• Bennett Miller’s sophomore effort here proves his debut, 2005’s Capote was no one-man acting triumph—this is another excellent film
  • Miller pulled out all the stops when putting this film together. He grabs Brad Pitt- one of the top 25 actors of all-time- for the lead, taps Wally Pfister as the DP, the screenplay is written by Sorkin and Steven Zallian (Schindler’s list), even gets PSH from Capote to play the thankless role of Art Howe
  • Mychael Danna’s score is superb- a riff on Trent Reznor’s Social Network masterful score but a splendid one on it’s own
  • One reason you know Miller is a strong filmmaker, is he combines Excel spreadsheets, a baseball highlight montage and Jonah Hill voiceover and it gives you chills it’s so exciting- that’s powerful
  • It was Jonah Hill’s dramatic breakout but he shows off his comedic timing here as well- he clearly has chemistry with Pitt- their scenes together are fantastic
  • Billy Beane is not easy and I don’t know if another actor pulls it off with our alignment with him in spite of his snarkiness—plenty of Sorkin’s snark- the “this is not a discussion” and “adapt or die”
  • Dialogue-laden, baseball montages— but I like the oner through the locker room tracking Pitt
  • Twice with the guitar with daughter- great scenes
  • Formally strong- reoccurring shot in the car with the profile of Pitt
  • 6 oscar noms
  • Recommend but can’t find space in my top 10 of 2011- close