Two Movies in the Meantime

At some point during The Time When I Was Too Busy to Blog, I did manage to watch two movies with my kids.

First, we all watched Moneyball. So, you got yer baseball, and you got yer Brad Pitt. To which I say, "What could be bad?" And I'm right. This is a really good movie, retelling the tale of Billy Beane, who managed to put together a winning team for Oakland without throwing around tons of cash. I also liked Jonah Hill as the stats guy who is sort of like Nate Silver. The whole thing just plain works, and if you are a baseball fan, whether you remember every minute of the story from real life (Andy) or have never heard a word of it (the kids) or are somewhere in the middle (me), you will enjoy it.

Then Andy and I watched Argo with Pete. All thumbs up here, too, and again, whether you remember the actual events (Andy and I) or have no clue (Pete), this is riveting. Obviously no one knew the whole story about the concocted filmmaking plot until this movie came out (and, yes, I'm aware that more than a few liberties were taken with the actual story), but we all knew about the Americans hiding out in Iran. The era was recreated perfectly, from the music to the cars to the clothing and facial hair, and I really liked Ben Affleck in this. As far as the R rating goes, I had no problem letting Pete watch—there was some bad language and a few images of hostage situations, but overall nothing offensive that wasn't worth the price of admission in terms of a really good story. Oh, and it was such a pleasure to see Alan Arkin back on the big screen!

Comments

[Deborah]

Moneyball just came in the mail (via Netflix, of course) this week. I've heard really great things about the book too, but I can't say it's on my TBR list.

[Wendy]

We saw Moneyball recently, and I enjoyed it, too, but felt somehow a bit disappointed, in that I expected a. more baseball and b. more on the wheeling and dealing, and c. less of Brad Pitt in his car driving aimlessly. The new flick I would certainly recommend, although probably not for Pete (or either of my kids), would be The Sessions, which I thought was Just Excellent.

[Elena]

Even I don't remember the Americans hiding in Iran. :) But I agree that Argo was a riveting film. I was emotionally spent by the end of it.