| This Wednesday 18 April "Moneyball" |
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Coming Wednesday 18 April at 8pm we will show in Cafe Amsterdam the film "Moneyball" (2011). It's a biographical sports drama film, based on a true story, directed by Bennett Miller and starring Brad Pitt, Jonah Hill and Philip Seymour Hoffman. Storyline: Billy Beane, the general manager of the American baseball team Oakland Athletics, is upset by his team results in the 2001 postseason. With the departure of of his star players he is forced to reinvent his team on a tight budget to outsmart the richer clubs. On a visit to another baseball club Beane meets Peter Brand, a young economics graduate with radical ideas about how to assess player' value. Beane and Brand decide to work together for the Oakland Athletics recruiting players that the scouts call flawed, but according computer statistics could be still of value. This way they assemble a team of undervalued players with far more potential than the club's finances would otherwise allow. Early in the season the new method seems to be a failure, but then the results start to become better... On the background Baene's own disappointing baseball career and the relation with his daughter play a role in the film. "Moneyball" was nominated for six Oscars, got good reviews and has been considered by many as Bratt Pitt's best film. Also for people who are not into baseball or sports in general, this is still an exciting and intelligent feel good film with a classic underdog story.  |