Good. Then it becomes great with its final act.

Rating: 8/10 (10 July 2013)

Moneyball seems to have the ingredients for an exciting movie for me. Aaron Sorkin plus Brad Pitt with a bit of Philip Seymour Hoffman on the side? That sounds irresistible. It's a shame that the baseball and Bennett Miller angle put me off for so long. Capote was good, but forgettable and so dry. And watching Moneyball, those downsides did drag down the potential. It's quite a dry and cold film with a lot of the baseball jargon just losing me. It lacks the sharpness and humour captured in The Social Network, The West Wing and Studio 60, even if there are odd shards of it throughout. It's a good film with great montages but it's nothing special until its final act.
Its true tenderness comes out when Billy reacts to the record and he states his true ambition. It's a pure Aaron Sorkin moment, especially in the beautiful ending. It's a fascinatingly elegant film regardless of the content and worth it for when it gets to the heart of the film. Also watching Brad Pitt and Philip Seymour Hoffman on screen together was like watching universes collide. As The Assassination of Jesse James and Synecdoche New York are my two favourite films (with Magnolia, Se7en and Fight Club in my top 20, with more of their films throughout my top 100), I have no idea what happened in their scene but it was awesome. Lets hope Miller can pump some life into Foxcatcher.
8/10