Moneyball Bilingual

 

 

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I am not a follower of baseball, although I followed last seasons home town events with interest with the Giants, even watching the final of the World Series for the first time. Despite my rudimentary knowledge of the game, I thoroughly enjoyed this movie.

Moneyball tells of how Billy Beane, the Oakland A's general manager played by Brad Pitt, faced with limited resources, and losing some of his star players to the Yankees hires a Yale economics graduate and statistician played by Jonah Hill, and devises a system for buying undervalued players to replace the likes of Giambi, by looking at players in new ways.

It's a calculated risk that flies in the face of conventional wisdom, and met with much resistance on the field, within the club, and from the media. Suffice to say that previous methods of picking though amusing were highly dubious.

"He has an ugly girlfriend."

"What does that mean?"

"Ugly girlfriend means he has no confidence."

Memorable movie lines:

"The problem we're trying to solve is that there are rich teams, and there are poor teams. Then there's 50 feet of crap. And then there's us. It's an unfair game."

"I hate losing. I hate losing more than I love winning."

The screenplay was written by Aaron Sorkin who created West Wing and won the Best Screenplay Oscar for The Social Network, and slides comfortably home with this effort.

Philip Seymour Hoffman plays the unhappy team coach with whom Beane bumps heads. Robin Wright Penn plays his ex wife, now with a new man who does not follow baseball.

The character of Beane as depicted by Pitt seems somewhat oddball, so one wonders if Beane is really this odd, or if the screenwriter is imposing his own don't explain philosophy on the character. Brad loves to play with the eccentricites of his characters, whether it's outright craziness as in Twelve Monkeys or a thick accent as in Snatch. This really makes the movie, as Brad gives one of his best performances.

Even though I don't follow baseball, I do love a great story, and I can relate as a soccer follower, because we share a passion for a game, and can understand the frustration of supporting a team that has to make sacrifices of favorite players, and has less money than the big teams to compete for the same trophies.

So, if you're like me and don't usually follow baseball, I think you will like the movie because it's a good story, and you will love the quirkiness of the characters and their relationships. In the movie Beane has to make a very big decision, so there was an emotional bit where Beane is in the car by himself at the end, which I liked. I loved the relationhip with his daughter, and the overall shenanigans as he bumps heads with the other characters. I think Brad Pitt will probably gt an Oscar nomination for his prformance.

If you do follow baseball, you will probably enjoy it even more than I did.

Moneyball gained six Oscar nominations including Best Picture, Best Adapted Screenplay, Best Actor for Brad Pitt, and Best Supporting Actor for Jonah Hill.

I think you will enjoy it, and I hope this was helpful.

Moneyball (Biography, Drama, Sport)
Directed by Bennett Miller
Starring Brad Pitt, Jonah Hill and Philip Seymour Hoffman

Sony Pictures 2011 133 min Rated PG-13 Released Jan 10, 2012

Video:
Video codec: MPEG-4 AVC
Video resolution: 1080p
Aspect ratio: 1.85:1

Audio:
English: DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1
French: DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1
Spanish: Dolby Digital 5.1

Subtitles:
English, English SDH, French, Spanish

Discs:
50GB Blu-ray Disc
DVD Copy
BD-Live

The Film 4.5/5

Moneyball is a refreshing change from the usual type of sports movie. How many times have you watched the story of an underdog triumphing? How many movies introduce us to a controversial coach who is initially resented because of his methods and then revered by all when he succeeds? This story is certainly a celebration of success, but not in the typical sense.

It's based on the true story of how General Manager Billy Beane (Pitt) employed a new way of thinking in order to enable the Oakland Athletics to compete with the likes of the New York Yankees. He did this with just one third of the payroll of that available to the Yankees.

Beane's first move was to hire Peter Brand (Hill) - an economics graduate from Yale. Instead of relying on traditional scouting methods, Brand used statistical analysis to determine the true value of baseball players. Instead of paying huge salaries based on a players' potential, he sought out value by considering players who were believed to have flaws. These might include injury or advancing age. Beane collaborated with Brand to assemble a team on a low budget. Departing stars were replaced with players who were a good fit for the team.

The reason Moneyball appeals to me so much is that I also rely on my own way of thinking rather than following conventional wisdom. That doesn't mean I will ignore everything, but I will question the opinions of others and decide whether I agree. It's something I have done my entire life and one reason I review movies. You might not agree with me, but at least you know that I'm not just repeating the opinions of others.

The dialog is intelligent and full of humor. Some of the scenes, such as Beane pursuing trades with other teams, are quite exciting. Pitt and Hill work well together and are in most of the scenes. One source of conflict is Coach Art Howe (Hoffman). He's concerned about his own situation and future in the sport, and is reluctant to adopt Beane's desired strategy.

I enjoyed Moneyball because it was different and the story was told in an appealing way. I won't ruin the ending for those who don't remember whether the A's won the World Series, but I will say that the story doesn't show a huge amount of baseball action. This is about the people behind the scenes and the way in which they affected the sport.

The 133 minutes race by and that's always a good sign. I can imagine myself watching this movie several times.

Video Quality 4/5

Sony's presentation looks great for the most part. There's plenty of detail and depth. Colors appear accurate and well-defined. The only minor fault is the presence of noise in many of the scenes. It doesn't ruin the experience, but it's hard to dismiss it completely. The movie uses a few TV shots and some archive footage, and that's clearly of lesser quality than the majority of the presentation. That's purely intentional and no fault in the transfer.

Audio Quality 4/5

This is a story which relies more on dialog than anything else. It rises to the occasion when required, such as during baseball games, but it's fairly subtle overall.

Special Features 3/5

The extras are in full HD and offer just the right amount of content for those wanting more information:

Blooper: Brad Loses It (3:11) - A scene in which Pitt can't stop laughing at one of the lines delivered by Hill.

Deleted Scenes (12:05) - Three extended scenes which didn't make the final cut in their entirety.

Billy Beane: Re-Inventing the Game (16:02) - A discussion about Beane's impact on the game.

Drafting the Team (20:51) - A feature explaining the reasoning behind some of the casting decisions.

Adapting Moneyball (16:33) - Showing how Michael Lewis's book was adapted for the big screen.

MLB 12 The Show Preview Trailer (1:21)

Previews

BD-Live

Overall score 4.5/5

I loved this movie! I am a huge baseball fanatic and this movie has been added to my collection of baseball movies. Brad Pitt did an awesome job at this movie! I think he should go to some of the other teams in real life baseball and see if he can fix them as well. Great job Brad!!!

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3.0 out of 5 stars at times on the money
Being a lifelong A's fan I was fascinated exactly as to how Brad Pitt (oops, Brapi playing A's general manager Billy Beane) rebuilt the team in 2002 and got them back into the... Read more

Published 1 month ago by Brian Maitland

3.0 out of 5 stars Moneyball
It's a movie about being passionate about something and never letting money get in the way of that. Brad Pitt plays his role flawlessly and Jonah Hill delivers, making the 2 a... Read more

Published 1 month ago by Mich

5.0 out of 5 stars Great Movie
This is a really great movie! I Loved it. It gives a pretty accurate look at the baseball world. I highly recommend this film.

Published 2 months ago by KimW

5.0 out of 5 stars MONEYBALL
great movie loved it true story also really enjoyed it great delivery time amazon is awsome wow kool mint great wicket holy

Published 3 months ago by Chris Walzak

5.0 out of 5 stars Money!
Brad Pitt was born to play this role. He dominates the screen as A's General Manager Billy Beane. The story is brilliantly brought to the screen with stellar performances, a lot... Read more

Published 3 months ago by Harris Macklin

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