Foxcatcher (Bennett Miller)

[Ezee E]

IMDB (http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1100089/?ref_=nv_sr_2)

http://www.davidrwalker.co.za/wp-content/uploads/2014/05/foxcatcher-unofficial-poster-202x300.jpg

[Ezee E]

Like Bennett's previous movies, and especially along the lines of Capote, this is a slow burn of a crime that many may already know the result. What makes it work well is the obsession for family recognition, and the three leads are all impressive. Carrell will certainly get the acclaim, but I think it's Ruffalo that deserves it the most.

Besides Daniel Day-Lewis, is there a better actor than Mark Ruffalo?

I'll wait for some more discussion to describe a few moments that I have questions on, but this definitely worked for me.

[Henry Gale]

Yup, that's pretty well distilled echo of my feelings too, E.

It's really solid. The blend of its score, cinematography, blackly humourous dialogue flourishes and its very specific indulgences in garish kitsch and of its time period all together give it a unique and really specific, haunting quality. The three leads are all very good in very different ways (and Ruffalo is also the one that stands out for me, but he'll likely become the most underappreciated of them in for the accolade-eager simply because of his lesser screentime and less heightened emotions with his role), and Miller remains an effortlessly assured and grounded storyteller.

Just something couldn't help but feel missing from its momentum. Like, it didn't blow me away, but it still contains those persistently, undeniably strong elements above, with a lot of particularly unforgettable, often dialogue-less scenes that really stun (the early training scene with Tatum and Ruffalo, the stable scene come to mind), and I look forward to more people reacting to it over time, especially since it surprising (and maybe even refreshingly) plays a lot drier and subdued than what this sort of heavily buzzed-about awards-season contender ever seems to.

But I still generally have the feeling it'll sit well with me over time, since I think now having the full picture of what it sets out to do allows me to appreciate the full experience in an altered but sturdier light. Definitely doubt it's going to find any more levity upon revisit, but some sharper clarity. If this was released in 2013 (like it was originally supposed to), it would've easily found its way into the Spring Breakers / Pain & Gain / The Wolf of Wall Street / Gatsby / Bling Ring conversations for that year with its own version of framing distorted and malignant American Dream© through the very specific lenses of wealth and societal hierarchy to ascend. But here, it's view of someone who's already there and can't really understand how to reach below, and changing every life in his narrow, volatile path.

***½ / 8.0

[Irish]

I read a longish magazine profile on DuPont back when these events originally happened and man oh man the film doesn't even touch the weirdest stuff about him.

Anyway-- Miller is good at spotting quirky stories but wow does he suck at dramatizing them. This is 120 minutes of so-called "slow burn" (two words, more than any, that signal the viewer should grab a pillow and a blanket.. Zzzzz). It rides a single theme around and around again until it decides to end. And that's it.

Miller's earlier work got a pass largely because it contained interesting central conflicts, even if the movies he constructed around those conflicts didn't wholly work. Foxcatcher has no such conflict, and what little drama the movie contains feels hyperbolic and almost invented.

A lot of critics made parallels to class, money, and the idea of American Exceptionalism, and I guess that stuff is there if you dig for it. As the credits rolled, I couldn't help but shrug. This is a movie about a billionaire's kid that it was funded by another billionaire's kid, but I guess not too many people want to talk about that weird parallel.

[Grouchy]

Wow, this was surprisingly excellent. I like Bennett Miller's work more and more with each consecutive movie. I agree that the movie has a weird tone, but it is completely deliberate. It does a great job of suggesting perverse is happening in Du Pont's mind without making it explicit.

Mark Ruffalo was unrecognizable when he first showed up.