Sunday, December 11, 2011

Sunday at the Movies - Moneyball





Brad Pitt ... Billy Beane
Jonah Hill ... Peter Brand
Philip Seymour Hoffman ... Art Howe


When they say that this is Brad Pitt’s best movie to date, you know I had to be there. Add to it that it was a sports themed movies and I knew that this movie was for me.

But here is my dilemma, it wasn’t Brad’s best movie to date, Meet Joe Black is still his best movie with Legends of the Fall being a close second, but I do think that it was Jonah Hills’ best movie to date. For me, Jonah stole this movie; his straight man one-liners were what carried the movie from so-so to watch again status.

Billy Beane (Brad Pitt) is the manager of the 2002 Oakland A’s. He knows that he does not have the finances to put together a team like the Yankee’s, but that does not mean that there is not underrated talent out there. With the help of Peter Brand (Jonah Hill), a computer-generated analysis of players is created with a team salary cap of only $41 million. With the help of Sabermetrics (a specialized analysis of baseball through objective and empirical evidence), they put together a team that on paper looks good, but on the field, well, that leaves people scratching their heads.

You have to appreciate the underdog feel throughout this movie and even though the true events took place over nine years ago, you find yourself sitting in the audience cheering on this team.

I love sports movies, the feeling of hope and the love of the game. Take the time to watch this feel good movie and spend sometime laughing at all the very funny lines:

Matt Keough: And he's got an ugly girlfriend
Scout Barry: What does that mean?
Matt Keough: Ugly girlfriend means no confidence.

Billy Beane: When your enemy's making mistakes, don't interrupt him.

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