Not So, Big O, for Oscar Nominations

The new Academy Award nominations are now circulating for consideration, and without surprise, a couple of major release films with Olympic connections -- "Foxcatcher" and "Unbroken" -- emerged on the short list of potential award recipients.

Neither made the cut for best picture, but as noted in reviews for each film, I concur with the Academy that these films were good but not great overall, with excellent specific parts of the film (i.e. acting, cinematography) worthy of Oscar attention.

"Foxcatcher" gripped five apt nominations: Best actor for Steve Carell, best supporting actor for Mark Ruffalo, directing for Bennett Miller, makeup and hairstyling with Bill Corso and Dennis Liddiard, and best original screenplay forE. Max Frye and Dan Futterman.

I scratched my head about the original screenplay nomination as I thought Mark Schultz's book was the basis of the film. When I posted a question to Schultz's Facebook page, the response was, "The screenplay is the script written from the book and other research" to which I replied my original question was poorly worded. We'll see where the follow up conversation leads.

Meanwhile, "Unbroken" was selected in cinematography, sound mixing and sound editing. Though there will likely be chatter about Angelina Jolie and the film being "snubbed" for bigger categories like best picture and director, I did not feel this was a snub. Rather, its a good film (with technical excellence for which its nominations are appropriate) but not a great one.

The real "snub" from this blogger's perspective was in the best feature documentary category. I cannot believe the Academy left out the Roger Ebert-centric film "Life Itself" from the nominees. This is really disappointing, especially in a category the Academy got right so many times previously (with "One Day In September" or "Man On Wire" and "Bowling for Columbine" as great past picks). Oh, well -- "Life Itself" remains an outstanding film.

Let the Oscar ballot office pools commence!

Image via CBS

Wrestling With 'Foxcatcher' Film Review

 

Two weeks ago, I made time to see "Foxcatcher" on the big screen in Chicago. And for days since, the film left me grappling for words to review it. Boiling it down in a few questions:

Is the film well made? Yes.

Does the acting and storytelling live up to the hype of film festival and other critical reviews? Mostly.

Will "Foxcatcher" be an Oscar contender? Maybe.

And do I recommend this film to others? Well, sort of.

After months of waiting and careful travel planning to see "Foxcatcher" -- on theatre screens in only a few cities until later this month -- I pinned hopes very high, elevating the true crime drama to "must see" status for several weeks.

Though I do think audiences will flock and rave about "Foxcatcher," and it is worthy of high praise, it did not live up to the must experience level of expectations this writer set for it. It is a great match of writing, acting and mood-setting cinematography, yes. But I walked away wanting something more.

It's definitely not a "feel good" film; in fact, one critic described "Foxcatcher" as the perhaps "the feel-bad movie of the year" -- a distinction also appropriate for "Gone Girl," which I enjoyed twice in spite of its dark and twisted themes.

By comparison, "Foxcatcher" is not a film that left me thinking or saying "I want to see that again" and though it's likely I'll watch it a second time, it's not likely I'd pay a second or third time (for this writer, a gauge of any film's "must see" status is the desire to repeat screenings with friends or family).

What's to like about Foxcatcher?

The Acting:

Steve Carell portrays John du Pont with vigor, becoming the deranged killer in a manner reminiscent of Jack Nicholson in "The Shining," with Carell's eyes taking on a lunatic gaze with great effect.

According to press materials for the film, Carell and his cast mates had an unusually long range of time, and volumes of material including video, to research their characters.

The three main actors' investment of time in thorough research pays off big time in "Foxcatcher."

Channing Tatum equally took on the many layers of Mark Schultz and the many "chips on his

shoulder" I found to be part of the Olympic gold medalist's autobiography on which "Foxcatcher" is generally based. As in the book, on screen here's a guy with a lot going for him but a background that made him his own worst enemy. It is interesting to me that Tatum described Mark Schultz in a manner on par with  my book review of "Foxcatcher" and its author.

"I don’t think anybody could punish Mark more than he could himself and I think he hardens himself against the world by punishing himself," said Tatum, in the film press release, an apt statement.

