The Big Picture: The 25 Best Movies of the Century: No. 14 - ‘Moneyball’

Published 2025-07-28; 0:37:09 by the feed.

As extracted (engineer-sonnet-2026-10-13)

The extraction calls the show “The Big Picture” and the episode “The 25 Best Movies of the Century: No. 14 - Moneyball”.

Hosts: Sean Fennessey, Amanda Dobbins. Guests: none.

Subject films: Moneyball (2011).

On the transcript: Live-taped screening conversation with audience interjections and no speaker labels, so attributions are low-confidence; several sponsor reads (Starbucks, Propel, Coca-Cola) were skipped.

Films that came up

subject (1)

Moneyball

anecdote (5)

The Dark Knight · Being the Ricardos · The Handmaiden · Bride Wars · Cruising

compared (6)

Inside Llewyn Davis · Major League · Eddington · Reds · Dog Day Afternoon · Good Will Hunting

passing (18)

Superbad · Capote · The Electric State · Jurassic World Dominion · Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 · The Tomorrow War · Passengers · The Super Mario Bros. Movie · Garfield · Jurassic World · Schindler's List · Ripley · The Cruise · Foxcatcher · The Artist · Once Upon a Time in Hollywood · Ford v Ferrari · A Minecraft Movie

recommended (7)

Leatherheads · Speed Racer · Air · Hustle · F1 · Friday Night Lights · All the President's Men

dismissed (1)

Challengers

Claims (25)

