P.S.: I will be adding a summary from IMDb at the beginning, and my usual recommendation of value at the end. And speaking of summaries, I think I will start putting a synopsis of the film being reviewed - from an outside source, that is - at the start of all my movie reviews. To help speed things up a bit, and to give me more opportunity to focus my writing on the review itself, which is why I'm here after all.
Moneyball (2011)
Oakland A's general manager Billy Beane's successful attempt to put together a baseball club on a budget by employing computer-generated analysis to acquire new players. Short summary of Moneyball from IMDb.com
When Moneyball started playing in my DVD player, I thought to myself, "oh boy, I better not get too comfortable or I'm going to fall asleep here." It didn't seem like the sort of thing I would be terribly interested in. I like baseball, don't get me wrong, but I've never cared much about the workings of the game. I like to play sports, not watch sports. A film about the inner workings of a major league team sounded... well, like I was going to fall asleep early in.
But then I kept watching, and was quite surprised. When Billie Beane goes to see... I think it was the Cleveland Indians, and discovers that guy Peter. The economist? I thought, "ah, now I see why our teacher likes it." An economist's view of baseball. But I hadn't even scratched the surface yet.
As the movie progressed, I was especially impressed that this was based on true events. I understand the idea that stat-keeping is important in baseball, but would have followed the conventional wisdom approach espoused by numerous "old hands" in the film about how you couldn't build a team based solely on their numbers. I would have fallen into the same trap as the rest by assuming that extraneous factors, such as whether a player is old, or whether they spend too much time in strip clubs and the like, were valid reasons to influence my opinion of the worth of this or that player.
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| The book upon which the film was based. / Source: RegularGuyColumn.com |
The risk Beane took in putting together a team like this, especially when it was the Oakland Athletics and not a team with a better record, was amazing. Further, I had no idea that this approach was a major factor behind the Boston Red Socks beating the Curse of the Bambino. Even I knew about that, and like I said, I prefer playing rather than studying sports.
The movie turned out to be well worth my time, and I'd say it was worth watching even if there wasn't a touch of extra credit involved. I also have to wonder if this sort of statistical approach has effectively been used in other sports. I had a buddy in High School (a million years ago, it seems) who was an avid NBA guy, and he used to say that the more you understood the game, the more you had favorite players, and not a favorite team. I can only wonder if a really effective team of any sort can be produced and led (how to properly manage a team like this was a major element of the Moneyball as well) in this manner, and would be interested in doing a bit more research n the subject.
When school is out, that is.
The recommendation? Well, it is long out of mainstream theaters, so I can't imagine it at that time. And I'm pretty stingy since money is so tight these days. But I do think this was worth the video store price I paid. Maybe even a cheap seats showing, if I'd seen it back then. The problem is that I'd have never known it was any good if there hadn't been that enticement of extra credit involved. A pleasant surprise indeed. Worth your time.
The parting comment:
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| Source: LolSnaps.com |
Economist Point of View: If I can just quantify how the glass got where it is, why it is in its current state of half full//half empty, and what we can do to get it that way on a regular basis, I can subsume all other paradigms under my theory and then I'll rule the world... bwuahahahaaaa!!! I'm not saying economists are evil, I'm just saying they could be, should such a lifestyle choice become readily available in a quantifiable manner.
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