Moneyball
As a huge baseball and film buff, Moneyball was everything I wanted it to be. Moneyball portrays all of the emotions felt from the sport of baseball, from the inner perspective. There are highs but many lows and just like life itself, the lows sometimes outweigh the highs by a lot. Billy Beane takes lows very seriously. As Brad Pitt utters in the film ” I hate losing more than I like winning, and that’s a lot.” He takes everything very personally. All of that stems from the missed opportunities he had in life. He could’ve went to Stanford on a full ride for both baseball/football. He instead opted to sign right out of high school A decision that gnaws at him day after day.
He tries to make up for this throughout his team. He is emotionally detached from all of his players/coaches. He is only connected to the sport. He takes out his frustration very clearly when things go wrong. Billy Beane was the perfect man in baseball to have portrayed on the big screen. He embodies the new age style that quickly spread through the major leagues. His same philosophies helped my Boston Red Sox win their first world series in 86 years.
I could not find more than a few factual errors when it involved actual players, etc. on screen. Every scene involving baseball action was so intricate. They had everything spot on. One thing that I am glad they addressed in the film was when the GM and assistant GM has to inform a player they have been traded/demoted. Beane is a seasoned veteran at it and did it with ease, however Jonah Hill’s “Peter Brand” clearly had difficulty. He had to get into the mindset that they were just a name with statistics to back them up, not a person.
Brad Pitt made the right choice taking on this role. It is one of his finer ones of recent memory and of all time for him. I’d be shocked if he didn’t get nominated. Jonah Hill blew me away yet again. He wasn’t just there for comic relief. His character had a complete story arch. Phillip Seymour Hoffman although brief in screen time was great, his subtext shining through. Also great casting with Chris Pratt, love that guy.
The script was flawless. Amazing dialogue/banter. The chemistry on screen of all the actors was great. There wasn’t one dull moment on screen. Amazing score to the film too. Bennett Miller did a great job tackling what was no easy task, making a truly amazing baseball film. The ending was perfect. Baseball fan or not, I believe anyone would like this.
9/10
moneyball
imdb
movie
film
film review
brad pitt
jonah hill
hill
2011
