“Moneyball” grabs four major Oscar nominations
There have been plenty of baseball movies which have gained notoriety over the course of time: Bull Durham, Major League, the Natural– and now, Moneyball.
The well-conceived portrayal of Billy Beane’s rise to fame as the Oakland A’s general manager during the team’s glory days of the early 1990s has scored four major Oscar nominations, including one for Best Picture. Along with the Best Picture nomination– which puts Moneyball up against some rather stiff competition– Jonah Hill was nominated for Best Supporting Actor for his portrayal of Peter Brand (the real-life Paul DePodesta), Brad Pitt was nominated for Best Actor, and the screenwriting trio of Steve Zaillian, Aaron Sorkin, and Stan Cherrin were nominated for Best Screenplay.
Hill probably has the longest road to travel of the three, and Pitt should have a great chance at winning Best Actor given the overwhelming amount of hype the movie received prior to its release and once it hit theaters.
As a whole, Moneyball was well-written, very well-acted, and a believable picture of what Billy Beane and his staff went through in fully embracing Bill James’ Sabermetrics methods wholeheartedly in spite of multiple critics and naysayers. From interviews, Brad Pitt admittedly knew little about baseball– much less its statistical intricacies– and given this, his performance was even more outstanding.
Jonah Hill’s dry and witty comedic timing made his “Peter Brand” character come to life and draw the viewer in, even through Paul DePodesta didn’t approve of the way the character was handled.
Even Phillip Seymour Hoffman, who portrayed gruff and stern manager Art Howe, did a very solid job.
Overall, Moneyball is one of the better movies produced in the baseball genre and is well-deserving of recognition as one of 2011′s best films.
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