongs of the past as well as providing first class entertainment.

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Bull Durham (1988) As Susan Sarandon's character, the wonderful Annie Savoy, would say "Oh my!" Without doubt the role of Crash Davis was Kevin Costner's sexiest performance to date. Who could forget the "Well I believe.." speech? (Quick someone get the smelling salts I'm swooning at the mere thought of it!) White socks never did much for me until I saw the scene where Annie interrupts Crash doing his ironing. Then again the thought of a guy actually bothering to iron is pretty appealing anyway! LOL Then add the kitchen table (just love the way Costner throws that cereal bowl), the toe-nail painting and the dancing scenes and I'm out for the count. Okay wrong sport analogy, but seeing I'm a Brit can you blame me? Amazingly though, considering my ignorance of the sport, I enjoyed the baseball scenes nearly as much. Well, maybe not that nearly ;-)

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Field of Dreams (1989) "If you build it, he will come." Costner's performance managed to make a storyline that sounded a lot of old corn (<g>) into an enthralling and uplifting film. You cannot help but be captivated as Costner's Ray Kinsella character is guided by a "voice" to turn his corn field into a baseball diamond - regardless of the fact everyone other than his family think he has gone crazy - and starts a turn of events that will have an everlasting effect on his life. Add to that a wonderful supporting performance by Burt Lancaster in one of his last films. A must see.

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Robin Hood, Prince of Thieves (1991) I've picked this for those of you who are not Costner fans so you can hold up his wandering English accent as proof he can't act. If you want an enjoyable "popcorn" flick it always passes the time well (and with time the awful accent improves, or at least gets overshadowed by the action). It wasn't Kevin's most shining hour but isn't that bad - plus there's the added bonus of a deliciously over the top performance by Alan Rickman.

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Tin Cup (1996) The movie that put sex into golf. Reunited with Bull Durham's writer/director Ron Shelton, Costner scored another hit on the romantic comedy sports movie front. His character, Roy "Tin Cup" McAvoy, even had an "I believe" type speech again as he tries to impress Molly Griswold (Renee Russo) with his poetic description of a perfect golf swing. He also proves that even when he looks his most dorkish and unappealing (clad out in Molly's discarded golf aids) that he can still be pretty darn sexy. The movie is also a joy because, although we think it is flagged loud and clear from the very outset , the ending avoids the usual cliches we've come to expect from Hollywood.

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- Movie Cat

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