Charlie’s Cousin Adam reviews the new baseball flick Moneyball:

Rated PG-13 – 2h6

There is not much that I didn’t love about Moneyball. As Brad Pitt says twice in the film: “How can you not be romantic about baseball?”

Moneyball tells the story of the 2002 Oakland Athletics and their General Manager Billy Beane (Pitt). After losing three key players from the previous season, Beane takes the advice of recent Yale economics graduate Peter Brand (Jonah Hill), who uses a statistical approach to winning. “Your goal shouldn’t be to buy players. Your goal should be to buy wins. ”

They set out together to form the best team they can with the limited money they have. These days, who of us isn’t used to being told to deliver higher results with fewer resources?

Ostracized by his peers, Beane’s new method proves rocky at first, until things gel and helped lead to a season that includes breaking an American League all time winning streak record of 20 games.

What’s interesting is the movie isn’t about baseball. It’s about strategy. Moneyball is best when it tries to subtract the humanity of baseball into a cold, hard numbers game, but proves itself wrong. That struggle between the pair makes this a genuinely great film. Pitt is distant, but makes you care for Beane and understand his internal conflicts. Hill is completely believable as a numbers geek who is just starting to find his way.

It is curious that Moneyball is somewhat gloomy in the way that it represents baseball as a business. Pitt’s character has several moments where he struggles with it. The fact is all professional sports are businesses first. Fans know all too well about the layers that need to be peeled back to get to the heart of it all. Moneyball does too.

Side note: Who woulda thought two hours of statistical analysis would prove to be so emotional and interesting?

5.What is up with Brad Pitt’s beard? At first we all thought it was because of some character he’d be playing, but if that was the case, this has been the longest film shoot ever. But now we know that scraggly beard isn’t for a role. It’s because Brad’s bored. He says, “There’s no other reason than that.” Bored?? With six kids and Angelina Jolie??

4. Beyonce has a new baby brother! The DNA test proved it’s true — her daddy was catting around with another woman, and the result was a baby boy named Nixon. Mathew Knowles and Alexsandra Wright are now in the final stages of negotiating a settlement for Nixon’s child support.

3.The men and women of “Jersey Shore” have been prepping themselves for season two. A soruce says Vinny’s been hitting the gym every day and that Mike has been working hard to keep “The Situation” a situation. His agent says DJ Pauly D is in the best shape of his life thanks to a lot of GTL — that’s “gym, tanning and laundry.” Besides his body, Pauly D is seriously committed to his hair. Two cases of hair gel — just for his use — have been shipped to the Miami house ahead of his arrival. Snooki’s tweeted that she’s been “shopping for the necessities” for season two, and by that she means bronzer and hair clips.

2.Why did Michelle “Bombshell” McGee sell the story of her affair with Jesse James for $30K. It wasn’t about the money. It was about revenge. She says Jesse told her he and Sandra Bullock were separated and that once she finished filming “The Blind Side,” he was going to leave Sandra and go public with the separation. But once the movie wrapped, Jesse stayed with Sandra. And he was by her side for all the buildup to her big Oscar win. Michelle was furious when Jesse didn’t do what he said he was going to do, so she went public with the affair.

1. Kim Kardashian and Reggie Bush are done for good this time, according to once source who says Reggie just wasn’t feeling it anymore. The source told RadarOnline that Kim’s been pushing for marriage — especially since her sister Khloe got married. But Reggie says he wants a wife who will serve as a support system for him and be a stay-at-home mom for his kids. Reggie loves Kim, but he knows she’s not willing to be that kind of wife and mother. Reggie didn’t want to string Kim along, so he basically told her that she deserves to be with someboyd who can make the commitment she wants.

1. You’ve got Windows on your laptop.
2. Paging Mr. Johnson… Paging Mr. Johnson…
3. Mini Me is making a break for the escape pod.
4. You’ve got a security breach at Los Pantalones.
5. Our next guest is someone who needs no introduction.

5. “Playgirl” made Jon Gosselin one final offer — $20K to pose naked. But Jon’s rep says he’s not doing it. Even though he’s reportedly flat broke, rumors are that Jon has absolutely nothing to be proud of and there’s no amount of money that would lead him to show his private parts.

