Moneyball (2011)

The story of Oakland A's general manager Billy Beane's successful attempt to put together a baseball club on a budget by employing computer-generated analysis to draft his players. [imdb]

Nominated for 6 Oscars:

Best Picture
Best Actor: Brad Pitt
Best Supporting Actor: Jonah Hill
Best Adapted Screenplay
Best Editing
Best Sound Mixing

Just like your regular European guy, I know nothing about Baseball, I don't know the rules of the game, I don't know the teams; it's strictly American. But otherwise, I love competitions in general, and you don't have to be a baseball expert to enjoy Moneyball. This is a smart film, one of the smartest I've seen in the past year.

I'm happy for Brad and the wonderful year he's had, with this & Tree of Life, both as producer and actor. I really admire his career, because he consistently gives good performances, sometimes even great ones. In Moneyball, he gives one of his most likeable performances yet; it's not a ground-breaking one, but it's so damn natural and he makes it look so easy: from delivering the lines that aren't always so flexible to the way he moves his hands or talks on the phone. He was very much connected to the character and this is reassuring for the audience.

The screenplay is good, it has Sorkin's fingerprints all over it, and I'm sure the final version is more his than Zaillian's. Sure, the ending could've been shorter, that's a weakness, but I wasn't bored or anything. The editing is fantastic, the direction is sharp and Jonah Hill... well, I don't see the Oscar potential in his performance, but he does a good job and I liked him (though not enough to justify the nomination).

My rating for the film: 8/10. It's well put together, so I enjoyed it, even if I don't seem to be the target of the film.