Filmjitsu!

Episode 72 – Dragon Wars

Mike and John salute our men and women in the armed services with John’s review of the Korean classic, Dragon Wars: D-War . This is followed up by Bottom Five Soldiers, a shout out to Operation: Take a Solider to the Movies, some listener feedback and then the reveal of the film which will help celebrate the Thanksgiving Holiday.

A number of movies have been released lately that have caught my eye. I seem destined to spend large sums of cash at theaters this Fall and I hope to find much enjoyment in doing so. Last weekend I set out to see the first of these movies, Moneyball . Could Bennett Miller deliver a great film from a story about baseball and math? The answer here was a resounding yes.

Now admittedly I am a bit biased here. First, I’m a big sports fan and while football is my first love I do have a strong affinity for the game of baseball. Remembering the magical season the A’s had at the time this story takes place I have an appreciation for the historical significance of this story. Second, I’m a major geek. I love analytics, numbers and discerning patterns. I believe that with enough data you could predict any future event with a great level of accuracy. So I was already a Sabremetrics convert. All that aside however, I’m a movie fan. And while a documentary on Sabremetrics would be of interest to me, I was going in to see the story of Billy Beane brought to life. And that is the challenge of Moneyball. How do you tell the story of that team and the significance of what they did, giving the details their fair treatment without getting lost in them.

I think where Moneyball hits is with the performances. Director Bennett Miller assembled some obvious home run hitters with Brad Pitt and Philip Seymour Hoffman but it is the Moneyball-esque way he surrounded them with two very unlikely casting decisions with Jonah Hill as Peter Brand and Chris Pratt as Scott Hatteburg that really blew me away. Here are two guys known for their outlandish comedy cast in a dramatic piece, asked to play serious roles but allowed to inject some subtle humor along the way. I found performances pleasantly surprising and the comedy to be very well timed and used to perfect effect.

The other great performance was turned in by a a relative unknown in Kerris Dorsey. As Casey Beane, Billy’s daughter, I found she brought a great humanizing quality to the Billy character and her chemistry with Brad Pitt lent a realness to their relationship.

All in all I think this was a well put together film. The writing was superb, the actors all brought the words to life on the screen and Director Bennett Miller was able to wrap it all together with great pacing, solid camera work and a well thought out score. Moneyball is definitely the best film I’ve seen in the theater in a while and I encourage everyone, baseball fan or not, to check this one out. I defy you to not get pulled into this world, rooting for these characters, leaving the film uplifted.

John

Filmjitsu Rating:

Episode 54 – Krull

In this episode John is joined by guest host Dan from the Bob and Dan Cast who fills in for the departed Mike for a review of the 1983 Peter Yates fantasy fest, Krull . John and Dan then weigh in on their Bottom Five Fucked Up Alien Planets, play a round of Alphabet Assault and provide their Staff Picks. John is also joined by the one and only Rider Strong for another Love Song. Finally John is joined by the next surprise guest host to reveal what film they will review for the next episode.

Episode 37 – Waterworld

The guys try to stay afloat as John reviews the Kevin Costner opus Waterworld . Then they celebrate John’s birthday with their picks for Bottom Five Old Men. This is all wrapped up with Matinee Deathmatch and Staff Picks.

Episode 27 – Doctor Dolittle

This time around Mike tackles a drunken French monkey clown in the Eddie Murphy travesty that is Dr. Dolittle . This is followed up by Bottom Five Talking Animals, the return of Matinee Deathmatch and of course Staff Picks.