Natural

Pros: beautiful cinematography, excellent cast and performances, good story
Cons: Redford really a little too old for this role

Ah yes, it’s that time of year when hope springs eternal: spring training. What better way to get myself motivated for the next season of baseball than to take in a flick that’s always been one of my favorites: The Natural. ...

Pros: great cinematography, very strong story, superb acting, best baseball movie ever.
Cons: none

There are arguably only a handful of films that are categorized as the best baseball films of all time. Depending on who you are, the top of the list will include Field of Dreams, Bull Durham, and The Natural. It is my humble opinion that The Natural ...

Pros: Excellent baseball scenes and an important social commentary on the price of success.
Cons: Sometimes slowly paced and hard to follow.

Father’s Day, 2001. I am in cinematic heaven on this cool, overcast coastal Maine Sunday morning. I’ve just finished watching the DVD version of The Natural, which I received as a Father’s Day gift from one of my kids. What a way to begin a...

Pros: Outstanding cast, great settings....
Cons: ...don't rescue the schmaltz and inconsistent plot from striking out

An incredible cast allows Barry Levinson’s The Natural to shine far beyond the schmaltz, formula and inconsistencies that ruin so many sports movies. Much of that success is due to Levinson’s beautiful directing, but the cast headlined by ...

Pros: A great baseball film which isn't really about the game
Cons: Not for impatient types

A few years ago, ESPN ran some ads for its coverage of baseball games. The ads featured an actor portraying Ty Cobb and drawling through some of the Georgia Peach's more memorable quotes. It's my understanding the quotes came from Cobb, at least. Hell,...

Pros: Read the review or watch the movie
Cons: See above and below

Imagine Francis Ford Coppola revising Mario Puzo’s novel so that instead of Fredo dying on a boat in Lake Tahoe, Don Corleone takes out his revenge by patting Fredo on the back, kissing his cheeks Italian style, and settling their differences over some...

Pros: strong actors/acting, great story, well integrated musical score
Cons: might be seen as overly sentimental or heavy handed in some elements

When I first heard of the Sports Movie Write Off, I immediately thought about one of my favorite sports movies, The Natural. It seemed anything but natural to write a review of it, however, as there are already so many good ones here. To top it...

Pros: Great acting; soft-lens cinematography; Randy Newman's score; awesome baseball moments
Cons: Plot inconsistencies; film's pace may be too slow for some

Even since The Natural came out on video sometime in 1986, I've been a huge fan of this Barry Levinson-directed fable about baseball, dreams that never die, and the will to win despite the odds. The Natural was a film inspired by the ...

Pros: Its reaffirmation that if you operate from your heart, eventually you'll hit your mark.
Cons: Hobbs- we don't really know him but maybe we're not supposed to.

There is a mystical feeling to The Natural that makes it more than a homage to the game of baseball or the baseball hero. The fact that Roy Hobbs arrives to play his game so late in life is the testament to that. The fact that his talent has remained ...

Pros: Great story, cinematography, acting, directing, score
Cons: None

Imagine a new movie was about to premier staring: Robert Redford, Robert Duval, Glenn Close, Kim Basinger, Wilfred Brimley, Richard Farnsworth and Barbara Hershey. This movie will have Academy Award wining director Barry Levinson, with a soundtrack by...

Pros: The best baseball film out there
Cons: Can be a bit over-the-top and hokey if you don’t buy into it right off “the bat”

One of my pet peeves is when someone states an opinion and thinks it cannot be questioned. That is, they deal with an opinion as if it were an inscrutable fact. Despite this being a personal peeve of mine, I myself have a few opinions that I think fall...

Pros: Visually stunning, dowered with Randy Newman's incomparable score
Cons: False to its source, dramatically dishonest, a betrayal of artistic integrity

Just how much gauze did they shoot this through anyway?

'It's Thursday Night Baseball — Game Three of the Divisional Write-Offs. The Epinioneers have gone to a five man rotation now, with kurt_messick called up from a rehab...

Pros: Grounds myth in reality, one great performance after another.
Cons: Kim Basinger, who had yet to grow into the fine actress she's become.

There have been precisely two movies that have conveyed the nature, meaning and mythic quality of baseball. Bull Durham is one of them. The other is The Natural (sorry, folks; though I love Field of Dreams, it is more about...

Pros: .
Cons: ...

AT BAT
Robert Redford, Robert Duvall, Glenn Close, Kim Basinger, Wilford Brimley, Barbara Hershey, Richard Farnsworth, Joe Don Baker, Danny Aiello, Robert Posky, Darren McGavin, ‘Super' Joe Charboneau and ta-da Sibby Sisti

A fairly...

Pros: Heavy duty casting, heavy duty acting
Cons: A slow, frequently trite plot

This one is a killer to try and write an effective review on. It includes so many elements, all related to baseball, and all thoroughly questionable. Let me see what I can do without spoiling the whole thing for you -- OK?

The Natural...