Sports Movie: Moneyball

A sophisticated and smart sports movie

On my way to watching the Oscar-nominated movies, I have recently seen Moneyball. This movie combines two of my favorite things: sports and movies. As previously mentioned, I love a good underdog story. It’s the beauty of sports. With this love, and my interest in good movies, I view this movie from two angles: the sports lover and the movie critic. Also the thrifty spender, but I won’t elaborate on that.

From the movie lover’s perspective, I can see how this is up for awards. Brad Pitt really does an excellent job as Billy Beane, failed baseball player turned Oakland risk taking general manager. I will admit that most of the calculations and sports theories are slightly over my head, but even with a basic knowledge of baseball I could follow the story. I love how they incorporated real Oakland footage and they mixed radio, television, and a dramatic score to compose the background. It made the baseball shots truly come alive.

As mentioned, I only have a basic knowledge of baseball mostly stemming from all the Braves games I attended each summer. Although I cannot say for certain, but I think this is a fairly realistic movie. Yes, it is taken from a true story, but that doesn’t necessarily guarantee reality. The cinematography and sound mixing play on the drama of the game as well as the story as a whole. Any sports lover will enjoy this movie. It takes the typical sports movie and makes it more sophisticated through superb acting and fantastic film editing.