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BuzzJack Music Forum _ Movies and Theatre _ 'Foxcatcher'

Posted by: Jonjo 18th December 2014, 08:25 PM

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Based on the real life, tragic events of the Schultz brothers and their story with John du Pont. Steve Carrell looks absolutely terrifying and looks like he could be a genuine contender for an award or two himself, by giving a career defining performance! Channing Tatum and Mark Ruffalo also look likely to be major contenders too!

Posted by: Christmas 18th December 2014, 08:38 PM

So there is no actual Foxes in this?

Posted by: Insomnio 10th January 2015, 12:42 AM

"Foxcatcher" was released one month ago in my country's cinemas and it has been ranked as one of the best movies of the last year! It was originally screened in the last Cannes Film Festival and it won the award for "Best Director". It has already been nominated for two Bafta awards, three Golden Globes which include "Best Motion Picture - Drama", "Best Actor in a Motion Picture - Drama" & "Best Supporting Actor – Motion Picture" and very likely will be a candidate in the respective categories of the Oscars. Judging by what I saw, "Foxcatcher" is a remarkable film and was certainly one of the most hype movies in the film circles of the last year!
The film is based on true events and director Bennett Miller shows respect to all three characters of the story. Brothers Mark and Dave Schultz, who were champions of freestyle wrestling of Olympic Games in Los Angeles, are faced with the insistence of a multi-millionaire John Du Punt, who wants to undertake them as their sponsor. Initially, the younger brother (Mark Schultz) accepts the offer, by moving the vila of Du Pont and he develops a close relationship with the eccentric sponsor. The latter is the one who motivates Mark Schultz to convince his brother to come in the freestyle wrestling "Team Foxcatcher" so that they have guaranteed success at the next Olympics. The story itself is not very interesting, but the fact that it is based on true events is one reason to see it out of curiosity. It has slow and steady rhythm but at least it did not cause us boredom. The performances are very good by the three actors although Steve Carrell is the one who steals the show because of his transformation for the needs of the film. Incidentally, he reminded us of the Penguin from "Batman Returns". The directing was quite attentive and the photography of some external shots were very good! However, the story had many script gaps and the director failed to develop the characters as they should have been. Basically, you can not understand the real motives of multi-millionaire Du Punt. Apart from leaving innuendos about his personal relationship he had with one of the brothers. If the story had happened about 25 years, the director definitely would have had all the information that could have had brought them more to the big screen. Instead, he preferred to keep a mystery during the film, leaving us with some unanswered questions at the end. However, I would not say that I was pleased with this version of events.
"Foxcatcher" is a pretty good production although it do not deserve to be the best movie of the year! It's not one of those films that cut many tickets during the first run. It's one of the films that raise the total receipts after their distinction in some categories of Oscar. It has received positive reviews and it has a fairly high average score in IMDb (7,5). I would recommend it especially to viewers who like true stories with controversial plot.

Posted by: Jonjo 10th January 2015, 12:49 AM

Went to see this myself today. I thought it was boring and they focused too much on the wrestling side of things, instead of the relationships between the three men involved! Everything seemed to be pointing in one direction and then the next, it would be the opposite end. Especially John and Mark's (Channing's character?) relationship. It went from one extreme to the next in a matter of seconds. It was just strange.

I do think that the performances in this film though are absolutely fantastic and Steve Carrell will definitely have earned his nominations in his categories (if he is to receive anymore obviously. Surely he will though?) Even Channing and Mark's performances cannot be knocked. I just had a problem with the story arc and that it didn't focus too much on the things that could have stopped this being a complete bore.

Posted by: Joe. 10th January 2015, 11:41 PM

I hate to say it and I don't want to sound like a philistine but I thought this was really boring too. I don't mind slow-burners at all, but none of the silence really interested me. I don't see how this is getting critical praise. While I do actually think this is a very interesting story, it was executed badly in my opinion.

Posted by: J▲hq 11th January 2015, 12:07 AM

Seeing this on Tuesday and you guys are not making me excited at all. It already doesn't look like something up my street but I've got to see it to be able to fairly judge come Oscars.

Posted by: J▲hq 14th January 2015, 08:53 PM

I think my low expectations no doubt helped but I didn't find this too bad. It certainly didn't feel like a chore to sit through although it wasn't that gripping. Would've actually liked to see it carry on a bit more past the shooting - wish I hadn't read about that before seeing the movie, meant I was waiting for it to happen (also, was there any indication that it took place eight years after everything else? ).