  1. theme (shared theme): Moneyball → Inside Llewyn Davis. Both are stories about someone who never quite fulfills his promise or gets as famous as hoped.
    “it's another story about a loser, we just did inside Lewin Davis in this series, which was a story about somebody who doesn't quite fulfill his promise”
    The Big Picture · The 25 Best Movies of the Century: No. 14 - ‘Moneyball’ · 0:05:25 · Sean Fennessey (0.60 sure it was them)
  2. theme (genre convention): Moneyball → Major League. Like Major League, Moneyball does not end with winning the World Series.
    “major league famously doesn't end with winning the World Series, but The movie almost doesn't care if you don't get that.”
    The Big Picture · The 25 Best Movies of the Century: No. 14 - ‘Moneyball’ · 0:09:49 · Sean Fennessey (0.50 sure it was them)
  3. people (typecasting): Jonah Hill → Superbad. Hill was known as an Apatow player from Superbad, making his dramatic Moneyball casting a hard pivot.
    “easily best known as kind of an Appatau player off the huge success of Super Bad, and he was Academy Award nominated for this role.”
    The Big Picture · The 25 Best Movies of the Century: No. 14 - ‘Moneyball’ · 0:13:31 · Sean Fennessey (0.60 sure it was them)
  4. programming (foil pairing): Jonah Hill → Brad Pitt. Hill supplies comic timing for restrained Pitt to bounce off.
    “Pitt really needs a foil because he's so restrained in his performance, except when he's throwing things”
    The Big Picture · The 25 Best Movies of the Century: No. 14 - ‘Moneyball’ · 0:13:56 · Amanda Dobbins (0.50 sure it was them)
  5. people (prior collaboration): Philip Seymour Hoffman → Capote. Hoffman starred in Bennett Miller's first narrative feature and won the Best Actor Oscar for it, then brought gravitas to a small Moneyball part.
    “Hoffman had had acted in Capote, Bennett Miller's 1st narrative feature film and won an Academy Award for best actor for that role.”
    The Big Picture · The 25 Best Movies of the Century: No. 14 - ‘Moneyball’ · 0:14:58 · Sean Fennessey (0.60 sure it was them)
  6. unmapped (anti-chemistry): Philip Seymour Hoffman → Brad Pitt. Hoffman is not intimidated by Pitt, giving their scenes of open contempt a rare tension.
    “film Seymour Hoffman is not afraid of Brad Pitt.”
    The Big Picture · The 25 Best Movies of the Century: No. 14 - ‘Moneyball’ · 0:15:23 · Sean Fennessey (0.55 sure it was them)
  7. contrast (contrast on data): Moneyball → Eddington. Today we are skeptical of lives dominated by data, as in Eddington, which makes Billy's stance feel different now.
    “pretty dubious of having our lives dominated by a data center if you've seen Eddington.”
    The Big Picture · The 25 Best Movies of the Century: No. 14 - ‘Moneyball’ · 0:18:26 · Sean Fennessey (0.40 sure it was them)
  8. unmapped (unmade version): Moneyball → Reds. Soderbergh's planned version was like Reds as a baseball movie, with to-camera testimony from real people.
    “It was kind of like if you made reds as a baseball movie where he was going to use into camera testimony and real life people performing from the film.”
    The Big Picture · The 25 Best Movies of the Century: No. 14 - ‘Moneyball’ · 0:22:19 · Sean Fennessey (0.55 sure it was them)
  9. unmapped (authorial signature): Aaron Sorkin → Moneyball. The nobility-of-work and dad-daughter material is attributed to Sorkin's rewrite.
    “the nobility of the work, which is so common in all of Sorkin's TV shows and movies, the idea of like just doing the thing in an honest and decent way.”
    The Big Picture · The 25 Best Movies of the Century: No. 14 - ‘Moneyball’ · 0:23:26 · Sean Fennessey (0.55 sure it was them)
  10. unmapped (unmade version): Steven Soderbergh → Moneyball. The finished film still keeps archival and math, with talk radio replacing direct-to-camera testimony.
    “it certainly still has a lot of math instead of people talking directly camera, it uses a lot of talk radio.”
    The Big Picture · The 25 Best Movies of the Century: No. 14 - ‘Moneyball’ · 0:23:53 · Amanda Dobbins (0.60 sure it was them)
  11. people (director filmography): Bennett Miller → The Cruise. Before Capote and Moneyball, Miller made the documentary The Cruise about Speed Levi.
    “Ben Miller, to that point, had made a documentary called The Cruise.”
    The Big Picture · The 25 Best Movies of the Century: No. 14 - ‘Moneyball’ · 0:24:26 · Sean Fennessey (0.60 sure it was them)
  12. people (cameo link): The Cruise → Richard Linklater. The Cruise's subject, Speed Levi, appeared in Richard Linklater movies.
    “Speed Levic, who was featured in Richard Linklater movies, it follows him”
    The Big Picture · The 25 Best Movies of the Century: No. 14 - ‘Moneyball’ · 0:24:36 · Sean Fennessey (0.55 sure it was them)
  13. people (writer friend): Capote → Dan Futterman. Capote was written by Miller's friend Dan Futterman.
    “he made Capote, which was written by his friend Dan Futterman.”
