Moneyball Review

Billy Beane is a man of his word. He fights fiercely for his ideals but never gets too cocky and always keeps his vision in sight. Where Moneyball thrives is in exploring the man’s persona, and the many choices that drove his team to success. I’d be lying if I told you Moneyball isn’t about baseball. But it’s also about the fight against a flawed system and the gambles that life requires. It’s about victory, defeat, and everything in between. To put it simply, Moneyball could be perceived as your typical melodramatic sports drama, but in reality it’s anything but this. At the end of the day this is a uniquely incredible cinematic experience.

The film centers on Oakland A’s general manager Billy Beane. After a disappointing end to a strong 2001 season, the team loses its key components in the form of three all-star players. Beane comes across fledgling industry analyst Peter Brand and his unorthodox theories regarding the proper way to build a winning team. Seeing potential in Brand, Beane hires the Yale graduate and the duo goes on to challenge the foundations established by the ballgame’s greats to build a winning team on a crap-low budget. Piecing together this story is the stylish direction of Bennet Miller coupled with some hugely convincing performances by Brad Pitt, Jonah Hill and Philip Seymour-Hoffman. Honestly, if you exit the theatre with the impression that Hoffman is the real-life manager of the team, I would say you’re wrong but I wouldn’t call you crazy for thinking so. There are some interesting tidbits on Beane’s past here and there that serve to drive some emtionally-fueled events near the end of the film. 

Being a big Seattle Mariners fan, I never thought I’d find myself rooting for their division rivals in the form of the Oakland Athletics. Alas, Moneyball managed to do just this. One intense in-game sequence in particular had me biting my nails for the outcome. However, if you’re not a baseball fan that’s no excuse to pass up Moneyball. Even its title may scare away more casual moviegoers, but take my word that the viewer is never hard-pressed to understand statistics or analyze numbers to the extent that the film’s characters do. Having said that some common knowledge of basic baseball terminology will definitely help you to decipher some more fast-paced conversations but none of this intelligence is necessary when it comes to enjoying the overall experience that Moneyball offers.




If I had to summon a prominent criticism, it would be the rather inevitable and overarching sense of warmness that Moneyball sometimes offers up a bit too liberally. Taking into account the film’s accurate portrayal of the people who were really involved in these events, there isn’t really an inherent threat to the well-being of the heroes. Sure, Billy has the threat of the loss of his job, but we never really see his more profound personal relationships, especially that with his daughter, take off beyond anything but cute emotional support until the finale. That’s all good and fine since the film makes no mistakes in keeping its focus pivoted on the game Beane and Brand are playing, but it is a bit of a missed opportunity to add another layer to the story. On the other hand, there’s no unnecessary love interest or forgettable family fluff that sometimes sneaks in to dampen an otherwise spectacular dramatic experience, so all of this could be seen as yet another nod for the film’s quality. 

Moneyball really does offer up a fascinating tale. While the film’s basic premise might not sound all that intriguing (a general manger uses a bunch of math to build a good baseball team), the film presents this theme with its arms outstretched to the wide variety of audience members that a film needs in order to be met with a positive reception. You’ll never be abandoned by the curbside and expected to figure out what formulas these guys are talking about. Everything is properly explained and approached in acceptable ways that’ll please die-hards of the sport and those just walking in for a good time at the theatre. The cast of characters is a very likable lot. Pitt’s Beane is gruff, lovable and just the right amount of cool. He’s backed up very nicely by Jonah Hill in a surprisingly serious turn that still has its share of funny lines often at the expense of the character. 

Please don’t let Moneyball’s premise scare you away, because you’ll really be missing out. It's fueled by impeccable performances, seasoned direction, a smart script and some riveting ballgame-inspired moments. I could end this review with some clever baseball related metaphor, but I really don’t need to. This is one of 2011’s best. Don’t pass it up. 

Final Score:
9.0/10
"Amazing"

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Music as a time machine

Image
By Isaac Handelman A few months ago, near the beginning of my time in college, in a fit of what might have been homesickness coupled with my unshakable sentimentality, I set to work compiling a Spotify playlist encapsulating my senior year in high school. I happened upon this idea because I’d been thinking a lot about the ability of certain songs, when played, to transport me back to the times in my life that I associate them with. My plan was to compile every song that had meant something to me over the course of my senior year (a collection that turned out to consist of about 120 distinct tracks) and order them chronologically by the specific time or event in my life for which they held meaning and/or significance. I soon found the task daunting -- after all, certain songs were associated with foggier feelings or memories than others, and were difficult to place in order -- and I gave up. But my reason for setting out on this endeavor still holds truth: music has a certai
Read more

The Conjuring Review

Image
Over-hyped or truly malevolent? Full review by Isaac Handelman Few horror films in recent memory have inspired the sort of hype and attention that The Conjuring has. And who could blame the public for this? The film’s R-rating has been publicly declared to be due to the fact that the film was “too scary” for a PG-13. Some theatres have gone so far as to display signs outside of Conjuring showings warning that some may find it “too scary”. Stories abound of viewers who had to vacate the theater shortly into the proceedings because they were “too scared”. In the end, perhaps the hype has led viewers to expect the film to be too scary for its own good. The Conjuring contains no shortage of slick scares, but it’s hardly the revolution in mainstream horror that some have made it out to be. Conjuring claims to be based on the case files of Ed and Lorraine Warren, a pair of paranormal investigators (or “demonologists”) who agree to assist the Parrens in cleansing their new house of
Read more

Frozen Review

Image
Thawed. Full review by Isaac Handelman Many parallels can be drawn between Disney's latest entry in their animated canon, Frozen , and the studio's 2010 offering, Tangled : both center on quirky female protagonists, both are fresh takes on classic fairy tales, both feature some sort of large four-legged mammal as comic relief; heck, the two films even both posses bi-syllabic, single-word adjectives for titles. Perhaps these similarities are by sheer coincidence, but they nonetheless caused me to hold Frozen up to the high standard of its predecessor -- a standard that the film ultimately fails to live up to. It's not a bad film per se, but Frozen too often feels as if it's missing that spark of ingenuity that made Tangled such an entertaining ride. In Frozen, Princess Anna takes center stage, voiced well by Kristen Bell. Anna sets out on a quest to find her runaway sister, Queen Elsa (Idina Menzel), whose mystical ice powers have covered the kingdom in an eternal
Read more