Foxcatcher (2014)

Director: Bennett Miller

Cast: Steve Carell, Channing Tatum, Mark Ruffalo, Vanessa Redgrave, Sienna Miller

Screenplay: E. Max Frye, Dan Futterman

134 mins. Rated R for some drug use and a scene of violence.

Academy Award Nominee: Best Performance by an Actor in a Leading Role (Steve Carell)
Academy Award Nominee: Best Performance by an Actor in a Supporting Role (Mark Ruffalo)
Academy Award Nominee: Best Achievement in Directing
Academy Award Nominee: Best Writing, Original Screenplay
Academy Award Nominee: Best Achievement in Makeup and Hairstyling

I knew nothing about the actual events of Foxcatcher until Foxcatcher.

Foxcatcher tells the story of Olympic wrestler Mark Schultz (Channing Tatum, 21 Jump Street, Jupiter Ascending) and his relationship with millionaire John du Pont (Steve Carell, TV’s The Office, Alexander and the Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Day). The true story of these two men, as well as Mark’s brother David (Mark Ruffalo, The Avengers, The Normal Heart), is a powerhouse tale of manipulation, love, and neglect at the infamous Foxcatcher Farms as du Pont plays the brothers for what they can give him as he furthers himself in the world of professional wrestling in the latest film from director Bennett Miller (Moneyball, Capote).

I’m going to bring up my big beef with this movie right now, because there are so few. I don’t like that we spend so little time in du Pont’s head. Carell’s performance is unbelievably incredible, but we don’t get to delve into the man’s psychosis. I also have some trouble with the runtime, which has some definite places to cut.

That being said, these performances are at a level so incredibly powerful that you forget you are watching a film. I already mentioned Carell, but Channing Tatum and Mark Ruffalo turn in near-perfect work as well, not to mention their amazing chemistry as brothers. Don’t let me forget Sienna Miller (Stardust, Unfinished Business) as Nancy Schultz, David’s wife.

Bennett creates a world in this film, and he has the ability to really get the best work out of his actors. His vision always gives something completely fresh.

The editing and screenplay could have used a little more development, but Foxcatcher is an intense film that shows a shocking set of events that I didn’t know all that much about. The impact will not wear off soon, that much I can promise.

4/5

-Kyle A. Goethe

April 18, 2015 4

[Happy 5th Birthday!] Date Night (2010)

Director: Shawn Levy

Cast: Steve Carell, Tina Fey, Taraji P. Henson, Common, Mark Wahlberg

Screenplay: Josh Klausner

88 mins. Rated PG-13 for sexual and crude content throughout, language, some violence and a drug reference.

Steve Carell (TV’s The Office, Alexander and the Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Day) and Tina Fey (TV’s Saturday Night Live, This is Where I Leave You) are comedic powerhouses with great chemistry, and in Date Night, from director Shawn Levy (Real Steel, Night at the Museum: Secret of the Tomb), they get the chance to play with it, even with the screenplay’s excessive shortcomings.

Carell and Fey play the Fosters, Phil and Claire, and they need a new spark of romance in their lives. Their friends are getting divorced from a lack of love and they desperately want a date night to change it all, so when the tables are booked at the new restaurant, they take the table reserved for the absent Tripplehorns and enjoy their night. That is, until a case of mistaken identity leads to a seedy underworld of bad cops, worse mobsters, and a missing flash drive containing some very dangerous content and the Fosters have more on their plates than a missing spark.

Carell and Fey have tremendous chemistry and play so well off of each other, while director Levy controls the camera nicely lobbing back and forth between action and comedy. We also get some great cameo work from Mark Wahlberg (Boogie Nights, The Gambler), James Franco, Mila Kunis, and more.

The biggest issue here is from screenwriter Josh Klausner (Shrek Forever After: The Final Chapter, The 4th Floor) and his disappointing script. It has a nice general outline; there are laughs here and action there, but rarely do the two meet on equal ground (the dual-car car chase is an exception) which doesn’t give the leads much to do to flash their creative abilities.

The leads perform quite admirable and carry the film much better than most others could, which help make Date Night a worthy view of a film, even if it suffers from pitfalls of a less-than-worthy screenplay.

3/5

-Kyle A. Goethe

For my review of Shawn Levy’s Night at the Museum, click here.

For my review of Shawn Levy’s Night at the Museum: Battle of the Smithsonian, click here.

April 6, 2015 1

Earth to Echo (2014)

Director: Dave Green

Cast: Teo Halm, Astro, Reese Hartwig, Ella Wahlestedt

Screenplay: Henry Gayden

91 mins. Rated PG for some action and peril, and mild language.

Earth to Echo kind of just appeared in the middle of the year and I didn’t know what to think of it. It appeared on the surface to be E.T.: The Extra-Terrestrial all over again. It was.

Earth to Echo is all about three friends: Alex (Teo Halm), Tuck (Astro, TV’s Red Band Society, A Walk Among the Tombstones), and Munch (Reese Hartwig, Alexander and the Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Day) in their last week together before their suburb is wiped out to make room for a highway extension. When their phones start acting wonky, they decide to follow the pattern being created which leads them to a mysterious alien creature they call Echo. Now with the help of cute fellow student Emma (Ella Wahlestedt), they must help Echo avoid the government agents trying to get Echo and help the alien get the pieces of his ship together to get him home.

The film is presented in found-footage as a youtube documentary from Tuck. The idea is interestingly presented and for the most part looks the part, though there are several moments when Tuck’s camera is just a bit too perfectly centered on the action.

As far as the pacing goes, this film kind of drags on. Not a whole lot happens and when it does, I found myself saying, “Spielberg did it.” He did. He did do it.

The special effects are neither awful nor great and do little to drive my interest, and the lead child actors are passable enough for some, I imagine, but did not invest me.

Earth to Echo is a fairly okay film with a fairly okay presentation. I didn’t hate it. I didn’t love it. I more of less existed during its viewing. Then it was over. I doubt I’ll remember it past this year. Thank God for blogs right?

2/5

-Kyle A. Goethe

December 13, 2014 2