Movie Wars - Moneyball Vs. Jerry Maguire (Ep. 0024)

Moneyball Vs. Jerry Maguire (Ep. 0024)

Explicit content warning

03/03/22 • 82 min

8 Listeners

Movie Wars

Sports have often been utilized as a vehicle for intricate storytelling in film. Jerry Maguire and Moneyball tell the stories of two men seeking reform while challenging the status quo. The parallel rebirth experienced by both characters, however, may be the ultimate triumph in these two incredible stories. "Help Movie Wars help you" as we navigate one of our most prolific leading man battles to date.

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Film Summaries

Jerry Maguire

When slick sports agent Jerry Maguire (Tom Cruise) has a crisis of conscience, he pens a heartfelt company-wide memo that promptly gets him fired. Desperate to hang on to the athletes that he represents, Jerry starts his own management firm, with only single mother Dorothy Boyd (Renee Zellweger) joining him in his new venture. Banking on their sole client, football player Rod Tidwell (Cuba Gooding Jr.), Jerry and Dorothy begin to fall in love as they struggle to make their business work.

Rating: R
Genre: Romance, Comedy
Original Language: English
Director: Cameron Crowe
Producer: Richard Sakai, Laurence Mark, Cameron Crowe, James L. Brooks
Writer: Cameron Crowe
Release Date (Theaters): Dec 11, 1996 Wide
Release Date (Streaming): Jul 29, 2003
Box Office (Gross USA): $153.6M
Runtime: 2h 18m
Distributor: TriStar Pictures, Columbia TriStar Home Video, Columbia Tristar

(Info Courtesy of https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/jerry_maguire)

Moneyball

Billy Beane (Brad Pitt), general manager of the Oakland A's, one day has an epiphany: Baseball's conventional wisdom is all wrong. Faced with a tight budget, Beane must reinvent his team by outsmarting the richer ball clubs. Joining forces with Ivy League graduate Peter Brand (Jonah Hill), Beane prepares to challenge old-school traditions. He recruits bargain-bin players whom the scouts have labeled as flawed, but have game-winning potential. Based on the book by Michael Lewis.

Rating: PG-13
Genre: Drama
Original Language: English
Director: Bennett Miller
Producer: Michael De Luca, Rachael Horovitz, Brad Pitt
Writer: Steven Zaillian, Aaron Sorkin
Release Date (Theaters): Sep 23, 2011 Wide
Release Date (Streaming): Jan 10, 2012
Box Office (Gross USA): $75.6M

Info courtesy of Rotten Tomatoes https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/moneyball

Film Summaries

Jerry Maguire

Rating: R
Genre: Romance, Comedy
Original Language: English
Director: Cameron Crowe
Producer: Richard Sakai, Laurence Mark, Cameron Crowe, James L. Brooks
Writer: Cameron Crowe
Release Date (Theaters): Dec 11, 1996 Wide
Release Date (Streaming): Jul 29, 2003
Box Office (Gross USA): $153.6M
Runtime: 2h 18m
Distributor: TriStar Pictures, Columbia TriStar Home Video, Columbia Tristar

(Info Courtesy of https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/jerry_maguire)

Moneyball

Rating: PG-13
Genre: Drama
Original Language: English
Director: Bennett Miller
Producer: Michael De Luca, Rachael Horovitz, Brad Pitt
Writer: Steven Zaillian, Aaron Sorkin
Release Date (Theaters): Sep 23, 2011 Wide
Release Date (Streaming): Jan 10, 2012
Box Office (Gross USA): $75.6M

Info courtesy of Rotten Tomatoes https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/moneyball

Previous Episode

Apocalypse Now Vs. Platoon (Ep. 0023)

3 Recommendations

The moral ambiguity of the Vietnam War attracted prolific filmmakers such as Stanley Kubrick, Oliver Stone, and Francis Ford Coppola. Although different, Apocalypse Now and Platoon are two iconic interpretations of one of the most divisive periods in history. Hop in the riverboat with Kyle, Drew, and Phil as we try to determine who “...smells like victory”

Apocalypse Now

In Vietnam in 1970, Captain Willard (Martin Sheen) takes a perilous and increasingly hallucinatory journey upriver to find and terminate Colonel Kurtz (Marlon Brando), a once-promising officer who has reportedly gone completely mad. In the company of a Navy patrol boat filled with street-smart kids, a surfing-obsessed Air Cavalry officer (Robert Duvall), and a crazed freelance photographer (Dennis Hopper), Willard travels further and further into the heart of darkness.

