Foxcatcher (Blu-ray Review)

Make no mistake about it.  I wanted to see Foxcatcher for one main reason.  Never mind all the Academy Awards nominations it got.  We’ll talk about those in a minute.  I wanted to see it because for the first time ever that man I saw in the film’s trailer was not Steve Carell, but someone possessed, almost evil looking.  I wanted to find out who this man was.  I could care less about wrestling.  I needed to find out how the heck Carell looked so sinister, the why and most importantly, did he pull it off.  Considering he got nominated for the Best Actor this year, I think the consensus is in that he did, but nonetheless I had to see Foxcatcher with my own eyes.  And now that I did, here’s my full Blu-ray review to tell you all about my HD experience.  So lace up your wrestling shoes ladies and gentlemen.  Ding!  Ding!  That’s the bell!  Let’s take our discussion onto the Blu-ray mat.  Follow me!

Film 

Even though on the surface it appears that Foxcatcher is all about wrestling, there’s a little more to it than just that.  The film is billed as a biographical true crime drama and as a psychological thriller too so that should raise some curious eyebrows of others like me who did not see this one theatrically.  It’s directed by Bennett Miller off a script penned by E, Max Frye and Dan Futterman.  In addition to Carell, the main reason I am here, the movie also stars Channing Tatum, Mark Ruffalo, Vanessa Redgrave, Anthony Michael Hall and everyone’s favorite Baroness, Sienna Miller.

As I made mention to up above, Foxcatcher has been nominated for five Oscars at the 2015 Academy Awards, including Best Actor for Carell, Best Supporting Actor for Ruffalo and Best Director for Miller.  Miller already took home the Best Director Award last year in the main competition section at the 2014 Cannes Film Festival.  Interestingly enough, for all you Oscars trivia buffs out there, Foxcatcher is the first film to be nominated for Best Director, but not Best Picture since 2008.

The film’s plot is based on the events surrounding multi-millionaire and wrestling enthusiast John du Pont (Carell) when he invites 1984 Olympic gold-medal winning wrestler Mark Shultz (Tatum) to prepare for the 1988 Seoul Olympics in his state-of-the-art training facility.  Hoping it will catapult him out of his brother’s shadow, Mark jumps at the opportunity.  However, not all is what it seems with du Pont and the next thing we know enter Mark’s brother, Dave (Ruffalo).  So let’s just say for argument’s sake a whole lot of jealousy and betrayal happen here.

 There’s just a whole lot to scratch under the surface here in Foxcatcher.   The relationships, whether unravelling or loving, are very, very complex to take in and ultimately decipher.   However, these complex relationships are what propel the exceptional performances of Ruffalo, the almost unrecognizable Carell and even Channing “Duke” Tatum.   While I initially chose to review this film for Carell alone, I really can’t say any one performance was better than the other.  They are all commending and because of the somber story, all convincing, haunting and gut wrenching in their own right.  And if you notice, I never once mentioned my beloved Baroness.  She only plays a wee part in all of this anyway.

So while you can say Foxcatcher is three different men competing for their own version of the American Dream, I see it as a bit more complex than that.   On paper it looks simple in the synopsis, but what’s not highlighted is each men’s personal struggles with their own demons.  Some of the conflicts within here were a bit unsettling and even unnerving for me, but I liked it.  It kept me hanging on despite the film’s slow moving and burning storyline.  It’s not one that I want to sit through multiple repeat viewings of, but when I want that creep factor, I know to look no further than Carell’s makeup and performance underneath it all here.

Just like in real life, and I tell my girlfriend this all the time, not everyone is what they seem under the surface.   Most of those people in the print publication of US Weekly are not real and just like all of us, have their own demons to battle.  Not everything that glitters is gold, at least from my experiences in life.  Take the du Pont’s family.   John had more money than God, but why was he always so somber and unnervingly odd?  Good question!  What demons haunt him?  And let’s look at Tatum’s character real quick.   Just because he won the Olympics in 1984 does not mean that he has all the riches in the world afterwards, quite the contrary.  Perhaps the person that had the most lose in all of this is that of Ruffalo’s character as he had a family depending upon him.   Hell, the brotherly bond and remarkable chemistry between Ruffalo’s and Tatum’s onscreen characters were enough alone to keep me invested in this two plus hour feature from the authentic way they walked (having been around wrestlers my entire life in frigid Cleveland, OH) right down to the cauliflower ears.  You picking up what I’m dropping?  It’s all abut the raw emotions and authenticity here!

Long story short, Foxcatcher is not a happy story, not by any means.  For those going into this expecting to leave exhilarated and richer, look elsewhere.  The true story aspect of it all quickly unravels at the end and may leave you wondering why you chose to invest two hours for something that resolved ever so quickly.  However, Foxcatcher to me is a great, complex character study coupled with exceptional performances, but don’t expect those to keep you awake either should you enter this picture tired.  You’ve been warned.  Everyone’s version of the American Dream and even that of patriotism is different, and Foxcatcher won’t let you forget that in all its craziness.  If you let, it might even mind f$&k you too.  I know Carell’s creepiness did to me as he constantly kept me guessing as to what was going on in his screwed up brain.  I can’t even put my fingers on it how affected I was by “The Golden Eagle,” but I digress.  We have some Blu-ray Disc vitals to talk about next!