4. In a new book called Brad Pitt and Anglina Jolie:  The True Story, author Jenny Paul claims that many years ago, Angelina had an affair with Mick Jagger. She says they first hookd up in 1997, when Angelina was in the Rolling Stones video for “Anybody Seen My Baby.” At the time, Mick was married to Jerry Hall and Angelina was married to British actor Jonny Lee Miller. Mick and Angelina hooked up again in 2003, the same year Angelina divorced Billy Bob Thornton and the year before she began shooting “Mr. &

Mrs. Smith.” That’s the movie that led Brad and Angelina to fall in love, which led him to divorce Jennifer Aniston.

3. Movie stars get recast all the time, but this might be the oddest recasting I’ve ever heard of. Selena Gomez is replacing Nicole Kidman in the lead of “Monte Carlo.” Producers wanted the story to target a younger audience, so they’re rewriting the script and casting 17-year-old Selena in the role once held by 42-year-old Nicole. The original plot followed four NJ women posing as heiresses in Monaco. The new plot will revolve around a group of high school and college girls on a trip through Paris.

2. The woman who claims Jake the Bachelor cheated on Vienna with her has now revealed herself. She is 25-year-old Tanya Douglas of Marianna, Florida. She says the day after Jake proposed to Vienna and filming on the show wrapped, he was on the phone with her, telling Tanya he still loved her and that Vienna and the other bachelorettes meant nothing to him. Tanya says Jake claimed producers forced him to propose for the sake of ratings. Jake released a statement saying, “The relationship with (Tanya) was prior to ‘The Bachelor.’ It simply did not work out.” He went on to say, “It is unfortunate that people such as this are trying to financially capitalize on or disparage my incredible relationship with Vienna.” Meantime, Tanya has lawyered up and she prepares to go public with her story.

1. The results from the “American Idol” elimination show last night weren’t completely shocking. Who didn’t expect John Park to get a pink slip after two emotionless performances? And Jermaine Sellers shot himself in the foot with his sassy attitude, so no surprise there that he got the boot. On the girls’ side, Michelle Delamor was dismissed for her performance of Creed’s “Arms Wide Open.” I was a little surprised she was kicked out and Katie Stevens got to stay. But you just had to feel sorry for poor Haley Vaughn, who had to stand there and sing “The Climb” again after sobbing her way through the video montage that shows the castoffs’ journey on on the show.

Almost everyone in Hattiesburg, Miss., knows someone who says they have seen Tiger Woods, but some are speculating that he’s not there at all and it’s a decoy. Well it seems that he is indeed there and that his wife paid him a visit! We told you last week that Elin was supposed to visit him in therapy for 6 days and sources are saying that she went through with it. A barista at Starbucks swears she saw the golfer last week when a man wearing a hat, scarf and sunglasses came in and ordered a coffee to go. She said he was totally bundled up and it wasn’t even cold. Then, a clerk at the local Turtle Creek Mall swears Elin was shopping there Wednesday afternoon. He claims that a blond woman wearing Nike sweats and giant sunglasses came into his shop accompanied by two large men who he guessed were bodyguards. When she pushed up her glasses, the clerk recognized her. He said she had on a diamond necklace, Coach bag, perfect manicure and paid with $100 bills. Elin apparently returned home to Florida by private jet last night.

This rumor comes and goes, but this weekend it seemed to be over the top. Britain most read entertainment mag, called News of the World, released an article saying that Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie are done for good. They detailed how she has visited with a divorce attorney and that they have even worked out the custody issue. The rumors seemed to be verified when the couple refused to comment even via their reps. Then Pitt didn’t attend either the Globes or the SAGS with the rest of his castmates. However, two very close friends of the unwed couple- including one top Hollywood producer- say that everything is just fine between them. He said,  ”It seems every time Brad and Angie happen to be in separate cities — no matter why — these breakup rumors start flying. … It’s like an almost monthly occurrence”.

