Foxcatcher

First Hit:  Well-acted with a long slow buildup to a disconnected ending by a disconnected person.

John E. du Pont (Steve Carell) lives deeply in the shadow of his mother Jean (Vanessa Redgrave), his family, and the family name.

Having never had to work at doing anything for survival he longs to be connected to something, something that gives him a sense of being a man. He thinks himself a patriot and significant contributor to society. The reality is different – it is the name that is famous.

The question I kept asking myself throughout the film was, was he simply a grossly odd individual, or did he have full mental capacity? When you watch some scenes he comes across as either one or the other -  but you don’t really know. I think that is part of the point of the film, not knowing.

What does stand out is that he is completely shielded by money – his family money – nothing he actually earned. He gloms onto the wrestling Schultz brothers who both won Olympic Gold medals in the 1984 games. He does this because he sees an opportunity to finance this sport and these guys to additional greatness as well as his own notoriety. He wants to be seen.

Dave Schultz (Mark Ruffalo) and younger brother Mark (Tatum Channing) are close brothers and great wrestlers. Mark is plodding, not socially adept, but learns wrestling well from his brother and therefore only moderately succeeds. Dave is a brilliant wrestling strategist and coach. Although Mark cannot convince Dave to join duPont’s Foxcatcher team, he decides to live and practice at the Foxcatcher wrestling facility, at du Pont’s home, in Pennsylvania.

du Pont thinks he has become a coach, motivator and mentor of young Mark but in reality he knows nothing about the sport and just supplies the money. The convincingly twisted relationship he builds with Mark is meant to break the bond between the brothers. Mark’s wrestling goes south because of du Pont’s influence (drugs and arrogance) and when the writing was on the wall for the Foxcatcher team, du Pont convinces Dave to come coach the team.

One of the most telling scenes, is when Jean comes to the wrestling facility and John decides to pretend to be the coach. It is a moment where he really begins to see his failings as a human being. The shots of du Pont’s land and the wrestling are effective.

Carell is an oddly disturbing du Pont. I know nothing of the real person so I can only wonder, could the du Pont Carell created by Carell do the deeds as shown? Yes, Carell made the brooding, icy stares and halting rambling speeches convincing. Ruffalo was really good as the smart, very engaged coach and brother to Mark. Channing was good to great. I found it hard for me to believe he survived on his limited social skills, but as a wrestler I thought he was great. Redgrave was perfect as the mother who told her son, “wrestling is a low sport…”. E. Max Frye and Dan Futterman wrote the script that had some interesting lines and others that were funny but maybe not meant to be funny. Bennett Miller directed this film. Some of the shots of the wrestling and land around Foxcatcher were fantastic, however the story plodded.

Overall:  Despite its failings as a film and it being too long in telling the story, I was intrigued to learn more about this event where a rich man kills a wrestling coach.

When the Game Stands Tall

First Hit:  Enjoyed this dramatization of a real life story about brotherhood and sport.

Having lived in the bay area for nearly 40 years I’m aware of De La Salle and their Spartan Football team. I was aware of “The Streak” and when it got broken.

However, as the film works hard at doing, the point is not about winning football games, it is about showing and living up to the promise you make to yourself and your teammates. Bob Ladouceur (Jim Caviezel) or “Coach Lad” as the team called him, focuses on using football as a vehicle for people to sign up for commitments to themselves and others.

They have to openly share their commitments with their teammates – this makes the commitment more powerful. This film shares all this in many ways; through the story of brotherhood between T.K. Kelly and Cam Colvin (Stephan James and Ser’Darius Blain - respectively).  

Then there is the story of Coach Lad’s son Danny (Matthew Daddario) attempting to find his relationship with his dad. There is Tayshon Lanear (Jessie T. Usher) learning that it is about the team and not him. Lastly, it is about a son living his dream not his father’s as represented by Chris Ryan (Alexander Ludwig) and his Dad Mickey (Clancy Brown).

There were liberties (like Chris Ryan’s going for a record) in the story and the main point is/was simple:  Show up, stand by your brother and learn to become an honorable man in our society.

Caviezel captured the quiet, focused, driven and caring coach and mentor. What Caviezel did was to make the film about the philosophy and not his performance. Michael Chiklis as Terry Edison (Assistant coach and friend of Ladouceur) was very strong. James and Blain were great as life long friends reaching for their dream. Daddario did a really good job of being the son of a father that really has many sons. Usher was strong as the ego driven talent that was willing to learn. Ludwig was really good as the son who needed to become his own man. Brown overdid the strong overbearing father role but it did make the point. Scott Marshall Smith wrote a really good screenplay bringing out the essence of Ladouceur’s lessons. Thomas Carter directed this film and I liked the use of real footage (beginning and in the credits) to bring this closer to life. I did think Mickey Ryan’s character was overdone and this was a directing issue more than an acting issue.

Overall:  I hope that many team sport coaches see this film and gain some insight that success is more than a “rah rah kill them” attitude.

Draft Day

First Hit:  Overall, it was enjoyable, partially predictable and at times surprisingly unpredictable.

The world of drafting sports players onto professional teams has become big business. Television rights, high-level news reporting and “fantasy leagues” all contribute to the business side of televising this event. Although I’m aware of the draft days (mostly for football and basketball), I do not care enough to watch these events because it just isn’t that important or interesting to me.

