Moneyball • The Next Reel

It's spring training season again, and we're back to discuss more baseball movies! In 2011, Bennett Miller directed Moneyball, a fascinating film — one of our favorites — that details the 2002 season of the Oakland A's, and particularly how General Manager Billy Beane decided to use a new statistical approach nicknamed moneyball to buy players, bucking all tradition within the game. The film was a critical and commercial success, and received numerous awards and nominations including 6 Oscar nominations. This week, join us — Pete Wright and Andy Nelson — as we begin this year's baseball series with this amazing film. We talk about the brilliant performances, from the key performances by Brad Pitt and Jonah Hill to the supporting performances by Robin Wright and Spike Jonze (and even Derrin Ebert!). We discuss Pete's fascination with the nature of moneyball and the use of statistics to essentially better control the destiny for a team, and how that balances with the unpredictable magic that happens in the game. We chat about the amazing Wally Pfister and what he brings to the table with his cinematography. And we also chat about the struggle the screenwriters had in getting the script adapted from Michael Lewis' nonfiction book, why the film took so long to get made and who had been involved at various points in getting it made. It's a deeply engrossing film that we love, and we have a great time talking about it. Tune in! The Next Reel Family of Film Shows:Cinema Scope: Bridging Genres, Subgenres, and Movements | The Film Board | Movies We Like | The Next Reel | Sitting in the DarkConnect With Us:Web | Letterboxd | Flickchart | Instagram | Bluesky | YouTube | DiscordYour Hosts: Andy | PeteMerch Store | Audible