Field of Dreams - Baseball

Director Phil Alden Robinson's FIELD OF DREAMS pays homage to baseball's majestic, magical link to nostalgia. When a struggling Iowa farmer, Ray Kinsella (Kevin Costner) begins "hearing voices" and subsequently plows under his cornfield and builds a baseball diamond, he becomes a pariah to his community--to his family. But Ray knows he's tapped into a special level of consiousness: a beautiful, soothing karma that slowly but wonderfully manifests itself throughout this incredible film. The baseball field itself becomes a portal to another world, enabling players from baseball's Golden Age to return. To play baseball. As the film draws to its dramatic, moving ending, Ray surveys his field of dreams and remarks, "This is perfect."

And it is.

Kevin Costner turns in his finest performance. Ray Liotta, Amy Madigan, Timothy Busfield, and the great Burt Lancaster are exceptional. But it is James Earl Jones, who plays disgruntled author Terrence Mann and eventual soul mate to Kinsella, who is the catalyst that takes this film to a higher level. And FIELD OF DREAMS goes to that level, and beyond, like a homerun leaving the upper deck. Highly, highly recommended.


Great movie and extras but missing earlier extras   December 14, 2004
scesq (New Milford, New Jersey USA)
10 out of 11 found this review helpful

Field of Dreams is an incredible movie. It is about the importance and timeliness of belief and hope and family and even baseball. It has a fine cast with Kevin Costner, Ray Liotta, James Earl Jones and Burt Lancaster and Amy Madigan who all work so well together. This is also one of a handful of movies that is even better then the book.

I also agree with and want to thank a prior reviewer who suggested keeping your old Field of Dreams DVD (mine is the Collectors Edition) and buying the new two DVD version (rather than trading the older version for the newer one). The extras on both are great. I especially loved the deleted scenes included in the new version as well as a piece on how people still visit the field where the movie was made. Still, The Making of Field of Dreams on the earlier DVD, which is not included in the new version, taught me much about the movie and movie making and added to my appreciation of the movie. If you can--keep both copies in your DVD library.



Definitive (so far) version of a magical movie   January 9, 2007
Marty McGee
12 out of 14 found this review helpful

OK, I'll start by admitting my bias when it comes to this film. Field of Dreams is my favorite all-time movie--there, I've said it! So this release was obviously among my first HD DVD purchases, and I have to say I wasn't disappointed in the least. It looks and sounds better than ever. A lot of reviewers have taken this HD DVD to task for the apparent grain and false hues in the image, but my conclusion is that this transfer is the very best that can be had from the original film stock. The release shouldn't really be criticized for decisions the director and DP made 15 years ago! So, yes, I agree that this isn't the best image I've seen on HD DVD, but it ain't bad, either. By no means does it distract from the engrossing, emotional storyline. The extras, ported over from the 15th anniversary DVD release, are abundant and interesting, especially for the legions of fans still captivated by this film. They just don't make 'em like this anymore, so don't dare miss this movie (and HD DVD), which makes you who believe that anything is possible if you have faith.


A NEAR PERFECT COLLECTOR'S DVD   February 9, 2005
Tim Janson (Michigan)
17 out of 21 found this review helpful

Field of Dreams is a modren day fable. A fantasy played out not in an enchanted realm of dragons and faeries, but in a middle American Iowa cornfield. Costner plays Ray Kinsella, an Iowa farmer who one day hears a voice telling him "If you build it, they will come." Build what and who will come? Well the answer is, of course, a regulation baseball diamond right in the middle of his cornfield. Townspeople think Ray is nuts but his idealistic wife Annie (Amy Madigan) has faith in Ray.

Ray continues to get new messages from the voice that leads him to Boston to track down a reclusive author Terrence Mann (James Earl Jones) where, in films funniest moment, Ray explains to Mann that he has to take him to a baseball game at Fenway Park and Ray fakes having a gun in his jacket to coerce the skeptical writer.

Eventually THEY do come...spirits of deceased baseball players, right out of his cornfield to play ball on Ray's diamond, including Shoeless Joe Jackson (Ray Liotta) the wrongfully banned player from the Black Sox scandal. All the while Ray's brother in law Mark (Tim Busfield) is trying to get Ray to sell his farm before the bank forecloses on it. Eventually, as in any mythical fairy tale, all things work out and one could end the film by saying they all lived happily ever after!

Costner's "aw shucks" All-American boy style was perfectly suited to his role in this film. James Earl Jones and Burt Lancaster (as Moonlight Graham) also stood out although Liotta's Jackson was a bit too refined for a guy who was supposed to be something of a country bumpkin. This is a magnificent film and one of the best of the 1980's.

This 15th anniversary release features a host of special features including a remastered anamorphic presentation of the film. There's a new 90 minute documentary, A roundtable discussion between Costner and several former pro baseball players discussing the film, deleted scenes, Director commentary, a visit to "moonlight Graham's" hometown, and much more. Truly a worthwhile collectors edition. Highest recommendation!