SnoReptilePlenty Memorable, crazy movie

Donald Seymour This is one of the best movies I’ve seen in a very long time. You have to go and see this on the big screen.

Calum Hutton It's a good bad... and worth a popcorn matinée. While it's easy to lament what could have been...

Scotty Burke It is interesting even when nothing much happens, which is for most of its 3-hour running time. Read full review

thedarkknight-99999 I'm not a fan of Baseball. Actually, I don't even know anything about this game. I'm also not a big fan of Sports movies in general. Also, this movie has a generic story that could have easily made Moneyball already dated. That's why I putted this movie off for a very long time, and I really regret doing that.Director Bennett Miller, along with screenwriters, Steven Zaillian, and Aaron Sorkin took a story that sounds uninteresting and turned it into an enjoyable movie that is funny, intense, and very touching in equal measure. I didn't know that Aaron Sorkin co-wrote the script but I felt his touches while watching the movie till I became completely sure that he co-wrote its script even before I check that out.The dialogue is so smart and sharp, and Brad Pitt and Jonah Hill were both great, especially Brad Pitt, and they had an incredible chemistry that made the dialogue even more captivating.Let's face it, no director-screenwriter collaboration can beat Fincher-Sorkin's one. But that , by no means, means that Bennett Miller didn't do a great job directing this movie. Besides the fact that he made a very good-looking movie, he captured some truly magical cinematic moments that can stick in my head for a very long time. A very long sequence near the end, in particular, that is about ten minutes is easily one of the most riveting and gripping sequences I've ever watched. I was literally on the edge of my seat sweating, and putting my hands on head. It was really stressful and exhausting to watch. Also, the moments Billy Beane, Pitt's character, has with his daughter are just delightful to watch.Nevertheless, Moneyball's problem, IMO, is that it's a bit boring! Its runtime is 133 min, and the movie definitely could have been way shorter. The problem is that there is too much talk that I really wasn't interested in, and most importantly, didn't need to. The movie lost me sometimes at the middle and the very end.Billy Beane is a well-written and grounded character that brought to life by Brad Pitt's Oscar-nominated performance. It had a lot of development, and it was a very interesting character. That being said, I felt that his backstory isn't complete. I think it was interesting at the beginning, but then the movie just ignored his past. As a result, I felt like there was something is missing in this character. The movie actually did keep advancing his backstory forward in a way that connect very well with the ongoing events of the movie, but that, unfortunately, didn't happen after the first act anymore.Overall, I loved Moneyball so much, and enjoyed watching it quiet a bit, and I didn't even think that I was going to like it.(8/10)

Joey This movie was a great baseball movie. It is probably the best I have seen. The story is about a guy that wants to win the last game of the season. I thought the movie was done great. Brad Pitt played a huge part in this movie. He was the producer and an actor. Christ Pratt was also in this movie. This was one of his first. It was probably one of his best though. His charter in many scenes made you feel like you where going to cry because you where so happy for him. The story was pretty much the same as of what really happened. The score in this movie made you get really involved. That is what a score needs to do.This is one of my favorite movies and one of the best baseball movies. This is also one of the best documentaries ever..

