"Moneyball" ...has anyone else seen it?

[Kingdom]

I am going to post a review since, you know, it's a baseball movie and such and I was just wondering if anyone has seen it by now and your thoughts opinions of the film?

[Providence A's]

I saw it. I enjoyed it, but like all "based on a true story" movies much has been changed and they leave stuff out. It was entertaining though.

[love_that_reefer]

Yeah I agree with Prov here. They definitely took artistic freedom to Hollywood this film up but I thought Brad Pitt and Jonah Hill did a great job.

[NYgiantsfan5689]

To me, the acting was great, the story was not. I HATED how Mulder, Zito, and Hudson werecompletely left out, and they make it seem like Scott Hatteberg won them 20 games in a row, which couldn't be further from the truth, so to me that destroys the story. Also, they made it seem like the A's won the World Series when in fact they fizz out in the playoffs 2 years in a row, which isn't anything to make a movie about. I guess it's more of a Billy Beane story than an A's story, but it still bugs me.

[Hammer]

"I HATED how Mulder, Zito, and Hudson werecompletely left out, and they make it seem like Scott Hatteberg won them 20 games in a row,"

talk about a sentence that makes me go from not wanting to see it at all, to absolutely HAVING to see how scott hatteberg was made into god.

[Kingdom]

I would venture to say his story was just more interesting? He wasn't even really a focal point, just part of a mish mash of bargain hunting. I mean, they made it more dramatic than it really was obviously. Especially the whole issue with Art Howe playing Carlos Pena over Hatteberg (and I completely forgot Pena was even on the team).

And I forgot Billy Koch was the closer. I remember the winning streak, hell, #20 happened on my birthday. But watching the movie, I couldn't believe how often I was saying to myself "he was..on that team? really?"

[Kingdom]

Oh, and making a big deal ...huge deal.. about taking walks and having a good OBP yet it never once mentions Terrence Long's sub .300 OBP or Jermaine Dye's ugly walk to K rate.

[DirtyKash]

I HATED how Mulder, Zito, and Hudson werecompletely left out, and they make it seem like Scott Hatteberg won them 20 games in a row, which couldn't be further from the truth, so to me that destroys the story.

+ Tejada, Chavez, Giambi, etc.

[Kingdom]

- Giambi(s)

[browntown653]

As a movie fan, I don't mind that the Big Three was left out - it's not the narrative. Nor is it really the narrative of the book. I thought the performances were top-notch, the script was sharp...it just could have been a little more emotionally fulfilling. Seemed like it was missing that extra oomph to take it from really good to great. Nonetheless, a very good movie.

[realmofotalk]

Oh, and making a big deal ...huge deal.. about taking walks and having a good OBP yet it never once mentions Terrence Long's sub .300 OBP or Jermaine Dye's ugly walk to K rate.

That's because Long and Dye each were mentioned in like just 3 times in the book.

[Tobywan]

The "Big 3" weren’t a big part of the book either because they weren’t integral to the specific story Lewis wanted to get across. Beane wasn’t expected to replace them for a fraction of the cost like Damon ,IGGY and most significantly Jason Giambi and have a chance to get back to the play-offs. Hatteberg is central to the story as Giambi’s “replacement”. Scott didn’t have the tremendous year Giambi did with the Yanks of course, but he did exceed expectations as well as others for peanuts in baseball currency and they ended up going back to the post season on a what amounted to a shoestring budget and that was the main point of the book.

It’s possible there was more about them and other players left out from one or both of the original 2 scripts under the first two directors ….the finished film was the third script under a third director which replaced DePoDesta with the composite of Brand. Scott Hattiberg and David Justice were originally slated to play themselves but that was nixed after the second director (Steven Soderbergh) was replaced.

When watching any “biography” you have to know going in that they will NEVER be historically accurate, if I took my historical snobbery into the movie theater I would never enjoy any of them.

Something to think about too, usually any real life depictions have to be approved by the person or family. I remember when the proposal came for “Eight Men Out” the family of OF Shane Collins refused permission to “use his likeness” so there pretty much is no “depicted “ right fielder. Since, he was also the named complainant in the indictment of the “Black Sox” they had to make up a name during the courtroom/trial scenes. The Weavers only allowed Bucky to be portrayed in depth if they placed a disclaimer stating that he maintained his innocence and the family continued to appeal even after his death.