MONEYBALL (2011)

It's been a long time since I watched a film that left waves of warmth in my heart, since I watched a film that I hoped wouldn't end.  Had I spent the money to see it in the cinema, and I wish I had, Moneyball would have been worth every penny, even including the overpriced tub of popcorn and bottled water.  I have very little interest in baseball and not a great interest in Pitt movies but after watching Moneyball I might be watching a little of the former and a lot more of the latter.   

Billy Beane (Brad Pitt) is the general manager of the Oakland A's.  Beane was once touted to be a major player but never quite fulfilled expectations.  When three of his top players are traded to bigger, better teams, Beane decides to radically change the way he strategizes his players.  With the help of yale graduate Peter Brand (Jonah Hill), Beane organizes a group of players who go on to make history as a team.  Moneyball takes us on Beane's journey as he goes against harsh and antagonistic criticism from all sides of the baseball world to implement his new assistant manager's analytical strategy of creating and manipulating a team.  His personal life is portrayed as well, involving the daughter he shares with a remarried mother.  It's a fun, sad at points but ultimately triumphant journey.  

Kudos to Brad Pitt for a performance that was truly wonderful.  So far I've only seen one other performance by the Best Actor Oscar nominees, but I almost want to say I don't care to because I want Pitt to win.  Or is it that I just want Billy Beane to win?  It might be that I want Billy Beane to win.  I just want something in this film to win.  Seriously, waves of warmth in your heart.

Jonah Hill gives a really good performance, a turn from his comedic roles.  Nod to the ever reliable Philip Seymour Hoffman, although I'm beginning to think he really doesn't give a damn.  Stellar work by everyone.  Chris Pratt who plays injured player Scott Hatteberg is especially adorable.

It's a beautiful picture, very nicely edited,  arranged with snapshots of various people and times in baseball history.  The soundtrack is really nice too.  Inspiring and quite lovely.  This film is just lovely in general, nice and lovely.  Am I gushing?  

For those interested in the non-fiction genre you might want to know that the film is based on a book by the same name. 

There's nothing negative to note about Moneyball.  No smart quips on this one.  I most definitely recommend for all.  

SOURCE CODE (2011)

I misjudged Source Code.  Again I blame a misleading trailer. 

Captain Colter Stevens (Jake Gyllenhaal) wakes up on a Chicago train sitting opposite a woman (Michelle Monaghan) who seems to know him.  She’s confused when he asks why she’s calling him by another name, where they are and where they’re going.  In eight minutes the trains explodes.  Colter Stevens wakes up several more times, on the train, in the same place.  Sometimes he wakes up somewhere else, for instance wearing his army uniform and hanging upside down in a plane, and there’s another woman (Vera Farmiga) talking to him from another world it seems, and she’s the one who keeps sending him back to the train, always for eight minutes, on a mission to find the bomb before it explodes.   This woman, Goodwin, also a soldier, begins to enlighten Stevens on what’s going on.  Goodwin tells Stevens very sad things.  Things like he’s going to keep being blown up until he accomplishes his mission, he can’t stop the explosion, he definitely can’t save Christina Warren, and he’s actually dead.  Captain Colter Stevens is not planning to fail his mission, he’s not convinced that he can’t achieve the impossible, and while he can’t change being dead, he can at least convince Goodwin to kill him completely and end the abuse of his neurological functions.

No, I haven’t told you everything.  There is a twist and a turn and a very exciting sequence of events towards the end, and then a very, very big twist at the very end, and then you’re confused. 

Am I the stupid one?  I always thought a trailer was supposed to entice me into going to the cinema.  Why am I finding that I’m being convinced not to go to the cinema?

If someone eating a plain donut asked if you’d like one, but you didn’t like plain donuts, you’d say no because you’d assume they were just offering you another plain donut, even when they might in fact have a more interesting donut in their bag.  But if someone eating a donut covered in chocolate and sprinkles and raisins asked if you wanted one, and you very much liked the look of that donut, you’d say yes, because you’d assume that was what they were going to offer.  You could always enquire about the donut but trailers can’t talk. 

So it looked like a plain donut here when it wasn’t a plain donut at all.  A thought-provoking idea and smart writing with great execution makes Source Code a decent film to watch.  There might be one or two slow moments but otherwise no complaints.  The story could appear a little dicey at the end and some might think the ending should have been simpler.  Sadly, it’s impossible not to think about the war and the loss of lives.  This does add depth to the film.

If you’re at the video store or flicking through your Netflix and you’ve already seen all the films you felt you had to see, then borrow or pick Source Code.  Even if you aren’t happy with it at its end, you’ll at least find yourself affected, if not mentally, emotionally.

RISE OF THE PLANET OF THE APES (2011)

Intriguing.  Thoroughly intriguing.

Will Rodman (James Franco) is a scientist working on a genetic cure for Alzheimer’s at a company called Gen-Sys.  Gen-Sys does its testing on chimps and one chimp in particular shows promise.  When the chimp goes insane and on a rampage through the building, it gets killed, along with all the other tested chimps, and Will's project is shut down.  In the chaos an adorable newborn is forced on Will by an assistant who can’t stand to put it down.  Thus Caesar (Adam Serkis) grows in Will's care and reveals, being the offspring of the one particular chimp, that the drug does work.  Caesar is incredibly smart and more or less human.  Will steals the drug from Gen-Sys and gives it to his father Charles (John Lithgow).  Charles is cured.  The project resumes.

But then events happen that find Caesar attacking a neighbor who appears to be attacking Charles.  Caesar is ordered into the custody of an Ape Shelter.  Of course he doesn’t understand why Will is abandoning him to a place with caged degenerates.  Caesar then undergoes abuse at the hands of other primates and keepers.  First he’s confused, then sad, and finally angry.  By the end of it Caesar is the boss, he’s talking, he’s the leader of a revolution and the apes are on a mission to regain their freedom.

Not what you expected?  Not what I expected.  The story of Rise of the Planet of the Apes is wonderful.  The ride is continuously thrilling.  No insulting dialogue or stupid and unnecessary comedic relief as many thrillers are apt to contain.  The film delivers exactly what it needs to and does so in just the way it needs to be done.  Acting is well executed all around.  James Franco is adorable, as always.

Do the apes look real?  YES!  This is NOT one of those Syfy thrillers where the ants, snakes, crocodiles or what have they look like first grade play dough pieces.  The effects are truly incredible and one forgets that the ape characters are apes.  Caesar’s work in particular is insanely realistic. 

Of course there is a moral at the end of Rise of the Planet of the Apes.  I’d be lying if I said I didn’t want Caesar’s revolution to involve a deadly vengeance on the human race, which really just shows that we’re not as evolved as we think.  Okay I, I am not as evolved as we think.  Therein is the moral.

Gather a few friends, turn on the surround sound, switch off the lights and have some fun.  Watch Rise of the Planet of the Apes.