Last weekend’s overall box office receipt saw a slight increase in sales, bumping up from $9 million to $10.7 million. That is, for those of you keeping track at home, the box office total of every movie at every theater. Oof. Pre-COVID, a single film selling in the $10 million range was rarely good enough to land a spot in the Top 5. But here we are, the movie theater industry in limbo, struggling to stay open. Last weekend’s No. 1 film was Focus Features’ new Oscar bait drama Let Him Go, starring Diane Lane and Kevin Costner as two parents who set out to find their only grandson following the passing of their only son. Sounds like a good time at the movies!But seriously, the film is getting some good reviews and, I don’t know about you, but I’m always happy to see both Diane Lane and Kevin Costner on the big screen. As big of a cheese ball that Costner can be at times, he has that unexplainable It Factor that makes an actor’s presence work on screen.As for Lane, what is there to say other than that she is one of Hollywood’s greatest What If stories. There were so many roles that she almost had following her notable start as the queen of the early ’80s, starring in such films as Miss All-American Beauty, The Outsiders, Rumble Fish, Streets of Fire, and The Cotton Club. Then came Julia Roberts and Molly Ringwald and Winona Ryder and Michelle Pfeifer and, well, poor Diane Lane wasn’t able to land the roles she was worthy of again until the mid 1990s.So this week, in the absence of any good new films to discuss, I figured I’d juxtapose the 10 Best Films from the two stars of the No. 1 film in the world right now, Let Him Go. Here they are, the 10 best films from Superman’s adoptive parents:Kevin Costner10. Dances with Wolves (dir. Kevin Costner, 1990) 9. Draft Day (dir. Ivan Reitman, 2014) 8. A Perfect World (dir. Clint Eastwood, 1993) 7. No Way Out (dir. Roger Donaldson, 1987) 6. American Flyers (dir. John Badham, 1985) 5. For Love of the Game (dir. Sam Raimi, 1999) 4. Molly’s Game (dir. Aaron Sorkin, 2017) 3. JFK (dir. Oliver Stone, 1991) 2. Bull Durham (dir. Ron Shelton, 1988) 1. The Untouchables (dir. Brian de Palma, 1987)Diane Lane 10. Under the Tuscan Sun (dir. Audrey Wells, 2003) 9. A Walk on the Moon (dir. Tony Goldwyn, 1999) 8. The Cotton Club (dir. Francis Ford Coppola, 1984) 7. Cinema Verite (dir. Shari Springer Berman and Robert Pulcini, 2011)6. My Dog Skip (dir. Jay Russell, 2000) 5. Streets of Fire (dir. Walter Hill, 1984) 4. The Outsiders (dir. Francis Ford Coppola, 1983) 3. Unfaithful (dir. Adrian Lyne, 2002) 2. The Perfect Storm (dir. Wolfgang Petersen, 2000) 1. Rumble Fish (dir. Francis Ford Coppola, 1983)Two quick reflections 1. Kevin Costner’s career hasn’t been nearly as great as I thought it was when I started writing this column. 2. Diane Lane’s career, on the other hand, has been much better than I think she gets credit for. That being said, I found it difficult to find 10 titles I really love for both actors.
Exploring the best movies starring Costner, Lane
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