Throughout the story, Mark Ruffalo slowly and expertly gains the audience's love and admiration --

as did the real-life Dave Schultz -- which makes the on-screen murder scene all the more appalling. Many in the theatre cried out in shock or dismay with Carell's delivery of du Pont's final words to his victim, "You got a problem with me?"

Viewers get a deep dose of the brotherly love between David and Mark, and the unique paternal role the older brother played in their shared experiences. This is Ruffalo's best work I've seen, and it is worth the price of admission to learn more about the person the elder Schultz was (there's a lot to be learned from Mark as well).

The Action:

The team from "Foxcatcher" did their homework on Olympic freestyle wrestling and it shows. Before a summer 1995 internship at USA Wrestling, I knew next to nothing about the sport (and still have lots to learn).

But even with limited recollection of the official sport and its scoring, the wrestling in "Foxcatcher" seems real because it is real. From a U.S. Olympic Committee blog post -- a personal review by my former USA Wrestling boss -- I learned the lengths to which the filmmakers engaged the sport's national governing body for expert input and authenticity. It is fun to spot cameos by Olympic wrestlers including Bruce Baumgartner, Mark Schultz (the real one) and others on screen, and I suspect in their time working out or training Ruffalo and Tatum they also gave insight to the Schultz routine and their POV on du Pont.

"Foxcatcher" also includes brief glimpses at Modern Pentathlon, Olympic-style shooting and the

world of championship show horses. A favorite non-wrestling scene includes Carell's portrayal of du Pont reacting to his mother's death by casting out her prized equine collection, again with a creepy and somber intensity that nails it.

Back on the wrestling mats, I enjoyed the authentic scenes showcasing the Los Angeles 1984 Olympic experience and Seoul 1988 Olympic trials and competitions right down to the bunting and uniforms. Though executed on screen with timing tweaks different from Schultz's book, the events are intense and well-played.

What's not to like about the movie, and answering the question, "Do you have a problem with me [the film]?" Yes, for this Olympic blogger there were some problems with "Foxcatcher."

• I wasn't keen on how the filmmakers addressed cocaine use by du Pont and Mark Schultz, whose book mentions this topic with some explanation. The filmmakers took a lot of liberties and changed the context of the drug use, not for the better.
• This inaccurate depiction of a junkie Mark, blended with an autobiography-text-turned-into
  
  screenplay scene describing a haircut Shultz gave du Pont, set up some shots that ever-so-subtly make a case that the coach and athlete duo had a more intimate or even a gay kinship. This seemed to stray way too far from the facts described in Schultz's true text.
• Though necessary to condense the story, I wasn't crazy about the abbreviated timeline of events. Mark Schultz exited Team Foxcatcher just after 1988, and Dave died in early 1996, but the film does a mash-up of these distant events that was artistically decent but bothersome for me (if going for accuracy on the wrestling mat, why not replicate the accuracy in timing?).
• In spite of input from award-winning musicians including Mychael Danna ("Life of Pi"), the "Foxcatcher" soundtrack selections made no impression for this viewer; seemed like a missed opportunity to engage composers with strong Olympic and/or sad soundtrack creds (think John Williams and "Munich" or "Schindler's List" themes and his other five-ringed compositions).

The official film press kit for notes the director, Bennett Miller, says of "Foxcatcher" and his other true crime works "Capone" and "Moneyball," (the latter of which I admired), "It's fact to fiction as a vehicle back to the truth." O.K., fine. But what about "the truth is stranger than fiction" as food for thought?

Should folks see "Foxcatcher?" Yes. It is a solid film.

Just don't go into the theatre pinning hopes too high for the experience.

Images via Sony Pictures Classics

Follow Up Note (December 27, 2014): Upon viewing "Foxcatcher" for the second time today, I'm writing to amend previous remarks about the music. While I stand by my previous comment that a John Williams composition may have been appropriate, I did pay closer attention to -- and enjoy more -- the Mychael Danna works that unfurl between long silences of the film. There's some strong, albeit somber, piano notes that set the tone for many scenes. As in "The Ice Storm" -- another dark film for which Danna contributed music -- this film is served well by its score.
 

