A STUDY OF OBSESSION AND MADNESS... FOXCATCHER...

Oh boy, I have been wanting to catch up with this bad boy for a while. This got chins wagging back in the Oscar season, remember… First it was Steve Carells unbelievable performance as the archetypal (real life ) crazy millionaire John Du Pont. Carell, by and large known for his comic performances shot right to the top of the Oscar nominations list with his performance, and incidentally with his make-up. Or rather his make-up shot to the top of nominations without him, it is after all a different category. Then there was the whole scandal about Channing Tatum getting snubbed in the best supporting actor category. You know shit just got awkward when even Mark Ruffalo who got nominated instead of him openly says Tatum has been snubbed. And then, then there was the whole matter with the real life Mark Schultz who withdrew his support from the film shortly after its release. Having seen the film he was warned that the film could potentially portray him as gay and strongly opposed to any such thing being the case. Though to be honest everyone also noticed that Schultz was rather opportunely pointing towards his own interviews and books he had contributed to as an alternative source… Mmm… Anyway, you will recall it definitely made its own fair share of ripples, not least because it actually is – that old favorite of mine – a true story.  A story of madness and murder – a favorite of the general public too now you mention it! Oh and yeah, there is the odd bit of wrestling thrown in…

David and Mark Schultz are a brother team of great renown in the wrestling world. Both are Olympic gold medal winners but David (Mark Ruffalo) is generally seen as the superior talent and definitely a much better coach and trainer than Mark (Channing Tatum) who is more hot-headed and definitely full of resentment at not being able to escape his brothers shadow. It is for this reason that when, seemingly quite out of the blue, he is approached by eccentric millionaire John du pont (Steve Carell) he sees in his proposition an opportunity to finally strike out on his own and succeed. The stakes are high- du pont wants to be the coach of the American wrestling team that is sent to the 1988 Olympic games. He wants David to be a part of it and to help coach the team. He will spare absolutely no expense in doing so. For David, living alone in a tiny flat and living off the American equivalent of pot noodles, it’s a whole new world… But it is also the beginning of a relationship tinged with drug abuse, obsession and ambition that will prove extremely destructive in more ways than one…

First of all, let us get the most obvious bit out of the way. The wrestling. I cannot stress enough that this is not a sports film. The wrestling is, in fact, almost incidental – although goodness knows du pont himself would be very displeased with that. This is a very insightful and fascinating look at obsession and how it pushes people to react. Carell must have jumped for joy as an actor when he got the part of Du pont – what a character! Basically a real life Norman Bates (only with added millions of dollars and gigantic estate), Du pont – well into middle age – is ruled by his mother Jean (played rather superbly by Vanessa Redgrave) and deep down wants nothing more than to rebel against her. In his quest, he has come up with a sport she would definitely disapprove of, and that would set him apart from her (she breeds prize racehorses) and becomes completely obsessed with becoming the best in the world at it – so he is not only rebelling but in fact overshadowing her as he does it… And he has the resources that enable him to not stop at anything to achieve this goal…

Then of course there is the whole dynamic between Mark and David, the eternal story of sibling rivalry. Both actors do a superb job of their parts. And I really don’t care how much stick you give Tatum about the Magic Mike franchise – the man can act. And boy can he move. I am not just talking about how good looking he is (and let’s face it ladies and gents he is DAMN good looking) he just has a talent of moving fluidly and looking damn good while he does it. The one piece of criticism I will put across however is that the character of David is a little too perfect. He seems to be the archetypal benign older brother, perfect coach and father. I mean, I never knew the guy, maybe he actually was like that. But I have a nasty suspicion that there is some level of whitewashing – so to speak – going on in the light of, not to give out too many spoilers, what happens next…

Foxcatcher sustains a very robust level of tension throughout. It had me on the edge of my seat throughout and the successful way it sustained the psychological tension between this extraordinary and larger than life characters was a large part of it. It is a wonderful study of the human  mind set against one of the most competitive strands of an already competitive industry (professional sport). I personally found it both hair-raising and thought provoking. And I promise you, you will, at the very least, get what all the fuss is about…  

AND THERE'S NOTHING QUITE LIKE FAMILY... ESPECIALLY THIS FAMILY... "DESPICABLE ME 2"

Phew, ok. Now, let’s try something a little happier, shall we? For all my “realism”, even I can’t abide 100% darkness the whole time. And when I say “let’s lighten things up a bit” I’m going all out. As we discussed above, the world can be a dark and scary place. Luckily we have things like family, laughter and more importantly animated movies to get us through the dark places…

I am deeply suspicious of sequels. I always have been. I strongly believe in leaving at the top of your game and all that. I know that the crew behind Despicable Me was good. But still… Good crews have tried other sequels and failed. This could have been the same. I mean it’s a good bet the kids would love it anyway but would we? The answer is yes. Yes, we would.

Gru and the crew are back. Although God only knows Gru didn’t want this. The plan was to give up “villaining” all together now and concentrate on legitimate business and family life- Gru does have three kids to raise now you know. How will they live? Well Dr Nefario and the minions are helping Gru develop a line of jams and jellies… It’s err… A work in process. But yeah. Sadly for Gru, his criminal talents are needed and they are needed urgently. There is a brand new super-criminal afoot and there is only one person the Anti Villain League can think of to help stop him: Gru! He takes a bit of convincing but Gru finally agrees to do “one last job”…  Coupled with the rather eccentric agent Lucy, Gru sets off to work saving the world once again. But what with teenage daughters and disappearing minions,  he may not quite have his mind on the job…

This is another one of those ones where I’m dying to literally tell you all about it but I don’t want to mess up any of the surprises. Suffice it to say that all our friends that we know and love are back and up to more tricks. The kids are as adorable as ever and Gru, not surprisingly, has got more of handle on parenting this time around. Look out for the minions – as if you needed telling – they have a considerably larger piece of the action this time around. I’m so glad they’re getting their own movie – aren’t you? Never fear, as you probably know, the rumours are in fact a reality. Check the end credits for this film if you don’t believe me J

So ok, I love Despicable me and I love the minions, but am I going to say “it’s perfect” and gloss it over? Well, no. I was a little upset that the series felt the need to “round off” Gru and the girls into a perfect family (oh come on. You KNEW Lucy was a love interest the moment I mentioned her. Don’t pull that face. You totally did). Having spent the larger part of my life growing up in a single-parent family I resented that a tiny bit. It’s a personal thing. I mean yes, of course having two parents is the ideal thing, no one can dispute that. But still, my point is single parent families do just fine thank you very much, they don’t necessarily need to be “rounded off” for the sake of being rounded off. But then again… I guess the film is more about love. And the fact that being a family doesn’t necessarily mean being blood relatives. The love comes, it brings people together and at the end of the day it even conquers “small details” like genetics. Which, I suppose, is also a worthy message. Ok yeah, it totally is. Besides it also puts out the message that love can come at any age etc. Gru is a “proper grown up” as opposed to the young 20-somethings (I can officially say that because the only two I’m getting in my age is on the far right from now on. Except if I live to a 120. Which is well… Unlikely.) finding love and settling down right at the beginning of “things”. So yeah. Actually a good mix of relevant real-life messages with your comedy. That’s exactly the kind of thing I like to see in a film.