Channing Tatum, Oscar nominee...
Or winner?! You're watching Beyond The Trailer's review of Foxcatcher...
we as a nation, failed to honor you
and I want to see to see this country soar again.
- What's he get out of all this? - Me, winning. America, winning!
this is more than just some piece of metal
it's about what the metal represents
the virtues it requires to attain it
The Oscars and the Olympics
are not dissimilar, you train hard for the gold but then sometimes you have to
admit to yourself
you're simply not ready to compete and have to wait it out until the next
opportunity comes around
thankfully the Oscars don't take place every four years
and foxcatcher has had to sit on the shelf just one year after bowing out of last year's race
and with all this extra time to train, Sony Pictures Classics has no excuse for
not running a stellar Oscar campaign
realizing the film was already on the industry's radar as well as the radar
of some savvy moviegoers
foxcatcher debuted early on in May at Cannes, partially utilizing the summer awards
debut strategy popularized by Woody Allen
and luckily it didn't go home empty-handed, it was nominated for the
festival's highest honor the Palm D'or
and won Best Director for Bennett Miller. Miller is himself an Oscar athlete, already
nominated for Best Director for Capote
Philip Seymour Hoffman won for the film, and while he wasn't personally nominated
for Moneyball
the film still picked-up six nominations and interestingly foxcatcher has a
financial backer as mysterious and determined
as the character Steve Carell portrays, John Du Pont.
Megan Ellison, armed with her father's billions from the tech company he
founded Oracle,
decended upon Hollywood as some kind of Genie, telling top talent she would
find their dream projects
this has resulted in True Grit, The Master, Zero Dark Thirty
Her, and American Hustle - in fact with those last two
Ellison became the first woman and forth producer ever to have two films
competing in the Best Picture category at once! Ellison has yet to win but she's
certainly becoming a junior Harvey Weinstein
intimately knowledgeable of how the awards circuit works,
impressive connections, and artistic credibility. like DuPont, the intensely private
Ellison basically bought her way into an industry she wanted to be a part up
but obviously
with much better results... the story of john du pont and the Schultz brothers is
infamous
and made headlines when it happened back in 1996 but few remember it today
foxcatcher is hoping to change that. in front of the camera there's oscar
nominee Mark Ruffalo as while Steve Carell
who has some credibility of his own thanks to co starring oscar-winner little miss
sunshine
and doing one of these comedian gets immensely serious turns that for a time
worked very well for Robin Williams and Jim Carrey. but every athletic team needs
a star player and an Oscar team is no different
and foxcatcher has quite the star and Channing Tatum
taking on his first serious role since becoming one of Hollywood's biggest
stars
and this is another of Oscars' favorite turns! Bright, attractive
actors going dark and ugly
it worked for Halle Berry, Nicole Kidman, Charlie Theron and Kate Winslet
so maybe Tatum's fake nose and no-holds-barred performance could also do the trick
the Oscars love to go young in the best actress and supporting actress category
so
why not skew young over in the male categories for a change of pace?
tatum is also valuable as his presence could not just win the gold for
foxcatcher bring in the box office cash
so has foxcatcher finally stepped into the Oscar ring to dominate,
or should it have stayed on the bench? foxcatcher is a master class in acting
but in pacing not so much, I mean Bennet Miller definitely knows what it takes to make a film
oscar-worthy but it requires a delicate touch
and here I'd say he's a bit heavy-handed. there are several scenes and montages
that go on for just way to long
and I think that the entire film would have benefited from an editor
who could stand up to Miller and say "Look, I know you want an Oscar
but some of the sequences in this film are verging on downright boring!"
and the result is a film that is dripping with desperation for an Oscar
just as John Du Pont was dripping with desperation for an Olympic gold medal
and maybe that's brilliant, maybe on that level on the Academy will
eat it up! but I think purely from an entertainment perspective, again
in some places the film is boring. now speaking of john du pont and his desperation
by far and away the most impressive job here is done by Steve Carell
now he's had a lot of Oscar buzz coming out of the festival circuit where people
have been seeing foxcatcher
but for the rest of us it's been hard to really believe all the buzz because
the trailers don't do Carell's performance justice. the trailers have
focused mostly on Tatum understandably
because he's the big box-office star here
just the biggest star in general associated with the film
and because of that, because he has a lot to protect at this point
it makes me even more impressed with the risks that he takes here
he is very very good here. very interesting,
vulnerable performance. his physical acting
is by far and way better than the way he delivers his dialogue. there's nothing
wrong with it but when he opens his mouth
he's Channing Tatum. but physically it made me wonder if his background as a
dancer came into play here because the way he embodies
his character is transformative. Mark Ruffalo
also highly transformed at every level, and in regards to the transformation aspects
of this movie
I think that kudos belong in two places there. One
to the transformation team, make-up, such a good job
turning these actors into these characters, but then also I think the actors
deserve a lot of credit because
they're under so much makeup and they're under these obvious wigs
but they're still able, through the strength of their performances, to make the audience see
past that
and actually see these characters. sometimes you still were jolted out it though
particularly in the beginning of the film
when you watch Tatum and Carell having a scene together and you're like you both
have really fake noses on!
and I'm surprised, by the way, how big Tatum's role is in this film - it's very much
his movie. Ruffalo is supporting, Tatum I think is a lead as well as Carell
but I wonder how that'll affect Tatum's Oscar chances I think he'd be
a little bit trickier to get nominations in the lead category, maybe they'll promote
him in supporting anyway
And I think he does deserve a nomination, I just don't think he's quite at the win
level yet, but he should be on board
as for the film itself, I think will be on the board
because of the acting, and that's largely the categories where it will have
its best
chance, but I think the film overall is more than just the acting
I think it says something very interesting and powerful and disturbing
about wealth. And that makes it I think worth checking out
that message and I think the performances, so even though I think
because of the pacing this won't be one of the great films of all time
I think it will be a strong words contender and I think it is worth
seeing - also just to warn you it's very disturbing
and Tatum's character doesn't want to talk about what happens to him in
movie, y'know within the world of the film, and I think it'll be hard to
discuss this movie with others but
it will rattle around in you, it will stick with you
again very disturbing I couldn't quite put my finger on it but
that's what I walked away with. not only was I impressed with the performances but
it was, it was just something amazing to behold
so that's my review of foxcatcher! if you seen the film, I hope you'll leave your own thoughts
down below, thank you so much for tuning into my review
and you can check out some more episodes right now