Foxcatcher is a long movie but it never gets boring and that's something. As a Belgian I never heard of this story so for me it was all a surprise. I like movies based on a true story, certainly one like this one. The make-up crew should also get credits because what they did to Steve Carrell and Channing Tatum was very well done. It's because Steve Carrell as a specific voice that I recognized him immediately but with his changed physics I could have been fooled. He plays a really annoying character, one of those rich guys that thinks you can buy anybody or anything. But he did a very good job playing that arrogant prick. Channing Tatum looks like he came out straight of a cavern. He also did a good job, like all the rest of the cast. The story is interesting to watch and the end was surprising to me. I'm not a big fan of the wrestling sport but for this story it doesn't matter if you like it or not. Certainly worth a watch.

When "Foxcatcher" debuted, there was a lot of talk about it being an Oscar-contender--for both best picture as well as acting awards. However, after finally getting to see it, I was shocked. Was this the same great film? It certainly didn't seem great. It seemed, amazingly, rather boring--and it's hard to imagine this considering what actually occurred.

First I will talk about what I liked in the film. The wrestling looked really good. I wrestled for several years and would know if they wrestling sequences were crap--they weren't and I appreciate the shape the actors got in to do the film.

Now, what I didn't like. I have rarely seen a film more bereft of energy than this one. Heck, compared to this an Ingmar Bergman film looks like a Disney picture!! Stark music, stark cinematography and actors who are practically mute make this a very hard film to energize the audience. Plus, often events in the film seemed incomplete--as if you were supposed to know exactly what happened to Mark Schultz in the 1988 Olympics or what motivated Du Pont to commit murder. Instead, it's all a very bland cipher. Additionally, the historical accuracy of the film and timeline are often wrong and could have been better.

Overall, a huge disappointment--much of which is because of all the hoopla about the film but also because it was so lifeless and dull and didn't need to be.

Before watching and writing about Foxcatcher I did a bit of research about John DuPont and it confirmed what I saw in this film. Before any of the action of this film takes place, DuPont already had been accused of making improper advances by one man. He was also ever so briefly married, just like Rock Hudson.

Steve Carrell plays the uptight and repressed gay man John DuPont with a minimum of dialog and emotion, but with facial and body language that tell more than 20 pages of script could. He well deserved to be nominated for Best Actor.

John DuPont is from one of America's richest families and he's a man with a lot of money and a lot of time on his hands. He's developed an interest in wrestling and not the kind that Vince McMahon gives us three night a week. He decides to develop and finance a team of wrestlers that will win all championships including Olympic gold. Carrell is like George Steinbrenner with an open checkbook in the free agency market.

Two of his wants are the brothers Schultz. Mark is played by Channing Tatum and he is dazzled by the world that Carrell wants to invite him into. Carrell is crushing out on Channing Tatum big time which is understandable. David the older and more successful brother is played by Mark Ruffalo who got a Best Supporting Actor nomination is harder to get, but he does succumb. It leads to one unspeakable tragedy.

Foxcatcher also got nominations for Best Director, Best Makeup, and Best Original Screenplay. It didn't come away with any statues though.

I should also mention Vanessa Redgrave as Carrell's grand dame of society mother who is as uptight as her son. She too with minimal dialog conveys this branch of the large DuPont family is one uptight limb of the family tree.

Foxcatcher is a deeply disturbing, but very good film to see.