MONEYBALL 2011 12A Starring Brad Pitt, Jonah Hill,Robin Wright Directed by Bennet Miller
Whether it was due to the critical acclaim, or the fact that
Aaron Sorkin was on script writing duties, I really wanted to love this film.
And it was good, but not for the reasons expected. Moneyball doesn’t
necessarily require extensive knowledge of baseball, but unlike the F1
documentary Senna, a bit of prior understanding would probably aide your
viewing.
The film is based on Michael Lewis’ book of the same name
and is an account of Oakland Athletics team’s 2002 season. General Manager
Billy Beane (Pitt) and economist Peter Brand (Hill) are faced with a dire
financial situations and resort to a sabermetric approach to rating and
analysing players. And instead of all the sports movie clichés, this
mathematical approach to picking players is why the film is interesting.
Instead of what you normally expect from a sports movie, Moneyball has a
sophisticated edge and the economic discussions are pretty complex.
Pitt and Hill are fantastic collectively and you get the
impression they are doing dramatically more than trying to be caricatures of
Beane and Brand. What’s more is that the pair of them are pared back and
believable whilst maintaining some of the charm we know and love to make their
characters believable. Together they lend to some comedic moments, both men
manage to incorporate their humour with straight drama which is a delight to
watch.
Moneyball isn’t just about baseball but the storyline with
Beane’s daughter feels a little out of place and less realistic than the rest
of the movie. Also, Moneyball is a lengthy film. Personally I am not opposed to
long films provided they grip from start to finish, but at times found myself
thinking it could have done with a more ruthless edit.
With that said, Moneyball is a recommendation on the grounds
of the interesting aspect of baseball and wonderful acting.
Starring Jesse Eisenberg, Andrew Garfield and Justin
Timberlake
You don’t get to 500 million friends without making a few enemies.
Amateur Reviews are embarking upon a new series of posts
celebrating modern classics from recent years. Today’s feature is the 2010 Oscar
Winning film The Social Network. Given the fact this post has the word ‘Classic’
in the title you can rest assured that these movies do not need a rating out of
10 because they are all examples of impressive film making at its peak.
One evening way back in 2003, Harvard undergraduate Mark
Zuckerberg started what was soon to become a global phenomenon in world wide
communications. The success, however, was not without its controversies and The
Social Network chronicles the various legal and personal issues that stemmed
from the inception of Facebook.
Aaron Sorkin (The West Wing) heads up the writing credits,
alongside Ben Mezrich whose book, The Accidental Billionaire, was the basis for
the script. It is probably worth mentioning straight off that The Social
Network is not 100 percent fact based and plays with multiple perspectives. In
our opinion, the main strength of the movie lies within the script. These
characters are the smartest in their game but all have a vulnerable side which
makes it impossible not to empathise with them. The script has Sorkin written
all over it – the witty banter is extremely clever and there is an elegant
level of humour that is just superb. The storyline is told in a non linear
style from the various court cases that eventually took place and this allows
Sorkin to play with character perspective and memory in an interesting way.
Director David Fincher is up to some of his best work also.
The whole film is glossy, sleek and sexy. If someone had said a film about computer
coding and lawsuits would be this attractive, it would have seemed unlikely before
watching The Social Network. Fincher has succeeded in creating an incredibly
well paced and flowing film that moves through a significant amount of content
in a modest time: a little over two hours.
Jesse Eisenberg takes on the role of Mark Zuckerberg and
makes it his own. To be honest, it is hard for us to judge if he was a ‘good’
Zuckerberg because it is not like we really know who he is. Given that, Eisenberg is
incredible. Prior to The Social Network he was quite similar to Michael Cera... We were used to seeing him in nerdy and
endearing roles (Zombieland), but The Social Network is a stage where Eisenberg really shows what he's made of. He still channels a lot of that awkwardness and his delivery of lines in light speed
time is impressive, but there is a crueller edge to him that is something we have
not seen before. Justin Timberlake plays Sean Parker and you genuinely manage
to forget you are watching the great JT… He is genuinely charming and shows he
is capable of humour as well. The role of co-founder Eduardo Saverin, who is later
shunned out of the business, is played by Andrew Garfield who is definitely a
young actor on the rise. Armie Hammer tackles both Winklevoss twins and manages to give both Cameron and Tyler distinct personalities. Rooney Mara stars too and rounds of
what is a stunning cast of young talent.
One of the reasons The Social Network has been earmarked as
a modern classic is because it emulates the best of everything. The best of
directing, writing and acting. Facebook is something millions of us use every
single day without even considering it so The Social Network is more relatable
than so many other films. And while the story is deeply rooted in technology
and the impersonal nature of social networking, Fincher manages to bring it
back to very human qualities that strike a chord with us all: the need for recognition and acceptance.
The Social Network is definitely a favourite with Amateur Reviews and also friends of our blog! Go check out http://moos-ramblings.blogspot.com/ for more musings on TV, film and life in general!
