Moneyball [M]

Oakland A’s general manager, Billy Beane, is faced with the challenge of rebuilding his shattered and small-market team after three of his best players are poached. As he struggles, he meets Pete, a young Yale-educated economist who shows him that, through the methodical use of players’ statistics, he can build a winning team on a very small budget. So, with Pete and the numbers at his side, Billy challenges the system, develops a roster of misfits, and forever changes the game of baseball. 

Based on a very impressive and motivational true story, Moneyball was a film that I think you either like or you don’t. You really have to understand the content and, being a complete lard lazy when it comes to any sort of sport, this movie just didn’t hold anything for me. Don’t get me wrong, the story is wonderful, Brad Pitt’s performance was excellent and I can see why he was nominated for the Academy Award, and I have to say that the sound editing was a great achievement, but ultimately this was just not my type of film. It was a good movie, but just not one that really appealed to me; and at the end of the day, the only person who can decide what’s a good movie and what’s a bad movie is you who watches it. I can review and recommend until the world explodes, but that does not mean that I am right. 

Oakland A’s general manager, Billy Beane, is faced with the challenge of rebuilding his shattered and small-market team after three of his best players are poached. As he struggles, he meets Pete, a young Yale-educated economist who shows him that, through the methodical use of players’ statistics, he can build a winning team on a very small budget. So, with Pete and the numbers at his side, Billy challenges the system, develops a roster of misfits, and forever changes the game of baseball. 

All right, let’s talk about Brad Pitt. By nature, I’ve never really been a Brad Pitt fan. I’ll admit that he is a great actor as quick as anyone, but I wouldn’t go and see a film just because he’s in it. His performance in Moneyball was excellent because his was a character that was fighting numerous internal battles but never gave anything away on the face or in gesture… until he really loses it. There was nothing big or aggressive or grandiose about Brad’s performance; he was aggressive in a more subtle way and throughout the entire duration of the film, you could not see the cogs working in his head or read any trace of emotion or struggle on his face. And that is a hard sort of character to play, so snaps to Brad peoples, snaps to Brad. 

Sound editing is a department that does not get nearly enough recognition for its importance. The sound effects and editing on this movie were really wonderful as a lot of the tension and strain and suspense that the film harbours is created through silence and then the sound of balls being hit and caught; simple, but really powerful. It was great. 

Starring Jonah Hill, Robin Wright, Chris Pratt, Stephen Bishop, Brent Jennings, and Phillip Seymour Hoffman, Moneyball was a good film, but one that sadly, should not have had me as an audience. Filled with statistics, baseball, shredding commentary, risks, conflicts, and struggles, I can appreciate it and say that it was a good film, worth the Academy Award nominations that it got, but it’s not a film that’s really my style.