SYNOPSIS: In the sport biopic “Christy,” now playing in theatres, Sydney Sweeney plays a successful professional boxer who faced her biggest battles outside the ring.
CAST: Sydney Sweeney, Ben Foster, Merritt Wever, Katy O’Brian. Directed by David Michôd.
REVIEW: Boxing movies are never about the big match. Instead, they’re about the journey, which, in “Christy’s” case, is a story of the real-life triumphs and traumas of former professional boxer Christy Martin.
The action begins in late 1980s West Virginia when a gay coal miner’s daughter named Christy Salters discovers an innate talent for beating the heck out of other women in the boxing ring. Her skill catches the eye of a $500-a-fight promotor who offers her to hook her up with trainer James V. Martin (Ben Foster). Initially reluctant to work with a woman, James is won over by Christy’s ferocity in the ring. “Maybe there is something to this lady boxing business,” he says.
Leaving high school girlfriend Rosie (Jess Gabor) behind, much to the relief of her controlling mother Joyce Salters (Merritt Wever), Christy steps back into the closet, marries the unpredictable James and, in a few short years, becomes a champion, the first woman to sign with flamboyant promoter Don King and the first female boxer to appear on the cover of “Sports Illustrated.”
Her rise to the top, however, comes at a great cost, physically and mentally. Forced to subvert her sexual identity and submit to Jim’s will inside and outside the ring, she compromises every aspect of her life. “If you leave me,” Jim says, “I will kill you.”
Part “Star 80,” part “Raging Bull,” “Christy” is a gritty, if overlong, story of struggle and resilience, of compromise and abuse. Director David Michôd, who co-wrote the script with Mirrah Foulkes, tackles every aspect of Christy’s life. Christy’s rise to fame is pure by-the-book underdog sports biopic material, amped up with sometimes brutal boxing scenes, which are very convincingly played by Sweeney and her various opponents.
Sweeney’s transformation to pitbull, win-at-any-cost fighter in the ring is impressive, but it is her work in the film’s family drama sections that showcases her best work. The emotional brutality she experiences at the hand of James surpasses any punishment she suffers in the ring. She convinces as Christy the athlete and as a person trying desperately to keep her head above water. It’s remarkable work in a movie that, unfortunately, doesn’t live up to its central performance.
As a movie “Christy” is on the ropes, but is elevated by a transformative, knockout star turn from Sweeney.
SYNOPSIS: In “Sharp Corner,” a new psychological drama now playing in theatres, Ben Foster stars as Josh, a family man who develops an unhealthy obsession with the car accidents that happen in his front yard, the result of a dangerous sharp corner on the edge of the property. When trimming the bushes that obscure the road signs nearby doesn’t stop the accidents, he becomes consumed by preventing the crashes and in the process, becoming a hero. “We can’t stay here. People are dying on our lawn,” says his wife Rachel (Cobie Smulders). “These aren’t freak accidents. Why do you think this house sat on the market for so long?” Josh’s refusal to leave puts Rachel and their son Max (William Kosovic) in danger.
CAST: Ben Foster, Cobie Smulders. Gavin Drea, Alexandra Castillo, Julia Dyan, Jonathan Watton, Reid Price, Leah Johnston, Dan Lett, Andrew Shaver, Mark A. Owen, Bob Mann, Allison Wilson-Forbes, Wayne Burns, Alexandra McDonald. Directed by Jason Buxton.
REVIEW: Ben Foster is known for the intensity of his roles. From “Hell or High Water’s” reckless bank robber Tanner Howard and the disgraced cyclist Lance Armstrong in “The Program” to the sadistic cop in “Lawless” and the off-grid veteran of “Leave No Trace,” his performances redefine the word volatile.
It’s interesting then, to see him dial that outward intensity way down in “Sharp Corner.”
His trademarked, wild-eyed fervor has been turned inward in a performance that is no less compelling than his showier work. His take on Josh is contained, a portrait of quiet desperation that builds in complexity as his dark fascination with the aftermath of the accidents in his front yard grows.
