Review: Moneyball

Baseball movies. Everybody loves them. I mean everybody. Even Summer Catch has its own fans. So take a well-read book by Michael Lewis of Blind Side fame, add the ageless Brad Pitt and the rest is easy. Thankfully, the adaptation by Bennett Miller isn't as by-the-numbers as that. There is no forced romantic subplot to mull over, no downtrodden veteran giving it one last go, no rookie on the ropes trying to get a grip in America's pastime.

For once we have a strictly baseball movie. Billy Beane (Brad Pitt) is the new manager of the Oakland A's. The A's are not the Yankees, hell, they aren't even the Cubs. After losing several star players to free agency Beane has a choice ahead of him, play the rooks and take a beating or sign some over-the-hill guys and kill time for the rest of the season. Fortunately, Beane has Peter Brand (Jonah Hill), a numbers cruncher who may have just found the way to even the score with the big boy teams.

Players like Scott Hatteberg (Chris Pratt, who is becoming quite the actor) have no obvious worth to some General Managers, but Beane knows different. On base percentage, walks drawn, slugging, these are mostly just numbers for baseball purists, but for Beane and Brand these numbers could take their team to the next level. As Brand says, “Your goal shouldn't be to buy players. Your goal should be to buy wins. And in order to buy wins you need to buy runs.”

Brad Pitt is no stranger to playing the wholly committed main man. He is a mover and a shaker. He didn't come up under the establishment crowd and he won't put up with them when running his team. Pitt plays Beane with a panache that you have to have to run a multi-million dollar organization. Those scenes when he's throwing furniture after a not-so-polite meeting with his scouts are contrasted nicely when Beane retreats to the depths of the Oakland Coliseum during games.

Jonah Hill manages his transition to more adult films quite nicely with his role as Peter Brand. Not to say he isn't still the same funnyman from films like Superbad and Cyrus, but he is capable of playing the straight-man in a drama with ease.

Cinematographer Wally Pfister captures the exhilaration of the diamond wonderfully. Occasionally I caught myself wondering if I was watching game footage from the A's 2003 season. The expanses of an entire stadium filled with fans are collected along with solemn scenes with one man alone in his truck listening to another gut-wrenching defeat.

What makes Moneyball truly special is that this isn't just another baseball movie, it's a character study. The man who wants to revolutionize a game that wants no part of him.

***1/2 out of ****

The Best of the Decade

Over the last ten years, the cinema has given us a great deal to be thankful for: a rebirth of the Batman franchise, a series of examinations of what it means to live in this particular decade, and a mass of character studies whether they be animated or popcorn thrillers. As much as I have enjoyed the offerings, a list must be culled together for the end of the year. Except this year is different, this year ten films must be selected from hundreds. Below are some of the best of the aughts. Enjoy! 10) There Will Be Blood Paul Thomas Anderson's magnum opus, a scathing look at extremism in America and the evils of greed and profiteering from religion. It also features the best performance of the decade with Daniel Day-Lewis as oil-man Daniel Plainview. 9) Up A beautiful tale that entrances all ages, Up managed to captivate children and tell a tale that adults cherish as well. 8) The Dark Knight Maybe just a comic book film, but it is the best comic book film

Paprika vs. Inception

Months before Inception hit the theaters forums were alive with rumors that Christopher Nolan either accidentally or intentionally stole some details from another film, the Japanese anime Paprika. The biggest point of comparison for some bloggers and forum runners was the fact that both of the films featured a device that allowed a person, or people, to travel into another’s dreams and delve into their subconscious. Minor points of comparison include scenes in Paprika where the character Paprika breaks through a mirrored wall by holding her hand to it, as well as a scene where a police detective falls his way down a hallway. Claims have been made that Inception abounds with imagery similar to or exactly like the anime movie, but with the recent release of the film on DVD and Blu-Ray, and with Paprika available for several years now, an examination of the two plots can be made more fully. Let us begin with the primary claim— Inception stole the idea of a dream

Armond White or: How I Learned to Stop Caring and Ignore the Troll

Whether it is his glowing review of Norbit , his thrashing of Toy Story 3 , or just his general pompousness, you are aware of Armond White. His dismissal of Toy Story 3 came at a convenient time when the film was sitting pretty with a perfect score on Rotten Tomatoes. "But Toy Story 3 is so besotted with brand names and product-placement that it stops being about the innocent pleasures of imagination—the usefulness of toys—and strictly celebrates consumerism." A claim that could have been taken at face value had he not followed it with this sentiment " Transformers 2 already explored the same plot to greater thrill and opulence." I am sure if one were inclined to interview Michael Bay at his most enlightened he would have never crafted an answer that insightful regarding hidden parables in his Transformers vehicle. White was at his most incensed when forced to sit down and type out his thoughts regarding Precious , but praised Norbit for its reflection o

Never Mind Pop Film

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