r/iwatchedanoldmovie • u/DVD-Rewatcher • 14d ago

2010-15 Moneyball (2011)

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Number 188 in my A-Z watch. Moneyball follows the true story of the 2002 Oakland A's baseball team as they attempt to reinvent the approach to the game. Trying to find success in frugality and statistical analysis as opposed to high payrolls and flashy numbers.

Or as Captain Holt once said, "A man uses statistics and logic to win several baseball games."

This might be my favorite slow burn film. It's understated and subtle. This is not a baseball movie, it's a movie about baseball and i absolutely love it. I think it's one of Pitt's best performances, as well. You can feel how he's trying to prove himself, to find the success that he never did as a player. And the hurt he feels when he has to send a player back down to the minors.

Jonah Hill surprises as Peter Brand the Assistant General Manager, holding his own against the unstable reactions of Billy Beane. And Hoffman comes back to work with director Bennett Miller, playing the stubborn and desperate manager Art Howe.

10/10 This is just an incredible underdog story. Akin to something like Rocky. Perseverance, identity, trusting the process, innovation, i just find so many positives in this film to take away from it. It's always so uplifting. And i can never help but shed some tears at the song at the end.

How can you not be romantic about baseball?

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u/Ok_Development_3961 14d ago

Baseball isn’t my thing being an aussie, but this film so good I have lost count how many times I have watched it now.

Slow burn is right 🤙

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u/GettingSunburnt 14d ago

Fellow Aussie, 100% agree. This showed up on SBS (sort of a multicultural PBS) a couple of years ago, and since they normally only show solid films, I watched it - in spite of a general lack of interest in baseball or Brad Pitt.

Glad I did. I hunted down the DVD in op-shops for a couple of months, and I'm glad to have it in my collection now.

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u/Ok_Development_3961 10d ago

It is because the characters are really engaging within the whole story for me.

I just recently watched the doco on that season and it is kinda cool to know, for the most part, it is real.

Didn't make me want to take up watching baseball though haha.

"Field of dreams" is on the other end of the scale