Moneyball

In professional sports, the most important game to win is the last one. I didn't know that, but as soon as I heard it, it made sense. This slow- moving but engaging sports film shows us how the Oakland A's General Manager Billy Beane cobbled together a low-budget baseball team based on statistical analysis rather than star quality.

• Brad Pitt ("Burn After Reading") is Billy Beane, always eating hamburgers, burritos, or peanuts; chewing tobacco and spitting; or drinking coffee and/or beer. Pitt's characters tend to focus on their mouths and this guy is no different. We see LOTS of lingering shots of him driving, thinking, eating, exercising, talking on the phone and listening. If you're a Brad Pitt fan, this movie is for YOU.
  
• Jonah Hill ("Get Him to the Greek") is Peter Brand, the statistician who transforms professional baseball. His logic is sound and Beane very quickly comes to rely on his analyses.
  
• Robin Wright ("State of Play") is Sharon, Beane's former wife. Her scene is brief and she's still lovely.
  
• Philip Seymour Hoffman ("Charlie Wilson's War") is Art Howe, the coach who defies Beane and continues to play the men he wants, until Beane is forced to fire them so Art is left with no alternative!
  
• Chris Pratt ("Everwood") is Scott Hatteberg, a former pitcher reassigned to first base...to his everlasting terror....

With a script by Steven Zaillian ("The Interpreter") and Aaron Sorkin ("The Social Network"), based on Michael Lewis' book Moneyball: The Art of Winning an Unfair Game, this seems almost like a documentary, with reel clips from real games, jerky camera work and muddy dialogue, but an undeniably authentic feel. We always cheer the come-from-behind underdogs and relish hard-won victories. In addition, we are reminded that this is based on real life.

This one is for sports fans, baseball fans, and Brad Pitt fans, and that ain't all bad!

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Here is a link to a trailer:
http://www.imdb.com/video/imdb/vi3229326361/
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