Moneyball

A very good baseball film with a solid (better than solid, really) performance by Brad Pitt as Billy Beane, the manager of the Oakland A's and the first implementer of the moneyball system of baseball management. It's a clever script, well-acted on all fronts, and I think the film even has some soul; one of its questions is whether a game like baseball means anything. Charlene thought the film was too long and she was probably right. It runs quite a bit over two hours. She also suggested they cut the flashback sequences that show Billy Beane when he was major league ballplayer. Again, probably right. They use those sequences to build up a motivation but I'm not sure it's really necessary--it's all there in Brad Pitt's performance.