Moneyball

Baseball, along with gridiron, represents the quintessential national sports of America. Millions of dollars are spent on the sport annually, often with thousands attending a single game. Brad Pitt plays Billy Beane, a failed baseball player who was drafted in the first round who traded in his career as a player to become a scout and eventually the 44-year old general manager of the Oakland Athletics (commonly referred to as the A's). The A's are an underfunded team that deal with the dilemma of constantly having their best players 'poached' by teams with deeper pockets and consequently struggle to compete. Whilst attempting to rebuild his team he meets the timid 24 year old Peter Brand (played by Jonah Hill), an economist from Yale. Peter Brand alludes to Billy that baseball is not a sport of hoarding stars, but rather the performance of a team. The aim of baseball is essentially to get as many runs as possible without getting the three outs required for the opposition to complete an innings. In order to do this, the batters are required to 'get on base'. A plethora of other statistics come into play and shows the useful applications of mathematics in everyday life, including the sports that we love.

What makes Moneyball more intriguing is that it is based on true events and confirms that expected values (averages) hold in the long run (for those that are interested in Statistics). Not only does this film appeal to thinkers, but also the general population as baseball is an American pastime. This movie is a personal favourite as Billy Beane's journey also explores various moral issues.

Rate: 7.8/10

Vivian