Video 

I did not have many issues with Foxcatcher‘s video presentation on Sony Blu-ray.  I thought the colors, which were intentionally restrained and held back, clearly set the dismal mood and tone of the feature and I know it sounds weird when I say I’m happy about muted colors, but I am here.

• Encoding: AVC MPEG-4

• Resolution: 1080p

• Aspect Ratio: 1.85:1

• Clarity/Detail: When afforded, detail was impeccable and amazing here.  You could clearly see every pimple, pore and freckle on Channing’s body, the fine stitching and texture of Tatum’s black wrestling dummy, the intricacy of the film’s backgrounds and so much more.

• Depth: I was completed satisfied here with the presentation’s depth of field from the lush outdoor cinematography to the school’s auditorium where Tatum’s character spoke in the beginning of the film to the huge library, expansive rooms and the training facility all located on the du Pont estate.  Everything had that larger than life kind of thing going on for it here.

• Black Levels: The black levels, for the most part, were usually deep and inky.

• Color Reproduction: Here’s where we get to the tricky part.  While this isn’t the most vivid of presentations, the colors are restrained here on purpose to recreate the eerie tonal qualities of the effed up story playing out onscreen.

• Flesh Tones: The skin and flesh tones were screen accurate for me.

• Noise/Artifacts: I am not going to waste any time nitpicking here.  While there’s a thin veneer of grain throughout, there’s no noticeable distractions or harmful artifacts that will detract away from the creepy beauty of things here.

Audio 

Like most dramas, there’s not much to write home about here in the audio department so let’s get a move on and discuss what we can below.

• Audio Format(s): English 5.1 DTS-HD Master Audio, French (PAR) 5.1 DTS-HD Master Audio, English Audio Description Track 5.1 Dolby Digital

• Subtitles: English, English SDH, Spanish, French

• Dynamics: Like the film’s unnerving subject matter, silence and natural sounds are mostly employed here to put you in the mood like you are in the middle of this disturbing story as it unfolds.   There’s nothing wrong with that, but at the same time there’s nothing really to brag about with the exception of how well the silent moments add to the suspense and mystery of it all.

• Low Frequency Extension: The LFE channel is where the audio presentation really lagged for me here as I watched the red light on my subwoofer remain status quo throughout with the exception of a few moments with a helicopter, a smashing head into a mirror, the thud of mat slams and gunshots.

• Surround Sound Presentation: With the exception of balanced naturalism and ambience, the only time you audibly notice the rears are moments like I mentioned up above, such as the swirling of the helicopter for example.

• Dialogue Reproduction: Dialog was clear and intelligible throughout.   Thank goodness too as that is what keeps you in the game here!

Extras 

Sadly, as powerful and gripping as the movie gets at times, the bonus features on the Blu-ray disc for Foxcatcher are quite sparse and weak in my opinion.  They include only deleted scenes, a trailer and a never-before-seen featurette, “The Story of Foxcatcher,” a behind-the-scenes look at the making of the film with Director Bennett Miller, Steve Carell and Channing Tatum.  Yep!  You read that right!  With the sole exception of the Digital HD UltraViolet redemption code that’s all you get here as far as supplements are concerned.  Come on!   I’ll be your escort and show you around here real quick.

• Deleted Scenes (HD) – There are a total of two deleted scenes here,”Conference Call” (3:21) and “Where’s Dave?” (1:52)

• The Story of Foxcatcher (HD, 16:20) – This brief behind the scenes look at the film covers a lot of ground from talking about the story, casting, makeup and performances to making the film, score and even Nancy Schultz’s thoughts on the feature.  I wish there was more of this!

• Trailer (HD, 2:20) – The film’s theatrical trailer is presented here.

Summary 

It’s hard to make a final judgement call on Foxcatcher only because it’s one of those titles where the performances are over-the-top brilliant, but ultimately with the story here everyone’s results and mileage will vary in my opinion.   The Blu-ray houses some nice looking video and a very natural, disturbing audio presentation, but ultimately succumbs in the extras category with only a few supplements to offer fans of the film.   However, I believe the performances and the unnerving, complex relationships showcased throughout here are enough to justify a purchase of Foxcatcher on Sony Blu-ray.  You can always do what I do in my personal life, wait until the Blu-ray title falls to a price you want it at and pick it up.   If that means Black Friday 2015, then so be it.   Enjoy the creepiness that is Steve Carell, believe it or not.   He’s scary!

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Foxcatcher Wrestles With Blu-ray on March 3rd!

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