Nobody Knows Hollywood

What is the Resonance Rating (RR)? Traditional movie ratings include stars, thumbs up or, in the case of the San Francisco Examiner, the funny little man in the theater, who ranges from jumping out of the seat with applause to leaving it empty all together. The general idea of the rating is to give a quick look at the reviewer’s overall judgment of the film; In other words, how good or bad was it. That’s a metric I will consider with an added measure, with a nod toward what I see as a film’s greatness. Greatness is an obsession of mine. What makes things great? Who makes things great? How long do they remain great? I will rate movies based on how they make me feel and how long I believe they’ll stick with me. This is the Resonance Rating. I think the measure of a great movie is often not known for ten years. “Does it hold up?” is the common phrase. This is still highly subjective of course, because what resonates for me may not for another, but it takes away the s...

The movie is slow -- sometimes delightfully, sometimes painfully. In that respect, it mirrors the game the film covers. But baseball is not the main theme of the film; redemption and the pain of chasing ones own ghosts serves that role. Billy Beane (played masterfully by Brad Pitt) is out to prove to the baseball establishment that they're not selling jeans. What he means by that is there is more to winning in the game than how things look. The Yankees are glamorous in every aspect. They look great, they pay the most and they play in the biggest media market in the world. The reality is, Oakland is not New York, ergo the Athletics are not the Yankees. But does that mean they can't compete? No. But it does require them to channel their inner Steve Jobs and "think differently". The backlash Beane (in the film) takes for this approach is enormous and omnipresent. The media (presented mostly through V.O. across radio and television airwaves) is a constant critic. When t...