Foxcatcher

Director Bennett Miller continues his streak of films based on a true story with Foxcatcher.

Based off the true story, Foxcatcher tells the tale of Olympic Gold Medal winning wrestlers Dave Schultz (Mark Ruffalo) and his younger brother Mark (Channing Tatum). One day, Mark is contacted by John du Pont (Steve Carrell) about training a group of wrestlers for the 1987 World Wrestling Championship and the 1988 Olympic Games. After living in the shadow of his older brother, Mark decides to take the opportunity in an attempt to separate himself from Dave.

Moving onto John's property and working under the name: Team Foxcatcher, Mark excels at training the wrestlers recruited and beginning to feel the confidence he lacked while training with Dave. John, as coach, begins to feel he is creating something special that can live up to his mother: Jean's, (Vanessa Redgrave) high, yet cold standards.

Having John and Mark on the same property, though, proves troublesome to each other as we see both characters and their insecurities arise. As John and Mark deal with their personal lives, the drive for winning at wrestling begins to suffer. John senses that Mark is not strong enough to handle what he wants and begins a pursuit to coax Dave onto his compound in an attempt to return the wrestling team to John's high standards.

Having seen Bennett Miller's past 2 films: Capote and Moneyball, this film follows in the same tradition I have regarding his past films. Performances are splendid, yet the films are somewhat hollow. This is not a knock on Foxcatcher or films prior, but Bennett Miller seems to really know how to get solid performances out of his actors, yet struggles to find a way to incorporate a solid story with the acting.

Speaking of the acting, the three leads are able to handily bolster the material. With Mark Schultz, Channing Tatum is tasked with anchoring the film as he is the primary focus for the first half of the story. I wasn't entirely sold on his performance as he mainly lacks any empathy and holds the audience at bay while projecting a tough exterior. The tough exterior, though, really doesn't come through as each character, and the audience, can easily see the cracks in Mark's foundation.

The roles that sell the film are Steve Carrell's performance as John and Mark Ruffalo as Dave. Steve Carrell becomes almost unrecognizable under his makeup while playing billionaire John du Pont. The way Carrell plays John, though, is with sadness and empathy. John is not a bad man, thought treated as one by his mother. The script provides no favors as we are only able to scratch John's surface. Thankfully, Carrell steps up to elevate the material. You may not be able to sympathize with John, but you can certainly understand why he is the way he is.

Mark Ruffalo is the true standout of the film as the Mark's older and caring brother, Dave. Even though the role is not showy, Ruffalo is able to project a warmth over the character and never loses focus on what matters most to him: family. Even when Mark and Dave begin to fall out, Dave still has Mark's best interests at hand and is skeptical that John has Mark's best interests at hand also. In true form, Mark Ruffalo can take even the simplest material and make wonders of it.

With three solid performances, Foxcatcher is a few steps above Moneyball and Capote. Now if Bennett Miller were able to find a script to go along with the performances he gets out of each film, he could be a continuous threat come awards season.

7.7/10

Argo

Ben Affleck makes it three for three in the directing department.

Set in 1979 during the Iranian hostage crisis, Argo follows six embassy staff members who escape from the U.S. Embassy in Iran and take refuge in the home of Canadian Ambassador Ken Taylor (Victor Garber). The Iranians who have taken over the embassy are working to verify if anyone has escaped their takeover. The Canadian Ambassador knows if he is caught harboring the six escapees; the six, himself and all inside the home will be killed. The State Department understands that this is a time sensitive issue and contacts CIA specialist Tony Mendez (Ben Affleck) to assist with an extraction process.

After shooting down various ways to get the six out of Iran, Tony brings forth an idea to set up a fake movie that wants to shoot in Iran and include the six staff members as the film crew. Tony enlists Hollywood makeup artist John Chambers (John Goodman) and producer Lester Siegel (Alan Arkin) with creating all that is needed for the fake, science fiction film: Argo.

