Page 8 • Reporter
A&E
Tuesday, October 4, 2011
• web photos
A TR I P T O T H E M O V I E S . . . WITH
CHR ISTIAN HAGEN CHRISTIAN HAGEN | staff writer
Moneyball
Few sports inspire greater underdog stories in film than baseball. Whether it’s Bull Durham, Major League, or even The Sandlot, something about America’s Pastime has given movie audiences an excuse to cheer for the little guy. Moneyball, the latest in the grand tradition of great sports films, reveals that this dynamic can really be boiled down to two factors: Money and heart. Billy Beane, a character that marks the return of Charming Brad Pitt (not to be confused with Crazy Brad Pitt or Slumming Brad Pitt), is the General Manager of the Oakland A’s, the team with the biggest money problems in all of baseball. When he loses his team’s three biggest players to large market teams like the Yankees and Red Sox, he changes his entire strategy for signing talent based on the advice of one young accountant, played by Jonah Hill, flexing surprising dramatic muscle. But what may sound like a dull exercise in both sports movie tropes and statistical nonsense succeeds wildly because Moneyball is one of the most true-to-life interpretations of baseball ever captured on film, bringing real human emotion into every seemingly business-like backstage decision. The film’s got great actors to burn, all of whom bring a little something extra to their performances, no one more so than Parks and Recreation star Chris Pratt, who is delightfully subdued as a young player with one last shot to make his mark. But of course, the star of the show is Pitt, and he carries the film with an edgy swagger that belies his gentle nature. It’s refreshing to not only enjoy a sports film but to honestly care about every character without cheap Hollywood tricks or emotional cheats. For viewers who aren’t fans of baseball, it may not hold your interest, though with a production this beautifully put together, it’s be worth it for you all the same.
Drive
Drive is a far more complicated film than its trailers and promotions could possibly convey. It’s hard to sell a gangster movie that’s less about action and mayhem (though there’s plenty of both) than it is about the mythical nature of heroism, the dark realities behind our filmic desires, and whether or not redemption by blood is redemption at all. In short, Drive is an action movie for the arthouse crowd, meant to be analyzed and puzzled over. This isn’t to discount the film. Far from it; Drive has more intensity in a few scenes than some films can claim to have in their entire running times. But anyone who’s looking for easy answers or quick solutions should steer clear. Ryan Gosling, as the film’s unnamed protagonist, is a mysterious mechanic and movie stunt driver who moonlights as a getaway driver for hardened criminals. When he meets a new neighbor, played lovably by Carey Mulligan, he takes
an interest in her, her son, and her imprisoned husband. The film’s early moments are dotted with strange and frustrating musical montages that bathe everything in an 80s day-glo. But music aside, the production is gorgeous and the actors are so compelling that their characters shine through. However, when things go wrong in the characters’ lives, the film takes a dark turn. Drive is one of the most graphically violent movies I’ve ever seen, and the majority of that violence takes place in the second half. But all the violence has a purpose and a place, horrific though it may be; no drop of blood is spilled without tremendous meaning and weight behind it. This is the difference between Drive and a typical gangster movie: When guns and knives come out, there is always consequence, always heartache, always fear. It’s a gut-punch of a film that will stick with you for days after it’s through.
50/50
Cancer is a tricky subject to film. It brings up a lot of emotions and personal associations that can lead to melodrama and a feeling of disingenuity. Making cancer funny is even harder. Which is why it is so surprising that 50/50, inspired by the real-life experiences of writer Will Reiser, is such a triumph, a hilarious, cathartic, sweet-hearted
view on life and death and what can happen to the former when we’re suddenly faced with the latter. Joseph Gordon-Levitt is spectacular as Adam, who, at 27, is diagnosed with a rare form of cancer in his spine. His best friend, Kyle, the typically hysterical Seth Rogen, helps him cope with his illness through humor while his mother (Anjelica Huston) and girlfriend (Bryce Dallas Howard) struggle to keep it together. Oscar-nominee Anna Kendrick also stars as Adam’s fresh-faced therapist. To say a film about cancer will make you cry is no great statement, but for the most part the tears are reserved, even minimal, for the majority of the film. The heart and soul of 50/50 is in its pathos, the way it wrings laughs from the most serious subjects. Veteran actors Matt Frewer and Phillip Baker Hall soak up some of the best moments as Adam’s pot-smoking friends in chemotherapy. Truly, 50/50 is a film that anyone can, and should, see. It’s not only brilliantly funny, but it walks a tightrope so perfectly that its big laughs are never at the expense of cancer or its patients, but rather in support of them, as though our laughter and theirs is always one and the same, making us as much friends of these characters as they are of one another. 50/50 is a heartfelt, honest, and beautiful film that will make anyone with a heart laugh and cry, though much more of the former than the latter.