Welcome back Kevin!!!

Kevin Costner is in five movies this year. Five! I was wondering what happened to him until he was in Hatfields and McCoys on History Channel last year.

I've been a Kevin Costner fan since The Untouchables. I've silently endured friendly, or pretentious, barbs from friends about his work. In truth his body of work stands out. He's made what I consider 2 great films: Bull Durham, and Dances with Wolves. No Way Out, The Untouchables, Field Of Dreams, Open Range, Tin Cup, For Love Of The Game, JFK were all really good movies. Waterworld was underrated (but still overpriced). Sure, Robin Hood was kinda lame, and Wyatt Earp was just too dense and too long to be an interesting bio. Still, it's nice to see him back on the screen in multiple features because I really think he's talented. He's made some really compelling cinema over the decades.

His great films are Bull Durham and Dance With Wolves. Bull Durham is the iconic baseball movie. It's better than Pride Of The Yankees; better than Eight Men Out; better than A League Of Their Own; and yes, better than Major League. Making it to the Show is a pervasive dream in America. So many players don't make it, but that doesn't diminish them. Funny things, dreams. They're full of hope, and impossible to kill almost. Crash Davis' dream doesn't end in Bull Durham, it just takes a different form. Dances With Wolves is unfairly (in my opinion) maligned as being the wrong film to win the Best Picture Oscar in 1991. Many critics now say Goodfellas should have won the Oscar. I disagree. Goodfellas is great, and an iconic mobster movie, but Dances is better. Goodfellas had an amazing performances from Joe Pesci, Ray Liotta, and DeNiro, but it was pretty much Godfather II. Dances was unlike any story before (A Man Called Horse was similar). Dances also had 4 outstanding performances from Costner, Graham Greene (Kicking Bird), Mary McDonnell (Stands With A Fist), and Rodney Grant (Wind In His Hair). It's scope it epic, and it holds you for 3 hours.

His merely "good" films are; No Way Out, The Untouchables (which Sean Connery steals), Field Of Dreams, Tin Cup, For Love Of The Game, Open Range, JFK. I don't know about you, but that's a pretty good list. Some actors would give up a nut for a list of credits like that on a resume. No Way Out is a first rate political/spy action thriller with a great twist. The Untouchables, stolen by Connery who was awesome, is a recounting of the hunt for Capone (played by DeNiro - who also kicks ass) by Elliot Ness during Prohibition. Field Of Dreams captures the romance of baseball as the game that unites generations across time. Open Range is a great revisionist western starring Robert Duvall and Costner. Costner's character has edge, and undergoes a transformation. As Jim Garrison in Oliver Stone's JFK he's everyone's hero as America's greatest conspiracy theorist, and again for the duration he draws you in to Garrison's humanity alongside the conspiracy stuff. For Love Of The Game, and Tin Cup he brings back the everyman that lies within every athlete, and when competition begins the everyman persona goes beneath the athlete's zen. Jake in Kasdan's traditional western Silverado was fun to watch. Garrett in the girlie/chick flick Message In A Bottle is compelling. Sure, some stinkers like Robin Hood, or The Bodyguard, or Revenge. Who doesn't make one of those here and there. (Ask Clooney about Dusk Till Dawn). Even his biggest flop Waterworld, which was an incredible waste of money, is actually a fun adventure to watch.

All that said it's good to see Kevin Costner make a comeback of sorts. That's a good thing in the industry dominated by self importance to see a reasonably grounded actor like Kevin Costner. It feels good to say I'm a Kevin Costner fan, and I'm not ashamed to admit it.

Why am I even surprised.........

Did you see this?



Deadspin covered it pretty good - here - here - aaaaand here. The whos and whats are established. But why?!?!?!

I'll tell you why, The Tide lost. She lost her shit because the Tide lost, AND she has to go back to Alabama. You'd lose it too if you lived in Alabama, got out, and had to go back. Have you been to Alabama? Alabama is called the "Heart of Dixie." Do you know why? Because the brain isn't there. Deliverance is a documentary. There's nothing else in Alabama.  It sucks. Don't be all "Gulf Shores is nice" either, because they're a teeny part of the state. Hell, they were almost part of Florida. The only reason that little toe of land extending down from Cletus-ville is even part of Alabama is a 17th century political land sale scandal. Mississippi, and Arkansas talk shit about Alabama. The biggest deal in Alabama is when Auburn and Alabama play football. This year Auburn won on a freak play - already threatening Tide fans' over inflated sense of self. Getting rolled (see what I did there?) by Oklahoma just cinched the meltdown.

'Bama fans are the biggest bunch of asspipes in the totality of fandom. Worse than Cowboy fans. Worse than Notre Dame fans. Worse than Yankee fans. They're the worst. For some reason they think the U of Alabama football team holds some rarefied air in sport, and that its rightful spot is at the top of football mountain. It doesn't, and isn't. Bear Bryant has been worm food for decades, and Nick Saban will leave when he gets bored. Get over yourselves.

Here's an idea; make Alabama less sucky. That way the next time the Tide gets its ass kicked you all won't lose it because you have to go back.