Tag: Brad Pitt

What is that song in “Moneyball”?

The 2011 movie about Billie Beane, an executive with the Oakland Athletics, features a song about being “just a little bit caught in the middle.”

Moneyball Song

The film Moneyball (2011), starring Brad Pitt as Billy Beane, ends with Beane listening to a recording of his daughter singing a song. It is a touching moment connected to an earlier scene in the film where she sang the song for him in a guitar store. What is the song?

I’m just a little bit caught in the middle;
Life is a maze and love is a riddle;
I don’t know where to go, can’t do it alone
I’ve tried, and I don’t know why.

I’m just a little girl lost in the moment;
I’m so scared but I don’t show it;
I can’t figure it out, it’s bringing me down
I know, I’ve got to let it go and just enjoy the show.

The song is “The Show” by Australian singer Lenka. The song originally appeared on her 2008 self-titled album, Lenka.

Moneyball bears rewatching if you have seen it already. When I saw it in the theater, I remember being disappointed at the ending. Unlike most sports movies, there is not a satisfying baseball action climax. While scenes of the game do play an important role, the movie is really about Beane. And “The Show” plays a key role in telling that story.

Below is a touching scene where Beane encourages his daughter to play the song. His daughter is played by Kerris Lilla Dorsey.  When Dorsey auditioned for the part, she played “The Show,” feeling that one of her favorite songs suited the character. Director Bennett Miller loved the audition, hiring Dorsey and putting the song in the film (even though it had not been released at the time of events in the movie).

And below is part of one of the final scenes of Moneyball in a video where someone has intercut the movie’s earlier performance of the song. So while it is not exactly the ending, if you haven’t seen the movie, I would suggest you wait to watch the entire film to get the full impact.

Maybe that ending is just as good as a walk-off home run or a championship. It is certainly one of those times where I think Brad Pitt is underrated as a serious actor. The film also features wonderful performances by Jonah Hill and Philip Seymour Hoffman. Check out the movie and enjoy the show.

Leave your two cents in the comments.

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    Analyzing Actors’ Accents in Films

    movie dialect

    One of the more challenging aspects of acting is when an actor must speak in a dialect or with an accent that is not native to the actor. Sometimes the actor does a great job, and sometimes they don’t.

    In this video from Wired, dialect coach Erik Singer analyzes 32 different accents from actors such as Brad Pitt, Kate Winslet, Tom Cruise, Nicolas Cage, Heath Ledger, and many more.

    Singer is generally generous in his criticisms, noting how difficult it is to get the correct accents on everything. He points out several times where actors get some things right and some things wrong. And he has strong praise for others.

    Check out Erik Singer giving us a nice lesson in accents in Movie Accent Expert Breaks Down 32 Actors’ Accents.

    What is your favorite movie accent? Leave your two cents in the comments.

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    That Dirty Little Coward That Shot Mr. Howard

    Ford Jesse James“Now the people held their breath,
    When they heard of Jesse’s death;
    They wondered how he’d ever come to fall;
    Robert Ford it was a fact,
    He shot Jesse in the back,
    While Jesse hung a picture on a wall.”

    On April 3, 1882, Robert “Bob” Ford shot Jesse James in the back, thus ensuring both men would be immortalized in one of the great American folk songs. The song “Jesse James,” with the lyrics quoted above, referred to the outlaw Jesse Woodson James by his famous real name and by the alias he was using at the time of his death, Thomas Howard. The song has been covered by singers such as Woody Guthrie, Pete Seeger, Bruce Springsteen, and Van Morrison.

    Singer-songwriter Nick Cave performed a version of the song in the excellent 2007 movie, The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford, with Brad Pitt as Jesse James and Casey Affleck as Robert Ford. This scene from the movie shows how Ford laid poor Jesse in his grave. Note that these clips contain spoilers from the movie.

    Here is Nick Cave’s appearance in the movie, singing “Jesse James” in a saloon to Robert Ford (Affleck).

    As for the aftermath of Jesse’s death, Ford and his brother Charles Ford had been promised a large reward by Missouri Governor Thomas T. Crittenden, but they only received a small portion of what was promised. And they were surprised at the hostility they received for killing James.

    Both brothers met tragic ends. In 1884, the terminally ill Charles killed himself. Robert Ford, like James, would later be assassinated. A little more than ten years after Jesse’s death, on June 8, 1892 Edward O’Kelley surprised Ford by calling his name in Ford’s Colorado tent saloon, shooting Ford dead as he turned. Robert Ford’s tragic end is captured in this beautiful ending sequence from The Assassination of Jesse James.

    Robert Ford and Jesse James are forever linked, although Jesse’s family understandably did not appreciate the association. Ford’s tombstone reads, “The man who shot Jesse James.” By contrast, Jesse James’s tombstone would read: “Jesse W. James, Died April 3, 1882, Aged 34 years, 6 months, 28 days, Murdered by a traitor and a coward whose name is not worthy to appear here.”

