What a fox!

Rating: 9/10 (24 December 2014)

Right after I finished watching the gripping "Foxcatcher", I wrestled with the idea that it was a masterpiece. Well, maybe it's not a masterpiece, but it is really quite good. "Foxcatcher" is based on the true story of wrestling Olympic Champion brothers Mark & David Schultz, who joined Team Foxcatcher led & financed by multi-millionaire John Du Pont. Du Pont sees some chemistry in having the gullible Mark join his team. And then eventually the more stoic Dave joins the Foxcatching crew. The tragedy within this story is that the deranged Du Pont ended up murdering Dave Schultz; that was not a spoiler, its a true story so if you can't wrestle with that concept, don't blame me. Director Bennett Miller paints "Foxcatcher" as an icy psychothriller; which was fair enough due to its subject matter. Miller has proved again that when it's Miller time, the movies are not less filling. Steve Carrell's performance as Du Pont was a creepy of a performance you will see, but it was also quite brilliant. Channing Tatum delivers his best work in his career in his portrayal of Mark Schultz. And Mark Ruffalo keeps up his impressive thespian filmography with another worthy performance, here playing Dave Schultz. "Foxcatcher "is not the feel good movie of the year, but its power is sturdy. So it won't kill you to get out of your foxhole and give "Foxcatcher" a try. ***** Excellent