In honor of the 84th Academy Awards, The Feather will be reviewing each of the Best Picture nominees, excluding The Descendants, due to its rating. Although the films were all released in 2011, the reviews serve to refresh viewers’ memories before the Oscars, Feb. 26.

“How can you not get romantic about baseball?” asks a starry-eyed Brad Pitt in his Oscar-nominated portrayal of Billy Beane, the Oakland Athletics’ current general manager (GM). Watching Pitt struggle to assemble a competitive baseball team on a miserable budget, I couldn’t help but ask myself the same question.

Following the A’s successful 2002 season, Moneyball, written by Steven Zaillian and Aaron Sorkin and directed by Bennett Miller, is the epitome of an underdog story. Though this extremely clich