#Foxcatcher #EnglishHollywoodFilmmovieReview #JohnsonThomas #Rating: * * * *
#Foxcatcher #EnglishHollywoodFilmmovieReview #JohnsonThomas #Rating: * * * *
#Picks&Piques/SnippetFilmReview30thJan2015/#JohnsonThomas
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#Hawaizaada(Hindi) Rating: * * Farcical ‘flight’ of fancy, a historical period(1800’s) drama/fantasy in retro-fitted plumes, with overdone, frivolous and inappropriate ‘Barfi’ like songs, soundtrack and ‘Chaplinesque’ treatment and a runtime that stretches far beyond the bearable. Cluttered Production Design and weird styling gives the impression that the film is peddling an antique store filled with items of indiscriminate periodicity. There’s also little evidence of any science behind this ‘flight’ to nowhere! #AyushmanKhurana #PallaviSharda #MithunChakravarthy #RelianceEntertainment #TrilogicDigitalMediaLtd #FilmFarmers #VibhuVirendraPuri #VishalGurmani #SpicePR
#Rahasya(Hindi) Rating: * * ½ A murder mystery/crime thriller fashioned around the Arushi murder case-but transported to a Mumbai setting. It’s a whodunit that wanders way beyond the plausible. Far too many red-herrings and all-too convenient assumptions, act as spoilers. With zero tension there’s not much of an experience to be had here. And the stereotypical behavior exhibited by the cops and CBI investigator puts paid to any expectations of realism per se! Really, there’s no secret worth unraveling here. #Viacom18MotionPictures #UVIFilmProductions #AshishVidyarthi #TiscaChopra #ManishGupta #KayKayMenon #AshwiniKalsekar #RaindropPR #MonicaVimalMaluka
#ChalGuruHoJaaShuru(Hindi) Rating: * It’s about Godmen running amok and then getting a taste of their own medicine. Absolutely inane and unbearable. There’s really no chance that you will get a rise out of this one. #HimanshuPR #DwaparPR #ManojSharma #HemantPandey #TikkuTalsania #BrijendraKala #ManishTewari #VrajeshHirjee
#Khamoshiyan(Hindi) Rating: * * A manipulative seductress aiming to capture the soul of men, the story appears to be something that came out of those shabby sex novellas and the treatment is equally ritualistic and voyeuristic. A concerted advertorial campaign can do little to raise this unexciting attempt to arouse mass carnality- to the level of intellectual satisfaction or worth #VikramBhatt #MukeshBhatt #MahashBhatt #GurmeetChoudhary #AliFazal #VisheshFilms #FoxStarStudios #KaranDarra #SapnaPabbi #MukeshBhatt #FoxStarStudios
#SeventhSon(English/3D) Rating: * * ½ Splendorous action can only make this passé fare just a little likeable. The 3D effects and depth make the CGI animatronics exciting enough but the mythical legend bit has been done to death so many times over that it just doesn’t raise any new excitement ! #MoesArt #UniversalPictures #JascintoFernandes #JeffBridges #JulianneMoor,#BenBarnes #AliciaVikander #OliviaWilliams #KitHarington #SergeiBodrov
#Birdman(English) Rating: * * *1/2 Silly , Manic, incredulously credible take on self-absorption and ego-trips of actors on stage. It’s ironic, satirical and completely weird-much like actors are perceived to be. And that’s the beauty of it! #AlejandroGonzalezInarrittu #ParagDesai #FoxStar #UniversalCommunications #MichaelKeaton #EmmaStone #EdwardNorton #NaomiWatts, #LindsayDuncan #AndreaRiseborough #AmyRyan #ZachGalifianakis
#Foxcatcher(English) Rating: * * * * A chillingly told docudrama about John du Pont, the schizophrenic millionaire who infamously shot and killed his friend and Olympic Gold Medal wrestler Dave Schultz. Moneyball's Benett Miller does the helming in a steady slow to chill mode. Once the dramatics erupts it achieves shocking effects! Amazing performances from Channing Tatum, Mark Ruffalo and Steve Carell
#ChanningTatum #SteveCarell #MarkRuffalo #BenettMiller #SiennaMiller #SonyPictureClassics #HardlyAnonymous
English Film review
Johnson Thomas
Compellingly told tragedy!
