KPIX/CBS5 Dennis O'Donnell is aghast at the portrayal of Art Howe in "MoneyBall."
IT'S AN OUTRAGE. O'Donnell, the male "Evita" is just sickened about it all.
Hollywood is a slimy place. Apparently, so is Oakland. They rolled out the red carpets for Brad Pitt and the rest of Tinseltown as they forced their fake smiles while giving canned answers to the drooling media. And there was Pitt, who, with all apologies to Billy Beane and Michael Lewis, had more to do with the film’s success than the analysis of saber metrics.
Hey Denster: It's a fucking movie. Like, you know, a fucking movie that's intended to make money. Lots of it.
I don't know Art Howe. He's been whining a lot about the movie. I saw the movie--I seriously doubt Phillip Seymour-Hoffman and Brat Pitt, and William Bean, for that matter, went after him, but O'Donnell, perhaps trying desperately for attention, begs to differ: more gooey shit from DOD:
In the years covering Howe I knew him only on professional level. Billy and Michael Lewis had far greater insight than me. But I knew him to be a true gentleman, stand-up guy, and one who seemed to have the respect of his players.
I think O'Donnell needs to get out more brown toilet paper.
You want irony? I think Howe's bitchin' will inspire more people to go out and see the movie. And if they do, then they're going to make lots of more money and Howe's moaning will effectively provide more publicity and ammo for folks who may have skipped it.
I don't see the Howe/Hoffman "character assassination." At worse, it's an unflattering depiction. At best, it has little to do with the main thrust of the movie, which is based on Michael Lewis' 2002 book. So, yes, the facts were re-arranged a bit. (Psst, it's a movie, Art, DOD)
Howe's bizarre outbursts and his SF/Oakland media minions make him look like a fool. That's not fiction--that's a fact. Maybe Art should call the A's booster club and complain to Stomper too. He'd have a far better case than allowing schmucks like O'Donnell pout for him.
Strike three.
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I don't think anybody could be more sanctimonious through all this then Slick Billy. He KNEW Howe was being made out to be a villain. Beane HAD to have been shown rough cuts of the movies rushes early on for him to get a feel of whats going on. And Beane didn't mind what he saw.
ReplyDeleteIts not enough Beane has become a shiester since being part owner,he's now rewriting history through this movie for more of his vanity that is fashion maven Beane.
I'm not sure why you are so easy on Beane man when he has done nothing but rip the city of Oakland while getting wealthy on its backs. The hypocrite that is Beane to live in neoconservative Whiteopia AKA,Danville while ignoring the beauty of the homes in the Oakland Hills,is just more of Beane exploiting others while taking ALL the credit and NONE of the blame for the failures.
signed,
the Masked "S"
Actually, MONEYBALL -- the book -- is a non-fiction book, not a novel.
ReplyDeleteYeah, it's a "fucking movie" but it's based on the book "Money Ball", "the single most influential baseball book ever" (Rob Neyer, Slate) and.. what "may be the best book ever written on business" (Weekly Standard). To take an integral character and create a non reality damages the story. People who read the book obviously didn't like the movie or recommend it. Butchering Art Howe was a mistake and that is one of the reasons the movie is fairing so poorly at the box office. They'll be lucky to break even on a 50 million dollar production that has booked 38 million US as of October 2, 2011.
ReplyDeleteO'Donnell is just another Giant's mouthpiece. I remember him giggling like a school girl after the Giants run. He also does those really bad 49er shows, meanwhile his station broadcasts Oakland Raider games! Tool.
ReplyDeleteDo we have to continue with this idiocy you blathering buffoon? This is supposed to be a fact-based movie. The writers then create a negative Art Howe "character" who did not exist in reality.
ReplyDeleteIf it was one of your favorite sports figures you would be up in arms, pissing and moaning about the case of outrageous "character assassination". You are a two faced hypocrite, constantly swiveling and shifting depending of your alliances. Your sir are lame essentially.
Every one of your rants lately is just that. You need to get back on your meds or seek some psychiatric care.
ReplyDeleteHow quickly people forget this "tool" pissed off Mike Singletary to the point last season the Whiners demanded O'Donnell get kicked off the 49er pregame show. All for asking a mildly critical question.
ReplyDeleteI'm waiting for the movie about Rich to come out. He'll be portrayed as a crazed, whiney butthead..oh wait, that's how he usually acts in his blog.
This coming from the man who: rolls in late, barely writes any of his own shit, won't leave the station for a live shot unless it's a BIG deal, barely follows sports, stole Radnich's shtick, has Radnich's current work ethic, and worst of all employs Kim Coyle?
ReplyDeleteOk, Dennis. Sure.
I guess there Is crying in baseball.
ReplyDeleteThe movie may be meant to simply entertain, but are you honestly saying that Philip Seymour Hoffman's bad caricature of some "simpleton" baseball manager that was nothing like the actual person being portrayed was actually entertaining? Or, more to the point, that a more accurate and dignified portrayal of the man would have made the movie unwatchable?
ReplyDeleteA rather flimsy straw-man argument if I've ever seen one, Rich.
I don't think the notion of artistic license is lost on folks like Dennis O'Donnell and the others you love to trash in this blog. Artistic license however is a lazy explanation for simply failing to do better research.
When Steven Soderbergh, who was originally slated to direct, was working on the film, he actually spent a lot of time talking to various baseball players and coaches. Rick Peterson, who was a technical consultant (and the A's pitching coach back in the day), actually spent a fair amount of time talking with Soderbergh to help him write in more nuances that the original script lacked.
The studios nixed Soderbergh's script changes, though, and removed him from the film. Why? Because Soderbergh, it was rumored, had a script that might have been around 2 1/2 hour long.
Now, you could argue that this back story proves it was just about entertainment. Soderbergh's no stranger to making entertaining films, of course. He made 'Oceans 11' and its sequels. He made 'Traffic.' He made the recently released 'Contagion.'
But he also has made movies that were more studies of certain actual people. 'Erin Brokovitch.' 'Che'. He wanted to approach 'Moneyball' the same way. Does that make the movie any less entertaining? Does that make it less relevant as a movie?
The studio decided they wanted to simplify the film. Dumb it down. Soderbergh's concept, which included actual interviews with folks like Lenny Dykstra, Darryl Strawberry, etc., was dumped. They added name actors, like Pitt and Hoffman, but Hoffman literally spent like 3 days on the film (and never bothered to reach out to the actual Art Howe, because to him, this was just a paycheck).
But apparently these types of details are irrelevant, since they don't fit your neat agenda of bashing the local media folks you don't like. Typical.
You're a weird ass dude Lieberman, weird.
ReplyDeleteI've met Art Howe, he's 6 foot two or six three at least, big muscular guy. Here they have a fat, dumpy non-athletic goofball 5 or six inches shorter playing him. That alone is a joke.
ReplyDeleteI love how when Rich gives his own opinion on something, it always ends with a line like "That's not fiction, that's a fact!" or "You know I'm right!"
ReplyDeleteNo we don't, Rich and just because you're convinced you're right about everything doesn't make it fact. Example One: Last time I looked Radnich was still working, despite your numerous predictions (for years) to the contrary.
Although I can see why you and DOD wouldn't be pals. I saw a movie where one brother-working hard to make it in life as a cop,rips into his pretty boy younger brother who "Lives life like a woman,getting by on looks,a smile,charm".
ReplyDeleteI guess like those hot chicks in life that hang with hot friends..DOD's closest friends are jocks,or guys who can help him, and those who he spends a good time at bars laughing at others who aren't the pretty people...