Arts & Entertainment

This Week at the Movies

"Moneyball" is an intelligent baseball drama for people who do not watch sports movies, but "Abduction" is for Twi-hards only.

“Moneyball” is a smart insider look at the world of baseball without actually being what is commonly known as a “sports movie.”

Bearing much more in common to the recent work of David Fincher, especially “The Social Network,” Bennett Miller’s film is more interested in observing how a system – in this case, major league baseball - works through the lens of a man with much to prove.

Oakland A’s General Manager Billy Beane (Brad Pitt) is, perhaps, a slightly kinder, and gentler protagonist than Mark Zuckerberg. But Beane, once a baseball player whose career never took off, similarly views himself as an outsider and has a conviction about his decision making process that is not easily shaken.

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For those who do not know the story, Beane and a Yale student with no baseball experience, composite character Peter Brand (Jonah Hill), devise a system of drafting players that cuts out the multi-million dollar stars in exchange for low-paid players who consistently get hits and make it on-base.

Needless to say, this computer-based method of recruitment does not sit well with baseball scouts or competing general managers. The picture only includes scattered shots of baseball games, most notably the A’s surprise 20-game winning streak in 2002.

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“Moneyball” has long been a pet project for Pitt, who has obviously thrown significant effort behind getting the picture made as well as contributing a solid performance as Beane. Hill, typically relegated to the realms of raunchy comedies, shows some dramatic chops and Philip Seymour Hoffman gives a solid supporting performance as frustrated A’s manager Art Howe.

The picture will likely appeal to baseball fans, but will also likely fascinate those with no interest in the sport. “Moneyball” is often funny, sad, skeptical without being cynical and - for a film filled with charts and stats - fast paced.

John Singleton’s “Abduction,” on the other hand, is a Taylor-made (Lautner, that is) star vehicle for the “Twilight” star and an absolute disaster. The actor, however, manages to keep his shirt on for the first five minutes of the movie, so there’s that.

At the film’s beginning, Nathan (Lautner) is a hard partying teen with no sense of direction, that is, until he and his crush next door (Lily Collins) discover his face on a missing persons website.

I’m not going to rehash the whole scenario here, but suffice it to say that Nathan’s parents (Maria Bello and Jason Isaacs) are involved in some deep cover operations and that the hero’s real father is a super spy.

This is a film in which top name actors – Bello, Sigourney Weaver, Alfred Molina – are asked to stand by and mumble expository dialogue as Lautner and his attractive young co-star run through the woods, fight baddies on a train, get into car chases and take part in some slight making out.

The picture’s dialogue is mostly unmemorable, with the exception of a few nuggets.

The most notable occurs during the couple’s big kiss as they discuss a prior smooch.

She: “That was a lot better than in middle school.”

He: “That’s because I know what I’m doing now.”

She: “And no braces either!”

Or, there’s the more self-explanatory: “There’s a bomb in the oven!”

Singleton’s directorial debut was the great “Boyz ’N the Hood” and his resume includes “Rosewood." It’s anybody’s guess what drew him to the hackneyed “Abduction,” other than a substantial paycheck.

Related Topics: Alfred Molina, Bennett Miller, Billy Beane, Brad Pitt, Film, Jason Isaacs, John Singleton, Jonah Hill, Lily Collins, and Maria Bello


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