Moneyball

You don't have to be a baseball fan or a spreadsheets lover to enjoy Moneyball. The story of how an under-resourced team found a way to be smarter than their bigger and richer rivals has an appeal that works even if you're not sure what a strike is and aren't moved by the idea of someone pouring over data to find a different way of looking at things.That is a large part of why Moneyball, the movie of Michael Lewsis's book about the Oakland A's baseball team, is such an enjoyable movie.Add in some great acting, a script written by someone (West Wing's Aaron Sorkin) who values words rather than seeing them as placeholders between special effects, great editing of footage and a nicely judged music score and you have a wonderfully enjoyable movie. Even if you don't like baseball.Often the extras on a DVD are of limited value, but in this case - save for the one that give you the chance to watch Brad Pitt sitting laughing for several minutes - the extras add greatly to the film, both in explaining the context and (in the case of the deleted scenes) rounding out the characters nicely.Of course, being the film of a book there is the ultimate extra - the book itself. Don't think of one as a substitute for the other. If you enjoy one, dive into the other too.

This is a film about sports but it is also a film about performance analysis and institutional politics. How do you measure the contribution of individual members of a team to overall performance? Baseball analysts developed a large number of performance measurements in the 1960s and 1970s which were resisted by mainstream baseball until fairly recently.This film is about the clash between the old way of doing business and the new way. Brad Pitt plays Billy Bean who was a hot prospect in the 1980s but who never made it in major league baseball. Thus there is a poignant element through flashbacks where his career plays out and he wonders how the scouts (working on 'gut instinct') got it so wrong with him. Clearly there is a personal element to seeking change, as the old ways never worked for him as a potential player.The film is often funny and watch out for scene stealing performances from the late Philip Seymour Hoffman as a manager. Pitt is at his best and his relationship with his daughter (from a divorce) is very well played out.

I first saw this film on satellite TV and was entertained quite a bit, so eventually I grabbed it second-hand for a snip and have watched it again with similarly positive results.Although there are a few non-baseball associated themes to the storyline, since it has it's foundation in covering baseball aspects I think that this film is unlikely to attract non-baseball 'fans'. Fortunately, even though I live in the UK I DO have an interest in 'Major League Baseball' (the professional wing of the game played nationally in the USA), watch games on TV when possible and usually manage to go and see an MLB game or 2 if visiting somewhere in the USA where it is played....Notwithstanding that, the film gained critical praise and made a healthy profit at the box-office - 1/3 of which came from overseas takings, so it proved to have universal appeal despite the 'niche' subject matter.I think that the Amazon synopsis for this film gives too much detail, so here's a cut from it to hopefully just outline the plot :"Based on real events in 2002, the film follows the unconventional tactics employed by Billy Beane (Brad Pitt), general manager of the cash-strapped Oakland Athletics baseball team, to rebuild his club after losing a few key players."On Blu-ray everything looks and sounds as good as you would expect of a modern release, but since it is a largely dialogue-based film which occurs mostly in buildings I don't necessarily think that it is essential to watch it in HD.Like cricket, MLB can be an entertaining spectator sport but also quite lengthy/boring and since, even more than cricket, MLB relies heavily during play and especially in the frequent breaks in a game (of which there are masses) to present/analyse pertinent statistics.Whilst this film does have the matter of player-performance statistics at it's core, and how they were utilised more fully to try and form a more successful MLB team, thankfully there is more going on than just that and certainly the ridiculous 'depth' to which media MLB statistics can go is not replicated ! I like to think of this film as more of a character-study for someone heavily involved in the management side of MLB, rather than what their aim was and/or the details of how they went about it.To support that assertion, whilst the cast does feature significant parts for the acting talents of Jonah Hill (the statistics 'nerd' employed by Beane) and Philip Seymour Hoffman (the team manager), and despite Hill also having received (for me, inexplicably) a Best Supporting Actor Oscar nomination, it is clear to me that the overwhelming amount of screen time is given to the Pitt character - hence his Best Actor Oscar nomination is far more understandable. Hill does feature, but not a lot, and Seymour Hoffman features even less ! We also see a lot of aspects of Beane's personal life, whereas we learn absolutely nothing of a similar nature for the Hill or Seymour Hoffman characters - absolutely nothing....Having said that, I am not especially a big fan of Pitt the actor and whilst he does turn in an effective performance here, I never felt I was ever watching anything other than Brad Pitt acting in a film - for me, it is the story that 'lives' and it is the story that is the memorable feature of this film.So, the well-structured nature of the screenplay and how effectively the film story unfolds are crucial elements here and ultimately dictate how successful, for me, it turned out to be; despite a running-time in excess of 2hrs, I never felt bored or that things were 'strung out' excessively.What we have is a surprisingly amusing portrayal of how somebody quite ruthlessly followed a new, risky 'model' to re-launch a professional sports team - often to the detriment of his personal life, colleagues and employees; gaining notoriety, new players and success on one side of the balance but losing players, some respect and lots of heartbeats on the other !Like some other films I've reviewed recently, I was now again going to mention that the production-values are good considering the small budget of the film, BUT then I saw that it cost some $50million - a bewildering figure when, for example, it is compared to the $47million budget (noted as it was discovered when writing a recent Amazon review for it) of the expansive 'Arrival', made just last year ! Quite where the money went here I cannot say, as whilst the cast is quite large nothing else really sticks out as above the norm; it is a well-made, well-produced drama with convincing sets (if sets they are, a lot looks like the real sporting location), but with few (normally costly ?) special-effects or exotic locations - maybe the 'talent' salaries, irrespective of their onscreen time, gobbled-up the budget ? !On Blu-ray everything looks and sounds as good as you would expect of a modern release, but since it is a largely dialogue-based film which occurs mostly in buildings I don't necessarily think that it is essential to watch it in HD and, similarly, the DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 soundtrack is largely wasted for this type of production.The disc extras are dominated by a large selection of featurettes with a total running time well in excess of 1hr - not watched yet, but their titles suggest that they might not be too heavily reliant on being of the rather unfulfilling 'promotional' variety.....Whilst this film has a quite specific plot theme unlikely to appeal to a mass audience, there is scope for it being a decent watch for many irrespective of the sporting theme (and specifically about MLB) as it largely concentrates on the 'human' side to it, rather than the sporting action itself. It is well made, proficiently performed and looks good on Blu-ray - but probably would be fine on DVD as well, since there is so much dialogue as opposed to special-effects etc. I DO like MLB, which explains my initial attraction to it and why I had even more of an affinity to the story - nonetheless, whilst I did enjoy it as a sporting film, I enjoyed it more as a drama.

Great film

Great film Great drama. Makes me want to watch a game of Rounders, I mean 🏏 Baseball

This film was both entertaining and thought-provoking, especially if you follow professional baseball. It was a revelation to me so I went out and also bought the book, which was just as compelling. Brad Pitt can act too and was totally convincing as the erratic but original baseball exec. Billy Beane. If you are interested in sports it helps but the film stands on its own as a good story. Based on true events and on the book of the same name.

I work in analytics, and like to conduct some of my own analysis around football teams performance. As a result a few friends recommended this film to me and I eventually got around to watching. I thoroughly enjoyed this film, with excellent performances from Brad Pitt and Jonah Hill. It's also based on a true story which for me is also a plus as it gives the movie a sense of realism. I believe this film would still be very enjoyable and worth watching regardless of your interest in analytics and / or baseball.