Foster even manages to find some morbid humor in the matter-of-fact way Josh processes his involvement in the deadly events.
When a man misses the turn and burns to death on their front lawn while Josh has Max at Taekwondo class, her blames Rachel for signing their son up for the sport, keeping him away at the time of the crash. “No Taekwondo, no dead guy,” he says. “Max doesn’t need to kick pads, and that guy didn’t need to die.”
The character study of a man in pursuit of purpose in his life, even as his family and work lives unravel, is intriguing.
Foster compels, but it is Smolders, as a wife pushed to the limit by her husband’s misguided heroics, is the glue that keeps the family drama together. As Josh spirals, she remains planted firmly in the real world, and her performance grounds the story.
“Sharp Corner” isn’t the story of a hero, despite Josh’s best efforts. Instead, it’s the darkly entertaining tale of a narcissistic guy whose misplaced passion not only ruins his life, but many others.
I hosted a screening of the new psychological thriller “Sharp Corner” in front of a sold out audience at The Royal Theatre in Toronto last night. Joining me for a post screening Q&A were writer/director Jason Buxton and star Cobie Smulders. We talked about how Buxton adapted the film from a short story in a book called “Whirl Away” by Russell Wangersky, how Smulders plays a couples therapist who struggles to understand her husband’s trauma and obsession and much more.
SYNOPSIS: In “Sharp Corner,” a new psychological drama now playing in theatres, Ben Foster stars as Josh, a family man who develops an unhealthy obsession with the car accidents that happen in his front yard, the result of a dangerous sharp corner on the edge of the property. When trimming the bushes that obscure the road signs nearby doesn’t stop the accidents, he becomes consumed by preventing the crashes and in the process, becoming a hero. “We can’t stay here. People are dying on our lawn,” says his wife Rachel (Cobie Smulders). “These aren’t freak accidents. Why do you think this house sat on the market for so long?” Josh’s refusal to leave puts Rachel and their son Max (William Kosovic) in danger.
The influence of one of the most infamous photos from the American Civil War is still felt today, 159 years later. The picture, taken by the Union Army, of Gordon, a formerly enslaved man known as “Whipped Peter,” display his scourged bare back, the result of brutal whippings.
The indelible image, commonly called The Scourged Back, provided incontrovertible proof of the cruelty of American slavery and helped fuel the abolitionist movement. Now, courtesy of director Antoine Fuqua and his film “Emancipation,” now streaming on Apple TV+, the story behind the photograph is being told. “We are going to make sure that every person in the world truly knows what slavery looks like,” said the photographer who took the picture.
Will Smith, in his first role since the slap heard ‘round the world, is Peter, a deeply religious Haitian slave torn from his wife Dodienne (Charmaine Bingwa) and children to be sold to a Confederate labor camp. Unable to remain silent when the camp’s overseers, like the sadistic Fassel (Ben Foster), abuse the enslaved men working to his left and right, he is labelled defiant and regularly beaten or threatened with a loaded gun to his head.
“They break the bones in my body more times than I can count,” he says later, “but they never break me.”
When Peter learns of the Emancipation Proclamation, signaling that President Lincoln has freed the slaves, he plans an escape, fleeing with a group of men through some of Louisiana’s most treacherous swamps. Driven toward freedom, and the possibility of being reunited with his family, Peter battles nature, and beasts, both the four-legged and two-legged kind, to survive.
Shot in daguerreotype black and white, resembling a high contrast tin type photograph, “Emancipation” looks like a historical document of a sort, but comes with a modern storytelling sensibility. It is both a brutal representation of the evils of slavery and a Will Smith action movie.
As Peter makes his way through the bayou, rubbing onion on his clothes to put the bloodhounds off his scent, battling an alligator or defending himself with a cross-shaped necklace, his journey is rife with danger. The tense action scenes, which make up the bulk of the movie, are well realized by director Fuqua, but they come at the expense of the character.
We come to understand that Peter is a smart, courageous and resourceful man whose deeply held religious beliefs have given him a roadmap for life, but the film appears more interested in the way he sidesteps danger rather than creating a fully-formed portrait of the man himself.
