Moneyball

So I watched this movie also as a part of my pact to attempt to watch all nine movies nominated for Best Picture this year. Originally when it was released I didn't really have any desire to see it. I had heard that it was good but I'm very iffy when it comes to sports movies. I'm not exactly sure why I usually do not like sports movies but it's most likely because they are usually all riddled with cliches. The movie did rather well for itself bringing in about $108 million worldwide with a budget of only $50 million. Oh and it's been nominated for best actor, best supporting actor, best picture, best editing, best sound mixing, and best adapted screenplay.

The movie is about the 2002 Oakland Athletics baseball team and it's general manager Billy Beane, played by Brad Pitt. Their team has one of the lowest budgets in the league and have just lost three major players to the Yankees. With the help of a Yale graduate with a degree in economics, played by Jonah Hill, Bean comes up with a new way of recruiting players and putting together a team based on the statistics of on-base-percentage instead of chasing expensive big name players.

The plot was surprisingly good and refreshing. It was apparently based on a book, but this screenplay was very nicely adapted. I've got a good working knowledge of baseball so I understood the lingo and nuances in the movie but I believe even a layperson would understand as well without it feeling watered down. The story was not very romanticized and only had a few cliches in it, i.e. a news montage to recap the season and the pinnacle/climactic/dramatic single game where everything is on the line. The minimal amount of cliches were subtle and didn't overpower the power of the script. The dynamics between the characters were very well written and the story was told effectively. Coming from what I imagine would have been a very technical book, the nomination for best screenplay is very well deserved.

The film and camera used gave the movie a contemporary yet vintage feel, if that makes any sense at all. The editing was smooth and effortless. While the sound mixing was nicely done with crisp bat cracks throughout, I'm not convinced it was the best out there.

Brad Pitt did a great job and really embodied this character. His scenes with the character's daughter in the film was also surprisingly convincing. I have yet to see the other four performances nominated, but I think Pitt did a decent job and may have a shot. Jonah Hill gave a performance similar to that of Cyrus. Not a bad thing since he left his usual schtick behind and played it straight, but I'm not in agreement with the best supporting actor nomination. His character was more of a plot device than anything else. He played the role so straight that there wasn't much of a change from the character in the beginning to the end. Philip Seymour Hoffman played a very believable manager and was the sympathetic antagonist somehow. I also personally loved that Chris Pratt had an important role in the film (Parks and Recration, for the win). He showed that he is a very underrated actor.

In the end I actually enjoyed the movie. It was informative in that I hadn't known about this groundbreaking season before and it was entertaining. It also supports my opinion that (some) professional athletes and ridiculously overpaid without deserving half of it. The story and screenplay were just fantastic and Brad Pitt completely owned the character. It wasn't the normal cliched sports movie about playing the game with heart and giving it your all, etc. While it's not one of my favorite sports movies, it was quite entertaining. "I'm just a little bit caught in the middle. Life is a maze and life is a riddle"