    The Big Picture · The 25 Best Movies of the Century: No. 14 - ‘Moneyball’ · 0:24:36 · Sean Fennessey (0.55 sure it was them)
  14. people (director filmography): Bennett Miller → Foxcatcher. Miller made Foxcatcher four years after Moneyball and has made nothing since, which may dim Moneyball's legacy.
    “He makes Foxcatcher, a 4 years later, a movie that no longer exists.”
    The Big Picture · The 25 Best Movies of the Century: No. 14 - ‘Moneyball’ · 0:24:57 · Sean Fennessey (0.60 sure it was them)
  15. industry (Oscar loss): Brad Pitt → The Artist. Pitt lost Best Actor for Moneyball to Jean Dujardin in The Artist, which they attribute to Weinstein.
    “I do understand what happened there. Harvey Weinstein happened.”
    The Big Picture · The 25 Best Movies of the Century: No. 14 - ‘Moneyball’ · 0:27:03 · Amanda Dobbins (0.50 sure it was them)
  16. industry (Oscar consolation): Brad Pitt → Once Upon a Time in Hollywood. Pitt eventually won Best Supporting Actor for Once Upon a Time in Hollywood, but not for the right role.
    “Pitt, of course, 8 years later, we'll eventually win best supporting actor for once upon a time in Hollywood.”
    The Big Picture · The 25 Best Movies of the Century: No. 14 - ‘Moneyball’ · 0:27:08 · Sean Fennessey (0.55 sure it was them)
  17. unmapped (critical reading): Manohla Dargis → Brad Pitt. Dargis wrote about Pitt's power as a movie star filtering Robert Redford-type strong, silent figures.
    “Manola wrote at length about the kind of use of Pitt's power and what he kind of brings as a movie star type”
    The Big Picture · The 25 Best Movies of the Century: No. 14 - ‘Moneyball’ · 0:28:12 · Sean Fennessey (0.55 sure it was them)
  18. unmapped (shared trait): Moneyball → A Minecraft Movie. Both are IP (based on existing property), tied to the claim that movies are back.
    “So Moneyball and then Minecraft, that's that's the director. They're both IP.”
    The Big Picture · The 25 Best Movies of the Century: No. 14 - ‘Moneyball’ · 0:28:54 · Amanda Dobbins (0.45 sure it was them)
  19. lineage (joke remake): Moneyball → Dog Day Afternoon. The Mets' version of Moneyball would be Dog Day Afternoon: hostages, incompetent robbers, heat.
    “It'd be like dog afternoon. We're all being held hostage. They won't let us out.”
    The Big Picture · The 25 Best Movies of the Century: No. 14 - ‘Moneyball’ · 0:29:11 · Sean Fennessey (0.50 sure it was them)
  20. unmapped (similar subject): Moneyball → Air. Air is a similar movie about commerce, finance, and decision-making around sports, with movie stars and questionable pants.
    “Air sort of a similar movie to this in terms of ideas and the relationship between commerce and finance and decision making around sports.”
    The Big Picture · The 25 Best Movies of the Century: No. 14 - ‘Moneyball’ · 0:31:30 · Sean Fennessey (0.60 sure it was them)
  21. unmapped (similar subject): Moneyball → Hustle. Hustle is the recent Adam Sandler basketball scout movie, another sports-business pick.
    “The recent Adam Sandler movie about basketball, scout, player personnel person.”
    The Big Picture · The 25 Best Movies of the Century: No. 14 - ‘Moneyball’ · 0:31:43 · Sean Fennessey (0.60 sure it was them)
  22. theme (same star, same persona): Moneyball → F1. F1 is very Moneyball because Pitt is channeling Billy Beane, the guy who never made it; called a demerit for F1.
    “a lot of what Pitt is doing is just channeling Billy, you know? Like the guy who never really made it.”
    The Big Picture · The 25 Best Movies of the Century: No. 14 - ‘Moneyball’ · 0:31:54 · Amanda Dobbins (0.50 sure it was them)
  23. theme (character type): Moneyball → Good Will Hunting. Peter Brand is like the wizard of math everyone is waiting to have his big moment.
    “I thought a lot about Goodwill hunting, watching this movie the 2nd time, you know, like the wizard who just kind of needs to tap into everything and all the math”
    The Big Picture · The 25 Best Movies of the Century: No. 14 - ‘Moneyball’ · 0:32:05 · Amanda Dobbins (0.45 sure it was them)
  24. craft (mood and music): Moneyball → Friday Night Lights. Shares the score and music and people doing their best, more the show than the movie.
    “Really more the show than the movie, but the movie too, but especially the score and the music and people just doing their best.”
    The Big Picture · The 25 Best Movies of the Century: No. 14 - ‘Moneyball’ · 0:32:43 · Amanda Dobbins (0.45 sure it was them)
  25. unmapped (process procedural): Moneyball → All the President's Men. Both are process movies that take you inside a world and show how people do things and talk.
    “taking you inside of a world that you don't totally understand and showing you literally how people do things, literally how people talk about things”
    The Big Picture · The 25 Best Movies of the Century: No. 14 - ‘Moneyball’ · 0:33:11 · Sean Fennessey (0.50 sure it was them)