Rating:

Genre:

War, Drama

Original Language:

English

Director:

Francis Ford Coppola

Producer:

Kim Aubry, Francis Ford Coppola

Writer:

Joseph Conrad, John Milius, Francis Ford Coppola, Michael Herr

Release Date (Theaters):

Aug 15, 1979 Original

Release Date (Streaming):

May 18, 2010

Box Office (Gross USA):

$78.8M

Runtime:

2h 33m

Distributor:

Paramount Pictures, Miramax Films, United Artists

(Information courtesy of Rotten Tomatoes https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/apocalypse_now)

Platoon

Chris Taylor (Charlie Sheen) leaves his university studies to enlist in combat duty in Vietnam in 1967. Once he's on the ground in the middle of battle, his idealism fades. Infighting in his unit between Staff Sergeant Barnes (Tom Berenger), who believes nearby villagers are harboring Viet Cong soldiers, and Sergeant Elias (Willem Dafoe), who has a more sympathetic view of the locals, ends up pitting the soldiers against each other as well as against the enemy.

Rating:

Genre:

War, Drama

Original Language:

English

Director:

Oliver Stone

Producer:

Arnold Kopelson

Writer:

Oliver Stone

Release Date (Theaters):

Dec 19, 1986 Original

Release Date (Streaming):

Aug 15, 2000

Box Office (Gross USA):

$138.5M

Runtime:

2h 0m

Distributor:

MGM/UA Home Entertainment Inc., Orion Pictures, Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer

(Information courtesy of https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/platoon)

Next Episode

Cast Away Vs. The Martian (Ep. 0025)

3 Recommendations

The idea of the isolated man resonates differently in 2022 than it did in 2000 when Cast Away was released. As society’s dependence on technology has come into prominence, the idea of losing access to people, technology, and modern comforts seems implausible. Cast Away and The Martian analyze this concept from two unique perspectives. Get stranded with the Movie Wars crew for this battle of loneliness.

Film Summaries

Cast Away

Obsessively punctual FedEx executive Chuck Noland (Tom Hanks) is en route to an assignment in Malaysia when his plane crashes over the Pacific Ocean during a storm. The sole survivor of the flight, Chuck washes ashore on a deserted island. When his efforts to sail away and contact help fail, Chuck learns how to survive on the island, where he remains for years, accompanied by only his handmade volleyball friend, Wilson. Will Chuck ever return to civilization and reunite with his loved ones?

Rating:
PG-13
Genre:
Adventure, Drama
Original Language:
English
Director:
Robert Zemeckis
Producer:
Steven Boyd, Jack Rapke, Steve Starkey, Robert Zemeckis, Tom Hanks
Writer:
William Broyles Jr.
Release Date (Theaters):
Dec 22, 2000 Wide
Release Date (Streaming):
Nov 6, 2001
Box Office (Gross USA):
$233.6M
Runtime:
2h 23m
Distributor:
DreamWorks SKG

The Martian

When astronauts blast off from the planet Mars, they leave behind Mark Watney (Matt Damon), presumed dead after a fierce storm. With only a meager amount of supplies, the stranded visitor must utilize his wits and spirit to find a way to survive on the hostile planet. Meanwhile, back on Earth, members of NASA and a team of international scientists work tirelessly to bring him home, while his crewmates hatch their own plan for a daring rescue mission.

Rating: PG-13
Genre: Adventure, Sci-Fi, Drama
Original Language: English
Director: Ridley Scott
Producer: Simon Kinberg, Ridley Scott, Michael Schaefer, Aditya Sood, Mark Huffam
Writer: Drew Goddard
Release Date (Theaters): Oct 2, 2015 Wide
Release Date (Streaming): Jan 12, 2016
Box Office (Gross USA): $228.4M
Runtime: 2h 22m
Distributor: 20th Century Fox