For Love of the Game
by Sam Raimi
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DVD details
Actor: Brian Cox, Jena Malone, John C. Reilly, Kelly Preston, Kevin CostnerDirector: Sam Raimi
Brand: Team Marketing
Cinematographer: John Bailey
Producer: Amy Robinson
Producer: Armyan Bernstein
Producer: Marc Abraham
Producer: Ronald M. Bozman
Writer: Dana Stevens
Writer: Michael Shaara
DVD: 2 Layers, Region Code 1
Audio: English (Original Language), Dolby Digital 5.1; French (Original Language), Dolby Digital 2.0 Surround
Format: Anamorphic, Closed-captioned, Color, DVD-Video, NTSC, Widescreen
Picture Format: Anamorphic Widescreen, 2.35:1
Running Time: 137 minutes
DVD Release Date: 2000-04-04
Audience Rating: PG-13 (Parental Guidance Suggested)
Studio: Universal Studios
DVD Reviews of For Love of the Game
DVD Review: FOR the love OF, and not, OF the love FOR
Summary: 5 Stars
OF means FROM, or BELONGING TO. Whereas FOR
suggests a "reason why". The love of the game,
refers to "what one might get from the game".
It's like the phrase, "the love of money", which
means, "what can I get with this money". What
does he get from the game? What does she get from
the game? It is a way for her to connect to him.
And for him, it is a source of identity, and it is
a way for him to escape from reality, like that
scene where he has that workplace accident and needs
medical attention. What will these two do, FOR the
love of the game? What sacrifices are they willing
to make? What is she willing to do, to stay connected
to him? What is he willing to do, to keep from having
to get a "real job"? Her daughter says to him, she had
me when she was really young, so she's never had a "love
story". That was a really cruel and fantastical thing
to say. No wonder, her ex was on drugs, trying to escape
from reality, the "easy way". Her daughter seems to have
friends to rely upon, not to mention a busload of baseball
players, willing to come to her rescue, but he himself,
the ball player, lives in a world of competition, and
desolation, him alone, upon a pitcher's mound. I found it
difficult to sympathize with "the woman" in this movie. It
was a very one-sided kind of movie, I thought. She did not
come across as a nun. After only what seemed to be a few
months apart, she was already dating a art gallery owner,
or so it seemed.
DVD Review: Got a bad deal on Amazon
Summary: 1 Stars
I purchased the cd "For Love of the Game" and it would not play iin any of my units so I purchased a new player and it still will not play. Kind of hard to review the movie that should be on the CD when it doesn't play.
Sam Rice Hillsboro, TX
DVD Review: SAM RAIMI'S BASEBALL MOVIE
Summary: 4 Stars
FOR LOVE OF THE GAME
Sam Raimi is one of my all time favorite filmmakers and I will basically buy anything that the man is involved with, luckily for me I have enjoyed all of his films. I was a bit surprised when this film first came out because it didn't really seem like his kinda thing but I knew he could pull it off. The result is a really good baseball movie that really isn't about baseball, and Mr. Raimi did a great job with it. I went to the theaters to see this at the time of it's release and walked out thinking "that was a pretty good movie".
Based on a novel by Michael Shaara this is the story of Billy Chapel [Costner] a baseball legend at the end of his career and the end of his love life. It is the final game of the year and all he wants is to ignore the pain in his arm and give it one last go. Add into the fact that his lover Jane Aubrey [Kelly Preston] is tired of him and is moving on. This movie is really about this man's journey to finding himself, to bad he does that while playing a career making game. Or maybe it is because of that that he is pitching a career making game. It seems that while he is on the plate thinking about his life with her he is throwing the perfect game, and doesn't even know it. Towards the end when he starts to realize it he starts to go into a slump.
Sam Raimi shows a bit of a different approach and style with his direction in this film, it is more of a conservative style. The pace is good and the film transcends between present and past easily, but the last third of the film is excellent. Screenwriter Dana Stevens did a great job adapting the book into a film although I will admit that I have not read the book. Costner is good in the role of the fading legend and seems right at home on the plate, his scenes with Preston are good as well but just don't seem big enough. Kelly Preston is great in this film and plays the emotional unstable Jane perfectly. J.K Simmons is excellent as the head coach for Costner's team but does not get enough screen time in my opinion. Still it is John C. Reilly who is my favorite in this movie, as always he is great. He plays the catcher and the guy who is helping get Billy threw, excellent performance.
