Moneyball

With only a fraction of the payroll that the richest teams in Major League Baseball enjoy, the Oakland A’s can’t afford the salaries commanded by top-tier players. So, burned out from always losing their most talented players to the richer teams, desperate GM Billy Beane (Brad Pitt) has an a-ha moment during the off-season. With the help of Yale econ grad Peter Brand (Jonah Hill), Beane starts relying on detailed mathematical performance analyses to evaluate the potential of new players. The goal is to spend the limited funds on a lot of inexpensive and mostly overlooked specialists instead of just a superstar or two. The heart here comes from two sources: the lovable cast-offs Beane picks for their ability to get on base often (thus in scoring position); and from Beane’s personal demons. The constant stress and doubts about his managerial style are juxtaposed against flashbacks of his tumultuous career as a young ball player who never did measure up on the field despite a lot of hype. Cinemark 14. Rated PG-13