Fun items (21)

  1. fun, about Moneyball: The film's central romantic claim: it is about math, angry people, and unflattering pants, yet becomes irresistibly sentimental.
    “It's about math. It is about like a lot of math, and there are just a lot of numbers at screen all the time.”
    The Big Picture · The 25 Best Movies of the Century: No. 14 - ‘Moneyball’ · 0:03:27 · Sean Fennessey (0.60 sure it was them)
  2. fun, about Bill James: Great baseball thinker who is weird on other topics; has a lot of feelings about who killed JFK. Joke about Chris Ryan reading the deleted files with Control F, like GMs did with James.
    “He's got a lot of feelings about who killed JFK.”
    The Big Picture · The 25 Best Movies of the Century: No. 14 - ‘Moneyball’ · 0:04:45 · Sean Fennessey (0.60 sure it was them)
  3. fun, about Michael Lewis: The book reads like a thriller even though readers already knew the sports events.
    “It kind of reads like a thriller, even though it's covering sports events that most people who were reading the book already knew occurred.”
    The Big Picture · The 25 Best Movies of the Century: No. 14 - ‘Moneyball’ · 0:05:17 · Sean Fennessey (0.55 sure it was them)
  4. fun, about Billy Beane: He has not won a World Series, is no longer GM, and the A's no longer play in Oakland, yet the movie still has a sentimental hold.
    “Billy Bean still has not won a World Series.”
    The Big Picture · The 25 Best Movies of the Century: No. 14 - ‘Moneyball’ · 0:05:42 · Sean Fennessey (0.55 sure it was them)
  5. fun, about Moneyball: The big game is a mid-season winning-streak game, not a playoff; the movie shows mostly failures, only the Hatteberg home run and not the 11 runs.
    “the big game is just like a winning streak game in the middle of the season.”
    The Big Picture · The 25 Best Movies of the Century: No. 14 - ‘Moneyball’ · 0:09:36 · Sean Fennessey (0.50 sure it was them)
  6. fun, about Brad Pitt: His best performance: it does not ask him to speak much and he is great at looking pissed or regretful, unless eating a Twinkie.
    “I think it's his best performance.”
    The Big Picture · The 25 Best Movies of the Century: No. 14 - ‘Moneyball’ · 0:12:04 · Amanda Dobbins (0.50 sure it was them)
  7. fun, about Brad Pitt: Opening of the film: old playoff footage, then Pitt alone in a stadium turning a radio on and off. Riveting because he holds the frame.
    “him sitting alone in a stadium just turning a radio on and on. And it is riveting.”
    The Big Picture · The 25 Best Movies of the Century: No. 14 - ‘Moneyball’ · 0:12:27 · Amanda Dobbins (0.50 sure it was them)
  8. fun, about Jonah Hill: In Soderbergh's version, comedian Dimitri Martin was going to play Peter Brand.
    “Dimitri Martin, the comedian, was going to play the Peter Brand character.”
    The Big Picture · The 25 Best Movies of the Century: No. 14 - ‘Moneyball’ · 0:13:40 · Sean Fennessey (0.55 sure it was them)
  9. fun, about Philip Seymour Hoffman: Played Art Howe, who also managed the Mets and sucked; a nothing part on the page that he gave gravitas.
    “Philip Seymour Hoffman, who plays Art Howe, who also managed the Mets, by the way, and he sucked.”
    The Big Picture · The 25 Best Movies of the Century: No. 14 - ‘Moneyball’ · 0:14:49 · Sean Fennessey (0.55 sure it was them)
  10. fun, about Grady Fuson: The scouts' scene is one of the great scenes of the century; the real Fuson was reportedly supportive of the revolution but the movie took dramatic license.
    “another just one of the great scenes of the 21st century.”
    The Big Picture · The 25 Best Movies of the Century: No. 14 - ‘Moneyball’ · 0:16:17 · Sean Fennessey (0.50 sure it was them)
  11. fun, about Chris Pratt: Hatteberg is invented as a softening character; a joke list of his later movies follows from the audience, ending on Bride Wars.
