Moneyball (2011)

I don't get it! I really don't!

Why has there been so much hype around Bennett Miller's Moneyball (2011)? Why have been people hailing it as one of 2011 films?

I've seen a few top 10 lists of some renowned critics and the baseball themed movie is featured in most of them as part of the highest five!

Really?

I mean... Don't get me wrong! I just saw Moneyball and though it was great! Had great fun watching it and got to learn a lot from it! More interesting stories, background on the sport and trivia information... But I was not even close to sharing the same admiration as most viewers, be it a regular person, a movie buff or a film critic! Maybe I'm out of touch with baseball, as I don't follow it that much... Maybe the hype was too much for me to bear, making it a bigger challenge to the "Oakland A's" (team in which the plot centers) to live up to the expectations that I created, most to the media's influence (and by that I include everything from TV, newspapers, billboards, blogs).

I'm sincerely afraid of tearing down the movie when it's not my intention! At all! I just believe it's not that good enough, considering the massive praise it has been given!

Brad Pitt is good, but Oscar material? Never! (But he's sure to be nominated, I guarantee)

Jonah Hill... the same! And this is actually quite a compliment, just because I wasn't expecting Hill to be qualified for this type of solid acting in a movie of this genre!

Philip Seymour Hoffman... is just completely redundant in this one! Something that comes as a sort of a shock to me since I'm not quite used seeing him in a position where his contribute is almost oblivious to rest of the outline. The guy usually leaves his mark... not the case here!

As for the rest of the cast... all important to Moneyball, but just plain average!

The script is good - another excellent effort by Steven Zaillian and Aaron Sorkin - being probably the best thing about the movie... alongside with Miller's direction that made Moneyball both entertaining and insightful like a documentary! That's how I felt most of the times... Like I was watching a documentary portraying how Billy Beane changed the course of the game with his fresh perspective and (risky) new methods!

All I can ask is for you to see it, enjoy it and draw your own conclusions! If you end up thinking like me... don't let it surprise you!