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Post by Ardbeg... innit on Sept 5, 2011 5:45:52 GMT -6
Coming out on the 23rd, its the sports/statsgeek equivalent of "The Social Network", following the story of the 2002 Oakland A's using "non-traditional" methods of putting together a winning team. By non-traditional, we mean neck deep in computer generated stats.
To make it even geekier, Brad Pitt playing opposite Jonah Hill. I was interested in this flick simply because I am a stats/numbers freak and love baseball because of its heavy use of stats.
After first seeing the trailer, I had already accepted the fact that this particular movie, unless it pulls a "Social Network" and draws in closet geeks nationwide, will probably bomb in the theaters. I figured, it will probably be on PPV before the World Series is over with.
But then... never underestimate the geek factor. Ann has no interest in baseball whatsoever, but she is also something of a geek about numbers/stats. She saw the trailer on TV, she WANTS to see this movie in theater.
It may do well after all. Look for stats zombies and maybe even some baseball fans coming out when this opens.
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Post by Merlot Joe on Sept 5, 2011 12:37:55 GMT -6
Seen the trailer and I want to see this one. During the start of his tenure in Oakland I was a big A's fan. No longer since they have lost all the big name players and they have the shit hole of a stadium.
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Post by Merlot Joe on Sept 14, 2011 11:26:05 GMT -6
Our all sports station KNBR is really playing this movie up since it based here in the Bay Area and with the A's . The past two mornings they have had former players and front office people on from the time period that the movie takes place. Some pretty interesting information coming out. Monet it all about money and the lack of that he had to work with and what finally turned the A's into cellar dwellers.
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Post by ♥ COVID-19♥ on Sept 23, 2011 14:55:50 GMT -6
Mad Dog Russo on Sirius said he saw this movie and thought it was good, but that baseball fans would cringe at some of the inaccuracies.
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Post by nolaflacav on Sept 23, 2011 20:14:01 GMT -6
Just walked in from seeing it. I enjoyed it. I thought they could have shaved about 10 minutes off of it but it certainly held my attention.
It caught the flavor of major league baseball and the behind the scenes atmosphere. I really like how they interspersed actual game footage from 2002 and along with modern day film.
Brad Pitt and Jonah Hill were great. But Philip Seymour Hoffman blew me away as Art Howe. It was a minor role but his transformation into a baseball manager was awesome. Especially after seeing him in films like Almost Famous and Pirate Radio.
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Post by Ardbeg... innit on Sept 24, 2011 5:07:33 GMT -6
Going to see it tonight, sounds like it will be worth the investment of time and money.
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Post by Merlot Joe on Sept 25, 2011 7:23:14 GMT -6
Seen it yesterday. Good movie. Pitt's best performance. Jonah Hill was excellent.
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Post by Ardbeg... innit on Sept 25, 2011 19:49:40 GMT -6
Ended up seeing Moneyball this evening. My initial thought... well directed, great casting. I might become a fan of Bennett Miller if he did more than one movie every six years (Capote in 2005, in which he also worked with Philip Seymour Hoffman). I cannot remember a better dramatic use of silence. For several scenes the only sound in the theater was that of the projector... and to great effect.
Pitt's performance reminded me of a lot of Robert Redford about 30 years ago, paced and (dare I say it) natural. Nice rapport between Pitt and Johan Hill, and between him and the ensemble that is the "old boys" who are the scouts.
As with most movies about baseball, its not really about baseball, but about life stories, the road not taken and making the best out of the chances/opportunities life throws at us.
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Post by ♥ COVID-19♥ on Sept 25, 2011 20:05:50 GMT -6
I might become a fan of Bennett Miller if he did more than one movie every six years . It's not unheard of to take that long between movies in Hollywood.
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Post by Ardbeg... innit on Sept 26, 2011 5:03:04 GMT -6
It may not be unheard of but, being a bit selfish here, it would be nice to have the potential of seeing more than 2 or 3 more movies from him in my lifetime.
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Post by ♥ COVID-19♥ on Sept 26, 2011 14:08:34 GMT -6
You're probably not going to believe this, but I was just notified by my movie class that tomorrow night, they've arranged for a rare weekday bonus screening of this movie EVEN THOUGH it's already opened! Usually, they screen movies *before* they've officially been released, but there have been a couple of incidents in the past when they've held the screening on the weekend of the opening.
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Post by Ardbeg... innit on Sept 26, 2011 14:31:08 GMT -6
They read my comprehensive review then.
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Post by ♥ COVID-19♥ on Sept 26, 2011 14:35:56 GMT -6
Apparently.
The thing that really pisses me off about this is that I just went to a bonus screening yesterday morning and he mentioned ABSOLUTELY NOTHING about this! All he said was that he was working on a bonus screening for NEXT weekend, but never said anything about this one. Good thing I didn't see the movie already on its opening weekend!
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Post by ♥ COVID-19♥ on Sept 27, 2011 23:19:56 GMT -6
Saw this Tuesday night, posted my review here. Gordon: Thought you might be interested that director Bennett Miller was interviewed after the screening!
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