Westbrook Cinemagic with Lauren on 11/27/11
First I should say that I'm pretty mad at my baseball team right now. I know that the Red Sox are great at implosions, but this year was such a colossal clusterf*ck that I am still less than willing to forgive them. Which made watching this movie, about the backdoor business side of baseball and the 2001 Oakland A's use of sabermetrics (mathematically predicting a player's value to your team) to build a stellar team, sort of bitterly amusing. I know that baseball is a business. But I have never forgiven Theo Epstein for trading Nomar Garciaparra - I don't care what the math says. And speaking of the Red Sox, there were some seriously slacking fact checkers on this film. It takes place during the 2002 season and includes a shot of Billy Beane visiting Fenway Park. Not only are there parts of the park visible that did not exist in 2002 (the left field roof, the absence of the .406 Club, etc.), but also the 2004 and 2007 World Series banners are clearly visible above the press boxes. Pay attention, people! And I know it doesn't sound like it, but this was a very well-made film and I enjoyed it a lot.
My Netflix rating: 4 stars
New Movies in Year Three: 104
It may not feel quite like the classic baseball movie others have achieved, but it’s certainly pleasant enough to be enjoyable even by non-sports fan, and features great performances from Hill and Pitt. Good review.
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