{"id":1826,"date":"2011-09-22T18:38:02","date_gmt":"2011-09-23T01:38:02","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/dailyfilmfix.com\/?p=1826"},"modified":"2011-09-22T18:38:02","modified_gmt":"2011-09-23T01:38:02","slug":"review-moneyball","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/dailyfilmfix.com\/?p=1826","title":{"rendered":"Review: MONEYBALL"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/a>\"\"<\/a>Billy Beane has a lofty goal: he wants to change the game of baseball. He originally thinks that the only way to do that is to win the last game of the season in the World Series. But \u201cMoneyball\u201d isn\u2019t about winning, it is about how Beane learns that while winning is important, how you play the game is everything.<\/p>\n

Director Bennett Miller\u2019s second feature film following 2005\u2019s excellent and Oscar nominated \u201cCapote\u201d is an impressive achievement. \u201cMoneyball\u201d is a film about literally inside baseball, but it should play well even to non-baseball fans. Part of the broader appeal is the presence of Brad Pitt who plays Billy Beane as a tortured perfectionist. But the universal attraction of the film is its script penned by Steven Zaillian and Aaron Sorkin (\u201cThe Social Network\u201d) taken from a book written by Michael Lewis (\u201cThe Blind Side\u201d). Technical speak is rattled off throughout the film but not at the same fevered pace that made \u201cThe Social Network\u201d both brilliant and exhausting. And Miller smartly takes time away from all the facts and figures giving Pitt room to emote. Pitt does so well with the character that it isn\u2019t surprising awards buzz is in the air.<\/p>\n

While \u201cMoneyball\u201d covers Beane\u2019s attempt to lead the Oakland A\u2019s to victory on a relatively smallish budget compared to other teams in the league, it is really about one man\u2019s journey to find his calling. And I don\u2019t think that his purpose is all about winning. The A\u2019s did win using the techniques Beane utilized, but ultimately their success was eclipsed by teams with more resources. The idea that he was able to even compete is amazing. And baseball fans already know that the concepts have changed the game forever.<\/p>\n

\u201cMoneyball\u201d has real heart. Beane\u2019s relationship with the game of baseball is developed along side of his strained relationship with his daughter. We learn in one uncomfortable scene that Beane is divorced and his ex-wife has remarried well. Beane travels to his ex\u2019s spacious modern mansion to pick his daughter up for visitation and he sits there with his ex (Robin Wright) and her laid back sandal-wearing husband (played by director Spike Jonze). Awkwardly they try on conversation for an excruciating moment. The scene is so very real, it is tough to watch\u2014folks in the screening I attended laughed to relieve the tension. Later we meet Beane\u2019s remarkable daughter (a breakout Kerris Dorsey), and an exchange between them in a music store is so good that I still find myself moved thinking about it. Parents who have gone through this kind of thing will immediately engage with the story regardless whether they know anything about baseball.<\/p>\n

\u201cMoneyball\u201d is a terrific film filled with epiphanies big and small. It makes a point about winning that is sophisticated and left me with a deep appreciation for anyone who tries to do something revolutionary and is afraid of failure but doesn\u2019t let that fear stop them.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Hint: Jonathan really liked it!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[19],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1826","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-reviews","no-thumb"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyfilmfix.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1826","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyfilmfix.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyfilmfix.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyfilmfix.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyfilmfix.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=1826"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/dailyfilmfix.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1826\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1830,"href":"https:\/\/dailyfilmfix.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1826\/revisions\/1830"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyfilmfix.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1826"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyfilmfix.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=1826"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyfilmfix.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=1826"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}