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Review of Moneyball (Mychael Danna)

FILMTRACKS RECOMMENDS:

Buy it... only if you seek the source songs heard in the film and its trailers, because Mychael Danna's original score tepidly concentrates on the cold statistical suspense of the concept in disappointingly minimal fashion.

Avoid it... if you expect to hear Danna deliver any emotional warmth or inspirational whimsy to address the family or baseball elements in the plot, a strange underperformance for an otherwise typical character story from within the sports genre.

FILMTRACKS EDITORIAL REVIEW:

Moneyball: (Mychael Danna) The Oakland Athletics baseball club of the 2000's faced a number of challenges exacerbated in part by their perpetual secondary status in the Bay Area to the San Francisco Giants. Their payroll has always been restricted, a by-product of weak attendance numbers at the cavernous Oakland-Alameda Coliseum and an emphasis on their remarkable farm system. After the turn of the century, baseball's green and yellow oddity, despite its success on the field, was plagued by stories of steroid use by many of its superstars (in their defense, when the Mark McGwire and Jose Canseco reportedly got jacked up on steriods after injecting each other in the buttocks, they did the sensible thing and bashed up the umpires' restroom at the stadium) and constant threats to abandon Oakland in favor of South Bay territory traditionally controlled by the Giants. In the 1990's, the A's ownership and general manager became the first club to truly adopt "sabermetric" principles that used baseball statistics rather than scouting intuition as the means of assembling a cost-effective team. This technique led to several division championships between 2000 and 2006, and despite the Athletics' uncanny ability to barely be bounced out of the playoffs each year, their model of success, especially in their ability to develop their farm system, has been emulated by many other clubs since. A 2003 book by author Michael Lewis (who also penned the story that became The Blind Side) explored the Athletics' remarkable 2002 season that included a record 20-game winning streak, and this work was adapted after many years of production turmoil into the 2011 movie of the same name, Moneyball. Starring Brad Pitt as A's general manager Billy Beane, the film chronicles the evolution of sabermetrics during that season and throws in some drama on and off the field as well. It was well received by critics and audiences alike, drawing reasonable profits in part because of its ensemble acting depth and good humor. Original music had a relatively minor role to play in Moneyball, though director Bennet Miller reunited with composer Mychael Danna to receive what little dramatic underscore required for the "people story" and suspense aspects of the film. There is absolutely no sports genre personality to be heard in any portion of this music. In fact, the score is overshadowed by source usage in the film, particularly the cute performance of Lenka's 2008 song "The Show" by actress Kerris Dorsey (who plays Beane's daughter) and the gritty rock instrumental "The Mighty Rio Grande" by the Texas group This Will Destroy You, heard first in the movie's trailers.

While Moneyball uses baseball as only a backdrop for character studies, most movies with epic sports scores do the same but still manage to contain inspirational genre music. Danna's instructions were clearly to avoid that technique, instead supplying extremely conservative and minimal atmosphere to Moneyball. The baseball scenes were clearly not meant to receive any heroic original material related to the score, this despite the legendary public address system (and Roy Steele, the "voice of God," behind the microphone) and the rowdy atmosphere at the Oakland Coliseum, which has allowed noisemakers and a carnival-like, youthful atmosphere for A's games. Danna's approach was to supply a hesitant and almost emotionally devoid representation of a statistical game of chess, but even from this perspective, his music generally underplays the importance of the story's family connections and impact on the game of baseball. There is no clearly dominant theme in the score, Danna instead using ostinatos in Philip Glass mode to quietly address the brains at work on screen. In cues like "One Way Out," "Time Tested Intangibles," and "More," these rhythms promise to pick up steam but are never fully realized. In "It's a Process," Danna adds deep piano thuds of a Craig Armstrong variety to these string and woodwind rhythms, lending slight gravity to that and similar cues. In "The Streak" and "Hattie," Danna manipulates the piano digitally to create a sense of distorted reality, an irritating effect in an otherwise smooth score. The cues for the height of the 20-game streak are nearly as dismal as the rest of the soundtrack, though a sight sense of desperation in "Game 5" (never a good game for the A's during this period) eventually yields to some almost dreamy, resigned contemplation in subsequent cues as Beane considers taking a job with the Boston Red Sox. The score's ostinatos are summarized in "On Its Head," capping a surprisingly distant overall tone. There is little warmth to address the family portions of Moneyball and absolutely no enthusiasm to reflect fans' appreciation for the team. Danna's focus on the cool, statistical element is barely functional and essentially fails to tell any kind of narrative to compete in any regard with other scores about sports perseverance, family challenges, or even statistical genius (James Horner's rhythmic representations of genius are infinitely superior). The album contains 34 minutes of score that will be difficult to embrace, though it at least has few moments of turmoil to upset the tepid but smooth listening experience. While nobody should have expected music like Randy Newman's classic The Natural to grace this film, it's hard not to get the feeling that the score was intentionally buried in a movie that could have used a few more doses of whimsy. Despite the ruthless statistical aspect to baseball, it is still a kid's game.  **

TRACK LISTINGS:

Total Time: 48:48

• 1. One Out Away (1:48) • 2. A Little Bit of Faith (1:09) • 3. Spring Training (1:34) • 4. Big League (2:20) • 5. Opening Day (1:12) • 6. Losing Streak (1:39) • 7. Can't Miss Prospect (2:05) • 8. Time Tested Intangibles (1:22) • 9. Is Losing Fun? (0:53) • 10. Coaching (1:01) • 11. It's a Process (1:52) • 12. More (1:37)

• 13. The Streak (3:03) • 14. Turn Around (0:48) • 15. Old Ground (4:26) • 16. Hattie (1:25) • 17. Game (1:08) • 18. Fenway (1:30) • 19. The Offer (0:41) • 20. Oakland (1:12) • 21. On Its Head (1:35) • 22. The Show - performed by Kerris Dorsey (3:13) • 23. The Mighty Rio Grande - performed by This Will Destroy You (11:16)

NOTES & QUOTES:

The insert includes a list of performers but no extra information about the score or film. As in many of Amazon.com's "CDr on demand" products, the packaging smells incredibly foul when new.

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The reviews and other textual content contained on the filmtracks.com site may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed without the prior written authority of Christian Clemmensen at Filmtracks Publications. All artwork and sound clips from Moneyball are Copyright © 2011, Madison Gate Records and cannot be redistributed without the label's expressed written consent. Page created 12/5/11 (and not updated significantly since).