Moneyball

Moneyball (2011) starring Brad Pitt, Jonah Hill, Philip Seymour Hoffman, Robin Wright. Oakland A's general manager Billy Beane (Pitt) is desperate for players because his budget is so low. In rides Peter Brand (Hill), a young Yale graduate who has statistics-based ideas about how to optimize a major-league payroll. And putting up resistance is team manager Art Howe (Hoffman), who insists on having control over the lineup card. The baseball sections of this movie are great, and Pitt seems at home in the role. But when Beane goes off the field and deals with his 12-year-old daughter, the movie tends to stall out. Still for anyone who knows baseball, who has played baseball, who follows baseball, this is a great movie. (Subtitles are available; closed captions are not.) Grade: A-