This early Oscar contender was released on September 23 to critical reviews, eventually
grossing over double its 50-million dollar budget.
Brad Pitt, Jonah Hill, and Phillip Seymour Hoffman star in this intriguing adaptation
of Michael Lewis' 2003 book of the same name - about the general manager of Major League
Baseball's Oakland Athletics - who attempts to use statistics and math to build the perfect
team, despite having one of the smallest payrolls in the league.
Going against instinct and traditional scouting techniques Hill and Pitt's characters join
forces, and turn the baseball world on it's head... assembling a team of apparent rejects
with incredible results.
This absolutely true story chronicles the rise and fall of the A's 2002 season -- expertly
incorporating actual game footage and audio from the big moments of a decade past.
Long, static and deliberate shots frame our protagonist as he struggles with his controversial
decisions - firing player after player like they're a number in a file, all because their
statistical on-base-percentage isn't high enough.
-CLIP- The
film presents an incredibly fascinating look at the behind-the-scenes management aspects
of a major American sport, and despite the drab and somewhat stilted material, does so
in a very engaging way.
Director Bennett Miller is to thank for transforming something as detailed and complicated as baseball
statistics into a terrific 133 minute film that appeals to everyone.
Turning in a subtle, but inspirational performance in the leading role - especially in scenes
opposite his on-screen daughter- Pitt has likely earned himself his third Academy Award
nomination.
Meanwhile, a pre-weight-loss Hill delivers a terrifically endearing performance that
thankfully isn't regulated to peppy comic relief, although "Moneyball" does have its
share of funny moments.
Seymore-Hoffman isn't given much to say or do here sadly, but he, and you'll have to
excuse the pun, really hits the ball out of the park with his limited role.
The players, and game itself are given much screen time, but shine through in their limited
opportunities.
Frequent use of silence, broken by swinging bats, radio commentary and crowd cheers mark
many of this film's transitional montages, truly delivering a scope and atmosphere otherwise
missed in this behind-the-scenes baseball drama where the players and home-runs unfortunately
receive very little screen time.
With a true-to-life outcome expected from the outset, this sports film is perhaps the
first *not* to end in a Hollywood-style happy ending, but it is a realistic, and a satisfying
one.
"Moneyball", "Remarkable story, confident and engrossing."
Well, that's my review - now let's read some of yours from the YouTube comments.
In comes the Rate-O-Matic to score "Moneyball"... a COOL and a GREAT.
This was a decidedly original take of the classic sports film formula, but it was missing
a certain something for me to score it much higher - so let's delve deeper into what made
up that final score of "7" with Movie Night's first new feature in nearly two years... which
I'm calling the "Factor Facts" for the time being -- to help deliver a more nuanced explanation
of my rating, the flip side of The Rate-O-Matic will highlight an individual one to ten score
for each of the following film factors: Enjoyment, story, technical achievements, acting, the
visuals, the emotional impact on the viewer, pacing, mood, re-watch value, and overall
satisfaction.
A brief description of each factor is listed below in the description for your convenience.
As you can see, these are the scores I gave to "Moneyball", their sum total is averaged
out to my final score, which in this case was a 7.
Back to the rate-o-matic, your scored this film an EIGHT - citing the incredible story
and acting as reasons why you enjoyed this film.