 

Crazy Like A Foxcatcher

With all the recent buzz for the L.A. and NYC big screen debuts of "Foxcatcher," it's challenging to hurry up and wait for the highly acclaimed film to reach my hometown theatres.

The reviews in The New York Times, USA Today and other sources do entice. And new videos showcasing Steve Carell, Mark Ruffalo and Channing Tatum look like this Olympic film will be talked about through Oscar season and beyond.

But this post is more about the recently released book on which the silver screen "Foxcatcher" is based.

Written by Mark Schultz with David Thomas, under the full title "Foxcatcher: The True Story of My Brother's Murder, John du Pont's Madness, and the Quest for Olympic Gold," this autobiography reached bookstores in tandem with the film's initial limited theatrical release. The review copy provided by the publisher, Dutton, was a compelling read though it left me with a few tricky takeaways that made it a "good" book but not "great."

The biggest theme I found, though not sure it was intended by the author, is that Mark Schultz has lived a life with dozens of chips on his shoulder. Whether describing the hardscrabble California childhood of Mark and his older brother, Dave, or taking readers through phases of Mark's wrestling competitions and career, the commonality from scene to scene is, "here's a guy with a lot of potential who is also his own worst enemy."

In both professional and personal, educational and athletic scenarios, over and over the younger Schultz seemed to make decisions that undermined his potential. While reading a few passages, I wondered aloud, "how did this guy become Olympic champion with so many self-imposed hurdles?" (The answer is on the pages in the writer's detailed descriptions of his hard work, steadfast motivation to win, and encouragement from coaches and fellow athletes, most notably Dave.)

A reveal the author experimented with cocaine, with the man pinned as his career nemesis, raised my eyebrows. Not sure many other Olympic champions dared used this drug ... ever.

Another theme is family politics. Though it is clear Mark loved his brother and consistently looked up to Dave, this admiration was too often tethered to a brotherly jealousy. In many scenes, Mark's words portray an envy of Dave's ability to project a "good son/better athlete/can-do-no-wrong" persona -- a man who died knowing 10,000 'best friends' -- leaving Mark to paint himself as the family's black sheep.

Heavy doses of both the "chip on shoulder" and "family politics" themes also play out on the pages dedicated to describing John du Pont. Here's a guy who, from page one, was clearly bat shit crazy or walking atop the Crazy Town fence for a long time. But to what extent was his lunatic mental state fueled by his own dueling demons of "chip on shoulder" and the politics of his family name? The book presents examples for both.

Don't forget the cocaine. And there's one revelation in the book "Foxcatcher" mentioning du Pont's admission he also took daily doses of testosterone, the result of an unfortunate horse riding incident. Who knows what chemical cocktail coursed through du Pont on January 26, 1996.

"Foxcatcher" opens on that day and the moment of Dave's murder (via du Pont's .44 magnum revolver), followed by two parts, "Making A Champion" and "Destroying A Champion." The author describes his own path to Olympic glory but also elements of his brother's success story juxtaposed with du Pont's silver-spooned sports journey. I found the first half of the book interesting, with an appropriate level of detail, but also somewhat repetitive. Person X wronged me (Mark), I brooded, I wrestled, I won, Dave won, attention from me diverted, chip on shoulder, reflection and explanation, then person Y wronged me ... repeat sequence.

Scenes describing the brothers' victories at Los Angeles in 1984 offer a too-brief peek into the Games experience for both Champions. The "Golden Moment" chapter opens with a couple of pages of historic context that, for me, was not written in Mark's voice, but much of the chapter later describes the author's first person accounts of navigating the Olympic credentialing process, Olympic Village setting, his team's move to Motel 6 (to be closer to the wrestling venue, Anaheim Convention Center) many matches and his victory for Olympic gold.

His mom's playful but ill-timed invitation to Disneyland -- an athlete family perk -- is priceless. A victory parade car ride with Mary Lou Retton is another fun moment in detail.