Once set up, Tony then flies to Iran and meets up with the six staff members at Ken Taylor's home. He informs them of the plan, and with the help of his superior, Jack O'Donnell, (Bryan Cranston) Tony attempts to lead the six staff members through Iran posing as the film crew and out of Iran without being captured or killed.

Ben Affleck directs this film with a mostly solid eye, and does not often let the film meander too far from the two major plots that are going on. If there was one issue with the film, it lies with the fact that too many unnecessary characters are included. We are introduced to various characters for one scene, only to never be seen again. I understand that each character does serve a purpose, but some things could have easily been cut for the sake of time.

And speaking of the sake of time, Ben Affleck occasionally cuts back to the Iranian hostage crisis at the U.S. Embassy to focus on the hostages. As the plot is about the six staff members that escaped, it feels like Ben Affleck would occasionally lose focus of the plot about the six and want to cover the entire Iranian hostage crisis. This only occurs a few times, but each time it jarringly pulls you out of the film, even if it is only briefly.

This film could have used another run through by the editor, but overall this is an exceptional film. Ben Affleck gives the feel of a 1970's thriller as the film is focused on the plot and not a lot of sensational elements. Some criticism has been made about why Ben Affleck plays the role of someone who in real life was Latino. I have no clue as to why, but his performance in this film is well done. Also well done are the film's opening and penultimate scenes that depict the initial takeover of the U.S. Embassy and the attempted escape by Tony and the six staff members.

Argo deserves the praise it is getting as the film is well acted, directed and one of the best films of the year.

8.3/10

Bernie

Richard Linklater re-teams with Jack Black and Matthew McConaughey to bring a black comedy based on a true story.

The true story involves local assistant funeral director, Bernie Tiede, (Jack Black) a resident of Carthage, Texas, who is loved within the community. Bernie sings, sells caskets and comforts widows after their loved one has died. One such widow, Marjorie Nugent, (Shirley MacLaine) is hated amongst the locals of Carthage. Marjorie inherited her husband's wealth and is miserable to everyone she meets. Undeterred, Bernie feels the need to try and be a friend to Marjorie, eventually winning her over.

All that hard work to win Marjorie over, though, is for not as her angry attitude continues a she berates Bernie. For years, Bernie continues to be a friend to Marjorie, while she takes advantage of him and never gives an ounce of respect back. All of Marjorie's negativity takes a toll on Bernie and he eventually shoots and kills Marjorie.

As the residents of Carthage do not like Marjorie, no one really suspects or cares that Marjorie has not been around. District Attorney Danny Buck Davidson (Matthew McConaughey) is on the case and begins an investigation into what happened to Marjorie and trying to prosecute Bernie.

Richard Linklater's film is based on the true story that happened in 1996. Linklater infuses the film with interview segments from the actual residents of Carthage who speak about their love of Bernie and their hatred for Marjorie. Almost half of the film is filled with these interview snippets. Some of the residents and their descriptions are hilarious and some are thought-provoking due to their feelings about the situation.

These interview segments and the way the story is framed were the biggest detractors for the film, in my opinion. Just as the story with the actors gains momentum, we then cut back to the local residents offering their thoughts. This comes off as jarring, even though some of the comments are entertaining. It feels like Richard Linklater wanted to do a film based on this true story, but also wanted to make a documentary on the story by including the locals. Instead of doing one or the other, he felt the need to combine what he wanted and the film did not gel as it should have.

This is not to say the film is a total loss. The performances by Jack Black and Shirley MacLaine are very well done. Jack Black in particular deserves praise for his performance as Bernie Tiede. Yes, a lot of Bernie's performance requires singing, which Black can do, he also provides a sensitive (and effeminate) and caring performance.

On the other end of the spectrum, Matthew McConaughey's performance as the local district attorney does not seem to fit within the film. Whereas Jack Black and Shirley MacLaine blended into their performances, Matthew McConaughey's performance felt more like a caricature than a realized performance of a real person. As no footage of the real Danny Buck Davidson is shown within the film, I have to go off what I felt about Matthew McConaughey's performance.

Overall, this is a very uneven film, but anchored by 2 really good performances.

5.2/10