Moneyball

Summary

“If we win, on our budget, with this team… we’ll have changed the game. And that’s what I want. I want it to mean something.”

In June of 2003, revered journalist Michael Lewis’s book Moneyball: The Art of Winning an Unfair Game was released. The book was an immediate success commercially and critically and may very well have led to baseball as a sport changing completely. The book followed the 2002 baseball season for the Oakland A’s under the leadership of general manager Billy Beane. In 2011, that story was turned into a film starring Brad Pitt that immediately was recognized as one of the best sports films ever made. I read the book a few years before the film came out and thought the adaptation was brilliant. Fifteen years after its release, Sony has given the film a 4K UHD release. I was eager to revisit the picture and show it to my sixteen year old son (who loves sports even more than I do.)

In 2002, Billy Beane (Brad Pitt) and the Oakland A’s were in a jam. Three of their very best players – first baseman Jason Giambi, outfielder Johnny Damon, and pitcher Jason Isringhausen – had finished out their contracts and were accepting multi-million dollar contracts from competitors. The playing field for the A’s was not on par with the Yankees economically. The Yankees commanded a staggering $114 million for salaries, whereas the A’s only had a $39 million budget. How can a team truly be competitive when the other team can pay so much more for talent? Necessity is the mother of invention. While visiting the offices of the Cleveland Indians to potentially make a trade, Billy encounters an analyst named Peter Brand (Jonah Hill) who seems to be heavily relied upon by the organization in their valuation of players. Peter achieved a degree in economics from Yale, but had followed his heart to pursue a career in baseball. Based on theories first discussed in the Seventies by Bill James, Peter has compiled data that basically upends the way in which teams can assess player potential. This approach flies in the face of traditional scouting techniques. Billy acquires Peter’s services for his team and immediately makes Peter his Assistant GM. Billy begins to compile a team of players that do not fit the traditional qualities of professional baseball players, but do have a high likelihood of getting onto base. This approach rubs field manager Art Lowe (Philip Seymour Hoffman) the wrong way, as he feels both undermined and discounted. On top of that, Billy has only extended Art’s contract for a season, which is not a great show of confidence. The players they assemble include an injured catcher that they push towards playing first base, a pitcher with an untraditional (ugly) but effective pitch, and an aging baseball star that is considered past his prime. The A’s proceed to stun people as their theories are put into place and the team begins to win games with players that cost only a fraction of what is paid by the big name teams.

I have read nearly all of Michael Lewis’s books. He is one of my favorite long-form journalists because he has a knack for explaining difficult financial concepts in the simplest ways possible (as evidenced in Liar’s Poker, The Big Short, and Flash Boys: A Wall Street Revolt.) Michael Lewis is also a lover of sports having written four books that revolve around the subject The Blindside: Evolution of the Game, Coach: Lessons on the Game of Life, Home Game: An Accidental Guide to Fatherhood, and Moneyball: The Art of Winning and Unfair Game. Moneyball manages to simultaneously tell the story of Billy Beane and the Oakland A’s, while also explaining baseball statistics in a way that actually makes statistics entertaining and even exciting. Lewis’s engaging writing style makes this difficult task seem easy. Amazingly, the film adaptation manages to perform the same feat. The fact that the script works becomes less surprising when you see that Aaron Sorkin and Steven Zaillian wrote the script (from a story by Stan Chervin.) Zaillian wrote the acclaimed films American Gangster, The Irishman, Gangs of New York, and Schindler’s List. Sorkin wrote the equally brilliant films The Social Network, A Few Good Men, and the classic TV show The West Wing. Both Zaillian and Sorkin have great skill as writers, and in particular they have skill adapting. Director Bennett Miller also works well in telling true stories onscreen. Prior to Moneyball, he directed 2005’s Capote which earned Philip Seymour Hoffman an Oscar. After Moneyball, Bennett directed Foxcatcher. Moneyball is meticulous in recreating actual events in a completely convincing fashion. After recreating the stadiums, locker rooms, and offices where these athletes trained, played, and made deals, Bennett could focus completely on having the wonderful ensemble cast perform the script. The resulting film is completely convincing in every way. 

Brad Pitt is a perfect choice to play Billy Beane. First off, Pitt has the exact physique of a former baseball baller. It is no stretch of the imagination to believe that Pitt could have played in the big show and with his acting chops it never feels like a stretch that he could have failed to be the best on the field. Pitt is an extremely capable actor that I always enjoy watching onscreen. He is believeable in the role and his onscreen presence elevates every scene in the film. Jonah Hill blew everyone’s minds at the time with his great turn as Peter Brand. While he would be even more impressive in The Wolf of Wall Street, this was a great early showcase for his skills in an understated dramatic role. Chris Pratt shines as Scott Hatteburg, a catcher that needs to learn first base to stay in the Show. Philip Seymour Hoffman, Stephen Bishop, Robin Wright, and Brent Jennings are all excellent in the film. The score by Michael Banna is fantastic and will remind people of the great music in another wonderful sports film – Friday Night Lights. The next year he won an Oscar for his score for Life of Pi.

I want to sidebar here for just a moment to mention that the techniques employed by Billy Beane quickly became de rigeur for EVERY baseball team – even those with the most money. Regardless of what you think of his approach, it would be impossible to say that he did not forever alter the game of baseball as we know it with his work in Oakland.

I think it is pretty obvious that I believe Moneyball is an incredible film. I believe it to be one of the best sports films ever made and an exceptional adaptation of a great work of journalism. I highly recommend checking this film out!

Video

Moneyball was originally released into theaters in 2011 with a 4K Digital Intermediate. In 2013, Sony released a “Mastered in 4K” Blu-ray which was pretty darn close to the theatrical experience. For fans of the picture that already own that release, the improvements made on this 4K UHD with SDR will be somewhat limited. Personally, I think the film looks great on 4K, but so did the 4K mastered Blu-ray. If you don’t own the film, this is the way to go.

Audio

Sony has provided a great sounding DTS-HD MA 5.1 track which matches the track from their 2011 Blu-ray. While an Atmos track certainly would have been appreciated, especially in the final portions of the picture which take place inside stadiums during ball games, the film’s surround presentation largely delivers. The excellent score by Michael Banna sounds great, and dialogue is clearly rendered.

Supplements:

• Deleted Scenes
• Brad Loses It 
• Billy Beane: Re-Inventing the Game
• Drafting the Team
• Moneyball: Playing the Game
• Adapting “Moneyball”
• Theatrical Trailer

Overall Scores: 

Video – 4.25/5

Audio – 4.5/5

Supplements – 4/5

Overall – 4.75/5

Moneyball is an exceptional film. It ranks as one of the best sports films ever made, and it is a brilliant adaptation of a great work of journalism. This is one of those cases where everything is stellar – an inspired cast, wonderful direction, solid production design, and a brilliant script that happens to be based on actual events. The 4K UHD from Sony is the best way to experience the film with great 4K video and solid audio and very interesting (archival) supplements. For those who have the remastered in 4K Blu-ray, this purchase may be a harder sell, since audio remains the same and improvements on video are notable but they definitely are not huge leaps forward (especially considering that this presentation is still in SDR.) Highly, highly recommended!