Wednesday, January 14, 2015

Foxcatcher

SF: Channing Tatum can act. Firstly this is another film that isn't fun to watch and I'll most likely never watch it again mainly because I found it dull.  After 45 mins I did almost leave as I just didn't see this going anywhere and I wasn't all that interested but it was Channing Tatum that kept me
watching, he made the film, he was subtly able to deliver a depth of emotions in wasn't expecting . Steve Carell gave a good performance too but I wasn't all that invested in his character. Most of the film is an unindulged drama focused on three people and the real events that unfolded. While films like this can be brilliant, I don't think this is one of them. 4/10

50Eggs: n/a

DonkeyB: Any review should start by saying that the performances in the film are exceptional. Steve Carell is utterly transformed as John Du Pont, and I thought if anything I was even more amazed by Channing Tatum's performance, he got the physicality of a wrestler exceptionally well I though. Once again 3 reviews favourite Mark Ruffalo was just outstanding also putting in a very convincing physical performance with somewhat less raw material (in terms of sheer size) than Tatum. The film is very still and very quiet and seems to be set in a perpetual autumn/winter which adds to the sense of impending doom which you don't need plot spoilers to sense from the outset.

I thought all those things were to the film's and the director's and cast's credit, but in the end I just wasn't gripped. There is a theme about american patriotism in the film and also money, and it seems to be saying something about the power of money to corrupt and and the ability to use patriotism to corrupt as well, but I didn't think the story was interesting enough to pay off the deliberate pacing and subtle underplaying throughout. 6/10

PS
I had no idea Sienna Miller was in the film at all until the end credits came up, this might be because she is one of those famous people that I have no idea what they look like, I assume she played Ruffalo's wife, its an easy part to miss, there is not a lot of screen for the female cast. Redgrave gets two scenes as Du Pont's  Hitchcockian/Larkinian matriarch, her presence more expressed through her absence. - Donkey B

Overall: 5/10

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