tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8785859730868628316.post4610932768264742898..comments2024-02-10T01:22:29.316-08:00Comments on Hugo Stiglitz Makes Movies: Catching up with 2011: MoneyballKevin J. Olsonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17275402809912728035noreply@blogger.comBlogger4125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8785859730868628316.post-47617680649840139592012-01-27T11:24:02.864-08:002012-01-27T11:24:02.864-08:00The "idiotic" Joe Morgan? One should hav...The "idiotic" Joe Morgan? One should have a better built home before tossing such rocks.Mykal Bantahttps://www.blogger.com/profile/12148489896145024134noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8785859730868628316.post-23543730132483989492012-01-21T12:01:25.160-08:002012-01-21T12:01:25.160-08:00Jason:
The scene with his daughter in the guitar ...Jason:<br /><br />The scene with his daughter in the guitar shop is a great, isolated moments, but it does ring false when considered within the context of the movie. <br /><br />I like what you say about the flashbacks feeling very "Screenwriter 101" in their attempts to get the audience to see Beane as someone who has something to prove. Here's a man who had a full ride offer to Stanford and turned it down, got paid a lot of money coming out of high school, bounced around from major league team to major league team, and then had success as a scout and then GM. There's nothing exactly <i>tragic</i> about this guys life that makes me really want to get behind him and root for his success. Most of my rooting interest in the film is for the progressive ideas butting heads with the "time-tested" methods. <br /><br />One of the problems with Lewis' book is, as you said, that he focuses too much on moves of Hatteberg, Justice, and Bradford. It's true that A's -- despite their low payroll -- were not a bad team that surprised people, yet that's what Bennett's film often felt like (especially when it shows them losing to the Twins, an equally small market team with notoriously cheap ownership). Here's a team that clearly had the best 1-3 starting pitching since those 90s Braves teams and a SS who was an MVP candidate (not to mention a 3B that was well above league average at that point in Chavez and a good OF in Jermaine Dye).<br /><br />There's a lot of small market teams that have done better than the A's (the Marlins, obviously, winning two WS is an example...and then they go and sell off their team and rebuild...and the Rays are the best example of this recently) through the draft and scouting -- and that's what I wish the movie would have focused more on. Not just the offseason pick-ups, but the full extent of how teams are constructed. Beane was good in the draft, and I think that would have been an interesting part of the film for non-sports fans to see how much work goes into constructing a MLB team. <br /><br />The philosophy of "moneyball" gave Beane a way to decrease the risk when signing undervalued free agents, and that's a great story, but I also would have liked to see how "moneyball" allowed him to outsmart people in the draft which led to the A's ability to reload their roster year-in-year-out after they would lose their star players who were asking for too much money. That's the more interesting conflict to me. <br /><br />I'm with ya all the way: it's a movie I like, but I doubt I'll be remembering even six months from now. <br /><br />Thanks for stopping by, Jason!Kevin J. Olsonhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/17275402809912728035noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8785859730868628316.post-647167632159540412012-01-21T05:10:40.428-08:002012-01-21T05:10:40.428-08:00Nice job, man. Yeah, this movie hit us the same wa...Nice job, man. Yeah, this movie hit us the same way. A few thoughts ...<br /><br />* I love the scene with the daughter singing, even though it's on-the-nose. And yet at the same time, the daughter thing drives me crazy because throughout the entire film it feels like a get-out-of-jail-free card. It's the screenwriters' way of making Beane a hero when he turns down the Boston job, so that people don't go, "Wait, where's the happy ending!? He should take the big job! This blows!"<br /><br />* The Beane flashbacks are equally problematic. The best part about them is that they show that Beane is intimately aware that "tools" evaluations of players are problematic. But, much like the stuff with the daughter, the rest of it feels too Screenwriting 101, building a motivation for Beane and a deep need to prove himself, as if he couldn't want to win and prove himself just cuz.<br /><br />* Craig Simpson pointed out the irony that I missed: that the standoff between Beane and Howe about Hatteberg about whether he should start or come off the bench is undercut by the fact that Hatteberg's "big moment" is in a pinch hitting role ... <em>off the bench</em>. So, if you think about it, the scene is actually a tribute to Howe as much as Beane. Oops.<br /><br />* We've already discussed this, but it feels a little slimy the way the movie repeats the sins of Lewis and ignores the studly pitching staff and, oh, hey, MVP Miguel Tejada -- all of it talent that wasn't high-priced yet but played like it.<br /><br />* It's an enjoyable movie. I certainly don't hate it. But it does strike me as one of those movies that got a lot of attention when it first came out that will be forgotten by this time next year. Of course, the same thing happens to even better films. So it goes ...Jason Bellamyhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/18150199580478147196noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8785859730868628316.post-8856054082421047492012-01-20T14:32:56.232-08:002012-01-20T14:32:56.232-08:00It may not feel quite like the classic baseball mo...It may not feel quite like the classic baseball movie others have achieved, but it’s certainly pleasant enough to be enjoyable even by non-sports fan, and features great performances from Hill and Pitt. Good review Hugo.Dan O.http://www.dtmmr.wordpress.comnoreply@blogger.com