For as long as I have been aware of, but have never seen, Field of Dreams, I have always imagined it as a different movie. I always thought it was more of a movie about Kevin Costner's character struggling to have the field built or something, not that he would do it in the first ten minutes. At first, this sort of bugged me; the fact that no one seemed to acknowledge that Ray was a legit crazy person mowing over his own crops to build a baseball diamond. The movie quickly got around to acknowledging that fact, however, and from then on I enjoyed it.
I say enjoyed and not loved because this is probably my least favorite movie we have watched so far in the LGT Movie Club. That is not to say I hate, I did like it, but just not as much as Bull Durham, Major League, or The Sandlot. Where Bull Durham had all the fun of the '80s crammed into it, Field of Dreams was full of the decade's corniness and cliches that made it drag quite a bit at parts.
The obvious love of the game and reverence of the game's history was great as a baseball fan, but as a movie fan, it was just not that compelling. A lot of slow-moving parts that did not pay off much, and a lot of plot points moving along solely on convenience.
I will say my favorite part of the movie was Kevin Costner and James Earl Jones' interactions. From beginning to end I loved everything about their character dynamics. It is almost unfair because I melt any time Jones speaks, but every monolog in this movie was perfectly on-point.
As an aside, that first scene when Joe Jackson showed up in Ray's yard was supposed to be some inspiring moment of triumph for Ray, but it was nothing but terrifying for me. I don't care if I built a baseball field specifically for it to happen: If I look out my window in the middle of the night and there is a shadowy figure standing in my yard I am probably going to lock myself in a closet and cry. Something about that (or looking out a window and seeing a face) has always been a weird phobia of mine. Nothing to do with my enjoyment of the movie, just an extra thought.
The Cleveland connection
Nothing that I noticed. As YoDaddyWags pointed out in the comments, Shoeless Joe Jackson has an obvious connection to the Indians--he played in Cleveland from 1910 to 1915.
Next week's movie: 61*
If anyone can find a place to legally acquire this digitally, I would be grateful as I cannot find it anywhere. I definitely want to see it, though, so I will dust off the DVD player if necessary!
Netflix: No
Hulu: No
HBO GO: No
Amazon Instant Video: No ($5.00 DVD, $7.99 Blu-Ray)
Google Play: No
Apple Store: No