The cast of ‘Jersey Shore‘ has a case of reality star greed. Snooki and crew are pulling a Lauren Conrad and playing hardball with MTV in order to get more money for season 2. Sources connected with the negotiations say the cast has rejected offers to give each 5-$5,000 per episode in addition to a $10,000 signing bonus. But that’s not enough for them! Now MTV has supposedly bumped up the offer to $10,000 per episode but the cast still hasn’t responded. What’s crazy is that MTV has a contractual hold on the cast for another year so technically they don’t even have a right to negotiate!

5. Oprah Winfrey’s production company released a statement yesterday that she is ending her show in 2011. Oprah will discuss it today during the taping of her show. There’s some confusion as to whether the final show will be September 9 or September 25, so I guess that will be one of the things she’ll clear up today. But Oprah reportedly wanted to end the show earlier than that. However, for strategic reasons, she’s sticking around a while longer because she hopes that when her show goes off the air, ABC will put “The Dr. Oz Show” in her old time slot. His show becomes a free agent within days of Oprah’s last airing.

4. Peter Facinelli, who plays Carlisle Cullen in the “Twilight” movies, says he loves Twitter. He loves it so much, that he tried to get Robert Pattinson to sign up, but Robert wasn’t interested. Peter did, however, get Robert to send his one and only Tweet. Peter says, “I was talking to Rob on-set one day and said, ‘Do me a favor and send a Tweet to my friends’ and he was like, ‘Tweets? What is that?’ For 10 agonizing minutes I tried to explain Twitter and he got tired of trying to figure it out so he finally just agreed to do it.” And in case you missed it, I looked it up for you:  “Thanks a million. Here’s Rob… Hi, it’s Rob… My first and last tweet. My dad made me do it.2:35 PM Sep 18th from Tweetie.

3. Brad Pitt reportedly turned down $5 million to appear at the Grand Prix Ball Abu Dhabi in the United Arab Emirates because he would’ve missed Halloween with his kids. A source says Brad’s spending more time with the family and doing fewer appearances, even though they tempt him with huge wads of cash. The event he missed was to raise money for the clean-water charity Fresh2o. The 3-day event featured performances by Beyonce, Aerosmith and Timbaland.

2.Eddie Cibrian is suing “Life & Style” magazine for more than a million dollars, claiming they have defamed him. The magazine claimed that Eddie was cheating on LeAnn Rimes with the other woman he was seeing while he was still married, Scheana Jancan. To call Eddie a cheater is one thing, but a double cheater?? No way. Eddie admits he cheated on his wife, but there’s no way he’s cheating on his mistress. And he wants to be paid for his pain and suffering.

1. Chris Brown was in court in LA yesterday for a progress hearing. Back in June Chris pleaded guilty to assaulting Rihanna and was sentenced to 180 days of hard labor plus a year of domestic violence counseling. Hard labor? Picking up trash on the side of the road counts as hard labor? Apparently so, and Chris reportedly has already completed 100 hours of it. He’s also been to 7 of his 52 scheduled domestic violence classes. His probation officers gave the judge their report, and they are extremely pleased with his progress so far. The judge said she is also satisfied and has scheduled his next progress hearing for February 18.

They’ve been trying so hard to keep it a secret and then the director outs the. Kristin Stewart and Robert Pattinson have been trying to hide their romance for so long and now Catherine Hardwicke-who directed them in Twilight-has just admitted that they are together! That was so easy! She says that as soon as she cast Robert, she told him he better not even think about having a romance with Kristin since she’s under 18 and he would be arrested. But then she goes on to say that Kristin told her directly that it didn’t happen on the first movie. She says that it took a while for their love to blossom and she finally decided that she just had to be with Rob.

Is all not well in the life of the world’s most perfect couple? According to a new tell-all called Brangelina: The Untold Story of Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie that is exactly the case. The new Us Weekly has the exclusive first look at what’s really going on their lives “supposedly”. The article says that they’ve broken up so many times it would make your head spin. It also claims Jolie “has a temper like a cobra.” The book even alleges that she confessed to hiring a hit man to kill her in 1998 because she was so distraught. The article also predicts that they will be broken up by December of 2010.

-Is this Kardashian wedding really just a sham?