jimbo-53-186511 Billy Beane (Brad Pitt) is a former baseball player who is now the general manager for the Oakland Athletics. When he is faced with the prospect of losing 3 of his key players, he approaches the 'boss' to try and get more money from him in order to replace these key players. When the 'boss' informs Beane that no more money is available Beane must try to build the best team that he has with the money that he's got; fortunately he is able to recruit stat-man Peter Brand (Jonah Hill) who teaches Beane to look at baseball scouting from a completely different angle...What I know about baseball could be written on the back of a postage stamp and therefore I decided to watch Moneyball hoping that the film would educate me somewhat whilst also providing me with an uplifting story. Whilst it does a little of both, I didn't find Moneyball to be an entirely satisfying product...One thing I did notice about this film is how cold and clinical it feels; for the most part it's quite dour and depressing and at times it plays out more like a cold documentary than an uplifting piece of cinema. This is further extended to the baseball players within the film; there's no backstory to any of them and no real development to them as people which makes it impossible to root or care for any of them - this is made worse by the rather unceremonious way that they are traded to other teams (again made worse by how accepting some of them are of their dismissals which doesn't sit well with the flow of the film given that Beane had to give Brand a pep talk on how to deal with players reaction to being dismissed). Perhaps Director Bennett Miller wanted to keep the film low-key to avoid it being too melodramatic, but there has to be at least a degree of melodrama otherwise the film can come across as being rather flat and unengaging which is what happens in Moneyball. These things do give the film a rather heavy going feel about it which makes it a bit of a mare to sit through. I confess to knowing nothing about Baseball so the various stats talks and tactical discussion went over my head (this may cause a problem to non-Baseball fans who choose to watch this film as it does take up a good chunk of the running time and this aspect of the film may be boring to some people - it certainly was for me). I think what makes things worse is that I didn't feel that the film did much to uplift me; I never felt a sense of euphoria at any point and wasn't cheering the Oakland Athletics on in the way the filmmakers wanted me to - although I'm prepared to acknowledge that what they achieved with the money/resources they had was quite a feat. As mentioned, it is a combination of the flat way the film is presented, the weak characterisation, and it's general failure to truly uplift me that were the biggest factors working against the film (the film even finishes on a slightly negative note when providing its summary at the end).If there are any positives to this film then they lay with the acting; Brad Pitt does really well and is perhaps the only person it is possible to be behind throughout the film; his Billy Beane has the charisma and desire, but his flaws are shown as well which did give me some investment in the film. Jonah Hill is surprisingly low-key, but does well with what he has to work with - my one criticism is that he doesn't develop much of a working chemistry with Pitt which only adds to the multitude of problems I had with this film. Those with an interest in Baseball may get something out of this, but it did little for me I'm afraid.

zkonedog I've been a baseball fan for the better part of two decades. As such, I vividly remember the events surrounding the 2002 Oakland Athletics that are the prime content of this film. "Moneyball" does an incredible job of recreating the nostalgia of those events, as well as telling the story behind them that likely was not known at the time.For a basic plot summary, "Moneyball" focuses on the character of Billy Beane (Brad Pitt), the GM of the Oakland A's who realizes in the early 2000s that he can't spend with the "big boys" (e.g. New York) that comprised his competition. As such, with the help of Peter Brand (Jonah Hill) and to the consternation of A's manager Art Howe (Philip Seymour Hoffman), Beane uses the statistical analyses popularized by Bill James to build a team capable of dethroning the Yankees on a shoestring budget.The hallmark of this film is that, to the viewer, it really won't matter if you're familiar with this story. The narrative works either way:If your a newbie to all this "baseball-o-nomics" stuff, "Moneyball" does a great job of breaking things down and giving you the "Reader's Digest" version of the Moneyball concept. You don't even have to be a baseball fan to "get it", as Beane's mindset and principles can be utilized in many walks of life.For those (like I) who devoured "Moneyball" in print form, it is just flat out amazing to see the events played out on the big screen. Those of us who have been intrigued by the whole concept since those "early years" can sit back and be amazed by how it has truly changed the game. The fact that a great deal of actual baseball footage is used only adds to the effect.About the only nitpick I can possibly find with this film is that the choreographed baseball scenes are not always entirely accurate. This is a small nitpick, of course, but one that bugged me just a bit considering how easy it would have been to fix.Overall, "Moneyball" is a fantastic re-telling at perhaps the most revolutionary concept to ever be introduced to the sport...using in-depth statistical analysis to mine for talent that may be lost to the human eye. Whether a hard-core baseball nut or just a casual movie-goer, "Moneyball" will impress you...just in different ways.