Moneyball (A- or 3.5/4 stars)
'Moneyball' (directed by Bennett Miller, Capote) is adapted by Oscar-winning screenwriters Aaron Sorkin & Steve Zaillian from a best seller titled, 'Moneyball: The Art of Winning an Unfair Game'. This movie tells the true story (changing names, here & there) of Oakland A's general manager Billy Beane (Brad Pitt), a tobacco-chewing, snack-scarfing strategist who found himself & his team in a crisis. The year: 2001. After losing to the NY Yankees in the playoffs, the A's suffered 3 huge losses of another kind: Johnny Damon, Jason Giambi & Jason Isringhausen (lured away by richer rivals). With an owner who couldn't match the expensive salaries, Beane was in quite the pickle; as his roster was full of Nervous-Nellies, underachievers & has-beens.
What was Beane to do? I'll tell ya what he did. He goes to Cleveland meets a overweight, nerd Yale grad (Jonah Hill) doing statistics for the Indians, hires him for the A's, & sets about building a new team by employing computer-generated analysis to draft his players! According to Beane, his veteran scouts & their stale-minded recommendations just wasn't cutting it anymore. Gut instinct, alone, was not going to win the A's the World Series. No, this new math system would tip-off Beane to hire guys with high on-base percentages & low salaries (guys who other teams wouldn't mind ditching). So what wound up happening? In the next season (2002), the A's (lowest-salaried team in baseball) put together a historic 20-game winning streak, setting a new American League record.
Everything I've typed sounds like only baseball fans might enjoy this film. But not so fast. It's more about a personal war between intuition, statistics, & the history of baseball. And it's also about loyalty - to an idea, a partnership, & said gut-instincts. Billy Beane says, 'I hate losing more than I love winning'. He was aware that if he follows his theories & they fail ... he'll be fired. That shows a lot of his character. Together, him & his partner (Jonah Hill) assembled a team that seemed both reckless & risky at first ... but during the course of one season, the plan proved to be the best baseball bargain project, ever. Thanks to some stellar (if lacking flair) direction by Bennett Miller & the whip smart screenplay, the movie works even if you don't know what an OBP is. The dialogue is brainy, humorous, naturalistic. And as written, you come to care for some of the characters; especially Beane & 1st baseman Hatteberg (Chris Pratt).
Brad Pitt gives one of the best performances of his career as Billy Beane; giving an outward "I'm calm & cool" appearance, when inside ... he's lonely &
raging. Whether pacing around in quiet introspection or throwing things across a room in angst - trying to balance his professional life (loving the game, hatred of losing) with what's left of his personal one (divorced, trying to sustain a shaky relationship with his daughter) - Pitt's Beane is almost manic in his floundering emotions (quiet, inward gloom to crazed hope). Pitt gives Beane an emotional depth that I don't think was written in the script. I've never thought of Brad as an incredible thespian (too mysterious & ethereal in most of his portrayals). But here, he's playing an on-the-nose every guy & that's very appealing.
Jonah Hill is great as the fidgety, deadpan, fish-out-of-water statistician. Hill is known for his starkly comedic antics. But he really dials it down, here. And I gotta say that he really impressed me; particularly in all his moments of awkwardness in uncharted territories (boardroom meetings, having to fire someone, etc.). I really enjoyed the interplay btwn. him & Pitt; especially in the early-goings when their crazy mission is put to the test. Phillip Seymour Hoffman - looking as bloated & curmudgeony as ever - is stellar as the bull-headed Art Howe; who doesn't see eye to eye with Beane & his statistical ideas. The increasingly confrontational bouts he has with Pitt's Beane are quietly electric to watch. Robin Wright is fine as Beane's quite happy ex-wife; but she's really in only 1 scene.
