Moneyball

“Willie Mays Hayes. I hit like Mays, and I run like Hayes.”, “There’s no crying in baseball” “If you build it they will come.” If there is one thing that my mom has taught me about the movies it’s that a good baseball flick is a good flick. With 6 Academy Award nominations including best Actor, Supporting actor and Picture,Moneyball is this years excellent proof of that.
Moneyball stars Brad Pitt as Billy Beane a real life ex-ballplayer turned GM of The Oakland A’s. He is tasked with coming up with a team on a much smaller budget then that of his big time counterparts like The Yankees. To do this he hires Peter Brand
(a surprising Jonah Hill) a young Ivey league educated man who has come up with a new way to chose players. Peter tells Billy that he should get the guys that are not getting paid what they are really worth, the cheap ones not the Derek Jeters or A-Rods. It may not be a popular idea with his co-workers including his scout who knows and prefers the old way, which is finding the good young players and taking them right out of high school. Then there is his manger Art (Phillip Seymour Hoffman) whose job it is to use the players as he sees fit, like when and where they play on the field. He goes against Billy’s wishes which start to cause friction between the two. Once the new team is put together they have to start winning in order to keep their status.
In the end this is a well written, acted and all around nicely made film. So whether it is a team of misfits, woman during war or ghosts who just want a chance to play again after being thrown out during their life, even it they’re not your home team you still route for them. If you want to see a sweet movie about ordinary men then check out Moneyball.