What interested me about this film was hoping to see how deals were made before the choices are announced on television. I also thought that Kevin Costner, playing Cleveland Brown’s General Manager Sonny Weaver Jr., would be good at playing this sort of character. He did and so did Dennis Leary as Coach Penn. They both played great antagonist, power control issue roles. 

The story begins with 24 hours on the clock before teams, in their draft order, have 10 minutes name the player they want to sign to their teams. There is always heavy competition by the players to be picked high up in the draft because that guarantees’ them more money. Weaver begins the final day receiving phone calls from players who want him to draft them and also from the team’s owner Anthony Molina (Frank Langella) who wants his GM to “make a splash”.

The pressure is building because Coach Penn wants specific people drafted. Then the calls from other GM’s wanting to trade people and draft choices begin to come in. To add a more human aspect of Weaver’s life, he has a relationship with Ali (Jennifer Garner) the team’s financial guru. She had told Weaver the night before that she is pregnant with his baby and supposedly their relationship is hidden from the staff. But it is the final moments of when the league commissioner begins to announce the choices and how the dealing of people quickens.

Costner is smooth, intelligent and believable in this role. He was very strong as the general manager. Leary was perfect as the strong ego centric coach that wants to prove himself with the right players. Langella was sublime as the team’s owner – he carried this role perfectly. Garner is plenty smart and good in this role and I guess there was more of her character in the film. Griffin Newman as Rick the intern was specifically fun to watch and he did the intern role very well. Scott Rothman and Rajiv Joseph wrote a credible screen play. Ivan Reitman directed this with a good view of the way a draft day could play out.

Overall:  I people knowledgeable of the draft process would appreciate the way it is done here because it is educational. 

42

First Hit:  A very good and enjoyable film that covered most all the necessary bases, sort-of-speak.

Jackie Robinson made history by being the first black man (“negro” in the film) to sign and play on a major league baseball team.

Branch Rickey (Harrison Ford) was the owner of the Brooklyn Dodgers and he foresaw the day, ahead of everyone else, that putting the best players on the field is what is important. Later on in the film Jackie (Chadwick Boseman) sits down with Branch and asks him to give him the real reason why he took this chance; the answer is heartfelt.

Overall this film is set up to please everyone. It isn’t a dark film, which it could have been, nor does it gloss over the pain Jackie went through; it is placed in the middle. I think this was done to bring in a wider audience.

There are scenes in this film that are beautifully done: Pee Wee Reese (Lucas Black) returning to his home town and realizing he has to make his truth known on the field; and Leo Durocher (Christopher Meloni) dressing down the team for the petition they were signing. The film is filled with them. Yes, some of it is sugar coated, but the diatribe by the Phillies manager was clearly enough to give the film audience a taste of what Robinson went through.

The baseball scenes were well shot and brought the beauty and intensity of baseball to the screen.

Ford was amazingly gruff, focused, driven and a joy to watch as he truly made this role his own. Boseman was really great as Jackie. He gave us an amazing view of the emotional ups and downs that Jackie might have gone through. Nicole Beharie gave us a solid performance as Jackie’s wife Rachel. Being of strong nature herself, the shock of the south required her to find other ways to fight back. Meloni was fantastic as Durocher. John C. McGinley as radio announcer Red Barber was really good. Andre Holland playing black sports writer Wendell Smith was really good and at times inspiring. Brian Helgeland wrote and directed this with an eye and ear for baseball and the social commentary required to pull this off.

Overall:  This was a very good full family film.

Chasing Mavericks

First Hit:  I wanted more surf scenes and less of the drama that had little impact on the film's point.

A young Jay Moriarity (Jonny Weston) is fascinated by the ocean and the movement of waves.

His interest is peaked by self-discovering that the time between waves can have something to do with their height and massiveness. As a Santa Cruz young fatherless boy who takes on getting his mom (Kristy played by Elisabeth Shue) up and going in the morning so that she can get to work on time, working double shifts at a pizza parlor to help pay the rent, and his fascination with surfing, he finds a father figure hopeful in Frosty Hesson (played by Gerard Butler).

Frosty is married to Brenda (played by Abigail Spencer) and they have two children to whom he rarely relates to. Of course there is a back-story as to why and it is that he was put into an orphanage as a young boy, so he doesn’t get close to anyone except to Brenda.

The set up works well enough and Jay and Frosty begin a relationship based around Jay’s desire to ride Mavericks a surf spot an hour or so from his home. Mavericks was a phantom spot until word got out it was real and the waves there on a particular storm swell will rise higher than 40 feet and even up to 60. You know the ending already, so there are no surprises.

But if the directors lopped 15 or so minutes off this film, it becomes much better. The wave shots are really good and having stood on the cliff overlooking Mavericks during a swell, this film does enough justice for the audience to feel the power of these huge waves.

Weston is good and at times strong as Jay. Watching his body build up to take on Mavericks along with his joyous enthusiasm was very good. Shue was good as the struggling single mom who gains strength as the film moves along. Butler is perfect for this role with the right amount of dis-attachment and engagement. Spencer's face is so beautiful that it is mesmerizing. Leven Rambin plays Jay’s lifelong girlfriend Kim and her sunny disposition works well with Weston. Kario Salem and Jim Meenaghan wrote the well-meaning screenplay but they could have left out stuff to make this film crisper. Michael Apted and Curtis Hanson co-directed this film with some great footage but didn’t know what to leave on the cutting room floor.

Overall:  Enjoyed many aspects of this film.