Film: Foxcatcher
Cast: Channing Tatum, Sienna Miller, Mark Ruffalo, Vanessa Redgrave, Anthony Michael Hall, Guy Boyd, Brett Rice
Director: Bennett Miller
Rating: * * * *
Runtime: 130 minutes
Synopsis:
A docudrama about John du Pont, the schizophrenic millionaire who infamously shot and killed his friend and Olympic Gold Medal wrestler Dave Schultz before locking himself in his mansion as police officers negotiated his surrender for two days.
Review:
Bennett (Moneyball) Miller directs this slow-to-ignite docudrama from a script by E Max Frye and Dan Futterman. The film begins unhurriedly showing Mark Schultz(Channing Tatum) speaking to a group of children about his Olympic accomplishments. Mark is a trifle slow with his speech and is painstakingly studied in his approach to everything he engages in. In fact that very quality gets magnified by the manner in which the narrative plays out. During the opening few minutes we get familiar with Mark’s daily routine and his practice sessions with his celebrated Older brother Dave Schultz(Mark Ruffalo) who not only has a few years on him but a few more International medals too. That he is far more revered as a wrestler and a coach comes through when Mark goes in for training at his brother’s gym and tries to vent out his frustrations during the practice session. Despite a bloodied nose, Dave is concerned by his younger brother’s frustration, He tries to find out the reason but Mark shrugs him off. By then it’s understood that the two have a strong bond and have come a long way from their childhood struggles. then comes the offer from John Dupont(Steve Carell)-one that Mark finds hard to refuse, coming as it does just before the Worlds. Dupont loves wrestling but his aristocratic authoritarian mother(Vanessa Redgrave) looks on it as a low sport. It’s only now that Dupont, well past his prime, can drum up the courage to sponsor a team, Foxcatcher, for the US campaign at the worlds and Olympics. His passion for wrestling leads him to befriend Mark and they become good friends until Dupont realizes that without Dave around ,Mark fails to function. So he gets Dave into Foxcatcher too and that’s when the seemingly nascent drama begins to erupt. Thereafter the film picks up pace and events spiral to a point of no return. When Dupont points his gun at Dave, it’s a shocker.
Funnyman Steve Carell hasn’t had a seriously serious role ever.. so this one is just that. He is playing against type -with a prosthetic nose and grey hair and a stillness that is so very much against his true calling. And he miraculously fits in so perfectly that for most of the film I wasn’t even aware that it was Steve Carell in John Du Pont’s shoes. So closely did he subsume his own personality to give life to an internally conflicted and superficially resigned character who towards the end lets it all hang out in a brutal flourish. The film is based on a true story and derives much of it’s gravitas from the three leading performers all so completely immersed in the characters they play that it’s near impossible to separate that from their true identities. Add to that the iconic presence of Dame Vanessa Redgrave, who in the few moments she is on screen radiates a presence so overwhelming that all around her gets into a blur. The slow approach to the telling is in fact beneficial to the final act. The steady build-up, the consistent piling up of ravaging emotions and the incremental sports choreography adds strength to the pulsating endplay. The entire sequence leading to the tragedy plays out in docu-drama fashion and therefore is far more effective and affecting.
The brothers barely have any conversation between them. They are more comfortable grappling on the mat. It’s ironical that they can get physical yet not be able to communicate in words. Du Pont too has a similar problem. His rage is so suppressed that making conversation is doubly difficult.He has money , power , is chief funder for Foxcatcher and pretentions of being coach- but even he is too constrained to speak at length. It’s not an easy comfortable viewing. There’s plenty of depth and dimension to this tragic true-to-life saga and Bennett miller has been successful in bringing it all out including the darkness that shadows sports. The mood is somber and inveigling. the colors are largely monochromatically earthy and the tone is one of disquiet. yet you are unable to lift your eyes away from the screen even for a minute. Such is the mesmerizing effect of this compellingly told tragedy. Bennett miller must of course get the major chunk of the credit. he not only managed his actors beautifully but also plotted an affective narrative . This is a must-see film for sure!
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