Movie:The Untouchables(1987)

This movie is easily Brian De Palma best directorial work to date. He is also aided by a stellar cast which includes(Some trivia):

Kevin Costner: Oscar nominated for best actor in Dances with Wolves(I am only looking for acting awards. I know he won two other Oscars for that movie)
Sean Connery who would win an Oscar for this very movie, Untouchables.
Andy Garcia, Oscar nominated for Godfather III
and of course Robert De Niro who has two Oscars and 4 nominations

The movie features a strong minded Federal Agent Eliot Ness(Costner), taking on the ruthless AlCapone(brilliantly played by De Niro). Helping Ness are a skilled sharpshooter(Garcia) and a veteran cop(an Oscar winning role by Connery.) De Niro as Capone is terrfic. He is on screen for only about 15 minutes in the whole movie but delivers an amazing impact.

One of the best action scenes ever filmed is a shootout between the Untouchables and the bad guys on the steps of Chicago's Grand Central Station. Yes. I know that De Palma stole the scene from a Russian film, Battleship Potemkin.

The original scene from the Russian classic lasted a minute. De Palma's gunfight lasts about 10 minutes and ends in a 'kickass' end.
This movie is a must see.

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Movie: Perfect World (1993)

Here is another movie that did well, got good reviews and then slipped under the radar. For the first time we see Hollywood heavyweights Clint Eastwood and Kevin Costner join forces.

Directed by Clint Eastwood the movie focussed on the relationship between a fugitive on the run(Costner) and a young boy he has kidnapped. The boy who has grown up without a father figure develops an affinity to the wanted man. The unlikely duo are tailed by a Texas agent(Eastwood) and his sidekick(Laura Dern). The fugitive develops a paternal affinity to the boy who has been denied simple childhood pleasures like Halloween.
The dialog between Costner and the boy are particularly telling.

Eastwood is content staying in the background, most of the time playing the victim of his bumbling peers. This was Eastwood's first movie after claiming an Oscar for Unforgiven. Go ahead and watch this one. You'll like it.

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Movie and Music: The Bodyguard(1992)

A forgettable Kevin Costner flick with an unforgettable Whitney Houston Soundtrack. By the way, she’s in it too. (As of this writing she is in rehab.)
First lets get the storyline over with. A reluctant bodyguard must protect a damsel in distress, actually a movie star in danger. See the movie or even better, guess what happens. Don’t ever miss listening to the soundtrack.

Rajiv’s Classification(for the movie only): Soap Opera for the big screen genre.

The Soundtrack, however is another story. Yes, I am killing two birds with one stone here. Any musician can tell you that one cannot stay on a high pitch too long. Whitney is not any musician. She lives in the high pitch zone!She has this mystyfying knack of taking her voice to a high pitch, and then goes higher.

The track, ‘I have nothing’ is a timeless classic. She can make even a ‘commercial’ number like “I’m every woman’ melodious. The album showcases the divine voice of this diva. The other artistes are Kenny G, Babyface, Aaron Neville, Joe Cocker and Sass Jordan

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Movie: Field of Dreams(1989)

Field of Dreams,a mammouth hit when released in 1989 made Kevin Costner an American Icon. The movie celebrates the American spirit to follow your dreams and to trust your heart even when your head cannot make sense of it all.

Ray(Kevin Costner) an Iova Farmer receives a message from the blue,"If you build it, they will come." As he later discovers that the 'it' refers to a baseball field right in his backyard, in the middle of his crop. He must enlist the help of an author(James Earl Jones) and an old baseball player(Burt Lancaster). The movie will leave you in high spirits.
Recommended highly.
By the way, I am acting on the same call Ray got as I put together this blog.

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