As an Oklahoman, I appreciated Mark's take on his experiences living and wrestling in the state, and his departure from Oklahoma City brought this reader a smile (similar to Schultz's exit on I-40 westbound, more than once I've pulled off the highway to soak in the OKC skyline and reflect on time lived there).

Latter chapters of Part One set the scene of Mark's mid-1980s introduction to du Pont's "Foxcatcher" estate near Philadelphia, with many red flags revealed as Schultz settles in to a dream job later deemed a bait-and-switch. Schultz does not mince words with his disdain for then-leadership of USA Wrestling or several Pennsylvania institutions (local law enforcement, universities and museums), portrayed as eager Romulus and Remus-like figures suckling du Pont's multi-million-dollar she-wolf teats (my words, not those of Schultz/Thomas).

Part Two delivers more of a page-turning reader experience. Schultz describes the arc of his Foxcatcher tenure that crescendos and crashes with a thud at the Seoul 1988 Olympics. Sadly absent from Schultz's Olympic return was his "do or die" pre-1984 spirit, replaced with an eagerness to flip the bird to most of the folks who helped him get to Korea (with du Pont providing most of the shoulder chips).

The book also delivers through a researched timeline of events before and after du Pont shot Dave, the court proceedings that followed and some curious reveals on Mark's post-Olympic career on and mostly off the wrestling mat. Mark shares a touching and eerily apt story from Dave's childhood, as told by their father during his son's funeral, which is a poignant takeaway from the pages of "Foxcatcher."

It will be interesting to see how this book, marketed as "True Crime" versus a sports story, got transformed for the silver screen. It's a good read while awaiting the theatrical version, and no-doubt will serve as a reference point for discussion as the film gains more views.

Image of John du Pont via this site; Foxcatcher cover image via Dutton; 1984 photo via this site; Rome sculpture image via Wikipedia.

Two Bloody New Olympic Films

 

Two major motion pictures with Olympic connections will enjoy silver screen debuts in just a few weeks. Both films portray Olympians in competition before their life journeys took them each down dark roads.

Sadly, one of these journeys ended with a tragic early demise.

With "Foxcatcher" starring Steve Carell, Channing Tatum, Mark Ruffalo and Vanessa Redgrave, viewers will learn more about Olympic wrestlers Mark and Dave Schultz (Tatum and Ruffalo, respectively), the 1984 gold medalists who were training as contenders for an Atlanta Olympic berth when Dave was shot dead by his coach and patron John E. du Pont (Carell).

"Foxcatcher" earned outstanding early reviews through screenings at major film festivals, and I'm currently reading an advance copy of the same-titled book (Mark's autobiography penned with David Thomas for Dutton Books) on which the movie is based.

A one-word "Foxcatcher" trailer description: Creepy.



The film's title comes from the Pennsylvania du Pont family estate at which the Schultz brothers and other wrestlers lived and trained.

Also based on a nonfiction book, the upcoming film "Unbroken" -- based on the best selling "Unbroken: A World War II Story of Survival, Resilience and Redemption" by "Seabiscuit" chronicler Laura Hillenbrand -- portrays the life of Louis Zamperini, a 1936 Berlin Olympian for Team USA.

Five years after running on the Olympic track in Germany, in 1941 Zamperini enlisted in the U.S. Army Air Forces. During WWII, he endured an epic list of horrific events, first surviving a military plane crash at sea only to remain adrift for weeks in the shark-infested Pacific before his capture by Japanese soldiers who held him in POW camps for years.

Fortunately, Zamperini survived to tell his story of survival and inspiration (as with the book "Foxcatcher" I am currently reading Hillenbrand's book for a future review on this Olympic blog).

In spite of the NBC/Universal touches that over dramatize an already compelling story (right out of the NBC Olympic broadcast playbook), the new "Unbroken" trailer does entice.

It will be interesting to see how the Coen brothers' (of "Fargo" and "The Big Lebowski" fame) screenplay contributions sync-up with Angeline Jolie's directing.

"Foxcatcher" opens November 14 and "Unbroken" debuts on Christmas Day.

Film poster for "Unbroken" via this link. Film poster for "Foxcatcher" via this link.