Monday, November 14, 2011

The Biz: Moneyball

So this is going to be a pretty special feature, with this post appearing both here, on Cream City, but also on my baseball blog, Brewing Beerball. Never really though I'd get that fun overlap, but here we are.

So, I really wanted to see this movie. Largly because of my love of baseball and my enjoyment of the book, but also because of the awesome cast and crew that was rounded up for this feature. The director here is Bennett Miller, who isn't the biggest name in the world but did bring us the gem, Capote. Probably the biggest name here is Acadamy Award winner Aaron Sorkin, who wrote the screen play. The book here goes by the same title, and was written (and written well, seriously, read it) by Michael Lewis, who is also the man responsible for the book behind the film Blind Side. On the Cast side we start with Brad Pitt as the main character Billy Beane (the General Manager of the Oakland Athletics). Jonah Hill does a fine job as his assistant, Peter Brand, and Philip Seymour Hoffman supports as the A's Manager, Art Howe.

First, a rant. I'm generally opposed to whatever this trend in film is. I'm going to blame it on the popularity of stuff like "reality" television. This trend is, of course, making movies about current events. Two of the three I will complain about were Lewis', Moneyball and Blind Side. Now this isn't Lewis' fault, as his books were really almost documentary in form, with a fun to follow dialogue by the author. The third is Aaron Sorkin's other work, Social Network. All of these things are still happening... Billy Beane is still the GM of the A's. Mark Zuckerberg is still running Facebook and facing lawsuits. Michael Oher still playing in the NFL. The real problem is that people see these as true things, but they're not, they're fictionalizations. Aaron Sorkin commented on this himself regarding Social Network, that it's not a true story, it's a movie, based on a book, based on a story. People don't know this though and it bothers me. Rant over.

Moneyball follows Billy Beane through a baseball season with him at the helm of the generally broke Oakland A's. He realizes that considering the disparaging amount of resources at the disposal of different teams he must do something different. The movie chronicles what happened to him over the course of this season, and also looks back at Beane's own life.

The story overall, is great. The acting great. The visuals great. I think it does a pretty fine job of energizing what really isn't a whole lot of anything. It's people taking about baseball, and as much as I myself love to do that, making a movie about it doesn't seem entirely intriging. Michael Lewis' book was fun because it described in much more detail the people involved. Some of the players and secondary staff introduced in the movie have entire chapters in the book. So that was handled well. I saw the film with my mother, who is not a sports person. She like it even more than I did. I'll say that's because I happen to know more about baseball than the movie showed, and really the story of Beane is kinda old by now.

All things aside, this is a good "underdog" type story which enlightens the public on a lighten known, truly revolutionizing period in baseball. The film is well made in all regards. I need to give it a 3 out of 4 stars, and I really don't see a reason a person wouldn't at least enjoy watching this.

Side note: The Oakland A's really developed a fantastic run during the years depicted in the film, however, the A's are currently in a rut and have not been a winning organization for some time. The ending of the film shows a brighter outlook, and makes the viewer feel like Beane won, or accomplished something. But really it's an ongoing process. One of the reasons I love baseball.

Monday, November 7, 2011

Industry: Awesome Soundtrack

So, here is a musing I have been working on for some time. Has anyone else noticed the recent trend in a band, writing and creating entire soundtracks for movies? Now I will say that I cannot recall things like this happening some time ago, but I'm not old. I could use the input from some older people. However, I have noticed in the last several years this happening, and being both awesome and succesful.

Where the Wild Things Are--Arcade Fire and Karen O
Tron: Legacy--Daft Punk
The Social Network--Trent Reznor
Hanna--Chemical Brothers

"Wild Things" soundtrack was nominated for a Golden Globe
Tron was nominated for best soundtrack by the Central Ohio and Los Vegas Film Critics, but let's get serious, it was sweet (and had one of the cooler cameos I think I've ever seen...)
Reznor won the Oscar (I disagree with the choice myself, but still, it helps my theory here)
Hanna is still pretty new, but has already been nominated for a "World Soundtrack Award"

Another interesting thing to note is that some of the soundtracks are really great on their own, namely Arcade's work on Wild Things, and others, while balling with the movie, where "meh" independently. I left the theatre after Hanna super excited about the soundtrack, went home and got it, then decided I never needed to listen to it again (without the movie that is, which I bought).

So that's that for now. Throw some more out there if you know them, especially older older things, curious if this really is a new trend or if it's something that's happened before.