Kevin Costner’s new epic “Horizon: An American Saga,” set in the American West, will initially appear in theaters in two parts.
I am a big fan of Westerns, and have loved Kevin Costner’s work in Westerns. Nobody wears a cowboy hat and mustache like him. So I’m looking forward to his latest adventure in Horizon: An American Saga. Costner co-wrote and directed the film, which also stars Sienna Miller, Jena Malone, Sam Worthington, Kathleen Quinlan, Luke Wilson, Giovanni Ribisi, and others, including Costner’s 15-year-old son, Hayes Costner.
Notably, Costner also brings back some co-stars from his previous projects set in the American West: Will Patton (The Postman) and Jeff Fahey (Silverado). And although there is no sign of his Open Range co-star Robert Duvall, Horizon does include Thomas Haden Church, who had starred with Robert Duvall in Broken Trail.
The trailer for Horizon: An American Saga was recently released. If you love epics, the trailer should get you excited. But be forewarned that this year’s saga is a two-parter, apparently with one part being released June 28, 2024 and the second part being released August 16, 2024. And Costner apparently has plans for two more films in the series. Check it out.
What do you think of the trailer? Leave your two cents in the comments.
One has to be suspicious of movies released during the post-Oscar and pre-summer movie season. So, when I saw there was a new sports movie called McFarland, USA that I had not heard anything about that starred Kevin Costner, I went into it with low expectations. Sometimes, though, low expectations lead one to find a pleasant surprise, and that is what I discovered in this “based-on-real-events sports movie” about a high school cross-country team.
In McFarland, USA, Costner plays Jim White, a high school coach who has screwed up so many times he ends up in a poor California school as an assistant football coach. But after he loses that position, he convinces the school to start a cross-country team because he has noticed the endurance of many of the students who work in the fields all day and run between work and school.
Yeah, the film has a lot of sport film conventions as a Disney movie with the down-on-his-luck coach and Mexican-American students with the odds against them. But the reason spots films follow many of these conventions is because, like this one, they are real-life stories about the kind of struggles that bring us to sports in the first place.
McFarland, USA does a pretty good job with the sports scenes, but it also features excellent acting from those like Carlos Pratts who portray the student athletes. At the same time, director Niki Caro does a decent job of showing how the coach’s wife (Maria Bello) and family has to adapt to their new neighborhood too. The movie is not perfect, but it is a pretty good sports movie that probably have not seen advertised very much.
Consistent with this kind of feel-good straightforward movie, audience members liked it more than critics, although the critical reaction has generally been positive. Rotten Tomatoes gives McFarland, USA an 80% critics rating and a 92% audience rating. So, give it a chance if you are looking for a fun movie, and make sure you stick around until the end for the traditional images of the real people portrayed in the movie.
What did you think of McFarland USA? Leave your two cents in the comments.
In 1983, Columbia Pictures released “The Big Chill,” a film featuring an ensemble of great young actors (including a rising star cut out of the movie) as characters looking back on the 1960s with nostalgia, loss, and wonderful music.
On September 28, 1983, Columbia Pictures released The Big Chill. The film, directed by Lawrence Kasdan, featured baby boomer college friends reuniting around fifteen years after school for the funeral of a friend who committed suicide. The film perfectly encompassed the baby-boomer anxiety about selling out in life and a loss of innocence.
And of course, there was the humor. And the movie featured the great soundtrack with such performers as Marvin Gaye, Creedance Clearwater Revival, and Aretha Franklin.
The move taught me an important lesson that had little to do with the lost idealism or the friendship of the characters. I learned how great it can be not to know anything about a movie before you see it.
When I was in college, I went to a shopping mall with friends and we decided to see a movie. As we debated what to see, none of us had yet seen any advertisements for The Big Chill. I only knew that my sister had seen it and liked it, but I had no idea about the story or the actors.
Well, we decided to see The Big Chill based on my sister’s vague recommendation. By the time the movie got to the scene with the Rolling Stones’ “You Can’t Always Get What You Want,” I was hooked.
For the time period, with MTV only about two years old, the movie seemed like something new and refreshing, using rock music to explore the 1980s nostalgia for the 1960s. I do not know if I would have loved the movie so much had I known what to expect. So I learned the best way to see a movie is without expectations. Now, before I see a movie I try to learn only as much as I need in order to decide whether or not I want to see it.
Thus, in case you have not seen the The Big Chill, I will not say much more about the plot. Many have fond memories of the movie, which had a great ensemble cast of Tom Berenger, Glenn Close, Jeff Goldblum, William Hurt, Kevin Kline, Mary Kay Place, Meg Tilly, and JoBeth Williams.
Much later, we would read that the dead friend Alex, who we never see in the film, was originally played by a young Kevin Costner. In this reunion video, you may hear more about a deleted flashback scene featuring Costner.
Critics are somewhat divided on the film. I understand how looking back at the movie through today’s lens, one may see too many clichés.
But for the time, seeing the movie through my own innocence, it helped connect me a tiny bit to thinking about how I might one day look back on my own life. And today, I find myself older than the characters in the film looking back nostalgically at where I was when I first saw The Big Chill during my own college years. What is your favorite scene in The Big Chill? Leave your two cents in the comments.
Several years ago, I saw a performer named Teddy Morgan perform to a small bar crowd in Manhattan. Having already discovered Morgan’s music through two friends, I was disappointed there was not a larger crowd for someone who made such great music.
