grossing over double its 50-million dollar budget. Brad Pitt, Jonah Hill, and Phillip

Seymour Hoffman star in this intriguing adaptation of Michael Lewis' 2003 book of the same name

- about the general manager of Major League Baseball's Oakland Athletics - who attempts

to use statistics and math to build the perfect team, despite having one of the smallest payrolls

in the league. Going against instinct and traditional scouting techniques Hill and Pitt's

characters join forces, and turn the baseball world on it's head... assembling a team of

apparent rejects with incredible results. This absolutely true story chronicles the

rise and fall of the A's 2002 season -- expertly incorporating actual game footage and audio

from the big moments of a decade past. Long, static and deliberate shots frame our protagonist

as he struggles with his controversial decisions - firing player after player like they're

a number in a file, all because their statistical on-base-percentage isn't high enough. -CLIP-

The

film presents an incredibly fascinating look at the behind-the-scenes management aspects

of a major American sport, and despite the drab and somewhat stilted material, does so

in a very engaging way. Director Bennett Miller is to thank for transforming something as

detailed and complicated as baseball statistics into a terrific 133 minute film that appeals

to everyone. Turning in a subtle, but inspirational performance in the leading role - especially

in scenes opposite his on-screen daughter- Pitt has likely earned himself his third Academy

Award nomination. Meanwhile, a pre-weight-loss Hill delivers a terrifically endearing performance

that thankfully isn't regulated to peppy comic relief, although "Moneyball" does have its

share of funny moments. Seymore-Hoffman isn't given much to say or do here sadly, but he,

and you'll have to excuse the pun, really hits the ball out of the park with his limited

role. The players, and game itself are given much screen time, but shine through in their

limited opportunities. Frequent use of silence, broken by swinging bats, radio commentary

and crowd cheers mark many of this film's transitional montages, truly delivering a

scope and atmosphere otherwise missed in this behind-the-scenes baseball drama where the

players and home-runs unfortunately receive very little screen time. With a true-to-life

outcome expected from the outset, this sports film is perhaps the first *not* to end in

a Hollywood-style happy ending, but it is a realistic, and a satisfying one. "Moneyball",

"Remarkable story, confident and engrossing." Well, that's my review - now let's read some

of yours from the YouTube comments.

In comes the Rate-O-Matic to score "Moneyball"... a COOL and a GREAT. This was a decidedly original

take of the classic sports film formula, but it was missing a certain something for me

to score it much higher - so let's delve deeper into what made up that final score of "7"

with Movie Night's first new feature in nearly two years... which I'm calling the "Factor

Facts" for the time being -- to help deliver a more nuanced explanation of my rating, the

flip side of The Rate-O-Matic will highlight an individual one to ten score for each of

the following film factors: Enjoyment, story, technical achievements, acting, the visuals,

the emotional impact on the viewer, pacing, mood, re-watch value, and overall satisfaction.

A brief description of each factor is listed below in the description for your convenience.

As you can see, these are the scores I gave to "Moneyball", their sum total is averaged

out to my final score, which in this case was a 7. Back to the rate-o-matic, your scored

this film an EIGHT - citing the incredible story and acting as reasons why you enjoyed

this film.