Foxcatcher

Foxcatcher

I have to admit that I’ve never thought all that much of Steve Carell as a comedian, but as an actor who acts in comedies. He wasn’t really that funny in The Office but was mainly clueless as to just how inept he was as an office manager. His current role, that of real life character John Du Pont in Foxcatcher is really a break from Michael Scott, the clueless bumbler. DuPont is a strange, psychologically dubious guy who happens to be an heir to a huge fortune. He’s too old to be in the middle of an adolescent rebellion, but he is still rebelling against his mother. His ancient mother, a crusty, patrician, old money, upper crust matron is a horse lover and thinks that her son’s “passion”, Olympic style wrestling is, for the “lower types”. John, however, wants to buy a wrestling team, and achieve a Reagan-era victory for America in the Olympics. Into this mix comes Mark Schultz (Channing Tatum), the previous gold medalist, who is recruited for a wrestling team at Foxcatcher, DuPont’s newly built athletic facility. Schultz is a mono-syllabic guy living a modest, quiet life, being coached by his older brother David (Mark Ruffalo).

Once Mark heads off to DuPont’s facility, things start to turn bad. Schultz had lived a clean life, mainly training for wrestling with his brother’s guidance, but when he comes to Foxcatcher, he is exposed to independence,fame, celebrity, alcohol and cocaine. He misses the structure provided by his brother and isn’t as much of a wrestling success as expected. We also begin to realize just how weird DuPont is. Increasingly paranoid and detached from reality, convinced by his sycophant handlers that he can be not only a wrestler himself, but a coach of wrestlers. Lacking any real coaching or wrestling talent, DuPont recruits Mark’s coach/brother David to train the team, but resents David’s coaching talent. David transplants his family to the training facility after being “bought” by DuPont. All this seems to point to something awful happening, and that expectation looms over the whole movie.

This is a slow movie, with thin dialog and a very deliberate pace and a prevailing sense of building tension. As a wrestling movie, it also has a lot of muscular, sweaty male bodies. Mark (Channing) is nearly speechless in much of the movie, does a lot of his acting with body language and really manages to express a lot going on without much said. DuPont’s strangely paced vocalisms (and Carell’s prosthetic nose and liver spots) make DuPont seem more menacing and weird as the movie goes on. I was seriously impressed by Carell’s creation of the character, and also found Channing to seem like much more of an actor than I had taken him for. Mark Ruffalo was also excellent as David Schultz, the older brother, a likable and sane family guy who chooses to join this sinking ship and finds himself in way over his head.

This movie has been highly praised, with a lot of the predictable “Oscar Buzz” surrounding Steve Carell’s performance and the December release date. I thought it to be excellent. The cinematography is very close-up, with minimal FX and a documentary feel. On the other hand, it’s not really a popcorn movie, the action and plot development are slow and the climax is excruciating. It’s not a fun movie, but it is excellently done and well worth seeing. Don’t miss it.

Anyone who has seen The Way Way Back and Seeking a Friend for the End of the World would see that Carell's career was undergoing a change, and that he was quite capable. I'm looking forward to seeing Foxcatcher, nice review

Watched this last night. Steve Carell is unbelievable in it. If he doesn't get an oscar for this, it'll be a tragedy.

Dark, quiet and haunting.

Foxcatcher is the true story of wrestler Mark Schultz and his time with Team Foxcatcher and John du Pont. Now, there's a good chance that you know the story already, but in case you haven't I won't spoil it for you. The film is watchable either way. If you know the story and what happens at the end, you won't have your experience ruined, because the story is done in such a way that it works. The story is much more character based, and while the story is very simple, the characters are complex and interesting enough to keep the film entertaining.


For one thing, this film is very slow paced, especially toward the beginning of the film. But as the film goes on, it gets more and more interesting and layered. The story begins with a strong focus on Mark Schultz, played by Channing Tatum. During this portion of the story there is very little music, and not very much dialogue. This is where the film drags a bit. But, it rather fits the story well, seeing as that Mark is a man of few words, and a rather lonely character. I think that seeing this film for the first time makes the beginning rather unexpectedly slow, but if you were to see it a second time the beginning would serve as an interesting introduction to the character. The story definitely becomes more entertaining as the film goes on, although it may take a little while to really get into it. Foxcatcher does a really great job of increasing the tension bit by bit, up until the catastrophic climax. By the end of the movie I was on the edge of my seat, just because of the tension and fear that the film creates. It's a really well paced movie, and maintains a steady pace throughout, never jarring you or taking you out of the moment. There are also no cliches that I can think of in this movie, it's a very realistic film. The rich characters, the well paced and tense story, and the lack of cliches and unrealistic moments make Foxcatcher a great experience that I would like to revisit soon. And I haven't even talked about acting yet.

First, I'll talk about Channing Tatum. A lot of people may be turned off by a movie because of Channing Tatum being in it, but he is actually pretty good in this movie. He seems to really get into the character, and doesn't seem much like Channing Tatum at all. The way he talks, walks and even looks is so different from his normal acting mannerisms that you can hardly see him as Channing Tatum. He really embodies Mark Schultz's character and he does not disappoint in this film.

Next, I'd like to talk about Mark Ruffalo. Ruffalo plays David Schultz, Mark's older brother. David has had a successful career and even a successful life. He has a wife and kids, is well respected as a boxer, and even coaches a few teams here and there. Ruffalo is amazing in this role. He is almost like a gentle giant. He is definitely one of the more likable characters in the film, and when things get harder for him towards the end, Ruffalo's acting really shines. This is a very subtle role. Ruffalo does a great job of playing the soft voiced David and, what can I say? He's just really good in this movie.

And last but certainly not least, Steve Carell plays John du Pont. I don't even know how to begin to describe the character or the way that Carell plays the character. In fact, I don't think I will say anything about this because I feel like it will take away some of the mystery and intrigue of the character. So, all I'll say is that Carell is absolutely fantastic in this. He has proven that he can be astounding in dramatic roles and has really stepped up to the plate. If Carell doesn't get a lot of attention for this role, then I don't know what will.

The camerawork in Foxcatcher is very subtle, and yet at times, beautiful. The gray tones really help set the mood and the lighting is very good in the film too. There's not a lot to talk about in terms of camera movement, the camera seems to sit still for most of the movie. The camerawork was nonetheless good in this though.

There is very little music in Foxcatcher, but in the scenes where there IS music it works very well for the film. I liked the score and I think if there would've been more of it in the film that maybe it would be nominated for an Oscar.

Overall Foxcatcher is a great character study with great acting all around. The 3 main actors in the film give amazing performances and play very interesting and complex characters. I also felt that the film had a LOT of symbolism that would be very interesting to revisit and really analyze. The only problem I had with Foxcatcher was that at times it dragged. Other than that I thought it was a really great film.

__________________
Through the darkness of future past
The magician longs to see
One chants out between two worlds:
Fire walk with me.

Foxcatcher was so ******* meh.

"He wasn’t really that funny in The Office"

wat