A bar tab around $3,000 and that’s about it. On August 27^th, barely a month ago, Khloe was hosting a party for LA Laker Ron Artest and she ran up a huge bill which for some reason, Lamar Odom decided to cover-and it was love after that. Life is only getting better for her when it comes to making money. Turns out OK Magazine has outbid the other tabloids at a ridiculous 300,000 dollars for exclusive coverage of the Sunday nuptials. Essentially, she is getting paid to get married.

Now time for the suspicious news, Lamar Odom backed out of that Vegas bachelor party that was planned for last night. He thanked Joe Francis and Khloe’s brother Rob, but said that we preferred to have a private dinner with his teammates and close friends. And it seems that some Hollywood stars believe this is all a publicity stunt. Tuesday night the couple showed up at a GQ magazine benefit event making awkward displays of affection and Khloe still wasn’t wearing an engagement ring. Singer Mya was there and she was overheard saying that she is sure the engagement is “fake” and is nothing more than a “publicity stunt” so Khloe can get some attention, since her two sisters seem to be taking it all.

Jennifer Aniston just can’t seem to get over Brad Pitt and I don’t blame her. She is currently filming The Bounty with Gerard Butler and just can’t shake the memory of Brad. An assistant went into her trailer to get her for a scene and Jen was in tears. She said, “I need a moment. This scene reminds me of Brad and me.” She was able to pull herself together for shooting that day but insiders say she is VERY fragile still. That hasn’t stopped her biological clock from ticking. She turned 40 in February and with her 2 best friends Courtney Cox and Sheryl Crow being mothers, she is ready. She recently said that she is on the verge of motherhood and the rumor is she is set on having a baby by her 41^st birthday. This coincides perfectly her 6 month hiatus she is taking now.

As we mentioned last month, some drama went down outside Guys and Dolls nightclub in West Hollywood when Brody Jenner and his Playboy Playmate girlfriend Jayde got into it with Joe Francis. Jayde was upset with Joe and threw a drink on him and that’s when he supposedly punched her. Well one of them is outright lying about everything but Jayde is making her case stronger by suing Joe for 1 million dollars. It seems that security footage is backing up Joe’s statement because there is no evidence of him pulling her down by her hair and hitting her. Jayde is suing for assault and battery. She said that she suffered a black-eye, swollen face, bruised ribs, sore and bruised abdomen region, bruised arms and legs, ripped-out hair, and utter emotional distress and humiliation.”

Rated R – 2h33 -

You know that feeling after Thanksgiving dinner when you sit back, fully satisfied? That’s how I felt after watching Inglourious Basterds. Quentin Tarantino’s latest is a nice upgrade to his film catalog, showing a broader range of storytelling.

Set during World War II in Nazi occupied France, the film uses real events (such as WWII, Hitler, The SS, etc…) but is a fictional story. Brad Pitt leads an elite motley crew of Jewish American soldiers, whose goal is nothing more that to brutally kill Nazis and spread fear amongst the German ranks. A parallel plotline involves a Jewish woman who escapes a noted Nazi Colonel, now on her own path of vengeance.

Of note is the aforementioned Colonel Hans Landa. Played by German actor Cristoph Waltz, he embodies everything that you would expect in a bad guy. His evil nature is really what makes this movie a great success.

That’s not to say the Brad Pitt’s lead as Lieutenant Aldo Raine is a bore. You are helpless not to go gaga for his southern-laced accent that pours out of his military stoneface. I literally hung on his every single line, and couldn’t stop staring at his supposed Columbian Necktie scar. He’s badder than Ali.

The crowd I was with cheered and laughed out loud at the “Tarrantino-esque” trademark moments, which were paced throughout, but the true victory of this movie is that it works on our fantasy.

Who hasn’t had a wonderful fantasy of exacting revenge on the baddest of the bullies? Who wouldn’t like to take out a Nazi with a baseball bat, Crocodile Dundee knife, bomb, handgun, trick gun, raging inferno, your own hands, or a fully-loaded machine gun with lots of extra clips of ammo. OK, bloodlust aside, lets just say this is good therapy for your bully fantasies.

Inglourious Basterds takes some time to get where its going, but the development is well worth the outcome.