Smith is raw in his performance and Peter’s inspirational journey to family and freedom is a visceral one, but, as presented, not a deep one.
For better and for worse we know what to expect from a Will Smith hero’s journey film and “Emancipation,” for better and for worse, is just that. It folds a death-defying action movie around a vivid portrait of the scourge of slavery and it’s an uneasy balance. On one side, the film is propped up by Fuqua’s deft, propulsive handling of the action. On the other, it feels like a missed opportunity to dig deep into what made Peter tick.
If “Game of Thrones” style decapitations are your thing, the fifteenth-century set “Medieval,” now playing in theatres, may be right up your alley.
Based on the early life of famous Hussite commander Jan Žižka of Trocnov (Ben Foster), “Medieval” is like an old-timey superhero origin story. Žižka’s story is the stuff of cinema. He was a fearsome warrior, a hero who never lost a battle, so the story isn’t what bogs down the movie, it’s the telling of it.
Set in 1402, the film opens with the voice of Lord Boresh (Michael Caine). “Power, tyranny, Violence; Europe is engulfed in war, plague and famine.”
In other words, “Yikes!” The Holy Roman Empire is in chaos, following the death of its reigning emperor. To prevent King Sigismund of Hungary (Matthew Goode) from taking the throne by force, Žižka is conscripted to kidnap Lady Katherine (Sophie Lowe), the French fiancée of Lord Rosenberg (Til Schweiger), a powerful ally of Sigismund.
In retaliation, France sends an army to retrieve her. As the heat rises on the battlefield, so it does between Katherine and Jan, who, when he isn’t busy wielding an axe to fight against the corruption and greed of the ruling class, find the time to fall in love.
From the title on down, “Medieval” has a generic feel. It is bloody and brutal—with the appropriate bone-crunching SFX—when it needs to be, and features fine period details, but the storytelling is formulaic; “Game of Throne” Lite.
There are interesting elements, particularly regarding the warrior’s religious convictions and political leanings, but the Foster feels miscast. His trademarked intensity is missing, which is bewildering considering the amped up nature of the battle footage.
“Medieval” is ham fisted. The action scenes are absolutely brutal, featuring the kind of violence usually reserved for bloody horror movies. The political intrigue is convoluted, and for a film that aims to pay tribute to a real-life hero, inaccurate. It gets the tone of the time correct. The reaction of the rebellious locals, worn down by years of high taxes, feels authentic, but Boresh, for instance, the catalyst of much of the action, has been cut out of whole cloth. It feels as though the history has been manipulated to fit the story director Petr Jakl wanted to tell, rather than fashioning the story around the history.
“Hustle,” a new sports dramedy staring Adam Sandler, now streaming on Netflix, is an underdog story like “Rocky,” if that movie featured Burgess Meredith’s name above the title instead of Sylvester Stallone.
Sandler plays Stanley Sugarman, a veteran basketball scout for the Philadelphia 76ers. Decades spent on the road searching for new talent have left him weary and jaded, missing his wife (Queen Latifah) and daughter (Jordan Hull).
His new boss, the arrogant Vince Merrick (Ben Foster), isn’t making the job any easier. The two butt heads over Stanley’s latest find, Spanish b-ball phenom Bo Cruz (NBA star Juancho Hernangomez). On the court Bo is all unrefined power, used to hustling unsuspecting players for cash. Stanley sees greatness in him, but Bo’s troubled past raises alarms with Merrick and the 76ers management.
Convinced he has a winner, Stanley brings Bo to the United States. They form a bond based on their love of basketball and family, and together set out to prove that they have what it takes to succeed on the court and in life.
“Hustle” may be formulaic and easy to read, but it succeeds because of the chemistry between Sandler and Hernangomez. What begins as an odd couple pairing quickly becomes something more. This isn’t “Billy Madison” with a basketball, it’s a story of fathers and sons, of mentorship, one that provides uplift while avoiding the sentimentality that often shoehorns its way into movies like this.
