Moneyball, 2011.
Directed by Bennett Miller.
Starring Brad Pitt, Jonah Hill, and Philip Seymour Hoffman.
SYNOPSIS:
Moneyball makes its 4K Ultra HD debut with a solid visual presentation from Sony. The extras are unchanged from the old Blu-ray, but they do the job of giving a well-rounded look at the making of the film, from the adaptation of Michael Lewis’s book to the legacy that Oakland A’s general manager Billy Beane left on the sport of baseball.
I like football, but baseball will always be my favorite sport. Has been since I was a kid attending Philadelphia Phillies games with my dad. Attending the 1983 World Series with him is among my fondest memories.
So, of course, I had to revisit Moneyball for its 4K Ultra HD debut from Sony. Based on Michael Lewis’s 2003 book, it follows Oakland A’s general manager Billy Beane (Brad Pitt) as he tries to put a contender on the field despite a severely limited payroll.
To do that, he enlists the help of Peter Brand (Jonah Hill), partially based on the real-life Paul DePodesta, who didn’t want his name used in the film because it alters many aspects of his life and personality. That’s a fair point by him, since Moneyball leans heavily into Peter as the archetypal awkward nerd who pores over statistics to find the right players, while DePodesta was actually a college football player.
DePodesta and A’s manager Art Howe, played by Philip Seymour Hoffman in a surprising but very effective casting choice, have also taken exceptions to the many ways Moneyball builds its narrative while glossing over what really happened during the 2002 baseball season in the A’s front office. Of course, like every movie based on a real story, viewers should do some digging if they want the full factual picture.
In the case of this film, director Bennett Miller and screenwriters Steven Zaillian and Aaron Sorkin do a superb job of enhancing what Billy Beane went through when he butted heads with decades of accepted baseball philosphy and tried to lean on statistics more than gut instinct when filling out his roster.
In reality, scouting has always had and always will have its place, but statistical analysis is also here to stay in professional sports, and it shouldn’t be ignored when choosing players as well as the strategies employed during games (look at the trend of going for it on fourth down in the NFL, which has become a science when making game-time decisions).
Moneyball looks gorgeous in this new 4K Ultra HD presentation. I’m not sure if the film was restored for this edition, but if not, then I guess it didn’t need that kind of effort. Miller chose a documentary style of filmmaking for many of his shots, especially those moments where Beane is alone and dealing with the stressful outcomes of his hard-headed approach, and they come across nice and crisp here.
You also get a code for a digital copy. In terms of bonus features, nothing new was created here, but what’s available offers a solid, well-rounded look at the making of the film.
The extras kick off with around 11 minutes of deleted scenes. Much of it is actually footage excised from existing scenes, and I can see why it was cut, although a moment where Beane storms into the dugout to confront Howe during a game might have been worth keeping in. However, it didn’t really happen, so maybe Miller thought it was pushing the envelope too much.
The rest of the bonus features consist of a quick blooper reel and four featurettes that add up to 71 minutes of making-of footage. Miller, Lewis, Beane, and others show up to talk about everything from adapting the book to decisions made when filming the in-game baseball scenes.
Baseball fans will have legimitiate quibbles with the lighting used during those game-time scenes, but I think it works to heighten the mythological aspects of the story. Baseball history is full of larger-than-life stories, and the 2002 A’s provided several of those, including the team’s record-breaking 20-game win streak. And Miller wisely incorporated plenty of real archival footage from the season to help keep the story grounded in history.
The trailer rounds out the platter.
Flickering Myth Rating – Film: ★ ★ ★ ★ / Movie: ★ ★ ★ ★
Brad Cook
Originally published April 6, 2026. Updated April 5, 2026.
