Moneyball (Miller, 2011)

[theoddball]

This one is a Grand Slam.

You mean a Home Run.

[kaytee]

Grand Slam is a home run with all bases loaded .

[fizz]

Grand Slam is a home run with all bases loaded .

Spoken with the swagger of a true sports fan!

[fizz]

Moneyball is a sports movie that’s less about the sports and more about what goes on behind the scenes. A cinematic cousin to Jerry McGuire, it endeavours to explore the commercial and business side of competitive gaming with sensitivity and insight that makes it appealing for anyone, not just sports fan.

Based on a true story and set during the waning years of the Oakland Athletics’ nearly a decade ago, the film deals with a pivotal moment in the history of the sport when the team were able to turn their less than stellar performance into a record setting winning streak after adopting a novel, unorthodox technique of player selection that betted against the established rules of the game. Made in the same vein as last year’s The Social Network (both films share the talents of excellent scriptwriter Alan Sorkin) it features Brad Pitt’s second showcase performance this year (the other, in case you missed the hoopla, was Tree of Life). Pitt imbues  Billy Beane, the Oakland A’s General Manager, with the wisdom of experience on the pitch and the grace that comes with age. At times looking weary and forlorn but shifting into phases of self confidence and poise, his determination and his own past drive his decision to hire Peter Brand (Jonah Hill, stupendously good) a Yale Economics graduate to be his assistant and use number crunching, and not intuition, to put together a winning time against the odds.

Dealing with concepts common in statistical analysis, the behind the scenes look at the world of baseball is fresh and unfamiliar to the genre of sport films. To be fair, sports is just the context here, providing the framework to explore a classic, text book example of the challenges of change management put to practice – Beane has to deal with going against traditional concepts, fighting negativity and the fear of transformation. Despite all the time spent in locker rooms and tobacco spitting offices, director Bennett Miller manages to capture the unbearable sense of anticipation in the games that are played (seen or heard mostly off-screen or as aftermaths, we rarely see any match in its entirety) by way of Beane’s insistence on not being present at any of the games, but still keeping tabs on what’s happening by way or radio or text messages. The fresh execution of the subject is aided by the script, credited to both Sorkin and Steve Zaillian, who make the film topical, serious and witty in a way that only experts could. Few films can get you excited about a subject you don’t care about or even completely understand. Moneyball does just that and this is perhaps its greatest achievement.

Rating: 4.5/5

[animatedude]

is it better than Capote?

[X.]

is it better than Capote?

I want to hear Shariq answer that one!

[shariqq]

Haha! Well, most movies are better than Capote.

Moneyball is excellent. Barring the last 5-10 minutes, the director has surprisingly made a very good movie. A talky movie must have good lines, and good actors to say those lines. And that is the real strength of this movie.

I can easily watch this movie again (to finally wash out the directors connection with Capote in my mind).

[theoddball]

Grand Slam is a home run with all bases loaded .

Sorry,  my mind went TENNIS back there...

[madali]

Moneyball (Bennet Miller, 2011)

When I first heard that the Brad Pitt movie was about baseball, I wasn't interested. Realized it was directed by the guy who directed "Capote". My interest went even lower. Written by the scriptwriter of "The Social Network". I'm almost not paying attention anymore. But, sometimes, you go to the movies, not to necessarily watch a particular film, but to be with friends. So I went.

And it was way better than my expectations. "Moneyball" is not a baseball film at all, even though it might seem so at first glance. Brad Pitt's character, Billy Beane, is managing a team, and he wants it to win the championship. Therefore, underdog baseball movie? No, I said, no, why don't you listen. If anything, "Moneyball", is a management movie. It's a movie that managers can watch and identify with, and enjoy. It has everything that a business life exists of. You have Billy trying to manage in a new way, but he has constant resistances from people who are happy to have things remain the same. I like the parts where he tries, with the help of a young graduate, to manage the business, using analytics, when everyone who has been in the baseball business for years or decades, says that it can't be run using numbers, but intuition. I enjoy this part, because I hate it when people do that. Intuition and experience are good and useful, but only until cold hard facts can't dissect everything.

I want everything to be explain and I think everything can be explained. It's like how in Isaac Asimov's science-fiction books, "Foundation" series, with enough data and computing analysis, they could predict the future. I like that idea. With enough data and intelligence in interpreting that data, I like to think we can manage anything. Tradition doesn't like that.

4/5

[animatedude]

this movie has a lot going on for it...but let's just talk about its problems...shall we?

first, let's not kid ourselves...if someone as handsome as Brad Pitt he wouldn't be working as a manager for a shit team and he wouldn't worry about getting his daughter to college...he would've gone to Hollywood to become an actor or a model.

second, i can watch Brad Pitt do his upset goofy Ocean's 11 performance all day but the performance is just not that special and if it's going to be the performance that will give him an Oscar nomination then win an Oscar for it then that's just sad.

third, i hate to sound like an asshole but the movie sells the idea of him turning down the biggest job offer+ Red Sox using his techniques to win as a "Success" story when in my opinion it's not.

[madali]

first, let's not kid ourselves...if someone as handsome as Brad Pitt he wouldn't be working as a manager for a shit team and he wouldn't worry about getting his daughter to college...he would've gone to Hollywood to become an actor or a model.

What a gigantic, moronic comment. Brad Pitt wouldn't be a detective on a murder case and have his wife murdered, because he would have gone to Hollywood. Now change that sentence for his every other role. And then change Brad Pitt with every other actor.



shariqq: fixed the "quote" tag.

[ayaa1977]

Touché Mad! You always expect Mr. Dude to be contrarian just for the hick it, but your rebut was spot on.

[animatedude]

first, let's not kid ourselves...if someone as handsome as Brad Pitt he wouldn't be working as a manager for a shit team and he wouldn't worry about getting his daughter to college...he would've gone to Hollywood to become an actor or a model.

What a gigantic, moronic comment. Brad Pitt wouldn't be a detective on a murder case and have his wife murdered, because he would have gone to Hollywood. Now change that sentence for his every other role. And then change Brad Pitt with every other actor.



shariqq: fixed the "quote" tag.

lol, as usual Mad you twist words to suit your point of view.

what i meant is this is not a Brad Pitt role...

[fizz]

first, let's not kid ourselves...if someone as handsome as Brad Pitt he wouldn't be working as a manager for a shit team and he wouldn't worry about getting his daughter to college...he would've gone to Hollywood to become an actor or a model.

Biggest pile of horse shit to come from you in awhile...and it's nearly the end of the year so you can't even top yourself now!

P.S. You can use that flawed logic of yours for pretty much any actor who played any role.

[X.]

Sharply written by Steve Zaillian and Aaron Sorkin, MONEYBALL tries to connect the dots between living, working, failing and succeeding using the game of baseball. It works as long as you can buy Brad Pitt's unbelievably handsome team manager, and thanks to a memorably awkward cameo by Spike Jonze as a nervous wreck! Oh, and Bennet Miller's astute direction and Wally Pfister's classical cinematography (it is about time he started living outside the shadow of Mr. Nolan, or in Wally's own words, "his master"). Recommended