Sandler’s performance is simple. It’s not as showy as his work in “Uncut Gems” or “Punch Drunk Love.” Instead, he infuses Stanley with world weariness tempered with resilience, to create a sincere portrait of a man and the game he loves. Screenwriters Taylor Materne and Will Fetters nail the seriocomic tone, feeding Sandler a string of self-depreciating one-liners that help define the character.
Director Jeremiah Zagar and cinematographer Zak Mulligan capture the excitement of the game with frenetic on-court camera work that heightens the drama and showcases the NBA action and player skills.
“Hustle” is an upbeat, predictable sports story but succeeds because of the stakes. You’ll know where this story is going (NO SPOILERS HERE) but it transcends the usual sports narrative because the characters have it all on the line. It’s not about the basketball, really, it’s more about the struggle of overcoming adversity and thus has a universal appeal even if you’ve never heard of an Alley-Oop.
The things Will (Ben Foster) does to protect his daughter Tom (Thomasin Harcourt McKenzie) in “Leave No Trace,” a new film by Debra Granik, director of “Winter’s Bone,” may be the things that endanger her.
When we first meet Will he is a vet with PTSD living way off the grid with Tom, his only daughter. Their home is a makeshift camp in an Oregon state public park. Home schooled, Tom has never experienced the outside world, and only knows what Will has taught her about life. “Where is your home?” she’s asked. “My dad,” comes the answer. When she is spotted in the park, social services are alerted. Father and daughter are taken in, housed and reintegrated into society. Tom drinks the new experiences in, making friends at school and church, as the realization sinks in that her father is not cut out for life around other people. “The same thing that’s wrong with you isn’t wrong with me,” she says. Hoping to regain his lost independence Will convinces Tom to hit the road in search of a more fulfilling life.
The questions at the heart of “Leave No Trace” are based on whether or not Will is a good father. Is he doing what is right for Tom? Their needs are so different, is he self-serving, prioritizing his needs over hers? The answers lie in Granik’s beautifully told story about the connections between people and the value of relationships.
Much of the film’s power comes from the lead performances. Foster is more reserved here, less bug-eyed and edgy, than we’ve seen him in the past. His take on Will is gentle with a deep reservoir of pain that bubbles just below the surface. It’s formidable stuff equalled by newcomer Harcourt McKenzie. Granik has an eye for casting, discovering Vera Farmiga in “Down to the Bone” and Jennifer Lawrence in “Winter’s Bone,” and here she does it again. The young New Zealand actress gives Tom empathy and wide-eyed innocence mixed with curiosity. She is never less than natural and never less than believable.
“Leave No Trace” is an emotionally potent story about finding a path in life, even if it differs from the ones you love.
When you think of Christian Bale what picture do you conjure up in your mind’s eye? Is it as American Psycho’s square-jawed investment banker Patrick Bateman? Or is it as the gaunt whisper of a man from The Machinist? Perhaps it’s as 3:10 to Yuma’s scruffy cowboy Dan Evans or the cowled Caped Crusader of the Batman films.
The point is Bale recreates himself from film to film. “It’s helpful not to look like yourself,” he recently told The Guardian. “If I look in the mirror and go, ‘Ah, that doesn’t look like me,’ that’s helpful.”
He could make a fortune playing superheroes in action movies but instead chooses to shake things up. Since his breakthrough performance in 1987’s Empire of the Sun, he has been a chameleon, losing 60 pounds to play the skeletal lead in The Machinist and gaining a beer gut and a combover for his role in American Hustle.
Creating the “Olympian physique” of serial killer Patrick Bateman in American Psycho took some discipline. “I’m English,” he said, “we don’t have many gyms around. We’d rather go to a pub instead.” A trainer and a protein diet took off the pounds.
As boxer and former drug addict Dicky Ecklund in The Fighter he dropped 30 pounds and used makeup and prosthetics to age himself. How did he lose the weight? “Usually I always say, ‘Oh, I do a lot of coke whenever I lose weight.’ I’m not sure if it’s so funny for this movie, to say that.” In reality he trained with the real-life Ecklund and boxed the pounds off.
