DVD Review - Foxcatcher

Genre:
Drama, Sports |
Distributor:
Entertainment One |
DVD Release Date:
18th May 2015 (UK) |
Rating: 15 |
Director:
Bennett Miller |
Cast:
Steve Carell, Channing Tatum, Mark Ruffalo, Sienna Miller
| Buy: [DVD]

I'm aware that it's just the timing of the new home media releases, but I've had a run of true story Oscar bait titles recently. The two I've previously reviewed, Unbroken and The Theory of Everything, both shared the problem of feeling like they were more interested in being Academy catered affairs than being stand alone proper takes on what actually happened. I've always found the approach to making Academy pandering prestige pics to be just as shallow and calculated as the way something like Transformers is tailor-made to appeal to young teenage boys. I explain this to qualify my trepidation in reviewing Foxcatcher, which even without the reviewing streak I've been on, seemed like it belonged with the other two in being a true story with tons of awards buzz about it. I'm happy to say I was wrong. Foxcatcher is easily my favourite of the three films and definitely deserved better, if only to recognise the great performances held within.

Foxcatcher is based on a real story of obsession and murder, directed by Bennett Miller. Channing Tatum plays Mark Schultz, an Olympic wrestling gold medal winner. He, along with his fellow gold medallist brother Dave (Mark Ruffalo) are in training for the next big global competition. Mark is soon recruited by eccentric millionaire John Du Pont (Steve Carell) to have access to Du Pont's state-of-the-art gym and equipment in return for joining Du Pont's Team Foxcatcher. If you don't know the actual story, I won't spoil it for you, but suffice to say this is one bleak film. It's a dark and twisted little story that leaves you with more questions than when you started. The film certainly holds up its end of the bargain by making itself just as vague as to the actual motives behind what eventually transpired, but it certainly offers up some compelling theories.

Channing Tatum is really impressive as Mark. His character is not one to verbally express how he's feeling, so Tatum cranks up the physical storytelling. For one, Mark has a bit of a Neanderthal thing about him, with a furrowed brow and a stuck out chin. It's even down to the way he walks, kind of round-shouldered, like a Silverback gorilla. It's an intense performance and Tatum does really well. With this and Magic Mike can we stop calling the guy a bad actor now? He definitely isn't. Steve Carell's performance beneath a ridiculous prosthetic nose is a great one. Carell's roles normally require massively broad strokes and lots of yelling, but Du Pont is like an alien wearing a human suit. Everything from the way he shuffles around to the way he unconvincingly gives motivational speeches is straight from the uncanny. The performance does go comedic occasionally and it adds great depth to the character. At one point, Du Pont tells Mark that now they're friends, Mark doesn't have to call him “sir” any more. He then goes on to tell Mark, straight-faced and unironically, that his friends call him “Eagle” or “Golden Eagle”. Written down it looks like a joke from Step Brothers, but in practice, it's clear that Du Pont's got himself a bad case of arrested development, stuck in childish ways because he never had a proper childhood to grow out of .Overall, it's a great performance by Carell, I just wish the prosthetics had been toned down slightly. He looks more like a character in a comedy sketch than the real guy. Mark Ruffalo gives an incredibly naturalistic performance as Schultz Snr. Both Tatum and Carell are quite theatrical in their roles whearas Ruffalo plays an everyman dad and plays it straight down the line. He's a foil to the bigger acting and it works perfectly.

I didn't really enjoy Foxcatcher, but that's the point. It was never going to be a pizza and beer Friday night Netflix choice. It's a cold and bleak film that intentionally doesn't offer any easy answers when it comes to explaining what went down and why. It kept me glued to my seat. I was really taken in by the main three and no matter how uncomfortable I felt as things built up, I knew I had to finish it. Highly recommended, but not for date night.

★★★★
Ben Browne

DVD Review - Begin Again (2014)

What Doesn't Kill You DVD Review

DVD/BD Release Date:
2nd September 2013 (UK)
Rating:
15
Director:
Brian Goodman
Cast:
Mark ruffalo, Ethan Hawke, Amanda Peet, Donnie Wahlberg
Buy What Doesn't Kill You:
[Blu-ray] or [DVD]

The DVD cover for Brian Goodman’s Boston-based crime drama flaunts a dull collection of action stances: Ethan Hawke reloading a gun, a car on fire, and a swat team closing in on some kind of truck mid-explosion. All of this accumulates to present, what will surely be, a gripping slice of action thriller, a rollercoaster of cloak and dagger with cops and robbers. However, whoever put the packaging together deserves some severe words. It’s misleading marketing no matter what. At no point in the film does a car explode or swat team mobilise. This film is not an action thriller.

What Doesn’t Kill You is –however- an enjoyable, well-constructed, crime drama with a keen focus on story and character. If it is approached in that way then any viewer is likely to have a positive reaction. Goodman’s own experiences, as well as those of co-writer and star Donnie Wahlberg, provide the inspiration for a heartfelt and sombre exploration of the lives of two bottom-rung criminals desperate to climb the ladder.

Mark Ruffalo gives a fantastic performance here as a man stuck in a vicious loop: his neglect towards his family is enforced by his constant need to venture out and earn money to pay bills. As the pressure reaches an all-time high, Brian stumbles into drug addiction and gets closer and closer to hitting rock bottom. All the while Ethan Hawke seems to live it up as Jack-the lad type Paulie; womaniser and hot-head. Though Hawke is great and has an obvious chemistry with Ruffalo, his character can’t help feeling skimpy in comparison to Brian who’s near-ridiculous dependency on drugs and slowly slipping control make for striking viewing.

Beyond character study, it’s difficult to stay entirely engrossed at many points in the film, so you can’t help but wish there had been just a little more of the action promised by the posters. This is a film focused on showing the behind the scenes of crime and very rarely the actual act. It’s a film about the people involved in crime and its impact on their lives, rather than a glorified mess of bullets and chaos.

What Doesn’t Kill You plays out like Goodfellas crossed with Boondock Saints minus the action and humour.  Goodman does a great job of incepting a mood for Boston that carries on throughout, ensuring this is a crime film very much tied to its locale. Overall its shot in a formulaic manner, but there’s a few good moments that show an ability with image construction that should have been put to more use: one particular scene showing a night-time assassination is gruelling in its realistic apathy, but gorgeous in all its snow blown shadowy splendour. Still a lack of startling shots isn’t exactly a huge issue, Goodman is to be commended on an entirely grounded, unpretentious portrayal of crime.

Not a show stopping piece of film, but definitely a good one marred only by the false expectations riled up thanks to bad marketing. What Doesn't Kill You is a character film, driven by great writing and great performances; it’s realistic and feels like a confession of sorts, a man’s life story in all its sordid, unfortunate, but eventually hopeful sentiment.

★★★½☆

Scott Clark