    Photo of Robert Ford via public domain.

    What is your favorite story of an outlaw’s death? Leave your two cents in the comments.

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    12 Years a Slave (Short Review)

    12 Years a Slave The new movie 12 Years a Slave (2013) dramatically recreates the true events from Solomon Northup’s 1853 autobiography of the same name. The story recounts how Northup, living as a free man in New York, was tricked into traveling to Washington, D.C., where he was abducted and sold into slavery.

    In describing the film, one has to be careful not to ruin the story, but like the miniseries Roots (1977) or the movie Schindler’s List (1993), you sort of know what to expect when you decide to watch it. Not surprisingly, the movie features scenes of nearly unwatchable brutality, and generally the line between good guys and bad guys is clear, and the bad people are really bad.

    Solomon Northop Yet, there are two main reasons to see 12 Years a Slave. One reason is the fine performers, especially actor Chiwetel Ejiofor, who portrays Northup, bringing a complicated humanity to the man. Ejiofor makes Northup a three-dimensional human being that helps the audience understand the man’s agony as he discovers his fate and struggles to find a way home. In more than one scene, Director Steve McQueen lets the camera linger on Eliofor’s face and eyes, relying upon the actor to carry a scene without movement or dialogue. Eliofor, who has made small parts memorable in such movies as Children of Men (2006) and Love Actually (2003), here shows that he is an actor who should be commanding more lead roles. Similarly, other performers like Lupita Nyong’o as Patsey (who the New Yorker calls the hero of the film) and Michael Fassbender as an unstable slave owner are outstanding. Producer Brad Pitt also makes a welcome appearance.

    The other main reason to see 12 Years a Slave is that it is a true story. Were the movie fictional, it would carry less gravitas and in some ways would border on unbelievable. But the movie, with a screenplay by John Ridley, presents an essential reminder of the American legacy of slavery and how humans can treat each other in immoral and brutal ways.

    Although in the past I have written how I hate when movies manipulate viewers into cheering for violence against characters, while watching 12 Years a Slave, I found myself longing for Jamie Foxx as Django from Django Unchained (2012) to suddenly appear and render his bloody justice. But unfortunately 12 Years a Slave is not a fantasy, and real life does not end so neatly.

    Conclusion: 12 Years a Slave is essential viewing. The high Rotten Tomatoes rating (critics: 97%; audience: 94%) may partly reflect how a movie with such a subject is beyond criticism, but it also reflects powerful filmmaking.

    Bonus Real-Life Information (Spoiler Alert: Do Not Read If You Have Not Seen the Movie): For some reason, one of the most moving moments in the movie for me was the epilogue where the titles explained what happened to Northup. I found it disturbing that nobody knows what happened to him. Wikipedia explains that some people believe that he may have been kidnapped into slavery again, apparently dying in anonymity on a Southern plantation. Others believe that he died of natural causes in the North. I choose to believe the latter because the former is too horrible to imagine. And so I pray that Northup’s final line in his book came true: “I hope henceforward to lead an upright though lowly life, and rest at last in the church yard where my father sleeps.”

    What did you think of 12 Years a Slave? Leave your two cents in the comments.

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    “World War Z” Is Expected Fun (short review)

    World War Z poster World War Z (2013), starring Brad Pitt and directed by Marc Forster, is about what you expect from the preview. And that may be a good or a bad thing, depending on what you expect. I found it to be a fun ride with some high-tension scary scenes (without long shots of gore). Just make sure you are not holding your soda during one of the many times something jumps out at you, especially if you see the movie in 3-D like I did.

    The movie follows the beginning of an outbreak of zombies attacking people around the world, as Brad Pitt tries to get his family in Philadelphia to safety. Then, Pitt is called upon by his former employer at the U.N to go on a global journey to try to track down how the zombie outbreak started and to find a way to stop it from spreading.

    If you are a fan of the book by Max Brooks, World War Z, which I have not read, my understanding from others is that the movie only has one thing in common with the book. While the movie has made me interested in delving into the book’s deeper subtext, the superficiality of the movie is not necessarily a bad thing if your expectations are adjusted.

    Conclusion? I will not go into greater detail to ruin what happens in the movie, but if you are looking for a summer popcorn movie with some excitement that does not require too much thinking, check out World War Z. Maybe I even will watch the sequel.

    Other Reviews Because Why Should You Trust Me? According to Rotten Tomatoes, critics do not especially love World War Z (with a 67% rating), but audiences like it better (with an 86% rating). Peter Travers at Rolling Stone finds the movie is a “pleasant, suspenseful surprise.” Mark Kermode at The Observer, though, finds that the movie lacks a sustainable pulse.

    What did you think of World War Z? Leave your two cents in the comments.

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