In Velvet Goldmine he plays a London journalist looking into the life and faked death of glam rock singer Brian Slade (Jonathan Rhys Meyers). Once again he had to physically transform, but not in the traditional way.
When his mom saw that he was working out and running at 6 a.m. she said, “Christian, what are you doing? You’re doing a film about sex, drugs and rock ’n’ roll. Why don’t you do it the way they did it? They weren’t out running. They drank a helluva lot and lived unhealthily.” “I took that to heart,” he said.
This weekend he appears in Hostiles as the elaborately moustachioed Joseph J. Blocker, an 1892-era U.S. Army captain approaching retirement, grappling with the anguish and regret that has scarred his soul. The impressive ’stache may be his biggest physical transformation for this role — the AV Club joked “Christian Bale’s moustache is the best thing about Hostiles” — but he says the biggest change here was spiritual.
To create the character’s contemplative demeanour he spent a lot of time “sitting in a room quietly staring at a wall.” He says he likes to get as “distant as possible” from his own personality. Imagining Blocker’s life journey before filming allowed him to internalize the character and “feel like you’re trying very hard by the time you get to be working.”
Next up for Bale is the biopic Backseat. He shaved his head and packed on pounds — “I’ve just been eating a lot of pies,” he says — to play former U.S. vice-president Dick Cheney. “I’ve got to stop doing it,” says the 43-year-old actor of the extreme weight gain. “I suspect it’s going to take longer to get this off.”
“Hostiles,” the new Christian Bale drama, is a period piece with a potent message for today. With a nod to the John Wayne classic “The Searchers,” it’s a sombre tale of a man who must confront his deeply held racism.
Set in 1892, Bale plays Joseph J. Blocker, a U.S. Army captain approaching retirement; soul darkened by a career spent warring with indigenous peoples. He’s lost many of his men at the hands of his enemy, seen his people butchered and scalped. In return he turned battlegrounds into killing fields soaked in blood.
Under orders he reluctantly does one last official job before riding off into the sunset. His commanding officer (Stephen Lang) gives him a choice, escort an old enemy, Cheyenne war chief Yellow Hawk (Wes Studi) now dying of cancer, from an remote Army gaol in New Mexico to the Chief’s home in the grasslands of Montana or face a court martial. Putting together a crew of his most trusted men, including his right hand man Sergeant Tommy Metz (Rory Cochrane), he begins the long, dangerous trek. A day or so in the come across Rosalie Quaid (Rosamund Pike), a widow whose family was slaughter right in front of her.
The physical journey is ripe with danger—they are ambushed by Comanche and must drop off a dangerous prisoner (Ben Foster) along the way—but the metaphysical journey is more interesting. As the days pass Blocker rediscovers his humanity; the man he was before he allowed hate to overwhelm.
Writer, director Scott Cooper’s film drips with gravitas. It is a serious minded look at the bigotry and brutality that fuelled the U.S. Army dealings with the frontier tribes while making room for Blocker’s redemptive arc. But for as beautiful as the movie is, it never feels authentic. Sure you can almost smell the campfires, blood and sweat. Cooper’s details are evocative of a time and place, it’s the relationships between the characters that don’t ring true. The anti-racism message is a powerful and important one but turned into a cliché in its execution. Underdeveloped indigenous characters, all stoicism and nobility, seem to exist only to aid Blocker’s attitude change, which makes the movie feel lopsided, tilted toward Blocker and his band of white saviours.
I think the movie mostly has its heart in the right place in terms of promoting tolerance but the reconciliation portrayed here feels off kilter. (SPOILER ALERT) By the time the end credits roll on this ponderous story, the white viewpoint of the storytelling is made all too clear in a conclusion that sees the two above the title stars come to the rescue of a young indigenous character.
“Hostiles” is a beautifully turned out film. Cooper fills each frame of this deliberately paced movie with a kind of bleak beauty. But with the elegance of the filmmaking comes frustration at the story’s missteps. Bale digs deep, grappling with the anguish and regret that has scarred Blocker’s soul but his transformation doesn’t seem real, or possible.
