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Author Topic: Moneyball  (Read 10370 times)

Munzz

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Re: Moneyball
« Reply #40 on: January 10, 2012, 03:17:58 PM »
the ending of this film really reminded me of The Social Network.

Although it seems that Mark or Billie made it big in the end, the still didn't achieve what they truly wanted. in the case of Mark, he didn't get the girl he was in love/obsessed with. and Billie doesn't win the series.

as the ending credits both in TSN and Moneyball indicate, they are considered true winners. Mark was the youngest billionaire and Billie got the highest offer to become the GM of the best team.

but they didn't feel that way inside, and the ending of the song by his daughter "you're such a loser, dad" explains that perfectly. it comes as a shock to us when we hear it, and the daughter might just be joking around, but its implications on Billie ring very true.

he did make the wrong choice when he was a young good looking ambitious boy by not going to Harvard. He had all the ingredients to become a 'successful' person if he actually went to Harvard and not Baseball. he said he would never make the mistake again and will not decide based on money alone, that's why he stayed with his team.

but as the ending credit tells us, he made the wrong decision again. he turns down the offer, the other team adapts his strategy and wins the series in 2 years. but he is still trying to achieve that to this day. it might just be bad luck but that truly makes anyone feel like a loser inside (maybe not to other people, but to himself).


Lobby

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Re: Moneyball
« Reply #41 on: January 10, 2012, 03:44:14 PM »
I didn't read it that way to be honest. He got his priorities right and while he kept trying to win the series he was fine with it. I thought it was a fairly happy end. There wasn't any claim about him being miserable, was there? A loser? Perhaps in some eyes. But you lose something and you gain something else and I think he finally got settled with that song. It was OK to be where he was.

Oh and btw welcome to the forum! I see you're a newcomer.
http://thevelvetcafe.wordpress.com/  - where I think aloud about movies

Munzz

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Re: Moneyball
« Reply #42 on: January 10, 2012, 04:04:12 PM »
yes I am, although im not new to the podcast.

he felt like a loser from the very beginning. the movie opens up with him all depressed about the loss... that feeling is re-enforced when later on we found out he made the wrong choice early in life and turned down going to Harvard because he thought he could make it big in baseball.. he didn't and he was left with a high school diploma (as he mentioned once)... because of that scar, he always blamed himself and felt like a loser who couldve made it big but never did based on wrong decisions.

This was the driving factor behind him wanting to make it big once in his life by winning the series.. he even says to the head of the team that his standards are so high and he doesn't want to settle winning small teams. he wants the big title. but he was working for a not so wealthy team. so he had to change strategies.. changing the game wasn't his primary goal, that was the only way he could achieve what he really wanted: winning the series.

so he achieves something big, and he changes the game, but he still doesn't win the series. he gets noticed by bigger teams and they offer him to work for them (giving him the highest pay for a GM).. he is now put in the same situation as when he was 18. they want him for something he seems to be good at. but this time he says (learning from the past) that he wont decide based on money and he wont make one mistake twice. so he stays with his own team. that seems like a solid decision.. but we later find out the team that wanted him adopted his strategy and actually won after 2 years.. but he is still trying to achieve that to this day.

yes to us, he is not a loser at all.. he changed the game... but to himself, he is the biggest loser he knows. just like Mark was alone in that big room at the end of the film, having lost all his friend while refreshing the facebook page and the text at the bottom says he was the youngest billionaire in the world. the contrast is there.. the world thinks he is the biggest winner but he certainly doesn't consider himself a winner since he set out for a different goal (the girl) and ended achieving something he really didn't want to begin with.

The lyrics at the end of the film really hits this point home. "you're a loser, dad - just enjoy the show"
« Last Edit: January 10, 2012, 04:25:55 PM by Munzz »

IDrinkYourMilkshake

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Re: Moneyball
« Reply #43 on: January 17, 2012, 06:31:56 PM »
A film focusing on the sabermetrics would be horrible! Maybe a documentary, but not a feature film. At the cinema! Ugh! It's like saying you felt ripped off because Pi wasn't just one man bashing out numbers on a calculator for 90 minutes.

It's an underdog film. Could have been the Rocky of baseball movies (maybe there has been a Rocky of baseball movies, I don't know. I only know this and Field of Dreams), except not nearly enough was made of the underdog aspect. Some brief dialogue near the start about how the Yankees pay every player 6 trillion dollars a day, or whatever, whilst the A's players each day get a shiny penny and a kick in the balls.... and that's pretty much it so far as that storyline goes.

Saltine, I think, mentioned Pitts oral fixation. It really, really bugged me. Does the guy wait until he's on set to eat? Surely he can afford a burger or something on the way in?

There were plenty of elements here for a decent film, but none were fully exploited. The absent father thing, the underdog story, the modernity v traditionalism bit. I very much liked the flashbacks, though.


On a more positive note, I noticed the Clash and Joe Strummer posters in Beane's office around the halfway mark, which automatically scores any film points in my book. I can't hate anyone who tips their cap to Joe 'n' the boys.

I bloody love the Clash.

God bless 'em  :'(
« Last Edit: January 17, 2012, 06:37:21 PM by IDrinkYourMilkshake »
"What should have been an enjoyable 90 minutes of nubile, high-school flesh meeting a frenzy of blood-caked blades, becomes instead an exploitational and complex parable of the conflicting demands of agrarianism and artistry. I voted a miss."

 

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