You know, for as intellectually engaging, humorous, & exhilarating as 'Moneyball' is (including nail-biting game sequences) ... it's also a fairly melancholy movie. Pitt's Beane is often alone. There are soul-bearing scenes. Beane says (paraphrasing): 'It doesn't matter if you have a historic 20-game winning streak. All that matters is that you win the last game of the season'. That's kinda depressing. Fans love baseball (with all its unexpected joys & aggravations), but baseball is also a cutthroat business -- that's sobering. In what usually qualifies as a sad movie ... no one dies. But this is a different type of 'sad' movie. The melancholy comes from Beane's endless pursuit of the 'last win'. And he must measure $$, fame, & his obsession with winning ... with family. Great film.
What was Beane to do? I'll tell ya what he did. He goes to Cleveland meets a overweight, nerd Yale grad (Jonah Hill) doing statistics for the Indians, hires him for the A's, & sets about building a new team by employing computer-generated analysis to draft his players! According to Beane, his veteran scouts & their stale-minded recommendations just wasn't cutting it anymore. Gut instinct, alone, was not going to win the A's the World Series. No, this new math system would tip-off Beane to hire guys with high on-base percentages & low salaries (guys who other teams wouldn't mind ditching). So what wound up happening? In the next season (2002), the A's (lowest-salaried team in baseball) put together a historic 20-game winning streak, setting a new American League record.
Everything I've typed sounds like only baseball fans might enjoy this film. But not so fast. It's more about a personal war between intuition, statistics, & the history of baseball. And it's also about loyalty - to an idea, a partnership, & said gut-instincts. Billy Beane says, 'I hate losing more than I love winning'. He was aware that if he follows his theories & they fail ... he'll be fired. That shows a lot of his character. Together, him & his partner (Jonah Hill) assembled a team that seemed both reckless & risky at first ... but during the course of one season, the plan proved to be the best baseball bargain project, ever. Thanks to some stellar (if lacking flair) direction by Bennett Miller & the whip smart screenplay, the movie works even if you don't know what an OBP is. The dialogue is brainy, humorous, naturalistic. And as written, you come to care for some of the characters; especially Beane & 1st baseman Hatteberg (Chris Pratt).
Brad Pitt gives one of the best performances of his career as Billy Beane; giving an outward "I'm calm & cool" appearance, when inside ... he's lonely &
raging. Whether pacing around in quiet introspection or throwing things across a room in angst - trying to balance his professional life (loving the game, hatred of losing) with what's left of his personal one (divorced, trying to sustain a shaky relationship with his daughter) - Pitt's Beane is almost manic in his floundering emotions (quiet, inward gloom to crazed hope). Pitt gives Beane an emotional depth that I don't think was written in the script. I've never thought of Brad as an incredible thespian (too mysterious & ethereal in most of his portrayals). But here, he's playing an on-the-nose every guy & that's very appealing.
Jonah Hill is great as the fidgety, deadpan, fish-out-of-water statistician. Hill is known for his starkly comedic antics. But he really dials it down, here. And I gotta say that he really impressed me; particularly in all his moments of awkwardness in uncharted territories (boardroom meetings, having to fire someone, etc.). I really enjoyed the interplay btwn. him & Pitt; especially in the early-goings when their crazy mission is put to the test. Phillip Seymour Hoffman - looking as bloated & curmudgeony as ever - is stellar as the bull-headed Art Howe; who doesn't see eye to eye with Beane & his statistical ideas. The increasingly confrontational bouts he has with Pitt's Beane are quietly electric to watch. Robin Wright is fine as Beane's quite happy ex-wife; but she's really in only 1 scene.
You know, for as intellectually engaging, humorous, & exhilarating as 'Moneyball' is (including nail-biting game sequences) ... it's also a fairly melancholy movie. Pitt's Beane is often alone. There are soul-bearing scenes. Beane says (paraphrasing): 'It doesn't matter if you have a historic 20-game winning streak. All that matters is that you win the last game of the season'. That's kinda depressing. Fans love baseball (with all its unexpected joys & aggravations), but baseball is also a cutthroat business -- that's sobering. In what usually qualifies as a sad movie ... no one dies. But this is a different type of 'sad' movie. The melancholy comes from Beane's endless pursuit of the 'last win'. And he must measure $$, fame, & his obsession with winning ... with family. Great film.