Movies at Home (Part 2)

[bedsitter23]

Moneyball - When I read this book, I immediately said that this would be an excellent movie with Brad Pitt.  Of course! 

The book is fascinating enough and Beane's story seems perfect, but it just seemed unfilmable.  Instead, it's one of the best movies of the year.  The premise of course is when scouting baseball, it's all about the numbers.  In fact, the movie could have went over the top with stories of successful players who were too fat, too short, too old, but could get on base.  Moneyball hits a perfect note between comedy and drama, then.  I wish it explicitly caught my favorite example from the book (Who would you rather have?  A team who homered every other at-bat and struck out the others; or a team that walked every at-bat.  The Homer/Strikeout team would score 3 runs and the inning would be over.  The team of walkers would infinitely score forever.), but it does a good job of presenting that concept.  It's all there- Beane's career, the unloved prospects, and the to-be-expected post-film denouement (If something ends up working, then everyone is going to do it).

There's an edge taken off knowing the history and the book (and going in, if you have heard any press, you likely know too much), but even after that, it's a thoroughly enjoyable film.

POM Wonderful presents: The Greatest Movie Ever Sold - Okay, I like documentaries and I generally like Morgan Spurlock.  The idea of this movie is a good premise- Morgan plans on making a movie that is paid all by sponsors.  That's probably not a real revelation, and there's no "ah ha" moments.  Still, this is a pretty fun movie and a quick watch.  There's still plenty enough sidelines that make it worth watching-  the interviews with directors like JJ Abrams and Quentin Tarantino; and musicians like OK Go and Big Boi.  The trip to Sao Paolo (which has banned outside advertisements) is revelatory as well.  I thought it was funnier and more fun than Super Size Me, though I don't think there's much here except corporations are willing to give you tons of money to be put in movies (unless you seem a bit odd like Spurlock).  The irony (intended or not) is of course, that you have to consider if you want to buy a product that supports art you like.  I might top off on a POM this afternoon.

The Smurfs- Ok, I had the same thought you all had.  "I'm not going to see a Smurfs movie.  I can't believe they even made this... Oh, Neil Patrick Harris is in it.  Yeah, I'll go see it."  This is a fun movie that I think kids would like, and parents would enjoy.  I liked the nod to Smurfs creator Peyo.  I played spot-the-voices (Katy Perry, of course, but also Fred Armisen, Jonathan Winters, George Lopez, and Alan Cumming).  if you have no interest in this, there's no reason to recommend it.  Otherwise, if you're nostalgic for some Smurfs, there's enough here to get you through,