Moneyball was outstanding.
How they managed to build such a powerful theme in such a complicated way was really impressive. The film was simultaneously inspiring and haunting. Not two things you often put together (I think maybe A Beautiful Mind did it well, off the top of my head.)
Ordinarily, it's one or the other. Inspiring sports movies are nothing new, nor are movies about obsessive geniuses (for lack of a better word) who lose themselves in the (often fruitless) pursuit of their goals. This movie had both.
Not too surprised, with Sorkin on board. I don't know how much he wrote and how much Zaillian did, but Sorkin regularly had complex themes on the West Wing that would blow my mind -- that show's the how-to of being entertaining, thoughtful, provocative, inspiring and melancholy all at the same time.
It's the kind of movie I'd want to have made. The kind of movie I'd be proud of. And yet it seems like an impossible sell. There's very little "entertainment." It's a character study, which is interesting enough I guess, but the majority of my screenwriting and directing life is making sure that the character study still moves, still entertains.
Which brings me to Michael Bay. Now, I know that many people are such haters. Which does surprise me, because his movies are so popular. And, like it or not, he is the master of his style. He was original, and changed movies. Very few films look as cool as a Michael Bay flick. (Amazing photography much different than that of Deakins's stuff, which is just amazing on every level.)
So let me get this out of the way. I am a Michael Bay fan. Without apology. His movies, his style, literally changed my life. I was sixteen when The Rock came out, and I sat in the theater absolutely destroyed by how amazing the movement of the camera, the framing, and the editing worked to make "cool" come alive. I watched The Rock four times in the theater. I was already a writer, but that movie made me want to direct, and I've been doing it ever since.
(Quick aside: I don't love everything he's done. I love and will defend, as excellent popcorn movie entertainment, Bad Boys, The Rock, Armageddon, The Island, and Transformers 1 & 3. I hated Transformers 2 and didn't really like Bad Boys 2. Also, I won't watch Pearl Harbor again unless it's muted or I forget the English language. -- which actually brings me to my next point --)
Honestly, I know people are thinking, "Oh, great! A Michael Bay inspired director. That's just gonna be broken." I AM Bay inspired, visually, but not thematically, and not on the page.
Which is where I think he gets beat up a lot. His movies LOOK amazing. Sometimes (worst offender, Transformers 1 & 2) it's too fast, too close, and you lose what's going on. But where some of movies aren't great, and some are terrible, are in some of the script choices. But he didn't write them. Exception might be Transformers 2 during the writer's strike, but that even furthers the point.
He's not a writer. He's a (very stylized) director. When I direct, even the scripts I wrote myself, there's always a clear moment when I remove my writer's hat and put on the director's. And in that moment, suddenly the pages that I've obsessed over, torn up (metaphorically, I write on computer) because ONE WORD didn't work, plot points I've agonized about, key phrases of dialog -- EVERYTHING becomes secondary to the whims of the director. Which is a scary thing, as a writer. Too much power can destroy a beautiful script, and suddenly the movie that's made is not even close to what was written.
So I don't wish that my favorite writer would team up with one of my favorite directors. It wouldn't work, can't work. I'm reminded of a story I heard, maybe on the commentary, of Phone Booth where they said Bay was interested in directing. This is the movie where Colin Farrel is held captive inside a phone booth by a voice on the other side of the line. The whole movie involves him trying to save...his family or something...while stuck inside the phone booth. Something about a sniper would kill him if he left or something. Anyway, Bay had a meeting with the writers about the script and said that he loved it and wanted to make it. Just one note: how soon can we get the guy out of the phone booth.
Which, when I heard that story, I thought two things. The first was to laugh, as probably everyone does. "Ha ha ha, Michael Bay doesn't get it, just wants to blow stuff up. He missed the whole CONCEPT of the movie!" But then I thought, actually, that might be cool. Maybe the phone booth containment is just a solid first act, and then we have a bigger movie (and explosions) after that.
As a writer, I would be offended. As a director, the entertainer, I would understand. He thought: nobody's gonna watch a movie with just a dude stuck in a box for ninety minutes (or 150, to be more Bay's runtime.) And to be fair, the movie was good enough, but not really memorable. Bay's movies stick with you (perhaps through sheer, unstoppable force of will, but still.)
My hope would be to understand how to bring the two together - how to blend entertain with enlighten. With a little style.
Moneyball did both; the sequence of "The Streak" is as cool as filmmaking gets. Full use of all the toys - photography, framing, lighting, sound, editing - it's remarkable. And a perfect example of the theme the movie points to: that in the inspiring win of the underdog, Billy Beane is still alone, unable to enjoy the success because he sees winning the final game as the only true victory.
EDIT: I remembered this morning that my dream matchup already HAS HAPPENED. Sorkin was called in to do uncredited day-work on The Rock - the very same movie I fell in love with Bay's style was also the one I was unknowingly quoting (what I HAVE to assume are) Sorkin's lines:
Carla: I'm pregnant.
Stanley: I'm sorry?
Carla: I'm pregnant.
Stanley: You're pregnant?
Carla: Three weeks.
Stanley: How do you know? I mean, how do you know?
Carla: Blue - it just turned blue so I went to the doctor.
Stanley: Wow.
Carla: You didn't mean what you just said, did you?
Stanley: When?
Carla: Just right now, when you were talking about bringing a child into the world, and having it be an act of cruelty.
Stanley: I meant it at the time.
Carla: At the time? You said it seven and half seconds ago!
Stanley: Well...gosh. Kind of a lot's happened since then.
Tarantino also apparently did work, so I'm not sure which one wrote "Losers always whine about their best. Winners go home and ___ the prom queen." Either way, that's a good line.
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