The best thing about this film is by far the baseball parts, just the way it was filmed and edited was great. As for the love story it is good and well done but it just falls short of being that classic love story, not sure what a good example would be. This is far from Raimi's best movie but it is a really good one, and to be honest it may be one of the reasons he got the Spiderman job. To all those who have yet to see this I recommend it but be warned, this is not your every day average Raimi flick. Still it is a very good one, worthy of a purchase.
DVD Review: Kevin Costner Just "Gets" Baseball
Summary: 4 Stars
Considering the fact that "Field of Dreams" (also starring Kevin Costner and about the national pastime) is my favorite sports film of all time, I watched this film with high expectations. For the most part, this movie lived up to those expectations.
Basically, the plot centers on Detroit Tigers pitcher Billy Chapel, who finds himself nearing the end of a very long and very successful career. However, when the owner of the Tigers tells Billy that the team no longer can afford him, Billy must make the biggest decision of his life (be traded or retire), all the while putting up zeroes on the Yankee Stadium scoreboard on the final day of the baseball season.
This aspect of the film (Billy's tumultuous decision) really works for baseball fans in a couple of ways. First is the use of flashbacks (think LOST) that show Billy's career up until the present, including his long road back from injury and a burgeoning (yet complicated) romance. Secondly, the vocal talents of Vin Scully (the real-life voice of the Dodgers) will remind all viewers that this movie truly is meant to appeal to pure baseball fans. As Billy pitches deep into his remarkable game, all the while recollecting the earlier events of his life, the film's climax is superbly narrated by Scully.
About the only "knock" I have on this film (and thus why it isn't five stars) stems from the fact that Billy's romantic issues tend to be a bit too contrived to create the highest form of believable drama. Perhaps Costner was trying to portray a very conflicted Chapel, but to me it came off as a bit confusing how Billy could have his "affairs on the side" and still be involved in a touching romance.
All told, though, this is a film that baseball fans will almost certainly love. Even if you don't completely fall for the romantic aspects, you will be cheering on Billy Chapel as he struggles to achieve the pinnacle of baseball greatness for a pitcher. Once again, as in "Field of Dreams", Costner proves that he truly does know how to capture the essence of what makes the game of baseball so dramatic.
DVD Review: The game is not cheap
Summary: 4 Stars
The acting and directing are top notch, some of the writing, misses the point, but the emotion is conveyed in incredible clarity. This is not one of those "Feel Good" flicks, it is more about what a man has given up, to be good at what he does, and the realization that it isn't enough.
Description of For Love of the Game
A baseball legend almost finished with his distinguished career at the age of thirty-seven has one last chance to prove who he is, what he is capable of, and win the heart of the woman he has loved for the past four years.Billy Chapel (Kevin Costner) is having a bad day. His girlfriend Jane (Kelly Preston, stunning as ever) says she's leaving, and his boss (Brian Cox) says he's selling the business and ace employee Billy may be out of job. Sounds like business as usual for an old-fashioned veteran. However, the business is baseball and for Billy Chapel, the 40-year old former all-star for the Detroit Tigers, it means his career--and his life--is at a crossroads.
Although it is no Bull Durham, For Love of the Game finds a solid and very believable role for Costner. The film is based on Michael Shaara's (The Killer Angels) stream-of-consciousness novel (the rough manuscript was found after his death 1988). The entire film takes place on Billy's day on the mound against the Yankees, a meaningless late-season game for the Tigers, but everything for Billy. In flashbacks, he lingers over his long relationship with Jane and his baseball career (from World Series heroism to a career-threatening injury). His one viable link to the game at hand is his catcher, played winningly by John C. Reilly. Costner, like Chapel, is looking for one more great performance, but the film is too simplistic and loopy at times to resonate. The love story has an extra helping of cuteness, and legendary baseball announcer Vin Scully nearly takes on a leading role, waxing grandiloquent. It's no grand slam, but a solid double. --Doug Thomas
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