"It's hard not to be romantic about baseball"
Sports dramas have always been a genre that, I feel, Hollywood is jumped all over. We've had some inspirational underdog stories told through football, soccer, hockey, basketball and even rugby, but some of the real classic baseball stories would not fall under the "serious" category. Moneyball does something that no sports movie has ever really done, it analyzes the world of sports and offers us a glimpse into a world usually played behind the scenes. Not many people would consider baseball to be a real business or job, most people say, "oh they get payed too much to play a game," there hasn't really been a way to see into the sport through the business eyes. I guess this could be said for all sports. What makes this movie unique and special is not how it portrays the sports world, but how an ordinary guy did something extraordinary for one of america's most beloved sports.
People say baseball is not a game or sport, but, an american pass time. For sports mongers, baseball is a way of life, they live it, breathe it, coach it and share it with their kids and their kids' kids. No matter how many people think it's a waste of time, baseball is an important fabric of our culture, I guess hockey would be Canada's pass time sport. This movie really sneaks up on the audience. It's a story about a washed up baseball player Billie Bean as he's in search for a winning streak as the Oakland A's manager. He's been in search for a break in the sport he once and sometimes loves now and again for his whole life. He meets Peter Brand who is as mysterious as the latest conspiracy theory, but the manager in cleveland listens to him. Stunned, Bean asks Brand what he's all about and this is where the story kicks off.
The Dialogue in the film is fantastic, the story never seems forced or contrived, it just flows. This is due in part to the wonderful book by Michael Lewis, and writers Aaron Sorkin with Steve Zaillian which have taken Lewis' material and adapted it so well. This isn't a typical sports movie with cliche after cliche, it's just a true, real story. It isn't really even about the team, which is what makes this movie special. It's a story about Bean reaching the peak of his career and how he deals with it. It is also about the "corrupt" money hoarding that baseball has so long been tainted by and it's a true underdog story about a little team that could. The power of this film is unmarked. Watching this movie I was truly inspired, it is the feel good movie of the year. What I really loved about this movie was the spot on acting. No one overreacts in this film, and the delivery of the dialogue is awesome as well. The action in this movie is the dialogue and it's so much fun to watch. Sure there are reservations of this movie, if people don't really care of sports this movie would be hard to watch. It can be slow and tedious and the backstory with the daughter could have been a little more than it was. I thought the pacing was spot on. The final frame of the movie was brilliant and Pitt has some of his best acting on display here.
Overall, this is a fantastic film. The production is amazing and the story was truly inspiring. Aaron Sorkin is such a talented writer and he's on fire with his two latest films. This movie will move you and inspire you and is the best feel good movie of the year. I'm glad Mr. Pitt finally got his oscar nomination. Jonah Hill was also a nice addition to the film. He was funny and played his role so well, he was a great supporting role in this film. I was surprised by this film, going into it not really knowing what it was about, and I loved it, and I don't even like baseball.
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