    “it invents the Hatteberg character written, played by Chris Pat in one of his best movie roles.”
    The Big Picture · The 25 Best Movies of the Century: No. 14 - ‘Moneyball’ · 0:18:41 · Sean Fennessey (0.50 sure it was them)
  12. fun, about Steven Soderbergh: His planned version: Reds-style baseball with real players like Hatteberg and Bradford acting; added more statistics days before production and Amy Pascal asked what the fuck it was and put it in turnaround.
    “Amy Pascal, who was running Sony at the time, said, what the fuck is this?”
    The Big Picture · The 25 Best Movies of the Century: No. 14 - ‘Moneyball’ · 0:22:58 · Sean Fennessey (0.55 sure it was them)
  13. fun, about Bennett Miller: Hired after Sorkin's draft; had only made a documentary and Capote; has not made a movie in over 10 years, which may dim Moneyball's legacy.
    “I wonder if like the legacy of this movie is dimmed at all because Bena Miller hasn't made a movie in over 10 years.”
    The Big Picture · The 25 Best Movies of the Century: No. 14 - ‘Moneyball’ · 0:25:08 · Sean Fennessey (0.55 sure it was them)
  14. fun, about Moneyball: Six Oscar nominations (picture, actor, supporting actor, adapted screenplay, editing, sound mixing) but no director nomination.
    “Six Academy Award nominations, picture actor, supporting actor, adapted screenplay, film editing, and sound mixing.”
    The Big Picture · The 25 Best Movies of the Century: No. 14 - ‘Moneyball’ · 0:26:28 · Sean Fennessey (0.50 sure it was them)
  15. fun, about Brad Pitt: Lost the Oscar to Jean Dujardin for The Artist; audience groaned, Weinstein blamed.
    “I do understand what happened there. Harvey Weinstein happened.”
    The Big Picture · The 25 Best Movies of the Century: No. 14 - ‘Moneyball’ · 0:27:03 · Amanda Dobbins (0.50 sure it was them)
  16. fun, about Tracy Letts: Sliding doors: if Pitt won in 2011, someone else might have won supporting in 2019, perhaps Tracy Letts for Ford v Ferrari.
    “maybe our friend Tracy Letts for Ford versus Ferrari could have gotten in there”
    The Big Picture · The 25 Best Movies of the Century: No. 14 - ‘Moneyball’ · 0:27:25 · Sean Fennessey (0.50 sure it was them)
  17. fun, about Moneyball: Four stars from Ebert; about $120 million on a roughly $50-60 million budget; called a very adult movie.
    “$120 million is like a 50 or $60000000 movie.”
    The Big Picture · The 25 Best Movies of the Century: No. 14 - ‘Moneyball’ · 0:28:26 · Sean Fennessey (0.50 sure it was them)
  18. fun, about Moneyball: The Mets version of Moneyball would be Dog Day Afternoon, a hostage situation in 100-degree heat.
    “What would the Mets version of Moneyball be?”
    The Big Picture · The 25 Best Movies of the Century: No. 14 - ‘Moneyball’ · 0:29:11 · Amanda Dobbins (0.50 sure it was them)
  19. fun, about Challengers: An audience member suggests Challengers as a sports movie they should have done; the hosts say it is not on the list and Amanda jokes about her own list.
    “Challengers is not on the list.”
    The Big Picture · The 25 Best Movies of the Century: No. 14 - ‘Moneyball’ · 0:30:22 · Amanda Dobbins (0.40 sure it was them)
  20. fun, about Moneyball: The show kept refusing Moneyball screening requests; the hosts say they said no four times.
    “You said no 4 times.”
    The Big Picture · The 25 Best Movies of the Century: No. 14 - ‘Moneyball’ · 0:30:58 · Amanda Dobbins (0.40 sure it was them)
  21. fun, about Spike Jonze: Great cameo in a beautiful peaceful living room, in sandals; Amanda owned similar sandals at 15 and wore them in March to Long Island high school.
    “I think I own those sandals when I was like 15.”
    The Big Picture · The 25 Best Movies of the Century: No. 14 - ‘Moneyball’ · 0:33:34 · Amanda Dobbins (0.50 sure it was them)

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