(Spoiler Alert Potential Ahead)
It's time once again for another festival review. There would've have been one yesterday but I woke up with a migraine so unfortunately I had to skip. But we're back at fighting strength, and we're here today to talk about Foxcatcher. Now Foxcatcher has been on my radar for a while but I didn't even watch a trailer for it. I mostly wanted to see it for who was in which I will get to in a moment but usually I'm not looking out for a movie like this for two reasons.
1. I hate slow dramas.
Okay, I don't hate them, they're just slow. I can appreciate them for the most part hell my favorite slow drama is Mud (although I wouldn't call Mud a slow movie.) Now, what do I mean by slow drama? I mean a dramatic film that mostly builds up to one climatic moment with a few small dramatic shifts in tone along the way (DVD Review of Joe comes to mind.) There's also another thing about Foxcatcher I usually don't like in films.
2. It's a sports film.
I don't watch sports film. Of any genre, usually. The only one I can remember and like is Moneyball, but it is also not a slow drama. Moneyball has a lot of humorous momoents through out. Ohter than that if you're a sports film, I have no interest. Oh and space jam, space jam is alright. So two basically.
Now, if I hate both of those genres, why did I watch Foxcatcher? Well, like I said for the people involved and plus if I avoided the two genres all the time I'd be a lousy film geek. So this was a good way to cross off two types of film for this year at once. Plus I figured if it could intrigue me despite that, that it would score higher as a result. And what are those results? We'll find out. As always, summary, pros and cons, final score.
Summary
The year is 1987. Mark Schultz (Channing Tatum) is a gold medal winning wrestler, desperately trying to come out from under his brother Dave Schultz's (Mark Ruffalo) shadow. He gets this opportunity when John Dupont (Steve Carrell) asks him to coach his private wrestling team for a shot at the world championships. After winning them, John eventually hires Dave to coach the team to lead them to the 1988 olympic games, much to Mark's dismay. End of summary (see what I mean about building up to one event)
Pros - Mark Ruffalo, despite being barely mentioned in the promo material I saw, is awesome in this. I also want to bring this up because I want to point out that he should get his own Hulk movie at some point. Anyways, Channing Tatum I think gives off one of the most intense performances of his career. Steve Carrell is unrecognizable as dupont, seemingly losing himself in the role (for the most part.) The movie has this bleak, muted look to it, but it mostly pulls it off. Did I mention this is also based on a true story? and they didn't try to muddle down with overdetail and straight up making up parts of it. That's always great.
Cons - Oh boy, there's no easy way to say this. Steve Carrell, while trying his best, should not have gotten as many laughs as he did, mostly because I don't think he was trying to be funny. At least not in a way were you should be laughing. Creepy, is not a card he can pull 100% because sometimes he himself seemed like he was just doing a bad Michael Scott impression. Also, the film feels like it's all build up for one pay off that I knew was coming (because I knew the true story behind it) that still didn't really satisfy, as the ending kind of feels rushed. It leaves you with a sense of wait that's it?
Final Score - 8/10
I know, I said the ending sucks and Steve Carrell's has some issues but, I didn't hate it. Seriously, Channing and Mark are awesome, Carrell is mostly good and despite containing two elements I usually don't like in movies, I wasn't bored. So basically, it wins heavily by not boring me. Will you like it? if you think you like sports, drama, or a combination of the two, I say go for it.
So there we go. Now, the next two days I'll be seeing shorts that I worked on, so no reviews for those. But, I might try to get in one more feature on the last day of the festival. If not, expect a review on a wide release coming out this weekend.
Until next time, I'll see you folks at the movies.
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