Good... Liked this one!...

Rating: 8/10 (9 September 2012)

Very well made with some nice visuals, I particularly liked the use of actual sports coverage and news reports, it gave the story a sense of realism. All the performances were very good; Brad Pitt, who also produced, did a great job as Billy Beane. Jonah Hill was also excellent as Peter Brand; he added some nice comic touches too. The coach, Art Howe was played by Philip Seymour Hoffman, who I felt was a little underused. I will give honourable mentions to; Chris Pratt as Scott Hatteberg and Stephen Bishop as David Justice.
Quite a slow pace to this one gives the audience time to get to know the major players and figure out just what Beane and Brand are doing. To me, the fact they didn't include the coach in their plans was a major flaw; he's the first one you have to convince! Putting that aside, I did find myself rooting for the team as the season came to its conclusion and that's testament to the writers and the filmmakers. If you can get a foreigner who knows very little about the sport to become emotionally involved then you're doing a good job in my book. Over all though, despite its flaws I did enjoy this one and I'm happy to give it my seal of approval.
SteelMonster's verdict: RECOMMENDED
My score: 8.1/10
You can find an expanded version of this review on my blog: Thoughts of a SteelMonster.