Moneyball

Baseball is About Money
Moneyball, PG-13, *****Plus, Brad Pitt, Jonah Hill, Philip Seymour Hoffman,Columbia Pictures film. Director Bennett Miller. Length: 133 minutes.

“Moneyball” is based on the book Moneyball: The Art of Winning an Unfair Game by Michael Lewis. If a baseball team has the financial resources, the owners can sign top players to help them have a winning season.
If the reader has ever played baseball, wanted to play baseball, watched it on television or live at a stadium, this film is a must. I remember thinking that I would like to play professional baseball when I was a little whippersnapper. It did not take long for me to understand that I was not good enough for that dream. As the film indicates, we all realize that either early or later depending on when it happens.
The movie is not just about the game. The film follows a smart strategy that helped to even the playing field for teams without deep pockets. The audience will view how players are traded and moved around from team to team. The inside deals of the trading of players is sometimes happy and other times sad.
Billy Beane (Brad Pitt) is the general manager of the Oakland A’s. His team is not doing very well, and this means he might be out of a job. Beane played professional baseball for a short period of time. He was a star player in high school, but when he arrived at the “Show,” he did not do so well. He moved into management, and his team is not making the grade now. Beane is a competitor, so he tries to find a way to win.
Billy hires a Yale graduate who has a new idea about recruiting players. The young graduate includes statistics in his analyzing players. Peter Bran (Jonah Hill) is the new numbers guy who uses this method to study the player’s entire statistical information in order to determine how it will affect the team as a whole.
It is about facts, research, analyzing statistics for intelligent results. “Moneyball” is also about people skills. Merging research with people skills works for all areas of our world. Research discovers the best route to take in order to achieve success. We use this method in the school system for our One to One Initiative, and it works. It is about teaching individuals to develop a passion for learning or winning.
This is the best baseball film since “Bull Durham” “The Natural,” or “Field of Dreams.” The interesting fact is “Moneyball” is not like any one of the films listed above. This film takes a new approach and a fresh look at “America’s pastime.
It brings life into a situation that requires change. The realism and behavior of piecing together a winning team gives the viewer a pragmatic view of frustration and confrontation in the locker-room, on the field, and among colleagues.
Pitt does an outstanding job portraying Beane’s character. He even has qualities he may have learned from Robert Redford when he uses certain eye-contact within some scenes.
Baseball is like everything else, we must use education to stay up-to-date. We either stay current or we go under. Art Howe (Philip Seymour Hoffman) is the team manager. He does not like the ideas Beane is embracing, so conflict arises within the inner ranks.
Frustration about not taking the game serious enough occurs especially when Beane here’s the team jamming to song in the locker room after losing a game. A harsh lesson in how one should behave after losing a game is delivered with meaningful dialogue.
Of course, the sadness of knowing what one loves to do it over is shown with harsh reality. Overall, “Moneyball” is an inspirational and excellent film worth every second of its 133 minutes.