Moneyball Review

Justin and I just came back from seeing Moneyball on September 24,2011. This movie was excellent!! The movie follows the Oakland Athletics during the 2002 baseball season and the decisions and planning by the General Manager, Billy Beane played perfectly by Brad Pitt. He works with his crew of scouts and newly appointed strategist Peter Brand (who analyzes players statistics and how they will factor in and who is worth signing) played shockingly well by Jonah Hill. It gives you an insight as to the differences between ball club salaries with the New York Yankees, the Boston Red Sox and of course the Oakland Athletics and how their club can't really spend the amounts they do. The dialogue was brilliant as it was written by Aaron Sorkin. It was just smart and I loved the interaction with the players that Beane and Brand had. I loved watching the 20 game winning streak and the audience applauded when Hatteberg hit that last home run in the 20th game. Chris Pratt did great in that role as did Stephen Bishop in his role as David Justice who is molded to be sort of a mentor to the younger guys on the team and build confidence. I always loved the Oakland A's colors of green and gold as it reminds me of my high school alma mater North Hunterdon High School in good ol' New Jersey. The interactions with his family specifically his daughter Kasey were awesome. One thing I really liked was when she sang "Anyone Else But You" which was a prominent song featured in Juno. Hey, anything that reminds me of my favorite actress Ellen Page gets two thumbs up automatically haha. Phillip Seymour Hoffman was perfect in his role as Art Howe. He just looked like the manager of a baseball team like Joe Torre did. On a sidenote, I missed when he was around in the Yankees ball club. I'm not saying Girardi is doing a bad job at all, but Torre was the man haha. I also like the snippets of players like Jason Giambi (personal favorite), Johnny Damon(who I honestly never knew was on the A's team), and Kevin Youkilis (He's always been one of my favorites. He has a Stone Cold Steve Austin demeanor, especially when he was on the Boston Red Sox. I'm one of the few in the tri-state area that is a fan of the Red Sox ball club.) I love how they showed how Beane remained loyal to the A's and turned down Boston's $12,500,000 offer. I have alot of respect for the Red Sox club as they did what the As did in terms of talent picks and what not which worked well in 2004. I know one of my best friends Josh Meddaugh will love this movie as the Peter Brand role could have easily been filled by him, plus several references to the New York Yankees and oh yeah he loves baseball. Baseball is really the only legit sport I enjoy myself. I also know another one of my friends who would like this movie, Bill Clinton, because I remember how he liked the Oakland Athletics. GO A's!!!! I always remember Mr. Clinton shouting that off everytime we were watching a Yanks game in Towers. This is a definite 5/5 and much better performances and dialogue then Sorkin's previous movie The Social Network (which I really liked and is definitely in my favorite movies but there were really no likable characters in that).