Movie Review Monday #48: Moneyball

Jeff and I used to try to watch the majority of the Oscar-nominated films before the awards ceremony. Of course, that changed after Eiley was born since it became harder for us to randomly go to the movies, so this year we had only seen two (The Help and Midnight in Paris). Last night we rented a third: Moneyball. Moneyball is the story of the General Manager of the Oakland A's using a new (at the time, which was in 2001) method of statistical analysis to choose the best team with the smallest amount of money. It's a true story, which always makes things more interesting, and it stars Brad Pitt, which always makes things more attractive. Observations:


1. I am not a baseball fan, so I'm certain I missed out on some of the appeal of this film, but it was still extremely accessible. You really don't have to be a baseball fan to understand the thought process behind their statistical theory. And obviously you don't have to be a baseball fan to appreciate the character development of Billy Beane, played by Pitt.
2. Even without being a baseball fan, the film editors certainly evoked emotion from me. After a particularly inspiring moment, Pitt says "How can you not get romantic about baseball?" and I very nearly agreed with him.
3. This film was slow at times, but in such a realistic way. It had slow moments like life has slow moments. It had slow moments like a good baseball game has slow moments.
4. Pitt's performance was impressive. I forgot at times that I was watching Brad Pitt. His character was at times angry, superstitious, sad, passionate, insecure, overly confident. What I'm getting at is that the dude has range in addition to his good looks. Whatever.
5. Chris Pratt was also in this. I have to admit that I thought he was 100% like his character on Parks and Rec (though maybe not quite that dumb), so I was surprised to see him in a completely different role. I don't know why I assumed he was a man-child in real life.

He doesn't even look like the same person.
It looks like there are thoughts running through his head here.

In conclusion, two claws up, though I recommend watching when you are not tired in the least, otherwise it might be too slow to keep your eyelids up.