But it is a tough business. The ups and downs of the music world eventually probably led Morgan to shift his focus from his talented work as the front-man of a band to being a backing performer for actor-singer Kevin Costner in his band Kevin Costner & Modern West.
You have to do what you have to do to survive. And the change allowed Morgan to make a living and play before much larger crowds than he was seeing out on his own. But I miss the music he might have made if he had continued on his prior path.
Teddy Morgan’s Early Career
Morgan grew up as a talented guitarist in Minneapolis recording his first album, Ridin’ in Style (1994), with a focus on blues. Allmusic lists an album from 1995 called Teddy Morgan & the Sevilles, but I have not been able to find it.
Although Morgan’s albums featured his singing, on other projects he often loaned his guitar skills to make other singers look good too. For example, he played guitar in a performance from 1994 backing up singer Candye Kane on the blues.
Below is another early Morgan performance where Morgan sings lead on a song when he was still focused on the blues. Here, he performs “Dear Ted Letter” with the Sevilles (Eric Mathew (bass), Esten Cooke (drums)) in July 1994 at the 19th Anniversary of Antone’s in Austin, Texas. July 12, 1994.
For me, though, Morgan’s best work so far came in his next four albums. Although the blues continued to color his work, these next albums blended his blues influences into albums that tended more toward roots-rock. Bob Dylan influenced Morgan’s music too, as Morgan occasionally covered some Dylan songs.
Louisiana Rain & Lost Love & Highways
His style shift reflected a geographic move after Kim Wilson of The Fabulous Thunderbirds heard the young Morgan in a bar and convinced him to move to Austin. Morgan’s next albums — Louisiana Rain (1996) and Lost Love & Highways (1999) — showed the influences of rock and roll as well as country music on his blues style.
Below is “Baby Don’t Leave Me” from Louisiana Rain (a song that at least one band, The Jelly Blues, has covered).
Lost Love & Highways included a sharp band called the Pistolas. NPR and Entertainment Weekly’s Ken Tucker selected Lost Love & Highways as one of the best albums of the year. But apparently the sales were not there.
Below is the title song from Lost Love & Highways, showing the country influence:
In 2000, Morgan made another geographic shift, moving to Arizona. Morgan then released two more albums on small or independent labels: Crashing Down (2003) and Freight(2003).
I saw Morgan perform live soon after the release of Freight, which may be his best album. But by that time, he was reduced to trying to sell the CD out of a cardboard box on breaks during his performances. I bought two copies from him.
One of my favorite Morgan originals is the song, “Along the Way,” which is a great combination of blues and rock with a little twang.
Yet, it was clear that after four albums, Morgan was far from being supported by a big label.
Move to Nashville & Joining Kevin Costner
It appears with a relatively disappointing solo career, Morgan used his talents in other ways. He moved to Nashville, and he played on CDs for other performers. He also worked as a producer and used his other vast talents to stay in the music business.
And at some point, because of Morgan’s talents and based upon the recommendation of John Coinman, Kevin Costner asked Morgan to join his band Modern West.
Teddy Morgan still maintained his own website for awhile after joining Modern West. But it is focused on promoting his work with other artists like Alternate Routes and Tim Warren as opposed to promoting his own solo music. Morgan also has performed with The Alternate Routes in addition to his gigs with Modern West. By 2017, Morgan abandoned his own website for a period. In 2021, we learned through him that he has a new website about his songwriting and work producing other artists.
More recently, Morgan played guitar on and produced “Love Shine” for Kevin Costner and Modern West. The band released the video in June 2017.
I understand that, like all of us, Morgan has to make a living. Unlike many others, he is fortunate to be using his talents in something he loves. And I am thankful for the music Teddy Morgan has made. I am a fan of Kevin Costner’s movies and do not begrudge him pursuing other artistic endeavors either. Modern West consists of talented musicians.
But I still wish Costner would occasionally let Morgan play “Along the Way” on stage. And I wish Morgan were making more music on his own.
By himself, though, Morgan probably never had a crowd anywhere near as big as this one with Kevin Costner singing Bob Dylan’s “Mr Tambourine Man.” When you watch the video, Morgan is on the far right side of the screen.
Who is your favorite side-person in a famous band? Leave your two cents in the comments. November 2016 Update: Apparently, Teddy Morgan no longer maintains a website for his own music.
On April 18, 1938, Superman made his first appearance in Action Comics No. 1. Just in time for his 75th birthday, we have the new trailer for Man of Steel (2013), which has me excited about the upcoming Superman movie. The trailer shows young Clark Kent struggling to find his identity, beginning with the young child being held by his Krypton father Jor-el played by Russell Crowe and talking to his earthly father played by Kevin Costner.
With Henry Cavill as the adult Superman, Amy Adams as Lois Lane and Michael Shannon as General Zod, the new Zach Snyder film shows a lot of promise for the franchise that has not had a great film since the last time we saw Superman battle General Zod in Superman IIin 1980. Check out the trailer.
Man of Steel comes to your local theater on June 14.
What is your favorite Superman film? Leave your two cents in the comments.
Several years ago, I saw a performer named Teddy Morgan perform to a small bar crowd in Manhattan. Having already discovered Morgan’s music through two friends, I was disappointed there was not a larger crowd for someone who made such great music.
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